Paul's use of secretaries

"Some scholars believe that Paul's usual practice was to use a secretary. This may be indicated by 2 Thess 3:17, were Paul spoke of his handwritten note as "the distinguishing mark in all my letters" (Polhill 127). This has blown away how I have always imagined Paul writing. In ignorance I have thought of Paul, after dressing his wounds from the last stoning or flogging, sitting under the light of a lamp with papyrus and pen in hand writing down what God had been dictating to him concerning the churches and individuals to which he was writing. Although this may of been the case with the only difference being the presence of a secretary to do the actual writing. However, I have to ask, "How much of the secretaries own personality, ideas and own revelation of God entered into the the writing of Paul?" The Bible written by human hands, but with God as its author is unique in all forms of literature. It is through God's written Word that many, for thousands of years have found an all-sufficent, true and relevant instruction for being reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Michael Carpenter

Stage 1: Acts of the Sinful nature and Validation of the Spirit in Galatians

I have finally arrived here on Euthus. Glad to be here...I'll be here all night.

In Galatians 5:6-26, Paul lists acts of sin in which we are involuntarily and sometimes unknowingly involved. In contrast, Paul also lists visible qualities of believers. I have selected this Galatians passage to further understand the acts of the sinful (human) nature, to delve into the deeper truths of the fruit of the spirit, and to understand the apparent, yet unclear, connection to the law. I hope to further grasp Paul’s message to the Galatians making it applicable to my own life.

Stage One Idea

Pauline Epistles
Stage One
Jeff Childers

Topic: 1 Corinthians Chapter 7/The Apostle Paul’s View on Marriage

Approach: I will identify what Paul’s view of marriage based on the biblical statements he made in 1 Corinthians Chapter 7. I will attempt to identify why Paul felt the way he did about marriage and where he may have developed his ideas. I will attempt to find out if Paul is really being negative about marriage or his if he is just presenting his own opinion and perception. I will attempt to answer the following questions as well: Is marriage biblically encouraged? Is it truly better not to marry? What does Paul mean when he states that married believers should live as though they are not married?
I would also like to counter some of the statements Paul makes about marriage, although as I do more research on what Paul is trying to say, I may not be opposed to what he advises.

Righteousness and how it is addressed in the Pauline Corpus

Lyda Turner

Righteousness is something that I will always be wanting to grow toward and to do that I have to understand more about it. Taking the idea from DPL, in studying this I want to better understand the interpretation of the word, and how this is reflected in Paul’s thought. According to the text, I would like to uncover the basis and the view. I hope to come to a greater understanding of whether this is objective or subjective.

Paul's Preparation for Gentile Mission Prior to Conversion

The intention of my paper will try to raise and substantiate the idea that Paul was being educated and prepared for his mission to the Gentiles prior to his Damascus road experience. This idea will try to be substantiated through the biblical text and through the history of Jewish teachings and synagouge practice. Hopefully this paper will raise the possibility of this mission idea as well as give possible evidence to this idea being relative. Any help on this issue would be grateful or help in areas that as a reader you might be interested. Sources will also be scarce so if any are found I would love to hear about them. Thank you.

Paul's View on predestination

Paul has many statements in the New Testament about "the election" or predestined ones. This strikes a huge curiosity of how Paul actually views predestination. Some may write the topic off as "it doesn’t matter." I think it does matter, I believe Paul is right in whatever he says. There is truth in the Word and what better place to look than the Bible. Along with other passages, I think Paul is quiet frank in Romans 9 about his views on God’s sovereign choice. In my paper I hope to explore scripture better to understand why Paul believes this way or if he does at all, and truly in an exegetical way what Romans 9 means.

The Gifts of the Spirit

I would like to write my paper on Paul's statements about the gifts of the spirit, more specifically the role these should play in the church. I believe that the gifts serve a unique purpose in the church and few are examineing what those purposes are. Paul was divinely inspired to give christians today a model for the church. My interest is in how the gifts of the spirit fit into this model. My take on the subject is that the gifts of knowledge, prophecy, and tongues are not valued as much as they should be. At the same time, some churches neglect all other charges to some how be lost in a spiritual expirence. Paul has something to say about this, I intend to objectively evaluate what that is.

The Man of Lawlessness: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

As a course of study, I plan to conduct an exegetical analysis of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. The study will follow the Grammatical Historical method. First, I will carefully examine the passage itself, using several different versions of the scripture and noting key differences in translation. 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians will provide context for interpretation. Thus, I will read both books several times. At first glance, the passage appears to focus on an eschatological theme, addressing the expectation of Christ’s return. I plan to use sources such as the NIV Application Commentary and other critical commentaries in order to understand the nature of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians and the issues that Paul addresses within the church at Thessalonica. I will compare modern translations to the original text, utilizing a Greek New Testament, interlinear, analytical key, and concordance. While it may seem tempting to conduct exhaustive word studies and cross references, the study of the text must remain well balanced. After conducting background research and analyzing the text within its context, I will create a rough translation of the passage. The translation and background information will be used to flesh out the text. After I complete the process of fleshing out, I will examine the exegetical analysis found in critical commentaries, in an effort to test the validity of my exegetical conclusions. The last section of my study will examine application of the passage in the modern world. In conclusion, one must examine 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12 in the context of first century Christian understanding. Application of the passage must come through first century Christian understanding, rather than a modern perspective.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Without Judaism Christianity couldn’t be complete. Modern Christians tend to view this opposing religion as evil or incomplete, but Christ never proclaimed that. He rather died so that it might be fulfilled. This is the way it should be viewed, as a fulfilled religion leading towards Christianity. Instead of rejecting its deficient laws, Paul emphasized taking up a new set. (Gal. 6:2) Rather than disowning his past as a former Jew, Paul embraced it and used some of Judaism’s guidelines to further Christianity as seen in the letter to the Galatians. He proclaimed that the Torah is obsolete, but the Law of Christ took its place. This new law in Galatians will be the emphasis of my paper.

