Paul's view on the gift of tounges

One of the biggest theologically controversial issues within the modern church is the practice of the gift of tongues. Churches debate as to what the gift of tongues is and whether it was simply a sign on the Day of Pentecost or if it is a gift that is currently found and needed in the church body. With the use of I Corinthians 14:1-28, 39-40 as the main text, I will exegetically examine Paul’s instruction of how to use the gift of tongues, the importance and contribution the gift makes, whether it is to be practiced in the twentieth century church, and establish a definite definition of what the gift of tongues is.

Travis Adams

Paul’s View on Divorce

I chose to write my Pauline exegesis paper over 1 Corinthians 7:10 -16. The passage deals with what the Lord says and what Paul says about divorce and remarriage. I am very interested to see what if anything turns up when I look into the original Greek text. I’m sure that I will find a better understanding of what Paul was trying to say after looking into the Jewish, Roman, and Greek views of divorce and remarriage. Also, I plan to look at how Paul may have been influenced by Jesus’ teachings on this subject. I think that this will be a challenging paper, but I am excited to see how it turns out.

Craig A. Golden

Stage One

Paul’s advice to young ministers (Namely Timothy and Titus)

Paul gives some excellent advice to those in ministry in his letters to Timothy and Titus. I plan to discuss some of Paul’s views on what kind of man a minister should be, and what Paul says a minister should do as one called of God. Besides the qualifications and duties of a minister according to Paul, I also plan to discuss Paul’s warnings to them about false doctrine and teachers, and his emphasis on the importance of sound doctrine. Finally Paul encourages these young ministers to remain faithful to Christ.

In His Service
Craig Powell

Paul and contextualization

Paul, being perhaps the most influential missionary during the first century, was forced to use contextualization very commonly. Paul had a very unique talent of presenting the truths of the Gospel in ways that can be understood by his audience. He often used the culture and influences of the people to relay the message of Christ to them. Paul often put the message of Christ in a way that could be understood by the Pageans or Gentiles that he he was speaking to by using a context that they could understand and relate to. I plan to use 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 which explains Paul’s philosophy of contextualization and his overall application of his ministry as my main Scripture reference.

Steven Price

Stage One, Topic: Paul's View of Resurrection

In my paper for the requirements of this course, I would like to examine Paul’s understanding and teaching of resurrection. Examining backgrounds such as Paul’s being a Pharisee and the Greco-Roman world’s understanding of the body and soul, the paper will demonstrate how these backgrounds might have influenced Paul’s understanding of resurrection.. The base text of Scripture I intend to exegete is 1 Corinthians 15. While examining Paul’s view of resurrection, one main purpose of study will be coming to a better understanding of what nature of resurrection the apostle taught: a physical/spiritual or simply a spiritual. I believe my paper will demonstrate that Paul linked the resurrection of Christ to the future resurrection of believers and that he taught the future resurrection will thus be of the same nature.

Stage 1

Paul, being the missionary to the gentile, faced opposition regarding how gentiles become Christians. The Judaizers Paul faced insisted that they must obey the stipulations of the law, especially circumcision, before they could be in Christ. This is a very big and important issue Paul encountered so I plan to write about Paul’s argument using Abraham as an example to discuss the contrast of faith versus works. Paul uses Abraham as an example more than once. I will probably focus on his argument in Galatians chapter 3.

The Resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:55-56 (Stage 1)

I am going to exegetically illustrate that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. I will also show that the resurrection of Jesus reconciled fallen man to God by demonstrating Yahweh’s power over death, His sovereignty, and His age-old salvific operation.


Passage: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your string?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15: 55-56)


I will utilize Paul’s analogy of the two Adams and associate Old Testament Scripture to reveal God’s power over death from the time of God’s creation. Among the Scriptures I will use are Genesis: 1-3; 2nd Sam. 2:6; 1 Kings 17: 17-24; 2nd Kings 4:31-37; 2nd Kings 13:20-21; 2nd Sam. 2:6; Hos. 6: 1-3; Ezek. 37:1-14; and Isa. 53: 10-12.

