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Christianity - Paul of Tarsus

Part Two: Significant People - Paul of TarsusFollowing the death and ______________ of Christ, the first few decades were challenging and difficult for the early ___________ Church. Its beginnings as a Jewish sect saw considerable pressure from __________ within the Christian community in Jerusalem to conform to the Jewish Law.

Jewish _____________ regarded the early Christians with disdain. Many believed the Christian community to be _________ in its observance of the Jewish Law. Others thought that some Jewish ____________ mingled too freely with gentile converts. In particular, the high priest and ___________ found the notion of a crucified Messiah intolerable. Consequently, Jewish authorities __________ persecuted the Christians.The Roman authorities also regarded Christians with suspicion and __________ them to worship Roman gods. Jews were exempt from doing this. ____________ were made participate in public festivities, athletic competitions and parades associated with such _________. Christians' refusal to conform was seen by Roman authorities as a ___________ to the Roman state.As a result, the future of Christian _____________ was in a delicate balance between attaining a unique and separate ___________ identity and being absorbed into Judaism. St Paul's ministry as an _________ and Christian missionary took place in this context. He was among the first ____________ of Christians.

Early Life and ConversionPaul was a Greek-speaking Jew and _________ of Rome. His Hebrew name was Saul and the name Paul, was __________ given to him as an infant because he lived among gentiles - __________. He was born in the city of Tarsus of Cilicia in what is now known as Turkey, around the same time as Jesus of __________, or perhaps a little later.Paul's father was a Pharisee and __________ to the tribe of Benjamin. During his childhood, he was educated in the ___________ tradition studying Jewish Law, the scriptures and the oral tradition. At the age of _________, Paul attended the Temple College in Jerusalem where he studied the __________ tradition in detail. Rabbis were not permitted to make money from __________ the Law so Paul also learned the trade of making tent cloth.As a rabbi, Saul __________ persecuted the Christians. Most probably he shared the view of the high _________ and Sadducees who regarded them a serious threat to the Jewish legal ___________. The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of Paul's role in the _________ of Stephen, who became the first Christian martyr.Hearing that Christian ___________ had taken refuge in Damascus, the high priest authorised Paul to pursue them. As he _________ the outskirts of the city, Christ appeared to him, asking 'Saul, Saul, why are you _____________ me?' (Acts 9:4). This was the moment of his conversion to belief in Christ, an event that took place around 33 CE.

___________ ActivityImmediately after his baptism, Paul retreated to Arabia where he spent three years ___________ his knowledge of the 'mystery of Christ' (NCE, Vol.11, p.6). He __________ to Damascus and began preaching, but was forced to leave for fear of being killed by the Jews. Paul spent two weeks in ___________ where he met Peter and the other apostles then retired to Tarsus after __________ of another Jewish plot to kill him.In 44 CE, Paul was asked to go to _________ to assist Barnabas in ministering to the gentile Christians. A few years later, he __________ on three missionary journeys. The first journey comprised visits to Cyprus, ___________, Pisidia and Lycaonia, where Paul and Barnabas established Christian communities.Factions within the ___________ community in Jerusalem became increasingly outspoken and demanded that gentile converts to ______________ be circumcised and observe Jewish food laws. From Antioch, Paul and __________ were commissioned to go to Jerusalem and settle the issue at a _________ which became known as the Council of Jerusalem.Realising that the __________ demands denied the very foundation of Christianity, Paul convinced the apostles that ___________ came from faith in Christ, not observance of Jewish law. Chapter 15 of the Acts of the __________ tells what happened at the council. When writing to the Galatians, Paul _________ on the importance of faith in Christ.

We have come to _________ in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, _________ no one will be justified by the works of the law.

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- ___________ 2:16

The demands were later dropped.Paul's second missionary journey began _________ after the Council of Jerusalem. He revisited established Christian communities before ____________ to Europe via Galatia. There, Paul preached in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens and _________, before returning to Antioch by way of Ephesus and Jerusalem.On the third ____________ journey, Paul visited Christian communities already established. However, he stayed at _________ for three years, building up the community there before returning to ___________. Paul had intended to travel to Rome and Spain but a __________ with the Jews in Jerusalem prevented him from accomplishing this task.

