Study Guide:  The Apostle Paul

I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of  my ancestors*.  (Gal 1:14)
*The phrase "traditions of my ancestors" refers to the Pharisees' tradition of "oral law."

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  (Philippians 3:6)

See also Romans 3:10-31 and Galatians about the Jewish law.  Read Ehrman, 266-68 carefully!
 

1 Cor 15:9 below.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.  More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  (Philippians 3:7)
 
 

Paul claims for himself the title of "apostle".  The author of Luke-Acts believes an apostle must be someone who had known Jesus and witnessed the resurrection.  (Acts 1:20-26)  How does Paul justify his claim to the title "apostle"?

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.  (Gal 1:11-12)

But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being.... (Gal 1:15-16)

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  (1 Cor 15:3-9)

Note that in Gal 1:16, Paul states that his "call" to apostleship was a call to preach specificallyto the Gentiles (even though Paul himself was a Jew).

Be certain to read Ehrman 268-74 carefully.  The following themes of Paul's mission to the Gentiles will recur throughout this section on Paul:

• Paul's view of Jesus (Paul's "theology")
• Paul's view of the Jewish law
• Paul's view of Jews and Gentiles
• The social structure of Paul's communities

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Bibliography
Ehrman, Bart D.  The New Testament:  A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. 2d ed.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2000.
Duling, Dennis C., and Norman Perrin.  The New Testament:  Proclamation and Paranesis, Myth and History.  3rd ed.  Fort Worth:  Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994.
Meeks, Wayne A., ed.  The HarperCollins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version.  New York:  HarperCollins, 1993.

Copyright 2001 by Caroline T. Schroeder