Vicky

Stage 1

I want to research slavery in Paul's time, primarily focusing on the book of Philemon, verses 8- 21. I plan to study the social and cultural ideas of slavery in the first century. I also want to study Paul's view of grace and forgiveness between people, namely Philemon and Onesimus. Lastly, I want to research some of the other writings of Paul that deal with his analogy of slavery as far as sin goes (like Romans 6:6) and attempt to understand what that must have meant to the Romans.
Jennifer

Paul, the Sports Fan (stage 1)

After looking at a few different topics, I have decided that I will be writing my paper for Pauline Epistles on Paul’s interest in the Isthmian Games which he reflects on in

1 Corinthians 9:24-27. I think it is fascinating how Paul uses these games to make a point about the Christian life when he writes to the Corinthian Church. I will be also exploring the importance of these games in context to the time period in which this specific letter was written by Paul to the Corinthian Church.

Abbi

Adoption (stage 1)

Having been adopted myself and being in the process of obtaining my adoption records Romans 8:14-15 seemed like the natural choice for this research paper.

“Adoption >(huiothesia), N. [5]adoption as sons, sonship; in NT culture a son received
greater inheritance and honor, but in Christ men and women inherit equally:- adoption as sons
(2), adopted as sons (1) full rights of sons (1), sonship (1)” (The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance).

A theological exegesis of Romans 8:14-15 which states, “All those led by God’s Spirit
are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” (HCSB). The research will include a sociological and historical inspection of first century practice of adoption in Greco-Roman and Jewish cultures considering legal, personal and practical aspects of adoption in the first centuryand modern western culture, relating how believers can make pragmatic application of our adoption by God into the family of Christ.

Michael Carpenter

Importance of Discipleship

Throughout Paul’s missionary journey, we see a pattern in the acceptance of the gospel. First the gospel is presented in the synagogues and has good acceptance. But the gospel causes the people to have to make a decision to accept or deny Christ. This causes division. This division ultimately causes rejection and violent persecution, Paul barely escaping death by stoning in more than one occasion. Despite the hostility of the towns toward him, rather than going home the easy way, discipleship was so important to Paul that he risked going back into the cities he was so violently persecuted in in-order to check-up on the new Christians. This shows that our commission is more than to go get people saved, but to make disciples, teaching them how to be Christians.

Turning a blind eye

So many times we think that *spiritism*does not exist and we have a tendacy to turn a blind eye to this stuff..We see in the scripture that this does take place. Paul clearly turned this around and made it honor God and help people see the realness of Christ through this.. I think we should aknowledge that its bad and not a good thing for sure, but this pretending that it isnt real is crazy. Often times we forget to take the gospel to certain aspects and choose to ignore things because we are selective with what the scriptures say about it.

No other gods before me.

During Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary trip, they were considered Zeus and Hermes. The people of Lystra believed that Paul was Hermes (the messenger god) and Barnabas was Zeus (the chief of the gods) because Paul healed a lame man. The people of Lystra were prepared to make sacrifices and worship Paul and Barnabas. Once the missionary duo discovered what the Lystrans were preparing do to, they made it clear that it was Jesus that had healed the lame man, not Paul. One can see Paul and Barnabas’ faith. They could have easily said that they were the gods and been raised up among the people. Instead, they said that it was Jesus. Paul was later stoned and left for dead because of his belief in Christ. Paul put aside his love of self in order to glorify God in all his works. When God said no other gods before me, Paul knew God meant what he said.

Brother in Christ,
Billy Hardesty

This ain't no card trick y'all

Reading about the sorcerer in Acts 13 brought to mind the story I read in the news about the Kenyan lady who placed a tribal curse on God and was found dead the next morning. The sorcerer in Acts was blinded as a result of the judgement of God. God's power was made as evident in the Kenyan woman's case this past week as it was thousands of years ago. The proconsul with Paul had his beliefs reinforced by God's awesome display rather than being talked out of them by the sorcerer. Ephesians 6:12 gives us clear guidelines in battling the powers of darkness, and Paul was definately game for combating the supernatural opposition of Christ.

Purpose Driven Paul

There are two things about the apostle Paul's first missionary journey that I think are very interesting and are mentioned by Polhill. The first topic mentioned by Polhill is the pattern of how Paul would go to a new area and first go to the synagogues be rejected and then take the gospel to the Gentiles. The fact that the bible mentions this as well suggests that Paul did not have much impact with his own people. This makes perfect sense why Paul would later make the claim that he has been sent to spread the gospel amongst the Gentiles. The irony of the whole situation is that Paul was sent by the Jewish Christians on his journey and they wanted the Gospel to go out to the Jews who rejected the message. The weird thing is that Paul continued to go to the synagogues even though he was consistantly rejected. Paul was obviously very persistent.

