Chapter 25

DANGER: Reading this book may be challenging! The bible is crazy stuff. Jesus might ask you to walk out on the water. This is no boring sunday school animal cracker stuff. Wake up people and smell that salty sea breeze- because we're jumping in.

I find it interesting that Drane puts “Understanding the NT” at the end of his book. It is kind of funny, because I think if the reader was paying any attention to how Drane worked through scripture they would be able to understand how to “Read and Understand the NT”. If I was going to have coffee with good ol’ Drane I might suggest to him that he put this chapter at the start of this book. But nevertheless, he still makes some really awesome points about the NT and how past and present cultures have interpreted it!
If an ol’ average Western Christian understands the Bible to be a solid book, sent from God, good for readin’ on Sundays and at funerals... well they got something coming! The NT alone, is a crazy collection of stories and epistles, Jesus and Elijah recordings, angels and demons, pigs and Pharisees, wells and women, danger and deceit, but most importantly: love and redemption. It is a collection of words: words that follow more words. But unlike a boring blog post or essay they have the power to bring you to your knees. They have the power to literally transform lives. That is because God has worked through history to make these words available to people. And so they are HIS TOOL, HIS PROPERTY, and he uses them mightily and accordingly.
The sad part about this is so few who read it choose to engage deeply with the word of God and as Drane points out, they decide to be the impartial Investigator/Observer. When what God really longs for is : a personal engagement into scripture stories and then apply them to our own lives. I think this part is done a lot less because it makes us UNCOMFORTABLE and VULNERABLE. It takes courage, sacrifice and risk. Reading the Bible is intense stuff- it is up there with mountain climbing if you ask me. Jesus challenges us to be the character in his story that needs help, who needs comfort, and who needs salvation. To do this you need to swallow pride. As Drane points out, this can be a very difficult task for Western Christians.
In the gospel stories, Jesus interacts with many characters, affecting and challenging them in different ways. Changing water into wine for example includes: Mother Mary, the servants, the bridgegroom, the Master of the banquet, and the disciples. Depending on where we are in life and our biases will influence who we choose to relate to. We should seek however, to be objective and try to understand the different ways in which people react to Jesus in the Gospels.
Over the centuries, interpretation of the bible has changed as culture has changed. The scientific Revolution brought on a very “reductionist” approach to scripture reading. This would not be very helpful at all as the approach seeks to simplify the text.
Understanding the context and background to scripture can be so helpful and important when reading. After I grasped the idea of Jesus being the fullfillment of the Jewish prophecy I could understand the different struggles of the new church. There was a huge transition going on! AKA... moving from Judiasm to Christianity. Some got on the wagon and some did not- and the early Church was stuck in the middle of it. The epistles become much clearer after understanding this. Ideas on spirituality were also very different: in our age of technology one only thinks of seeing an angel on top of a Christmas tree. But in ancient Roman culture, the spiritual world was much more intertwined with daily thought. Many other background context gives understanding to the modern reader in a way that helps to apply God’s word to daily life.


PS. Thanks Danny and NT class for a great experience. I learned a lot that has enriched my personal faith and my outward ministry. Awesome!

Chapter 24

Revelation 1:1-3 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.


