Paul, an Apostle
of Christ Jesus
2 Cor 1:1-2
My desire is to go through the book of 2
Corinthians in order to extract some important themes. This study will not
cover all of the text of this book, but many of them that are important for a
church like ours today.
We
will begin by looking at the apostleship and conversion of the Saul, the
Pharisee who became the great Apostle Paul. Whatever is true of salvation in
his life, must be still true of true conversion and saving faith in ours. The
Apostle's experience of salvation and his subsequent growth in grace is all of
Grace. It is all a work of God, although after Paul's conversion, the Lord uses
men as human means to bring Paul along. We will start in Chapter One of 2
Corinthians:
2 Cor 1:1 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at
Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a lot in a
little once again. By the time Paul wrote this, probably in the mid 50s of the
first century, this was Paul's self-designation. This is how he viewed himself.
Paul believed and by the will of God, he was called to be one of the disciples
who would be sent out to preach in the world.
This is exactly what
we find in the Book of Acts. The foundation is important to understand what
Paul was and where he came from. He is such a pivotal figure in the Early
Church after the ascension of Jesus to heaven.
Turn to Acts Chapter
9. We will look at Paul's life and ministry under three points to see that the
salvation of the Apostle was supernatural and unconditional. As Saul, he was
not seeking to be a believer in Christ. He worked to snuff out the fledgling
movement called, "the way." That is until the Lord came and conquered
his ignorance by grace.
Our three points:
1.
The Experience as Found in Luke's Writings
2.
The Experience as Found in Paul's writings
3.
Some added color from Peter
1.
The Experience of PAUL as Found in Luke's Writings
Acts 9:
1 But Saul, still breathing
threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high
priest
2 and asked him for letters to the
synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men
or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 Now as he went on his way, he approached
Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
4 And falling to the ground he heard a
voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?"
5 And he said, "Who are you,
Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting. TO PERSECUTE HIS CHURCH IS TO PERSECUE THE LORD.
6But rise and enter the city, and you will
be told what you are to do."
7 The men who were traveling with him
stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
8 Saul rose from the ground, and although
his eyes were opened,he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought
him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight,
and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus
named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a
vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am,
Lord."
11And the Lord said to him, "Rise and
go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a
man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and
he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on
him so that he might regain his sight."
13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have
heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done
to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has
authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your
name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go,
for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the
Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I
will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my
name."
17 So Ananias departed and entered the
house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you
may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
18 And immediately something like scales
fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was
baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.
Forsome days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And
immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the
Son of God."
21 And all who heard him were amazed and
said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those
who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring
them bound before the chief priests?"
22 But Saul increased all the more in
strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by
proving that Jesus was the Christ.
Acts 26: 1 So Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to
speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his
defense:
2 "I consider myself fortunate that
it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense todayagainst all
the accusations of the Jews, 3 especially because you are
familiar with all the customs andcontroversies of the Jews. Therefore I
beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 "My manner of life from my youth,
spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by
all the Jews.
5 They have known for a long time, if they
are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of
our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.
6And now I stand here on trial because of my
hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to
which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship
night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!
8 Why is it thought incredible by any
of you that God raises the dead?
9 "I myself was convinced that I
ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only
locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the
chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against
them.
11 And I punished them often in all
the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury
against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12 "In this connection I
journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief
priests.
13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a
light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who
journeyed with me.
14 And when we had all fallen to the
ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the
goads.'
15 And I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the
Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
16 But rise and stand upon your feet,
for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant
and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I
will appear to you, 17delivering you from your people and from the
Gentiles--to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes,
so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan
to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among
those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
2.
The Experience as Found in Paul's writings
Galatians 1: 11 For I would
have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not
man's gospel.
12 For I did not receive it from any man,
nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus
Christ.
This was an
extraordinary act of the Lord Jesus.
13 For you have heard of my former
life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to
destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of
my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the
traditions of my fathers.
GREAT SUMMARY OF THE
SUPERNATURAL AND UNCINDITIONAL SALVATION OF GOD 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was
pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him
among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;
Paul does not glory in an excercize of his free will. It is that
God gave him what he did not deserve--salvation….
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those
who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to
Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to
Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
Despite contact with
many disciples and apostles, the Lord maintained in Paul, a steady keel of
faith unto his sanctification.
19 But I saw none of the other apostles
except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing
to you, before God, I do not lie!)
21Then I went into the regions of Syria and
Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the
churches of Judea that are in Christ.
23 They only were hearing it said, "He
who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to
destroy."
24 And they glorified God because of me.
3.
Some added color from Peter
2Peter 3:15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just
as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom
given him,
16 as he does in all his letters when he
speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are
hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own
destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this
beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of
lawless people and lose your own stability.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to
the day of eternity. Amen.
It is this man along with and Timothy our brother, who qrote
important things To the church of God that is at Corinth, but not just
those in the city, but in the region of Achaiaàwith all the saints who are in the whole of
Achaia:
In verse 2, Paul summarizes his message to all; 2 Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
That they would realize the unmerited favor of GOD AND NOT BE
TROUBLED BY ANYTHING THAT COMES THEIR WAY.
The rest of the book is filled with doctrines and practices that
should bring that to pass.
A reminder of what we have is the churchà we have each other to comfort and help us
along the way to heaven. The more who are committed to the cause the merrier it
ought to be.
May the Lord's supper remind us of the unity that ought to be
oursà the unity purchased for us by the death of
Christ. AMEN!
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