If you read Polhill's comment about Paul going to the Gentiles after being rejected by the Jews in the synagogues, you might assume that Paul was having success with the Gentiles. The reality is that Paul wasn't having very good luck with the Gentiles either. Paul did not have the success that the Billy Graham Crusades have had. Thousands did not flock forward and the message was almost completely new to the Gentiles. Rejection from his own people and from those whom he felt called to proclaim the gospel must have been very frustrating. As frustrating as it may have been the thing that I think makes Paul stand out the most is he never seem to complain or quit trying. I don't Paul's eventual success came from the large number of conversions but what he did with those whom he converted as demonstrated in his letters in majority of the New Testament.

Jeff Childers

Tag Team Apostles

Paul and Barnabas, were a tag team in the world of lost sinners. they were united with the brotherhood of believers that at that point didn't include much more then the disciples and the Jews. Which is why Paul and Barnabas made in a goal to reach the world of the Gentiles and further God's kingdom on earth. They are commisioned by the church of Antioch, which will be the main support of their ministry, so they are the sponsorship of the tag team. I think that it is ironic that just like any other team of any kind that each individual gets his time to shine. Barnabas was the leader and the one in charge, but that soon turns around when Paul meets Sergius Paulus and Elymas, when Paul confronts the evil sorcerer, Elymas and Paul points out six things that are wrong with him. it is at this point that Paul becomes the leader. He stepped up in the spotlight when he had to and the rest is history. This is the beginning of Paul being the outspoken speak his mind type of guy we know him to be. bro in Christ James(j_BOD) Boddie

Intent of the law and gift of Grace

It has always struck a wonder in my mind how grace worked in the OT. It is so selfish to me to think that there is no grace in the OT just because Jews had a custom or law to abid by. The law set Jews apart from the rest of the world or religions. So what sets me apart from other worldly views some even claiming Christ. Galatians 2 helps out, and helps me understand the NT connotation of Grace. Paul gives a good explaination of Grace, I think. The law in OT set Jews apart but today we are all one in Christ. Baptism is a key part of the division but it clearly says in verse 29, if you belong to Christ then you are of Abrahams desendents and part of a promise to Abraham. Quiet a humbling thought to know how big our God is.

Defined Sin

I’ve always viewed Judaism, as mentioned in class, a salvation by works. It always appeared to me as an evil religion of those who, directly, murdered Christ. Through the class discussion though, I now carry a very different view. In all honesty I don’t know where I would be with out Judaism. This religion that I have despised for so long is actually the beginning of my faith. With out the clear declaration of sin brought fourth by the law I would never know I lived in sin. This is the knowledge that brings us to salvation; this is why Christ died. Christ death would be meaningless to me without Judaism. Although I believe that this form of religion is outdated, the realization of sin that it shows isn’t.

Antioch

I can't imagine the significance that Antioch of Syria had on the Christian faith. If the city were not a culturally diverse city, then the Gospel may not have been presented to some other nations and people groups. The church was very diverse and extremely Spirit led. They comissioned people and sent them out into the mission field. Antioch was an important church for the mission of the Christian faith.In teh best respect it is the Cornerstone for the faith.

Antioch

What would the church of Antioch look like in the twenty first century? As we discussed in class and Polhill mentions, the church evangelized much of Syria, began a work, Cyprus, and chapter thirteen is led by the Spirit to go further. People of all ethnicities, races, and cultures probably composed the church. I personally do not know of any churches like Antioch. I know of churches made up of Black people. I know of Hispanic churches. I know of mission churches to different cultures in larger cities, but not one the biblical text tells us about. Would the praise service contain songs of all different languages or did some people sing in Greek, a language they may not have preferred? We think we are revolutionaries for having bilingual services. If they did a small group structure might people have this kind of diversity in a single home? No wonder they had a heart to reach other peoples, because they were composed of all kinds of people.