From what I have gathered in Paul’s writings and missionary journeys he was a genuine mean longing to proclaim Christ’ salvation to the nations. Of course he was still human and made mistakes. He was also very bold and God-confident in what he was preaching (as this was the case with other apostle ministry). These create for a ministry that will make people UNCOMFORTABLE and CHALLENGED – that’s because Jesus’ truth isn’t necessarily comfortable. The result is a people’s response. From the book of Revelation we gather that there was a type of response that decided to create a new interpretation of who Jesus is: Nicolaitans, Balaamites, ‘Jezebel’ etc. I imagine that the apostles prayed for these people and also tried to address their questions and interpretations. But this was not enough. So Jesus decided to directly speak to them! Whoa!
John discusses ‘false prophets’. From his writings we can gather that they were individuals who believed to have some further revelation for God and therefore had a more intimate relationship with him. They were no longer in need of refinement as they were already perfect. This would have been very confusing indeed for the early church! Docetism was also a circulating ‘theology’ at the time. Followers of this theology believed that Jesus was not actually fully human but only fully God who only seemed to appear as a human. This probably arose from the common Greek thought that the human world is very separated from the god world and missing the two was difficult to comprehend. John’s letters address issues surrounding the false prophet influence and urge the church to remain true to Jesus’ teachings and salvation.
I am a bit confused/curious about when John would have wrote John (Gospel), 1 John, and Revelation. When in this writing process did he receive his vision from Jesus? How long was this false prophecy going on before Jesus gave him said vision?
Jude and 2 Peter also seem to address ‘false prophet’ issues in the church in a similar manner as John does. The false prophets again believed that they were completely holy and didn’t need any cleansing from Jesus. Therefore they also believed that Christ’ 2nd coming wasn’t really going to happen because they were in no need of further resurrection. 2 Peter addresses some theological problems associated with this belief including: just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean God won’t still fulfill his promise for a 2nd coming.
It is interesting to look at these books as an example for how the church should address ‘bad theology’ issues. We should have no tolerance for teaching that goes against: Christ’ ability to purify us, his power, or his authority. This however should be done with love and grace.

Chapter 23

In doing this New Testament course I have come to a new appreciation in what it really means to be a Christian and read the Bible. It is not some flimsy book that makes you feel good. Instead it is both DENSE and DYNAMIC filled with controversy, deep deep history, heated discussions, cultural tension, and supernatural events. And, on a different note is fundamentally based on a different religion: Judaism- wild eh? That being said it is interesting to ponder: what is Christianity?
I think Christianity on a theological level is simply: lifestyle and mindset based on Jesus Christ, the one whom fulfilled the JEWISH prophesy for Gods salvation. How cool is that eh. We are a springboard of Judaism. Maybe it’s just me, but I never fully comprehended what that meant before. I appreciate that Drane notes that at the beginning of this chapter.
I find it quite intriguing looking at how Judaism always sought to apply God or his Law into every aspect of their lives. I have observed that within modern Christian culture, we tend to separate secular from sacred. The book of James clearly a call away from this by using several examples: taking care of less fortunate, controlling speech, fair business dealings. It is super interesting that these examples and teachings are so action-based that some are sceptical as to if they are even Christian. And there is further skeptism on authorship and time and place and purpose etc....before I took for granted that my little study bible just says that James, Jesus brother wrote this book. If indeed a Christian wrote this I think his motives were good based on emphasizing the application of faith.
Again, Drane touches on the sensitive time period during the establishment of the Christian church. What tension! I can totally understand why Jewish Christians would want to continue to worship in the temple. They were still Jews- but they were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah. Of course they would want to go and worship God as well as tell others about Jesus. But what a pickle the church was in when Gentiles kept being added to the mix- they just wanted Jesus, they didn’t need this entire Jewish hullabaloo. And how about those sacrifices and unneeded rituals? The Jewish Christians would have probably gotten tired of this as Jesus was the final and complete bridge. A NEW covenant had been made and this was a time of tension between the Jews who understood that, the Jews who didn’t understand that, and the non-Jewish who accepted the covenant. The book of Hebrews was probably a direct letter toward these issues. The author calls all Christians to make Christ’ new covenant the center of their faith- with the realization that it may get uncomfortable!
1 Peter takes a clear stance on the Christian community including all people choosing Christ- Jew or Gentile (Christian status) and that they should work and grow in a community like mindset (Christian development). He addresses Christian behaviour and how they are to be distinct and set apart from all worldly actions, finishing with addressing the need for a Servants heart in all work and ministry.
I would agree with Drane when he says that Revelation is the least studied and understood book of the NT- I definitely am a culprit to that claim and therefore appreciated Drane’s Revelation summaries, “It presents a distinctive and positive Christian explanation of the presence of evil in the affairs of human life... The main point of the book is not to be found in God’s judgement upon evil, but in the conviction that God is now in the process of making a new world from which evil will be completely banished”. I think it would be good to do a solid manuscript study on Revelation to gain more understanding and insight into this book. Caution should be given when interpreting though! This book was written as a vision from God with direct purpose for the 7 churches of Asia. If we put God in his rightful place, he is far more creative, exciting, and immeasurable than we can comprehend. So grasping how he is going to bring ultimate peace and justice on Earth may be a sticky one (but we should still try anyways and seek to be informed!).