______________ and DeathThe conflict eventually resulted in Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea for almost two years. About to be __________ to Jerusalem to face trial, as a Roman citizen, Paul appealed to Caesar and was sent to Rome._________, he became shipwrecked on the way and found himself under house ___________ at Malta for another two years. Paul awaited his trial in Rome for two years, during which time he __________ from his rented home. Tradition holds that he was beheaded in Rome _________ 64 and 68 CE

Contribution to the Development and Expression of ______________WritingsAccording to tradition, fourteen epistles were written by Paul, thirteen were _________ to the Christian communities Paul had visited. They were the means by which he ____________ the Gospel and clarified matters of doctrine and Christian morality.

Today, __________ scholars attribute Paul's authorship to:1.Romans2.1 and 2 Corinthians3.Galatians4._____________5.1 Thessalonians6.Philemon.

The remaining letters were written by disciples of Paul and ____________ by him:1.Ephesians2.Colossians3.2 Thessalonians4.1 and 2 Timothy, and5.Titus.

___________Paul's moral teachings were similar to those of his Jewish counterparts. He _________ prostitution, homosexual activity and premarital sex, as well as marriage undertaken solely for sexual _______________.Paul's theological teachings differed from those of Judaism. He taught that God became ___________ in Jesus to save the world and that Christians are redeemed from sin and death by the death and ______________ of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Repentance alone is insufficient for __________ the power of sin; it is necessary to be buried with Christ in _________ and rise to new life in his Resurrection.

Emergence of a ___________ IdentityIn the Christian tradition, Paul is known as the Apostle of the __________. He spent almost half his life preaching the Gospel and establishing ___________ communities in the gentile or non-Jewish world of Greece and Rome.His __________ to the gentiles is significant because it contributed to the rapid ___________ of Christianity beyond the borders of Judea and Galilee. Moreover, Paul's ____________ activity to the gentiles was instrumental in shaping the early Church. As the number of _________ Christians grew, the Jewish character of the movement gave way to an _____________ Christian identity that acknowledged and built upon its Jewish heritage.The ___________ of a Christian identity was further advanced when Paul convinced the ___________ Council

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that Law observance relating to circumcision and food laws should not be __________ of gentile Christians. Paul accomplished the break with Judaism without destroying the rich __________ from which the new movement originated.Had the early Christian community ___________ to the Judaiser's insistence upon the Law as a means of ___________, there would be no Christianity today.

- T. Carson et al., New __________ Encyclopaedia, 'Paul, Apostle, St',Gale, USA, 2002, Second Edition, Volume 11, p.2

The last of the __________ epistles, Hebrews, was not written by Paul. It does not take the form of a letter. Paul's _________ are among the most influential books of the New Testament. The vast body of _____________ discourse they contain remains relevant to Christian scholars today. Because Paul ___________ issues of moral promiscuity and the incorrect interpretation of doctrine, his _________ contributed to the development of a unified Christian belief system.

Impact on the _____________ and Expression of ChristianityThis facial composite of St Paul was _________ by experts of the Landeskriminalamt of North Rhine-Westphalia using historical sources, __________ by Dusseldorf historian Michael Hesemann.

The Person of PaulPaul was both Jew and _________. He was born a Jew and studied the Jewish religion. He was also born with rights as a Roman _________, which gave him confidence in the gentile world. Paul's devotion to the Jewish Law (Gal 1:13; Phil 3:6) led him to ___________ Christians when they did not observe the Law.Jesus of Nazareth was not known to Paul, whose ____________ to Christianity was by encountering the Risen Jesus in a life-changing event. The same zeal, with which he ____________ Christians, now became zeal for Christ.Paul's personal abilities motivated his ____________ fervour to travel, preach and suffer for the crucified and Risen Jesus. In ___________ 1:4 he acknowledged he was an excellent student, doing better than others. Paul was _________ on the Risen Jesus and had a personal relationship with him. His new _____________, together with his life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, impacted on the _____________ and expression of Christianity.