kevinc

EUTHUS

Angry Antioch

The Jews at Pisidian Antioch had enjoyed Paul’s teaching. They invited he and Barnabas back to speak the next week, but when they came back the Jews among them were Pisidian angry. Luke says that they were jealous. They were jealous of the crowds of Gentiles that had gathered to hear the word of the Lord. Were they jealous of the numbers of Gentiles that the message had attracted? Polhill suggests that this may have attributed to it, but he says perhaps they had taken the week to realize the implications of the message they had heard. He suggests that they realized that Paul was teaching the importance of grace over the importance of the Mosaic Law. Personally, I think that they heard the message and understood it, but when they saw the number of Gentiles there they realized that the message allowed the Gentiles to bypass the law in some way. This, in my opinion, is what made them jealous. Thanks be to Polhill!

Mr. Bill Faber…or Bill Lee to the older generation

Perseverance In Commission: Pass It On

I am struck by the routine and persistence of Paul. Polhill discusses the fact that Paul always starts out in the synagogue of a town. When Jews reject his message, he moves on to the Gentiles. Despite continual rejection by the Jews, Paul maintains this pattern. The Gospel always had an effect on some in the crowds. Nevertheless, at least once in his ministry, Paul must have felt discouraged about the Judaic rejection of Christ. I think that his first moment of discouragement might have come during his stoning at Lystra. The fact that Paul survived is a miracle in itself, and the continuation of his ministry after the fact shows a great amount of faith. After the long journey, it would be easy to give up, pack up, and go home. Instead, Paul and Barnabas returned to the newly established churches. While I doubt that Paul desired to be stoned a second time, I believe that the persecutions throughout his journeys made him a bolder witness. He endured shipwrecks, beatings, and whippings. Despite these things, he pressed on. Perseverance was key to spreading the Gospel. Paul puts to shame all garden variety weenie Christians who claim to have faced persecution because someone said something bad about them. In the ministry of Paul, the words of opposition were nothing to blink about. Paul possessed the perseverance to complete the race, and persecution merely fueled his resolve.

In Christ,
the other Paul

A view of Paul

I found it quite amaxing that there is actually a substantial amount of biographical info about the life of Paul. At first glance of his texts, one merely see's an author or a great man of God, but through Vermes, Sanders, and Pohill, Stendal, and as well as Dr. Foster, I have a greater understanding of how God used all parts of Paul's life to shape Paul for God's use. This really encourages me because I know that God is doing the same in my life and in the lives of other christians.

In my still limited view of Paul's life I am challenged to do my best, be salt and light to people, and not to conform to the paterns of the world but be transformed by the continued renewing of my mind.

Christian, The Christian

Paul the Mystic?

My title is a question intentionally. I am wanting lots of response to the question that I am about to pose. Is Paul a mystic? In our study of Paul, we have come across at least two different passages that suggest Paul may have had some mystical leanings. Paul’s mystical leaning are first seen in 2 Cor. 12:2,Paul speaks of a vision where he was caught up to the heavens (Pohill spoke of this idea) and then in Act 13 when Paul curses Elymas.

There may be more passages that would show Paul’s leanings on mysticism, but as of yet I have not found any (I cannot say I have had an overly abounded amount of time to look). Of course if Paul is a mystic, then he might be tied to the Essenes, who seem ( in my opinion) to be more mystical. Therefor if Paul is a Mystic, he may then be an Essene as well.

May God's blessing be upon you
And may peace favor you.

Danny the Red

Circumcision or no circumcision?

In Acts 15 a question that seems very important is raised in that after being "saved" must we follow the law to be saved? Or is saved by grace the standard. I think that the council at Jerusalem did well in this decision in that they gave rules to help in the area of sanctification but realised that the law could not save. The law is still important because it shows us how to imitate the character of God and what God's standard is as well as points out our sin so that we understand our need for salvation through Jesus.
Peace.....Ira R.

Antioch’s High Tolerance for Religions

The fact that the first church was established in an area of high religious tolerance is interesting to me. For this reason, the flourishing of the early church was made possible. It may have been the “perfect base of operations for the spread of Christianity,” at that time. The area of Antioch was a safe haven to which many of the persecuted church poured into so they could escape their oppressors, but what made the area perfect for the establishment of the first church? The answer to this may be within the Greek lifestyle, and the location of the city. The Greeks ravenous quest for more and new knowledge pulled them to Hellenistic Jews with a great success rate. Also, the location of the city probably played an important role in the survival of the church. Antioch was one of very few areas with an accessible, natural port, and heavily populated, but well developed city limits.