Chapter 22

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the beginning of the church. But this church was not the formal organization, structure or hierarchy that we see today. Instead it was a body of believers working together as one organism- Christ’ body directed by the Holy Spirit.
Drane points out that the idea of a priests or minister would have been unknown to the apostles. However, I don’t think it is too far of a stretch to think that the apostles may have appointed specific people, whom were sensitive and open to the Holy Spirit to serve the community in certain ways. I think this makes quite logical sense. In the most charismatic Christian groups today I imagine there would still be individuals in the group that are gifted in vision and organization. And it would be most beneficial for the community to have these individuals use their gifts in some sort of leadership way.
However, we have seen that humans being humans have taken these leadership positions and ran with them (sometimes in ways that don’t coincide with God’s ways). This results in people not only feeling privileged but also above the rest of the community. A cascade of organization and institutions supposedly follow thereafter. Drane notes one individual who would have supported such movements: Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch as we have letters written by him advising for church structure and bishop respect. By the middle of the second century church there was less emphasis on the Spirit’s power and more emphasis on doctrines and dogmas.
As the group of Jesus followers grew and as time went on I imagine that there was a realization that worshiping in the Jewish temple wouldn’t work forever and that they should develop their own way to worship and meet together. This may have resulted in more structure and form.
I found Drane’s analysis on the new church’s “Frustrated hope” very interesting. It would seem logical knowing what Jesus told his disciples, that people could be led to thinking that he will ‘return’ quite soon. This is particularly interesting because I know people today whom are convinced that we are approaching the end times and we will see Jesus return in the next 50 years or so. I think this is poppy-cock. Who are we to say or know or understand when God will send Jesus back down to Earth- even Jesus doesn’t know that! I know that there are signs that we can get from Revelation to estimate when this will happen but even then we are still relying on our interpretations...And people have been thinking for 2000 years that he will return! I say we should seek to live everyday like a day that Christ could return: livin’ a life to please God and to share his love with others.

Chapter 21

1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, thought it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Please note that it is labeled in a Hawaiian dialect... making it ultra cool.
When we think about the context of ‘church’ and of Christianity during ~100 A.D. we see a much different picture than what we have now. Following Jesus with freedom was a new faith at that time because that was when Christianity was ‘invented’. But I find it interesting that the same lifestyle to follow Jesus is not as attractive or unique to our society as it is described in 100 A.D. Perhaps it is due to our North American culture- that a large majority of the population would associate themselves with a church or with Christianity. The line between alternative lifestyle and normal lifestyle has become blurry. I think this is because faith in Jesus is often presented in a washed up way- where people can pick apart the Bible and incorporate only what they ‘feel’ they want to do. This is not living in freedom with Jesus. It may be ‘individual freedom’ as you feel free to do what you want when you want it. But I think the freedom that Jesus longs for us to have in him is the freedom from bondage of sin and thereby giving us the freedom to have communion with God.
On the topic of freedom in the New Testament s it is important to also discuss freedom in the context of Paul’s letter. Perhaps when Paul discusses freedom he is more emphasizing social freedom and an abolishment of racial prejudice rather than specifically looking at bondage of sin. Drane discusses this point using examples from Galatians and Corinthians.
The definition that the Apostles intended for the word ‘church’ to have was probably something like ‘body of Jesus followers’ (maybe someone could help me with the Greek) but our modern noun for church is radically as we usually think of a building. Drane contrasts the different aspects of the ‘body of believers’ from early AD to current 2010. Sitting in pews and listening to one person talk at the front is starkly contrasted with Paul’s call in Corinthians to recognize that ‘All members are indispensible’. If a group of people meets specifically on Sunday to worship God then that is cool but my hope and prayer for that church would be that the COMMUNITY of those people would be established and rooted throughout the week with things like: small group bible studies, prayer meetings, sharing hardships, sharing praise items, eating together, sharing food/clothes/kitchen stuff/money etc... This is what I experienced in my home church in Alberta but upon coming to Wolfville my ‘church’ or rather ‘the body of believers which I belong to’ has been found in the ministry of Inter-Varsity on the Acadia campus. It has been really cool to see the community respond collectively to God. We all still have an individual relationship with God and he is still continually teaching each one different things. But there is also a ‘shared teaching’. When God seeks to stimulate our entire community toward a new idea, most of us start feeling it and we respond to the Spirit accordingly. Cool!
Another interesting point made by Drane, is that Paul clearly outlined God’s authority in the church. He gave salvation, he gave the Spirit, and he established his people ‘church’ and therefore it is obvious that it belongs to him. This ownership then has application: God should guide and determine each move and step of the church through his Holy Spirit. The rigid hierarchy seen in most churches today is quite different than the original model. I don’t want to bash the church organization or those involved. But we can evaluate scripture for what it is, look at the human history of the ‘church’ and it is easy to conclude that we have probably made a few mistakes. This is another example of why we as human beings desperately need Jesus to not only help us but to guide us and be the lamp unto our feet.

Chapter 20

Thinking about the actual books that comprise the Bible tends to boggle my mind. As sometimes I tend to think that these books were written specifically for my faith and my everyday life. This has probably arisen as I have USED the Bible to solidify my faith and for God to challenge, encourage and convict me. However, those words that I take personally and apply to my life they essentially are the words of the Jewish Torah, the Gospel accounts, and Paul’s letters. A great deal of these words was written to a specific group of people at a specific time regarding a specific event. These words can so easily be taken at face value and inserted into different parts of our lives. I am not arguing against applying the Bible to our lives, but instead my point argues against ignorance of the context of the word. Drane makes it very clear that Paul’s letters were in no way intended to outline Christian theology. We however, should look at the way God was working through Paul and the people around him to draw insight and wisdom.
It is really quite amazing to think of Paul’s thought process when he fully understood that Jesus was the Messiah to his Jewish faith. The amount of thought restructuring that would have needed to occur before he began his ministry must have been extensive (probably why he took that 3 year gap time). The Old Testament needed to be investigated from a different perspective. The validity of the Torah was still very important to him as it was still God’s word. Perhaps the Law was now different because of what Jesus did. Paul knew and understood that following the Law and being of Jewish descent didn’t bring full satisfaction of spirit or provide intimate communication with God. A relationship with Jesus however, did do all these things so Paul probably just acted out of faith that he didn’t need to follow the Law in the same way as when he was a Pharisee. And so began his understanding of what it meant to be a Christian...

Some thoughts and observations on Paul’s point made in his letters regarding the Christian faith:
Don’t need to have mystery and irrationality to have a faith. Faith comes from a personal and proclaimed commitment to accept God’s generous and undeserved gift of love. This can be based on the factual knowledge that Jesus lived as a human, died and rose again to cover humanity’s sin.
Upon meeting the Christians in Damascus, Paul’s mind was ‘boggled’ even further by Christ’ love when he saw it displayed in Christian community. This powerful tool of community can break through hard hearts and resonate within the minds of sceptics. I have seen people pursue Jesus and the love they received from Christian community was what tipped the scale for them to eventually accept him as their Saviour.
Drane points out that the Jewish people would have found it hard to accept that Jesus was their Messiah as scriptures point out that a death done on the cross is one of shame and disrespect. Following the theology of Christianity, it would be valid that as Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was cursed. This is because he was cursed with all the sin of humanity upon him. Understanding this, it is clear that Jesus the scripture is valid.
Paul based his theology on making Christ the center of life and faith- this is clear from his letters when people begin to go ‘off track’ his main instructions are to become more firm in Jesus. He consistently points toward Christ’s power and significance in human life.
Paul realized the spiritual implications of becoming a Christian- meaning that it will be a life full of Christ’ love but with that comes a battle for Christ fighting within a fallen world.
It is interesting when we think about our morals and ideals and as Christians sometimes presume that everyone else is completely immoral and has no concept of God’s will. All Christians at some point essentially weren’t Christians. We all had to make a decision at some point. Therefore it is logical to recognize that before that choice was made we weren’t completely oblivious to human moral or God’s will. Drane points out that this is because we were all born in ‘God’s image’ and therefore have the ability to comprehend his vision.

Chapter 18

Luke 6:48-49 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on a rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.


Ephesus was center of a lot of spiritual traditions and Christ moved powerfully turning magicians and sorcerers to him through Paul’s ministry. Because of Christ’ movement, Paul was a spiritual target once again faced persecution. It is then that Paul first hears about problems in the Corinthian church and writes 1 Corinithians. He soon decides to visit Corinth as he received word from Timothy his letter had little effect. Upon returning, he writes another letter addresses his apostolic authority (2 Cor 10-13). He was kicked out of Ephesus and moved on to Macedonia.

A person could decide to take getting kicked out of a city personally. But Paul realized though that people rejected Jesus and not necessarily him. From what I can see he was a man focussed on God’s kingdom and following his will first and foremost.

Corith was a huge cosmopolitian society. The church was under a great deal of confusion on many issues and Paul attempts to address them in 1Corinithians. These issues include: theology divisions, marriage, civil law, purchase and consumption of meat, and worship.

Four main theology-based divisions arose regarding whom people proclaimed to follow. The Paul party=took the idea of freedom overboard and thought that Christians didn’t have to abide by any rules. The Cephas party= strict observers of Jewish rituals and laws, amongst them were members of the synagogue. The Apollos party= classical Greek culture
Christ party= people moving from believing in mystery religion and filling Jesus in as a new mystery god bringing mystical experiences. These different views and confusion were the beginnings of second century Gnosticism.

I find it amazing how with one message expressed so many divisions and interpretations were made. This is applicable to our scripture interpretation as it requires discernment and wisdom before making conclusions. Paul’s response to divisions was focussed on the church establishing a firm foundation on Jesus.

When Paul wrote about marriage he seeking to address the main underlying problem: that people were putting marriages and wedding events before their relationship with Christ. Other issues were based on the Corinthian churches lack of respect for either their own culture, people of lesser fortune or of other Christians.
Similar to the Corith Church charisma views are held in the modern church. I greatly appreciated Drane emphasizing the importance and reasoning of 1Cor 14:33. Our God is a god of peace and not of chaos. Awesome!

How difficult it would be to be investing so passionately into a people and then they become convinced that your words and actions are out of poor motivation and false wisdom. The Corinthian people thought that Paul was unstable and weak with his words (in person), making huge judgement calls on his character and discernment in the Holy Spirit. They probably wanted/expected a charismatic teacher whom displayed many ‘gifts of the Spirit’. 2 Corinithians is a response from Paul regarding his apostlitic authority and his intimacy with Jesus.

Before visiting the church in Rome, Paul strategically sent a letter in order to establish his position in Christ and his personal beliefs. In this letter his seeks to clearly explain different theological foundations.

Chapter 17

John 1:5
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Converts
The way Drane approaches exorcism reveals Gods character, ‘Like Jesus before him, Paul had a keenly developed sense of both social and spiritual injustice’. Jesus sought (and still seeks) to proclaim his sovereignty and Lordship by instilling his love for his creation into his people. This concept reminds me of how the darkness has not overcome Jesus but that he has already triumphed over it in every way. So exorcism is less about a battle or fight but more about establishing the love and peace he has already given us all.

Imprisonment
I found it interesting that Paul only claims his Roman citizenship after the jailer convert and singing praises to God all throughout the night. Shows that he wasn’t rash and when faced with trials, he waited on the Lord and responded to the Spirit’s promptings accordingly.

Athens
Paul understood that Jesus meets everyone in different ways! He met Jesus as the fulfillment of the Jewish law but he needed to learn how the Athenians could meet Jesus. So he was patient and observed their culture and beliefs. I imagine he prayed about wisdom regarding how God wanted to speak to these people and God provided abundantly! Paul was able to draw on Ancient history and current philosophy. He was careful not to present condemnation but instead he revealed the salvation of Jesus.

Corinth
This city sounded wild! It would be comparable to a current metropolis full of busyiness, indulgence and experimentation- all clear indications that people are looking for fulfillment. This city would be a daunting task. But not to Paul, because he knew Jesus was on his side. Paul sought Christian support and looked for pockets of people in the city ready to hear the good news.

Letters
During his time in Corinth, Paul received word about the Thessalonians and made the critical decision to write two letters to clear up issues of sexual relations, leadership, and violence in the church. Their effect on the surrounding area show thought that their character and actions were still reflecting Jesus even if there were some issues.

