Paul's First Missionary Journey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Pauls First Missionary Journey - Essay ExampleTable of contents Introduction 2 Dating Issues 5 Bringing Gods Message to the Gentiles 9 Implications for the perform 19 Conclusion 20 Bibliography 21 Introduction Paul was natural in Tarsus as Saul1, into a devout Jewish family that brought him up a member of the people of Israel, a Hebrew... as to the law, a Pharisee23. By that time, Tarsus was the metropolis of Cilicia, which had been administered by the governor of the Roman province of Syria4. There is a little mention of the urban center of Tarsus in the scriptures5 however, having been written about the time of Paul, Strabos Geography presents a more detailed write upancy of the issue, stating that the city of Tarsus possessed a flourishing and powerful population, and all kinds of schools of rhetoric6. An separate description of Tarsus is given by Flavius Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius, where the city is considered harsh and strange and little conductive to the philo sophic flavor, and its citizens nowhere else more addicted to luxury7. From looking at these accounts of Pauls place of birth, one would envisage an all-important(prenominal) city, whose self-confident inhabitants lived more or less a comfortable life, in a proud and manly atmosphere of mental and physical achievement8. According to Pauls own words, not unless could his family trace their line of descent back to the tribe of Benjamin9 they also adhered very purely to the way of life regulated by the stipulations of the Jewish law circumcised on the eighth day10 and maintained close ties with the Jewish community in Palestine11. Some scholars point out that the traditional opinion of Pauls personality could be traced back to the second-century apocryphal Acts of Paul Small of stature, balding, bow legs, enormous eyes, eyebrows meeting, nose slightly hooked, with appearance full of grace, sometimes looking more same(p) an angel than a man12. On the other hand, his writings imply a sign of particular(prenominal) weakness a thorn was given to me in the flesh13, which has been variously interpreted in ground of a physical defect, whether epilepsy, leprosy, or even stigmata14. Compelling evidence of Pauls education is provided end-to-end his earns, insofar as some of his ideas, theological assertions, and terminology could be paralleled in rabbinic Judaism15 however, an explicit account of the issue is found in Acts of the Apostles brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly tally to our ancestral law16. On the other hand, the style of Pauls letters, e.g. literary patterns, hint other educational influences, namely Roman, Hellenistic stoic philosophy, etc.17 The turning point in Pauls life from a persecutor of the Church of God to the apostolic commission to preach the word of God to the Gentiles is wide believed to have taken place during the Damascus episode18. Nevertheless, Pauls own account in his letter to the Galatian s speaks of the continuity of divine action19, which had actually began before his birth 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