By his personal witness to Christ's death and ______________, Paul, Apostle to the gentiles, has become the revealed archetype both of ___________ theology and of the ecumenical Church.

- New Catholic Encyclopaedia, 'Paul, ____________ Journeys', Volume 11, p.12

AntiochActs 11:19 records that the first ___________ of Jesus at Antioch were Jews who settled there, escaping the ______________ in Jerusalem. When Paul arrived, he preached to the gentile inhabitants and __________ them as converts. Consequently, there was a community of both Jewish and _________ followers of Jesus at Antioch.The dispute, whether gentile converts should be _____________ and observe Jewish food laws, arose from Antioch. However, Acts 11:26 _________ that it was at Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called ____________. In this context, Paul can be said to have influenced the _____________ and expression of Christianity by implementing its universality for all people.

_________Paul's letters to the early Christian communities around the Mediterranean, as well as those to _________, Titus and Philemon, are included in Christianity's Canon of Sacred Scripture. As such, they:1.form part of ___________ revelation2.confirm matters concerning Jesus the Christ3.more fully state Christ's __________4.provide accounts of and insights into the first Christian communities5.witness to the ______________ of Christ's saving work.

Pauline Theology

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Paul's insistence on salvation in Christ, rather than ____________ of Jewish Law, laid the foundation of his theology and contributed to the new ___________ movement. Christ, and the salvation he won, had to be explained in terms other than the ____________ of Jewish Messianic expectations. The 'making disciples of all nations' (Mt 28: 19a) began with Paul _____________ Christ's message to non-Jews and applying it to all people and __________.

Formulation of distinctive concepts in Christian theology had their beginning in Paul's __________. Some include the:1.Church as the Body of Christ, e.g. Colossians 1:182.Nature of Jesus, e.g. _________ 1:5; Romans 9:53.Universality of the Church, e.g. Galatians 3:284.Supremacy of Christ, e.g. ____________ 1:15-215.Second Coming, e.g. Romans 11:25-266.Justification by faith, e.g. Romans 1:177.Good works, e.g. Romans 2:6-8.

_______________Paul's missionary work to the gentiles moved the development of Christian __________ from its Jewish roots into the Greco-Roman context. This became the ___________ of Christianity's inculturation into a new context and influenced its vocabulary and _____________ expression, e.g:1.'theology', i.e. the study of God, is from the Greek word Theos, for God and logos, for word or _________2.'Hypostatic Union', i.e. union of two natures, human and divine, in the one Person of Jesus Christ, is from the Greek word ____________, for Person and ousia, for essence or substance3.'Eucharist', i.e. thanksgiving, is from the Greek word _____________, meaning thanksgiving4.'Bible' is from the Latin (language of ancient Rome) word biblia, _________ book5.'Scripture alone' is from the Latin words, sola scriptura6.'sacrament' is from the Latin word, _____________.-Paul's writings have inspired and influenced Christian scholars throughout the ___________. St Augustine, a fifth-century Doctor of the Church, derived the doctrine of __________ sin and predestination from Paul's writings, especially his Letter to the Romans. ___________________ reformer, Martin Luther, was influenced by Ephesians 2:8-10 in deriving the __________ of justification by faith alone without good deeds.While Paul never __________ celibacy on the Christian communities, his preference for celibacy helped establish a __________ tradition within Christianity. Through the centuries, thousands of men and women freely took the vow of __________ when they chose to serve Christ as priests, monks and nuns. Today, men and women can choose the life of a ___________ brother or sister within the Catholic or Anglican Church. Although denominations, such as the _____________ Anglican Church, Lutherans and Presbyterians do permit their clergy to marry, the __________ Church requires its priests to be celibate.