Paul’s strategy
Using already established roads and metropolises to preach the gospel maximized Paul’s ability and efficiency. I think that we can apply this to our missionary strategies today and look for where we can make the most impact. However, I don’t think we are all called to be intense “successful” missionaries. I believe God does call some of us to go tromping through the woods to visit indigenous groups that would otherwise have no access to the good news. Or possibly we will be called to minister and evangelize to those individuals that will be the crazy missionaries (like what Ananias did for Paul).

Chapter 16

As we digest Paul’s ministry and look at the background to his letters we are given a greater understanding of the Christian church birth. Barnabas and Paul were commissioned by the apostles to start their ministry with specific outreach toward the Gentile community. They soon realized the effectiveness of the gospel toward people with no previous exposure to Judaism. This was probably because they had no legalistic barriers to understand the salvation of Jesus Christ.
At the beginning of their ministry there is an atmosphere of urgency to abolish devotion toward the Torah and explain faith only as the reliance on Jesus. This revolution needed to happen quickly and in as many people as possible.
This urgency to proclaim the gospel was counteracted by an urgency of the Jerusalem church to renounce Paul’s teachings. This rebuttal was based on the idea that to follow in the sovereignty of Jesus (as Paul taught) was turning away from God and was therefore blasphemous. We see that they were placing great emphasis on the Torah, however they unfortunately did not place enough emphasis on the prophecy brought forth in the Torah and therefore were not sensitive to recognizing when the Messiah had come. The influence of the Judaizers caused great confusion as the Galatians had no previous knowledge or understanding of the Old Testament and how it fit in with their faith in God (because Paul had intentionally explained faith with Jesus as the center-point). Paul needing to then rebut the claims made by the Judiazers, wrote a letter.
The format in this first letter is substantially consistent with the rest of his letters (and all ancient letters from this time) giving us important information on how to interpret the NT scriptures. The general letter format is as follows:
1. Begin with author and then to the party being written to
2. Greeting in the form of one or two words- Peace. Grace.
3. Note of thanks to others as well as God
4. Body= Doctrinal Teaching, Advice on Christian living
5. Church/Personal News
6. Genuine exhortation or blessing
7. Prayer for the reader
We note though, that in the Galatian letter, there is no praise or thanksgiving for the reader’s condition as Paul was probably disappointed and frustrated that they quickly disregarded his teaching. Paul begins by establishing that his authority to preach Christian teachings came from his encounter with Christ and therefore doesn’t require an authority commission by the Jewish church. Paul explained that the Galatians were God’s children because of receiving the Holy Spirit and believing in Jesus supported by evidence from the Old Testament. Paul explains that the Law was set in place to give God’s people understanding about sin and the defiance of his will; it was a temporary system until Jesus would come. Since the Galatians had accepted Jesus, they were now filled with the Holy Spirit which would give them discernment and direction regarding morality and God’s will.
God is in the business here of revolutionizing the way he interacts with his people. There are tremendous changes moving from the Jewish Law to the Holy Spirit as the main vehicle for discernment and truth. We can see that for much of the Jewish community the Holy Spirit was (and still is) a difficult change to make and because of the perspective they insisted upon having, they deemed Jesus as blasphemous. The Galatians, not by their own choice, are stuck in the one of the biggest “God-people” revolutions in the history of the world! Their hearts were open to hearing and accepting the salvation of Jesus but their legs were quickly knocked beneath them as they had minimal theological roots to ground themselves in. They were the one of the first peoples without Jewish knowledge/background or fundamental teachings who God challenged to trust them by the Holy Spirit alone. They had NO Old Testament to even learn about the great faith stories of men like Moses, Abraham, Nehemiah or David. They had no Psalms or Proverbs to read for daily encouragement or growth. They had no New Testament because it was being written! They had no written gospels either for the same reason! Paul may have been frustrated with them but I think we should give the Galatians a break and realize the extent of what God was challenging them to do.

Chapter 15

In Chapter 15, Drane goes through a proposed chronology of Paul’s conversion and the beginning of his ministry thereafter. Paul is introduced in the book of Acts as a Jewish persecutor of Christians. He soon is met by Jesus on his way to bring Christians to Jerusalem for trial. Paul converts to Christianity and then proceeds to travel to various locations and then joins the Christian movement in Antioch. Here Paul begins his ministry with the Gentiles; however it is still clear from his letters and testimony that the Jewish people had always been a priority to share the gospel with. I wonder when, where and by whom Paul underwent discipleship following his conversion. Was it a gradual learning process or did he not need formal leadership training?
Before Jesus came to Earth, many prophets discussed the Messiah and the restoration he would bring to the Jewish people. Perhaps as God communicated to humans the prophecy was made into being something different than what God was trying to tell us. The Jewish people’s idea of what a Messiah was to be was extremely skewed due to the Jewish teachings and understanding of salvation at that time. Were there though Jewish people that did have a deeper relationship with God that wasn’t legalist and would be able anticipate the true Messiah? I imagine this question could be answered through the gospels. The disciples, Mary, and individuals like Nicodemus were open or curious about Jesus’ character rather than his battle skills.
The Jews violent acts toward Stephen (Acts 7:54-8:1) and Paul’s perusal to persecute Christians don’t seem as absurd when knowing the background context. The Jewish people were absolutely convinced that Jesus was not the prophesied Messiah and therefore Christians with huge claims regarding Christ’ sovereignty would have sounded like blasphemy to them. This however does not give justification to their actions but merely understanding as to their reactions. The Jews acting in violence and hatred at this time had a faith based not on God’s character or principles and therefore resulted in hurtful decisions and actions.
Paul was an individual whom due to his upbringing and personal choices had put up many blinds preventing him from seeing who Jesus actually is. Paul’s conversion is a powerful statement of the lengths Jesus will go to save. This reveals his deep love for his people and the active role he longs to have in all our lives.
After Paul’s conversion he was quick to proclaim his new faith and meet with other believers. Was there a time period of study and discipleship though? Perhaps this was done by Barnabas in their time at the Antioch church? Paul would have been well versed in the scriptures and teachings of Jesus before he was a Christian. Maybe though, he would have still needed intentional discipleship regarding Christian community.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 gives understanding behind a few of the topics that tend to come up regarding Paul’s letters and his ministry. Paul was born in Tarsus and had formal education in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel, grandson and successor of the influential Hillel. Here he learnt the influential idea of encouraging Gentiles to come to know and understand God. He became a proud Jewish Pharisee and a prominent leader. He soon became a Christian upon meeting Jesus on the Damascus Road. The cultures, teachings and environment that Paul experienced from his adolescence to adulthood shaped the many letters he wrote that comprise almost half of the New Testament. Understanding these experiences gives insight to understanding his writing and why Paul uses certain types of language.
After his conversion, the Jewish religion and teachings remained prominent in his letters. Because of his Jewish background, Paul, had a longing for the Jewish people to see Jesus and expresses a belief that the Jewish people have an ‘important part to play in the whole history of salvation’ (227). Paul would go to the synagogue first upon arriving to a town in attempts to share the Gospel with a people that were heavy on his heart.
Because of his Pharisee past, Paul often discussed the Pharisee viewpoint in his letters and used his knowledge when on trial. Paul on occasion would use the Pharisee’s an example of religious legalism. People may misinterpret that Paul was condemning the entire Jewish culture. However, I believe he was merely using an example from his own life where he saw how legalism can lead us away from God and cause pain. Drane touches on the idea that with any religion there will be individuals who choose to live with a legalistic interpretation. He also elaborates on the idea that Paul doesn’t seem to dismiss Judaism or regret its impact on his life. These examples all point toward the idea that Paul was not anti-Semitic but instead longed for the Jewish people to know Jesus. Paul made a clear separation from Jewish religion however by proclaiming that to have salvation in God one had to accept Jesus as their Lord.
A couple other examples of how Paul’s background and environment influenced his writing would be: Greek literature, Stoic philosophy, and mystery religion. Several times in his letters Paul may use language or poems from the above examples. This however does not imply that he was closely tied with any other philosophies or religions. Drane investigates perhaps why Paul wrote the way he did and we can make a logical conclusion that it was because of the culture he was in at the time.