The situation of religious tolerance does, however, seem to cause problems with church growth today. Forgive me if this statement seems to be an overgeneralization, but today, churches within the areas of persecution seem to flourish; while churches within areas of high religious tolerance seem to be at a stand still. There may be some exceptions to this statement. Is the main difference a paradigm shift from the knowledge- hungry Greeks, in their quest for truth, to the Postmodern way of thinking, where truth may be more relative?


Craig A. Golden

The Law and Grace

What is God's punishment for sin? Death. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). [see also Gen. 2:15-17]. The Law, given by God, is full of His grace and mercy. The list of crimes (sins) in the law that deserve death are a mark of God's grace. All sin is deserving of death, it is though the patient grace of God that we all have not been wiped out. We sometimes talk of grace as if it is something that we deserve. This is a contridiction in itself. Grace by definition is undeserved. We ought to be careful in asking for what we think we deserve because what we deserve is death. The very fact that any of us are able to draw a single breath is an act of divine mercy. The insight given into the Jewish view of the grace and the keeping of the law to maintain the covenant with God sheds a whole new light onto first century Judiaism. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). The whole law can be summed up for us in the Great Commandments and our obedience to The Great Commission. We are now justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Does this make the law bad or evil? No. We would have not come to know what sin was without the law [see Paul's argument on this point in Romans 7]. Paul, being a first century Jew viewed the law as the grace of God and realized how much more has God's grace been shed on all those who believe.

Michael Carpenter

Great Place to Start

Paul’s base of operations for his missionary journeys was Antioch. Through reading Antioch of Orontes, in Dictionary of Paul, I see how God set it up and that it was a great place to start from. One because of the great number of Christians in the town. Who where there because of the persecution in Jerusalem. Also that there were several Greek who came to be with them because of the monotheism. It was a port city and the third largest city in the Roman Empire. The church in Antioch was very missionary minded and helped Paul as he left for his journeys. I know that most of this was covered in class but I just find it amazing the way God just lines everything up. God Bless
Matt Justice

A return to the Jewishness of it all

Reading in the DPL on Barnabas I found it informative to look at the relationship between Paul, Barnabas, and the church. Knowing that Barnabas was a Levi changed a good deal of my view of both him and the church at Antioch. It is interesting to see how the early church was so influenced by Judaism. Today we often take Judaism and throw it out the window, seeing it as having no merit, but it was such an important and integral part of the church in the past. Much like we discussed in class about needing to get back to the Jewishness of Paul and Jesus, I feel that maybe we should rekindle the Jewishness of Christianity. I am not proposing that we start throwing away every piece of clothing that mildews or no longer wearing clothing of two different weaves, but it is important that we look more at the OT. It will help bring us to a better understanding of much of what we “hold so dear.”

Paul's name last

I thought it was very interesting that Paul’s name shows up last in the list of leaders shown in Acts. The first possible reason for this that comes to my mind is that there could still be tension between Paul and some of the leaders in regard to his past. Perhaps he still needed to earn his proper place in the pecking order. If this is the case then it is surprising that he had trouble accepting Mark back into the missionary group after previously abandoning them. We are not certain what Mark’s motive for leaving were. I’m under the impression that the task was over baring and he returned out of discouragement. Whatever the case is Paul understands what grace is and he knew what it was like to ask forgiveness and be accepted into the group. He should have had no problem taking Mark back as a partner. Partnership in the Lord’s work is very necessary. Maybe God used this experience to teach Paul this valuable lesson.

Stephen Foust

mission tactics

In the DPL, the mission section is pretty informative about how Paul would start churches. Paul considered himself a church planter. He was called to live a life of traveling constantly and encountering groups that might not always welcome him. He did not focus on individuals. (I do not mean to say that Paul never ministered to an individual at all.) Paul's focus was on building up a body of believers in a certain area. When that church was founded and started "good," he considered himself done in that area.
This is important to us because we can see that God has called people to specific things. One may be called to preach, but hopefully that man will not ignore opportunities to share the gospel when the opportunity arises on a day other than Sunday. We should learn to appreciate that a call to be an evangelist is no more important than a call to be a doctor. We all have important calls; we're all made to do specific things. Of course, this does not mean it's okay to ignore ministry outside of that specific call.

