Where does Paul Fit in the Bible?

Are you ready….ready to sink your teeth into Scripture?  ‘Ready to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and let him grow you?  ‘Ready to have some set-apart time to spend with your Lord?  First, let’s get our bearings….where we are with Paul in Scripture, and on the historical timeline.  Where did we leave him? Well, a couple weeks ago, we closed out Paul’s letter to the church at Rome with Paul making his intentions known--“there is no more place for me to work in these regions, [because he had already laid the foundations for Christianity] and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you [Rome] while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.  Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there.  For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem… So after I have completed this task [of delivering their offering] I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.  I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.”  From Romans 15

Okay…so what happened?  Paul did indeed go to Jerusalem to deliver the provisions to the persecuted followers of Jesus who were struggling mightily, just as he had indicated he would.  He knew the risk, and sure enough, once there, he was arrested.  Eventually, he was transported to a prison in Rome.  From prison, Paul wrote to the church at Philippi…  Though I am most anxious to crack open this phenomenal letter, let’s take a look at the marvelous work of Scripture that you hold in your hands.  I strongly believe that you and I need to have some basic working knowledge of the scope of the Word of God.

And yes, I believe this ‘understanding’ of what we hold in our hands should be mastered! 

Let’s start with the Old Testament

-It is a written record of the history of Israel, written between 1440 B.C. and about 400 B.C.

  **It is important to remember it is not ordered chronologically.

-There are 39 books in the Old Testament which can be classified as:

   The Law of Moses – first five books – the Torah

   The Prophets – Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel + 12 minor prophets

   The Writings – Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles

-The Protestant church accepts identically the same Old Testament books as the Jews had, and as Jesus and the apostles accepted.  The Roman Catholic Church, since the Council of Trent in 1546, includes 14 books of the Apocrypha

-There are 400 years between the testaments—sometimes called the ‘400 years of silence’

And now the New Testament

-contains 27 books:

   The Gospels – the four gospels record the birth, life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ, and his training of the disciples

   History - the establishment of the early church and its spread through Mediterranean lands

   Letters – After Paul’s conversion on the Damascus Road in Acts 9, we are able to read his letters to the churches—the ‘epistles’

   Apocalypse – the book of Revelation, written by the apostle John when he was on the Isle of Patmos                                                              

The NT was written by the apostles of Jesus Christ, or companions of the apostles.  This means that the authors were either eyewitnesses of the events they described or they recorded eyewitness firsthand accounts      (For instance, take a look at: 2 Peter 1.16; 1 John 1.1-3; 1 Corinthians 15.6-8; John 20.30,31; Acts 10.39-42; 1 Peter 5.1; Acts 1.9; Acts 2.22; Acts 26.24-28)

So, understand with me, please, that the New Testament covers fewer than 90 years—just a few years, compared to the thousand years spanned by the Old Testament.  The apostle Paul was born about 5 A.D., established the church at Philippi around 50 A.D. . . and ‘don’t want to spoil things, but Jerusalem, along with the Temple, would be destroyed in 70 A.D.—and Paul would not be alive to mourn these events.

But Friends—here’s the thing…when we hold the Bible in our hands, we hold the living Word of God. It can be supported by science, archaeology, prophecy and the like… when you and I read it, endeavor to live by it, we are changed!  We are transformed ‘by the renewing of our minds’ as Paul told us in Romans 12.

There you have it—our study takes us to the latter part of the recorded history of the Christian church in the first century A.D…. oh, how I love the Word of God!

Grace and Peace,

Christine

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