Galatians lesson #16

GALATIANS # 16

10/25/10

Chapter 1: 1 - 5

At the time of the writing of Galatians, the church had been in existence for 15 - 18 years. The question which had began simmering when Peter baptized Cornelius (Acts 10), of whether or not a Christian must continue to adhere to the Mosaic Law to be fully Christian (Acts 11:1-3 ( KJV ) And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.) had exploded into a full scale crisis!
The church was in danger of disintegrating and fading into oblivion: were the Judaizers right and we must first be Jews and then, secondarily, almost as an afterthought, Christians? Or was Paul’s gospel of grace right, declaring the Mosaic Law fulfilled with the “works” of Christ? Or, are there two gospels - one for the Jews and one for the gentiles? One gospel of works plus grace; countered by one of grace only? Did Jesus complete his work (John 19: 30) or was there some things left undone which we humans must complete?

Paul had been preaching his gospel of grace for several years, converting gentiles and Jews alike throughout the gentile Christian community; his teaching was accepted as the gospel by these folks. Paul’s angry declaration that any one preaching “any other gospel” than his was to be cursed (Gal 1: 8 – 9), shows how heated the issue had become. Paul was adamant that our only hope of salvation is the Grace of God; all Christians were freed from the “yoke of the Law” by what was accomplished by Christ’s death on the cross. This “work” of Christ was complete, there is/was/will never be, anything further required; there is only one way; there is nothing we humans can or must do to be justified, Jesus did it all!

There is disagreement among modern biblical scholars over how deep this division was: did the leaders of the Jerusalem church support the “Gospel of circumcision” (I’m paraphrasing here)? How high up in the Jerusalem hierarchy did this belief go, all the way to the top? There is quite a bit of evidence that it did, many certainly leaned that way…note the lengthy, heated, discussion on Peter’s return from baptizing Cornelius (Acts 11: 1 – 3) and the passionate debate at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15: 6 -7).

Here’s an example of a scholar who believed it was prevalent only among “false prophets”:

Luther begins his preface to the epistle thus:
The Galatians had been brought by St. Paul to right Christian belief, from the law to the gospel. But after his departure there came the false prophets, who were disciples of the true apostles, and turned the Galatians back again to believe that they must attain blessedness through the work of the law, and that they were sinning if they did no hold the work of the law, as according to Acts 15 certain highly–placed people in Jerusalem insisted. 7

This is expanded as follows in his commentary on the epistle:
St. Paul goeth about to establish the doctrine of faith, grace, forgiveness of sins, or Christian righteousness, to the end that we may have a perfect knowledge and difference between Christian righteousness and all other kinds of righteousness…. For if the article of justification be lost, then is all true Christian doctrine lost….
Christ [says Paul] hath mercifully called you in grace, that ye should be freemen under Christ, and not bondmen under Moses, whose disciples ye are now become again by the means of your false apostles, who by the law of Moses called you not unto grace, but unto wrath, to the hating of God, to sin and death….
Hereby it may easily be gathered, that these false prophets had condemned the Gospel of Paul among the Galatians, saying: Paul indeed hath begun well, but to have begun well is not enough, for here remain yet many higher matters; like as they say in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts: It is not enough for you to believe in Christ, or to be baptized, but it behoveth also that ye be circumcised; ‘for except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved’. This is as much to say, as that Christ is a good workman, which indeed begun a building, but he hath not finished it; for this must Moses do. 8

….Luther goes on to draw a parallel with the ‘fantastical spirits, Anabaptists and others’ of his day as well as with the ‘Papists’ (Bruce, the epistle to the Galatians, a commentary on the greek text). 9

And then Calvin puts a “happy face” on it, also putting the blame on “false apostles”:

