Ove the last several weeks it seems that I keep heaing about the apostle Paul. In church, on the radio, online sermons. You get the point. When things like that happen to me I know it is for a reason. God is trying to speak to me about something. I’m not sure I fully understand what exactly that is, but let me share some of the things I know about him. Maybe they will impact your life in some way.
- From the time Paul had his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road until he began his public ministry was about fifteen years.
- Some believe that the Unknown God he speaks about in Acts 17 actually refers to Christ and not some deity the Greeks made up just in case they missed a god by accident.
- Paul would have trouble getting a job at most churches today. Conspirasy to commit murder is not a resume enhancer. Acts 7:58 NIV
- If you read carefully you will note that some of his letters are dictated by a scribe.
- None of us really know what the “thorn in his side “was. 2 Corinthians 12:8 NIV
- He was bi-vocational. Acts 18:3 NIV
- He was a Roman citizen. Acts 25:12 NIV Only a citizen of Rome could do so.
- He wrote most of the New Testament.
I’m going to stop there, but feel free to leave a comment with your own facts if you like. I pray this helps both of us in some way.
Blogging for Wisdom 
Probably the thing I have noticed most about Paul is how highly is he held in esteem… to the point that Jesus is almost secondary. We convert people through the “Romans Road” but it takes awhile for them to get to the narrative and story of who Jesus is. Man of the disputes we have in dogma and doctrine we have in Christendom today revolve around women in ministry, speaking in tongues, homosexuality, “weaker and stronger brothers”, etc. and we “proof text” Paul ad nausea. However, I have been challenged in recent years to not interpret Jesus through Paul but rather Paul through the lens of who I read Jesus to be. -Devin
1 Corinthians 1:12 NIV What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
It seems the problem has been around for some time.
… so then we became holier and wiser and made denominations with man-made rules that had no connection with the Rabbi and then argue back and forth as to who is more right…