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Paul, The Apostle of Grace
By Warren Litzman
Aside from Jesus of Nazareth, there is no person in God’s eternal plan who is more important to that plan than the Apostle Paul. He is the man to whom Christ gave the final gospel. This gospel, the Gospel of Grace, is not based as other gospels in the Scriptures on things that have happened since the creation of the world, but on things that were in God’s mind before the creation.
This idea alone required someone to tell the world about the ultimate of God’s plan for humans who would not waver, be hesitant, or slothful and that person was Paul. It is Paul alone who gives believers the message of their hope. Simply, that hope is “Christ in you.” Only Paul, under direct instructions from Christ, was chosen to give us the Gospel of Grace. This book attempts to show Paul’s invaluable mission given to him by Christ, our Lord.
It is my prayer that the reading and study of this book will open the eyes and hearts of the multitude of boron-again believers who have Christ in them and do not know what it all means.
Table of Contents
The Story of Paul
Paul and the Cross
Paul and the Gentiles
Paul and the Holy Spirit
Paul and the C&S Gang
Paul and the Law
Paul and the Mind
Paul and Religion
Paul and the Church
Paul and Meeting Human Needs
Paul and the Birthing
Paul and Spiritual Growth
Paul and Eschatology |
Sample Text
Preface
The Story of Paul
Paul was born in Tarsus, the capital of the Province of Cilicia, a region that came to be known as Asia Minor. Most scholars place his birth at around A.D. 1 and his death at A.D. 68. Paul was the son of Jewish parents who were Roman citizens. Scholars are not certain how his parents came to acquire their Roman citizenship, but there seems to be little reason to doubt Luke’s suggestion (Acts 22:25—29; 23:27) that Paul inherited this status from his parents.
The history of the city of Tarsus shows that it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in 66 B.C. As the political wheel of fortune turned with Mark Anthony’s rise to power in 41 B.C., the city was granted freedom and immunity from taxation. According to practice in the Roman Empire, significant people of a city that supported the incoming ruling power were given Roman citizenship as a reward for their support. Perhaps this is how Paul’s parents came to receive the citizenship they passed on to their son. It is known that between 18 B.C and A.D. 14 the number of Roman citizens in Tarsus increased by almost one million.
Despite its Roman status, Tarsus was more of an oriental city than a western city, in dress and in taste for music. Its roots went back to the Empire of the Hittites in the third millennium B.C. In the first century it was a well-governed, relatively prosperous city with Hellenic respect for education. Tarsus had the ability to equip its citizens to face both east and west and to function competently in both worlds. Paul benefited from that heritage. |
Paperback, 307 pages. Each chapter is followed by review questions to enhance Bible study.
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