Angel Worship in Colosse (Colossians 2:18)

The objective of the paper is to try to understand what Paul the Apostle meant by telling the Church in Colosse not to worship angels. The paper will consist of several definitions of angel worship and try to find the one that will make the most sense for the time period. Also, it will mention different groups and beliefs during this time that could have influenced the Colossians to practice angel worship. It will look into such beliefs as the Gnosticism, Greek philosophies, and Jewish mysticism. A person should be able to define angel worship and list the most influential beliefs for the practice of angel worship of the time period by the end of the paper.

Brother in Christ,
Billy Hardesty

Ephesians 4:17-32

I plan on examining about how Paul encouraged the church of Ephesus in light of Ephesians 4:17-32. Paul tells them to no longer act like the others around them, Gentiles, who have hardened their hearts. But instead we should get rid of our old self and put on the new self that is true righteousness and holiness in God. Later on he tells them how to act towards one another and to build each other up. I want to focus on how Paul is telling the church to act towards one another and to be, as the caption on my Bible says "living as children of light".

Perseverance

I plan to examine what Paul means when he says that our suffering produces perseverance. The primary passage I will analyze will be Romans 5: 3-5. He tells us we should be joyful in our suffering because that builds up our character and our character builds hope. In our culture, people do not experience the same suffering for their faith that Paul has in mind. I want to find out what sufferings he and the early church has gone through. I want to learn how perseverance somehow draws believers closer in their faith with Jesus Christ.

Stephen Foust

Paul and the Old Testament as observed in 2 Corinthians

Over and over throghout the Pauline Chorpus there is a constant and wide use of Old Testament refrences. I have always found Paul's use of Old Testament scripture a fascinating and effective tool of his writing, but the more I think about it, there are questions that arise concerning these citations . For instance, Why does Paul quote Old Testament Jewish literature in his letters to primarily gentile believers? Indeed there were God fearers and prostelytes who had frequented the synagogues prior to Christianity, but I tend to think that the majority of Paul's audience would be relatively unfamiliar with the law, poetry, and propets of the Old Testament. Through my paper I hope to search out and examine these questions and others in the book of Second Corinthians. Was it the benifit of his congregations, or Jewish heritage that prompted Paul to draw back so often to the Old Testament?

-Chance (chase)

a devlish man will (or has already) come

The man of lawlessness, who is he? In the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Hawthorne, Martin, and Reid discuss that at different times Christians believed the man of lawlessness to be the Papacy, a Roman Emperor, or all the Roman Emperors. Paul all through out his writings proclaims an eminent eschatological period, and specifically in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul speaks of a devilish entity whom will precede Christ’s parousia. Several things should be researched in depth in order to further discuss the text mentioned above. First, a one must gather a general comprehensive understanding Paul’s eschatology throughout his writings. Next, one would probably need to understand how the apostle thought by delving into Jewish beliefs on end times. Then an exegesis of the text is necessary in order to discuss the passage and in order to understand what is known of that which holds back the man of lawlessness.


kevinc

Baptism for the dead (1 Cor 15:29)

The topic of my research paper is an investigation of the Corinthian practice of baptism for the dead. The principal passage for the paper is 1 Corinthians 15:29. The investigation will explore the sociocultural history of Corinth to discover, if possible, the meaning, purpose, theology, and methodology of the practice. Application of the results of this investigation will then be applied in an exegetical manner to the principal passage, and resulting implications for the text of 1 Corinthians – and the Pauline Corpus, if necessary – will be explicated.

Steve

To the Jew First...

In the book of Romans Paul takes the law of the Old Testament and filters it through Christ as the fulfillment of the law. Man no longer has to keep the Old Testament law as a means of salvation. Utilizing his sublime knowledge of the Torah and the Jewish mindframe, Paul presents the Gospel to the Jews who do not recognize Christ as the fulfillment of the law. Using Paul’s writings in Romans, I intend to demonstrate in my paper how he painstakingly wades through Jewish law and mindframe pertaining to Old Testament scripture, presenting the ancient traditional concepts in light of the message of Jesus Christ.

stage one Paul's View of Grace, not a blue eyed blonde

In this project I intend to provide an exegetical study Paul’s view of how grace effects the ethical standpoint of Christians. In the project I will study how grace affects the Old testament law, I will also center a good deal of my study on how this "grace" effects the way we live in accordance to rules besides the law set for us in scripture and how we relate to the rest of scripture with this view of Grace. I plan on using Ephesians 2 :1- 10 as my main verses of focus.
Peace be with you....Ira R.