The Ups & Downs of The First Mission

I just want to start off by saying, that it is always awesome to me how God uses homework to comfort and speak to my heart...weird...I know, but in doing the reading for this week, the account of the first mission brought so much encouragement. I am afraid I may go a little devotional, so bear with me...

So, they start out and this sorcerer, who Paul calls "child of the devil" is made blind because he was trying to sway the faith of the Sergius Paulus...and by Paul acting out, filled with the holy spirit, this Sergius guy makes his statement of belief...now if you are a believer, anyone who gives thier statement of faith...this is an exciting time! This is like a WOOOO! JESUS!
So then, they go on and Paul preaches, and he really preaches at P. Antioch, he preaches so well, that the next Sabbath almost the WHOLE CITY came to hear of Jesus! Jews and Gentiles alike heard of the awesome salvation that Jesus offered when he died on the cross...Now if I were Paul and Barnabas, I would be PUMPED UP, like seriously, there is so much movement, and God is blessing, and things are going good, and WOOOO! And then, here come some guys, who just hate...hate...Paul...they hate what he's saying, they hate what he is all about...and the beat and stone him...and leave him for DEAD. I stand amazed at how Paul reacts to this. How weak I am compared to this...
It says starting in vs. 19 "Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. (20) But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back to the city."

It says after this that they went to Derbe and they preached, and won a large number of diciples. He returned to the churches and preached hardships for the kingdom of God.

This all amazes me, because God had done so many GREAT & AWESOME things that they didn't let the persecution and the pain bog them down, or stop them from serving and preaching. Reading stuff like this makes me so mad at myself for caring so much about the pain of persecution and hatred shown towards me by others...PAUL GOT UP...HE GOT UP...AND WENT BACK TO THE CITY...THE SAME CROWD, THE SAME PEOPLE WHO STONED HIM...HE WENT BACK.

Okay, I am challenged to grow some thicker skin and move on and continue on this road with my awesome Lord Jesus, and forget about what others are doing to me, but focus more on what God is doing through me.

Abbi

The Importance of the Chronology

As I was reading the material in Polhill this week I couldn’t help but ask so what? I thought it was quite a bit of work to but a chronology together and started asking how important and influence this study has on Bible scholarship. I quickly realized that it is a vital tool for confirming our faith. The chronology of Paul helps us to confirm the fact that Paul and his missionary journeys actually occurred. It has parallels with other historical documents and findings, which helps us put it all in context. Knowing what Paul has done or experience prior to or during the writing of his letters helps us understand what all is going through Paul’s head and the circumstances that he is in while writing the letters. That by itself is a huge advantage to Pauline studies. In the end, however, I doubt we have concrete evidence of the exact chronology of Paul, but that is ok. Having some knowledge is definitely better than living in complete ignorance. I have to keep in mind during my education that there is a reason for the madness. It may not seem apparent at first, but in the long run it helps us develop and grow in our faith. Our professors make us do this work for a reason. They know what they are doing. I must keep this in mind, or else I may go insane with all the reading I have to do.
Travis Adams

God's Message of Salvation in Jesus

I enjoyed reading "The First Mission" chapter in Polhill the fact that during Stephen's speech, (Acts 7), Stephen emphasized Israel's history starting with Abraham. The link showed God's past deliverance of Israel to His present salvation in Jesus. The next fact, stated that John the Baptist was forerunner of the Messiah. Paul utilizes this concept to connect John with the Gospel tradition and Peter's speech to Cornelius. He does this to reveal to the people God's message of salvation in Jesus.

Paul states O.T. Scripture, an everlasting throne (2nd Sam. 7:4-17); Messiah Son of God (Psalm 2); eternal blessing promised to David (Isa. 55:3); and the promise of an eternal kingship not realized in David because of the fact David died (Psalm 16:10) to point to Jesus as Messiah based on God's Promises. The eternal Kinsship is in Jesus.

In the (DPL), Stendahl states how that Paul was called and his call could be interpreted within God's age-old salvific operation and that Paul's thought was Gentile inclusion.