The Questor

Reflections on St Paul..…

….. Foundational Beliefs

Paul was firmly of the view that God had set him aside from an early age to become the apostle who would take the Message of Jesus to the wider world. And that God gave him the intellect, strength of character and life experience he needed to be able to do the job.

So it’s interesting that in the Acts of the Apostles, there is a great deal said about Paul’s travels but only one record of his teaching. That is in Acts 13 vs 16-41 where his sermon to the people of Antioch in Galatia is recorded. In it Paul gives a very succinct statement of the Message of Jesus, rooted in the history of the Jewish people. But it doesn’t give much indication of Paul’s thinking about this.

Fortunately, he wrote a whole series of letters to the churches he had founded and they give much more information about the mind of Paul with regard to his religious views –both as a Jew and as a Christian.

First and foremost, Paul stressed that he believed in ONE GOD who created the universe. And that God revealed himself in creation in its beauty, its order, its dependability etc. Furthermore, he loves and sustains it –he didn’t just wind it up and let it go. He watches over it with benevolent love.

Creation was part of God’s divine initiative and it’s an active, ongoing initiative. God brought about creation with a desire to bring all people into a close, loving relationship with him – and he gave everyone freedom to choose whether or not to enter into that relationship. All down the centuries, the rejection of God by men and women has been breaking his heart; yet he has never stopped loving them and always longs for reconciliation.

Paul believed that the other part of God’s divine initiative was to come into the world as Jesus. An act just as mind blowing as creation itself.

He was quite clear that Jesus was the visible likeness of God and had a unique relationship with him – but he always stressed that Jesus was not equal to God. Jesus was a full participant in human life and never claimed equality with God. He entered the world at the lower end of society and became an artisan. He was flesh and blood, suffered pain and bled when he cut his hand in his carpenter’s workshop. He got tired and needed to sleep. He could only be in one place at a time and was quite clear that he didn’t know everything.

Jesus’ message was clear and simple. It was that God was not vindictive but had a heart of love. That he was a Father not a tyrant. That people don’t have to earn forgiveness – it’s freely given in return for sincere repentance.

This was liberating stuff because, until that time, the Jews believed that God was a vengeful being who expected them to obey the set of laws that the Pharisees had developed – a system of laws far too complex for a person to be able to keep. So they always felt they were in the dock. The Greeks and Romans also felt afraid of their gods and felt that they were their playthings.

Paul saw the crucifixion of Jesus as the pivotal moment in the history of the world when the extent of God’s love was on full show–as if it were a window giving us a view for a moment of time of the suffering love at the heart of God.

The message that Paul preached was based on these beliefs.

Paul spoke of Jesus out of personal experience. In the first chapter of his letter to the church in Galatia he points out that he received the Message of Jesus directly by revelation from Jesus himself some time after he had experienced Jesus’ challenge on the Damascus Road. This may have been an ongoing experience because at that time there was no written New Testament, no creed and no prayer book. So peoples’ view of Christianity was continually evolving. As he travelled around Paul was constantly challenged by different beliefs, philosophies and practices so he needed his relationship with Jesus as his point of reference. While Paul was clear about the loving nature of God and his desire for a personal relationship with each person, he was equally clear that the relationship carried obligations. God is holy and expects those he is in a relationship with to try to be holy too. In that respect, holiness means being set apart and behaving in a way that pleases God. In his letter to the church at Philippi, he wrote:

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things and the God of peace will be with you”

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