According to John Calvin (1548), Paul
…had faithfully instructed them [the Galatians] in the pure gospel, but false apostles had entered in his absence and corrupted the true seed by false and corrupting dogmas. For they taught that the observance of ceremonies was still necessary. This might seem trivial; but Paul fights for it as a fundamental article of the Christian faith. And rightly so, for it is no light evil to quench the brightness of the gospel, to lay a snare for consciences and remove the distinction between the old and new covenants. He saw that these errors were also related to an ungodly and destructive opinion on the deserving of righteousness….
The false apostles, who had deceived the Galatians to advance their own claims, pretended that they had received a commission from the apostles. Their method of infiltration was to get it believed that they represented the apostles and delivered a message from them. But they took away from Paul the name and authority of apostle…. In attacking Paul they were really attacking the truth of the gospel. (Bruce, the epistle to the Galatians, a commentary on the greek text) 10

Calvin’s position held until the early 19th century when it was analyzed by the founder of the Tubingen school, F. C. Baur who arrived at a dramatically different conclusion:

This understanding of the situation prevailed into the nineteenth century, when it was taken up by the Tübingen school of F. C. Baur and his associates, who integrated it into their account of primitive Church History. ‘What led the Apostle to write this Epistle to the Galatian Churches’, wrote Baur, ‘we learn very clearly from the Epistle itself’. The Galatians’ falling away from the gospel as Paul preached it
was due to the influence of strange teachers who… represented to them that, as a first step to the Christian salvation, they must submit to circumcision (v. 2, 11). Here we first meet with those Judaising opponents with whom the Apostle had to maintain so severe a struggle in the churches which he founded, and they appear here quite in the harsh and uncompromising Judaistic character which marks them as opponents of Pauline Christianity…. In one word, they were Jews or Jewish Christians of the genuine old stamp, who could so little understand the more liberal atmosphere of Pauline Christianity that they would have thought the very ground of their existence was cut from under them if Judaism were no longer to have absolute power and importance. 11
In principle, according to Baur, the declared opponents of Pauline Christianity were in agreement with the leaders of the Jerusalem church; indeed, those leaders ‘are themselves the opponents against whom the Apostle contends in refuting these principles’. 12 But their reluctant recognition, at the Jerusalem conference, that Paul and Barnabas had been entrusted with the gospel for the Gentiles, tied their hands and compelled them to take the position of non–belligerents. Other members of the Jerusalem church, however, were not so bound, and they were infiltrators or trouble–makers who endeavoured to subvert Paul’s teaching and apostolic authority among his Gentile converts, including the churches of Galatia. (Libronix, bible commentary, Galatians)

The normal state in any group of people are a left (liberal), a center (moderate), and a right wing (conservative), faction, just as we find in churches today: the Jerusalem Church was typical in this sense, the overall world view tended to be adherence to the law; the “right” demanding strict compliance, one must first be a Jew, then a Christian, tending towards two gospels – one for the Jews and one for the gentiles; the “left” taking a more moderate stand,with a much more relaxed view of the necessity of keeping the Law. Those in the middle were caught between the two; being pressured by each of these groups.

Paul identified those conservative Christians who actively pursued and promulgated strict adherence to the Law as “trouble makers” and/or “the circumcision”. Some of these folks forced the issue, going behind Paul and attempting to discredit him and his gospel, precipitating the writing of the letter to the Galatians. Though these circumstances were tragic, their recording here is the “breath of God”, ( 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ( KJV ) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.) ;and as such, provide considerable insight to the workings of the early church, as well as declaring that there is only the gospel; no “another gospel” exists.

Even though all scripture are “inspired”, Galatians stands out as a very important letter:
By common consent, Galatians is one of the four ‘capital’ epistles of Paul (the others being 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans) and one of the best authenticated. 1 When the claims of the other letters to Pauline authorship is under consideration, the standard assessment is this fourfold group, and pre–eminently Galatians. Denial of the genuineness of Galatians, such as was made in the Dutch school of W. C. van Manen, 2 is recognised as a critical aberration in the history of NT study. From the first gathering together of the Pauline writings into a corpus, early in the second century AD, Galatians had a secure place among them. (Bruce, the epistle to the Galatians, a commentary on the greek text 4)

It is the first written declaration that we are justified by faith:
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is one of the most significant books of the New Testament and of the whole Bible. Sometimes described as “the Magna Carta of Christian Liberty,” it discusses in clear, emotional, and intensely personal language the basic issue of how a man is put right with God. In Paul’s own words, the basic question is: “Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?” (3.5). And the answer comes in similar language: “A person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires” (2.16, emphasis added) (Arichea)

Paul wrote the letter because of the information he received that men, presenting themselves as representatives of the Jerusalem church, were persuading his flock of new believers that his teaching was wrong and he was not personally authorized or qualified to preach or teach to any one – he had no choice but to respond forcefully!

DISCUSSION

1. What was the proximate “cause” of the writing of the letter to the Galatians?
2. When did the controversy first arise?
3. What was the outcome of the Jerusalem council?
4. Was it unanimously embraced?
5. What was F. C. Baur’s conclusion on 4?
6. Calvin’s?
7. Luther?
8. Yours, and why?
9. What did Luther mean by his comment that Galatians is one of the four “capital” letters?
10. Why did Paul start his letter with such vehemence?
11. How is this all relevant to the “body of Christ” today


BIBLIOGRAPHY
AS OF 10/25/2010
Arichea, Daniel C. , Nida, Eugene Albert. A Handbook on Paul's letter to the Galatians. Grand Rapids: United Bible Societies, 1993.
Bruce, F. F. PAUL Apostle of The Heart Set Free. Grand Rapids Michigan: william B. Eerdman Publishing Company, 2000. 44.
—. Paul: apostle of the heart set free. Grand rapids Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000.
—. the epistle to the Galatians, a commentary on the greek text. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman Publishing Co., 1982.
Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke's commentary on the old Testament. Parsons Technology, inc., 1999.
Kaiser, Bruce and Manfred. Hard sayings of the bible. Quickverse, 1996.
Libronix. "bible commentary, Galatians." Bruce, F. F. the epistle to the Galatians, a commentary on the greek text. Grand Rapids: THE PATERNOSTER PRESS, 1982. 23 - 24.
Libronix Digital Library System. "The New American Commentary." Blomberg, Craig. Matthew, book 22. Nashville Tenessee: Broadman and Holmes, n.d. book 22.
Libronix. "History of the Christian Church." Schaff, Phillip. History of The Christian Church. Saginaw Michigan: Historical Exegetical ' Lectronic Publishing (HE'LP), 1994 (reprint). Chapter V, section 30.
Mc Grath, Alister. "The Christian theology Reader." Packer, J. I. God Has Spoken. London: InterVarsity Press, 1979. 80 - 2.
Moynahan, Brian. The Faith. Doubleday, 2003.
"The Tyndale Biblical Theoloy Lecture." Packer, J. I. What Did the Cross Achieve? Cambridge: Tyndale, 1973. 21 -22.
QuickVerse. "STEP files." Kaiser, Walter c., et al. Hard Sayings of the Bible. Edward England Books and Hodder & Stoughton, ltd England, 2003. Genesis 26: 3-5.
Robinson, Thomas. the bible Timeline. New York: Metro books, 2000. year 333.
timeline of Apostle Paul Life and Missionary Journeys. unknown. 12 October 2010 .
Various. "Kiing James study Bible." Between the Testaments. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1988. 1383 -1384.
Verse, Quick. "Antiquities of The Jews." Josephus. Antiquities of The Jews. Parsons Tech, n.d. Book 13, chapter 5, sect. 9.
verse, quick. "who's who inChristian history." numerous. Paul, the Apostle (Saul of Tarsus). Tyndale House Publishers, 1992.
Wallace, Paul. daily devotional blog. 07 September 2010. 11 september 2010 .
wiki/ Pharisees. 17 July 2010 .
Wikipedia. august 2010 .
wikipedia. pharisees. 31 July 2010 .

Galatians # 15

GALATIANS # 15
10/18/10

As we discussed in lesson #1, with this Bible study, I have followed along with the school of thought that Galatians was written before the Jerusalem Council; just after Paul’s first missionary journey (second mission was after Jerusalem council). The first mission was to the southern Galatians; thus the letter was written to the southern Galatians – about 48 A. D, shortly after James wrote his letter to “the twelve tribes”. Based on this chronology, Galatians was the first of Paul’s letters.

One of the “southern” scholars, F. F. Bruce:
The question of the North or South Galatian destination of our epistle is not one in which it is proper to take up partisan attitudes or indulge in dogmatic assertions; and it ill becomes champions of either view to disparage the rival view or those who maintain it. The fact that so many competent scholars can be cited in support of either position suggests that the evidence for neither is absolutely conclusive. But the weight of the evidence, it seems to me, favours the South Galatian view. If the Epistle to the Galatians was indeed addressed to the churches of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, then we have important historical, geographical, literary and epigraphic data which will provide material for its better understanding. (Bruce, the epistle to the Galatians, a commentary on the greek text)

Galatia was located in the central part of what we know as Turkey. At the time Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, it was composed of two distinct areas; northern Galatia (ethnic, settled by Gauls) and southern Galatia (political sub-division established by Rome).

Southern? Northern? Does it matter?

Well:
• Is the trip described in Acts 15 the same as Galatians 2:1 -10? If not, then when was it? If so then when was the famine relief trip? (was Luke’s writings reliable?)
• If it was after the Jerusalem council, why doesn’t Paul refer to the letter written by James as he battles the Judaizers?
• If it was written after the Jerusalem council, then it would appear that Peter’s “Fear” that caused him to cease eating with the gentiles overwhelmed his belief shown by his position at the council!
• If after, then Peter was REALLY at fault when he left the table of the gentiles. if he done this after his astonishing works in Joppa and his subsequent vision and experience with Cornelius, (Acts 10) and then full support of Paul: Acts 15:7-11 ( KJV ) And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
• How could Peter then do such a radical about face and suddenly demonstrate “another gospel”, provoking Paul’s sharp rebuke? (Gal. 2: 11 21 (some Catholic scholars are so disturbed by this dressing down by Paul that they claim this was some other Peter, not the Apostle))
• Etc.
To me, a “southern” position seems to best clear up these and other similar anomalies.
With that support for the early writing of Galatians, let us proceed.

The church came in to existence at Pentecost in 30 A. D., as time went by the Jerusalem church continued to be the “Mother Church”, recognized as the source and protector of the Gospel – however, the Hebraic leaders continued to be mired in the covenant of the law. As we have discussed, it was staggeringly difficult for the Jews, particularly so for the Hebraic Jews, to break loose from the “yoke of the law”:the opportunity was explicitly given through Peter (Acts 10 – 11) the Mosaic Covenant was “finished” (John 19: 30), transitioning into the covenant of Grace; the covenant now included Jews and gentiles alike with Christ’s death. The Jerusalem church fumbled the ball, they failed to embrace the “great commission”:
Mark 16:15-16 ( KJV ) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ,

Christ’s sacrifice, the willing taking of sin upon himself, had rent the curtain from top to bottom; all the “Elect”could now approach God (John 3: 16). Rather than accepting this astonishing revelation of the “Good News” and embracing the answer to the “mystery” in its fullness, they were hesitant and did not pursue it at all – they (The Jerusalem church) continued to be transfixed by their subjection to “The Law”

Meanwhile, as the Jerusalem church was bogged down, the predominantly gentile church in Antioch was vigorously thriving, expanding, rapidly moving into the gentile community; it was quickly replacing Jerusalem as the center of “Christianity”:
Acts 11:19-26 ( KJV )
Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Barnabas was aware of Paul’s preaching in Tarsus and recruited him to help stabilize the Antioch church, thus drawing Paul more closely into the Church proper – up until this time Paul was completely a “lone ranger” with minimal contact with the Jerusalem church. (Gal.:1: 21 – 24)
Unlike the Jerusalem church, the Antioch church, had actively embraced the gentile “seekers.” Now, led by Barnabas and Paul they were aggressively evangelizing the gentile community; this resulted in the Antioch church rapidly increasing in numbers, mostly Gentile believers.

In 44 A. D., this primarily gentile congregation, at the prompting of prophets, who were Greek, sent Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13: 4- 52). The Antioch church had taken the lead as the most vigorous of the two major church centers (Antioch and Jerusalem) and had the distinction to be called “Christians” at about this time.(Acts 11: 26) the first such use of the description, though used as a pejorative, the believers accepted the title proudly.

Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch after completing their first mission trip. They stayed and preached a “long time” (Acts 14: 28). We are presuming that it was during this time that Paul received the alarming news that some trouble makers were stirring up serious trouble, undoing everything he had done, discrediting his credentials, his message of “Grace” was being declared wrong! This condemning the Gospel of Grace denied what was accomplished on the cross, plunged them back into the servitude of the law; thereby denying everything Christ is and had done: Paul re-acts passionately, writing his letter to these Galatian churches.

DISCUSSION

1. What happened to cause Paul to go to Antioch
2. Where was Galatia located?
3. What was the difference between North and south Galatia?
4. To whom was Paul’s first mission trip?
5. Was Galatians written before or after the Jerusalem council?
6. How does all this affect the letter to the Galatians?
7. Who converted the first gentiles?
8. Where was the term “Christians” first used?
9. Why did the church in Antioch become so influential in development of the church?
10. What was so significant about the conversion of Cornelius?
11. Why did Paul re-act so passionately against Peter leaving the gentile table fellowship?
12. What is the “great commission”?

Galatians #14

GALATIANS # 14

HISTORY

An overview (13)

10/11/10

“The Way”, which was in its birth at the time of Stephen’s execution, was in deadly peril from the onslaught led by the Pharisee, Saul. (Acts 8: 1 - 4; 9: 1); then we see a sudden, shocking, change in this Saul (9:28 -31)!

Why the persecution? Why the change? Who was this Saul?

We now approach the apostle of the Gentiles who decided the victory of Christianity as a universal religion, who labored more, both in word and deed, than all his colleagues, and who stands out, in lonely grandeur, the most remarkable and influential character in history. His youth as well as his closing years are involved in obscurity, save that he began a persecutor and ended a martyr, but the midday of his life is better known than that of any other apostle, and is replete with burning thoughts and noble deeds that can never die, and gather strength with the progress of the gospel from age to age and country to country. (Libronix)

Saul was not a madman, a maniacal mass murder, who delighted in sadistically torturing and murdering people, he was just the opposite; he was a devout Israelite, deeply committed to his religious tradition, searching for the Messiah, and then suddenly finding Him (or maybe better stated being “found” by Him!), completely transformed by Christ:

Philippians 3:4-14 ( KJV )
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul was very well educated in the Hebrew culture, traditions, and religion, fluent in the “Hebrew tongue”:

Acts 21:39-40 ( KJV )
But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,

And also in Greek, demonstrated here with his citing both epicurean and stoic philosophical points:

Acts 17:22-29 ( KJV )
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.

Which also shows his knowledge of Greek philosophy; Titus 1:12 shows his knowledge of Cretian poetry:

The New American Commentary:
17:17 Paul evidently stuck to his usual pattern of missionary preaching. On the Sabbath he reasoned with the Jews, evidently following the same method of scriptural proof that Christ was Messiah as he used at Thessalonica (v. 17). But during the week, on a daily basis, he bore his witness in the agora, the famous marketplace and hub of Athenian life. There he got his most pronounced response, especially from some of the philosophers. The Epicureans and Stoics were among the leading schools of the day, 66 and they serve as representatives of the confusion caused by Paul’s preaching.
17:18 Epicurians were thoroughgoing materialists, believing that everything came from atoms or particles of matter. There was no life beyond this; all that was human returned to matter at death. Though the Epicureans did not deny the existence of gods, they saw them as totally indifferent to humanity. They did not believe in providence of any sort; and if one truly learned from the gods, that person would try to live the same sort of detached and tranquil life as they, as free from pain and passion and superstitious fears as they.
The Stoics had a more lively view of the gods than the Epicureans, believing very much in the divine providence. They were pantheists, believing that the ultimate divine principle was to be found in all of nature, including human beings. This spark of divinity, which they referred to as the logos, was the cohesive rational principle that bound the entire cosmic order together. Humans thus realized their fullest potential when they lived by reason. By reason, i.e., the divine principle within them which linked them with the gods and nature, they could discover ultimate truth for themselves. The Stoics generally had a rather high ethic and put great stock on self-sufficiency. Since they viewed all humans as bound together by common possession of the divine logos, they also had a strong sense of universal brotherhood. The mention of these schools is not incidental. Paul would take up some of their thought in his Areopagus speech, particularly that of the Stoics, and thoroughly redirect it in line with the Creator God of the Old Testament.
It was not particularly complimentary when the philosophers dubbed Paul a “babbler.” They used a colorful word (spermologos), “seed-speaker,” which evoked images of a bird pecking indiscriminately at seeds in a barnyard. It referred to a dilettante, someone who picked up scraps of ideas here and there and passed them off as profundity with no depth of understanding whatever.67 They could not understand Paul’s concept of resurrection at all. Epicureans did not believe in any existence after death, and Stoics believed that only the soul, the divine spark, survived death.68 So what was this idea of a bodily resurrection (anastasis)? “He must be speaking of a new goddess named resurrection (“Anastasia”) along with this new god Jesus he keeps talking about” (author’s paraphrase).69 How ironical that they were making Paul into a polytheist like themselves. Before the Areopagus he would eliminate such thinking with his clear monotheistic exposition of God the Creator. (Libronix Digital Library System)

This group of learned philosophers was very erudite, educated and articulate, a very formidable, intimidating bunch - Paul’s discourse as an equal, demonstrates his wide ranging education, proving his fluency in classical Greek as well as the common Greek shown in his day to day discourse,

A bit more Pauline information:

Title : Who's Who in Christian History
Edition : First
Copyright : Copyright © 1992 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

PAUL, THE APOSTLE (SAUL OF TARSUS) (c. 10–67) Prominent leader of the first-century church; apostle to the Gentiles; author of thirteen New Testament Epistles

FAMILY AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND
Paul was born a Jew in a family of Pharisees (Acts 23:6) of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5) in Tarsus of Cilicia (Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3), a center of commerce and learning that embraced the Hellenistic spirit and Roman politics. It was a city of which he could be proud (Acts 21:39). His parents named him Saul after the first king of Israel, who was also a Benjaminite (1 Sam. 11:15; Acts 13:21), but Acts 13:9 notes that he “was also called Paul” (niv).He uses the Roman name Paul throughout his letters. From religious parents Paul received knowledge of the Law and Prophets and the Hebrew and Aramaic languages (Acts 21:40; 22:2-3; 23:6; Gal. 1:14; Phil. 3:5, 6). Tarsus, however, was not a Jewish city. Rather it had a Greek character where the Greek language was spoken and Greek literature was cultivated. This accounts for Paul’s familiarity with Greek (Acts 21:37), the language of the streets and shops of Tarsus. Jews were brought to Tarsus, the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia, in 171 b.c. to promote business in the region. At that time Paul’s ancestors were probably given Roman citizenship. Paul inherited from his father both Tarsisian and Roman citizenship, which would prove to be of great value to Paul in his later life as he traveled with the gospel through the Roman Empire (Acts 16:37; 22:25-29; 23:27). Paul may have had several brothers and sisters, but Acts 23:16 mentions only one sister whose son performed a lifesaving act for his uncle. Like all Jewish sons Paul called his father “Abba,” an Aramaic word Paul later wove into the fabric of the Christian faith as an affectionate and intimate title for God the Father (Rom 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18:3). He may have learned this trade from his father, or he may have selected it as a means of self-support as was the custom of those in rabbinical training. Tarsus was well known for the goat’s hair cloth called cilicium. It was the weaving of this cloth and the fashioning of it into tents, sails, awnings, and cloaks that gave Paul his economic independence during his apostolic ministry (Acts 18:3; 20:34; 28:30; 2 Cor 11:9; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8).

EDUCATION
Although born in Tarsus, Paul testified to the Jews in Jerusalem that he had been “brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3). It is not clear when Paul was first brought to Jerusalem, but it is likely that sometime between the ages of thirteen and twenty he began his formal rabbinical studies. His teacher, Gamaliel, was the grandson of Hillel, who began the Pharisaic school whose teachings run through the Talmudical writings to this day. This is the same Gamaliel whose wisdom persuaded the Sanhedrin to spare the lives of Peter and the apostles (Acts 5:33-40). No doubt it was while studying under Gamaliel in Hillel’s school that Paul began to advance in Judaism beyond many Jews of his own age and became extremely zealous for the traditions of his fathers (Gal. 1:14). Perhaps then also Paul began to experience the struggles with the law he would later describe in Romans chapter 7. While Paul was studying the Jewish law in Jerusalem, Jesus was working as a carpenter in Nazareth. Then Jesus gathered the disciples who would one day be Paul’s fellow workers in the gospel, fulfilled his ministry, and accomplished redemption on the cross of Calvary (a.d. 30). Christ’s resurrection gave birth to the church, which was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. THE PERSECUTOR Shortly after these world-changing events, the members of certain synagogues in Jerusalem, including the Cilician synagogue, that of Paul’s native land (Acts 6:9), could not withstand the wisdom and spirit (Acts 6:10) of a member of the church in Jerusalem named Stephen (Acts 6:5, 8). They accused him of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin (Acts 6:11-15) and after his eloquent defense (Acts 7:1-53) dragged him out of the city, where he was stoned to death, thereby becoming the first Christian martyr. The record does not fully reveal the role Paul played in these proceedings, but we know that he was present and prominent because the witnesses against Stephen, who were required to throw the first stones in the execution, “laid their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul” (Acts 7:58, niv). At Stephen’s trial, Paul heard Stephen’s historical method of defense, and he later used it himself at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:16-41). He witnessed the man with the face of an angel (Acts 6:15), full of the Holy Spirit, looking above and proclaiming “the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Later Paul would write to the Colossians to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). Stephen’s death initiated the events that would culminate in Paul’s conversion and commission as the apostle to the Gentiles. But at the time, “Saul was consenting unto his death” (Acts 8:1). Paul became a leader of the oppressors of the church. He breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1) and “persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” (Gal. 1:13), “binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (Acts 22:4), “and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities” (Acts 26:10-11).

Saul or Paul341 was of strictly Jewish parentage, but was born, a few years after Christ,342 in the renowned Grecian commercial and literary city of Tarsus, in the province of Cilicia, and inherited the rights of a Roman citizen. He received a learned Jewish education at Jerusalem in the school of the Pharisean Rabbi, Gamaliel, a grandson of Hillel, not remaining an entire stranger to Greek literature, as his style, his dialectic method, his allusions to heathen religion and philosophy, and his occasional quotations from heathen poets show. Thus, a "Hebrew of the Hebrews,"343 yet at the same time a native Hellenist, and a Roman citizen, be combined in himself, so to speak, the three great nationalities of the ancient world, and was endowed with all the natural qualifications for a universal apostleship. He could argue with the Pharisees as a son of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, and as a disciple of the renowned Gamaliel, surnamed "the Glory of the Law." He could address the Greeks in their own beautiful tongue and with the convincing force of their logic. Clothed with the dignity and majesty of the Roman people, he could travel safely over the whole empire with the proud watchword: Civis Romanus sum.

DISCUSSION

1. Who is “Saul”?
2. When was he born?
3. What was the extent of his education?
4. What was his original religious inclination?
5. How did he change?
6. Where was Saul from?
7. What is significant about this?
8. How did Paul become a Roman citizen?
9. Why was this significant?
10. Give an example of Paul demonstrating his knowledge of Greek art and philosophy.