Saint/Apostle Paul's is the earliest and most influential interpreter of Christ's message and doctrine; an early Christian missionary and evangelist; correspondent with the Universal Church.

I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God's grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. - 1 Cor. 15:9-10 -

At the height of Paul's campaign of repression, he was confronted on the road to Damascus by the risen Christ. In an instant his life was reoriented. The Jewish law was replaced as the central theme of Paul's life by the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint/Apostle Paul became the leading champion of the cause which he had tried to overthrow. The realization that Jesus, whom he had been persecuting, was alive and exalted as the Son of God exposed the weakness of the Jewish law. Paul's zeal for the law had made him an ardent persecutor. He now saw that his persecuting activity had been sinful; yet the law, instead of showing him the sinfulness of such course, had really led him into sin.

Paul learned that the law had lost its validity and was no longer by keeping the law that a person was justified in God's sight, but by faith and love in Christ. And if faith and love in Christ provided acceptance with God, then Gentiles might enjoy that acceptance as readily as Jews. This was one of the implications of the revelation of Jesus Christ which gripped Paul's mind. He was assured that he himself had received that revelation in order that he might proclaim Christ and His salvation to the Gentile world.

Thus, Paul was given the opportunity to set forth and explain the revelations of Jesus Christ, and because Paul was called and chosen to teach Gentiles rather than Jews, he was in the unique position of confronting and answering problems which could only be presented by those completely unfamiliar with Jewish traditions.

Paul not only knew but ascertain as well, and had no doubt of the validity of the appearance or of the words, "I AM JESUS" that the one who appeared to him on the Damascus Road was the risen Christ, the Son of God. Both the appearance and the words validated themselves in his later life.

Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you - believing anything else will not lead to anything.

Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it. - 1 Cor. 15:1-8 -

The Lord Jesus Christ is presented by apostle Paul as the head of all creation, "through whom are all things, and through whom we live, and in whom, through whom, and for whom all things were created." - Col. 1:15-20 -

In view of the extraordinary nature of the Lord Jesus Christ revelations to Paul's. Paul's was prevented from getting too proud or being "exalted from measure." He was given a "thorn in the flesh" an angel of Satan to beat him and stop him from getting too proud!

The Greek word for thorn may be used to refer to a stake, on which a person could be impaled. Many explanations have been offered about the nature or identity of Paul's "thorn in the flesh." If the best translation is "in the flesh" referring to the physical flesh, the thorn may refer to some physical infirmity such as epilepsy, malaria, or bad eyesight. An eye ailment seems to be supported by Galatians 4:13-15.  If the translation is "for the flesh" referring to the Pauline concept of man's lower nature, the thorn may refer to some painful experience which was spiritual in nature, such as temptation or the opposition of the Jews.

The purpose of the thorn, however, was to eliminate spiritual arrogance in Paul. Although he prayed for its removal, the Lord Jesus said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, Paul could boast in his infirmities because of the victorious power of The Lord Jesus Christ in his life.

If anyone wants to boast, let him boast of the Lord. It is not the man who commends himself that can be accepted, but the man who is commended by the Lord. - 2 Cor. 10:17-18 -

I only wish you were able to tolerate a little foolishness from me. But of course: you are tolerant towards me. You see, the jealousy that I feel for you is God's jealousy: I arranged for you to marry Christ so that I might give you away as a chaste virgin to this one husband. But the serpent, with his cunning, seduced Eve, and I am afraid that in the same way your ideas may get corrupted and turned away from simple devotion to Christ. Because any newcomer has only to proclaim a new Jesus, different from the one that we preached, or you have only to receive a new spirit, different from the one you have already received, or a new gospel, different from the one you have already accepted - and you welcome it with open arms. As far as I can tell, these arch-apostles have nothing more than I have. I may not be a polished speech-maker, but as for knowledge, that is different matter; surely we have made this plain, speaking on every subject in front of all of you.

Or was I wrong, lowering myself so as to lift you high, by preaching the gospel of God to you and taking no fee for it? I was robbing others churches living on them so that I could serve you. When I was with you and ran out of money, I was no burden to anyone; the brothers who came from Macedonia provided me with everything I wanted. I was very careful, and I always shall be, not to be a burden to you in anyway, and by Christ's truth in me, this cause of boasting will never be taken from me in the regions of Achaia. Would I do that if I did not love you? God knows I do. I intend to go on doing what I am doing now - leaving no opportunity for those people who are looking for an opportunity to claim equality with us in what they boast of. These people are counterfeit apostles, they are dishonest workmen disguised as apostles of Christ. There is nothing unexpected about that; if Satan himself goes disguised as an angel of light, there is no need to be surprised when his servants, too, disguise themselves as the servants of righteousness. They will come to the end that they deserve....

If I am to boast, then let me boast of my own feebleness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus - bless him for ever - knows that I am not lying. When I was in Damascus, the ethnarch of king Aretas put guards round the city to catch me, and I had to be let down over the wall in a hamper, through a window, in order to escape. - 2 Cor. 11:1-33 -

Must I go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it? But I will move on to the visions and revelations I have had from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up - whether still in the body or out of the body. I do not know; God knows - right into the third heaven. I do know, however, that this same person - whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows - was caught up into paradise and heard things which must not and cannot be put into human language. I will boast about a man like that, but not about anything of my own except my weaknesses. If I should decide to boast, I should not be made to look foolish, because I should only be speaking the truth; but I am not going to, in case anyone should begin to think I am better than he can actually see and hear me to be.

In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, `My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.' So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong. - 2 Cor. 12:1-10 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -