The main themes of the Epistles of St. Paul and the theology of the Ancient Church

The importance of the messages of St. the Apostle Paul and the difficulty of studying them

Of all the New Testament sacred writers, St. worked the most in the written explanation of Christian teaching. the apostle Paul, who wrote as many as fourteen epistles. Due to the importance of their content, they are rightly called by some the “second Gospel” and have always attracted attention as St. Fathers of the Church and enemies of Christianity. The apostles themselves, as we saw from the conciliar letter of St. Apostle Peter, did not ignore these edifying works of their “beloved brother, younger in time of conversion to Christ, but equal to them in the spirit of teaching and grace-filled gifts” (2 Pet. 3:15-16). Many Fathers and Doctors of the Church were involved in the interpretation of the messages of St. Apostle Paul. Constituting a necessary and important addition to the Gospel teaching, the epistles of St. The Apostle Paul should be the subject of the most careful and diligent study of every Christian theologian. At the same time, it is necessary to never lose sight of the height and depth of the theological thought of St. the Apostle and that originality of expressions, which sometimes reached the point of incomprehensibility and stopped such great interpreters of the Holy Scriptures as St. Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine. These letters reflected the extensive learning and acquaintance of St. Apostle Paul with the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, as well as the depth in the disclosure of the New Testament teachings of Christ, the fruit of which was a whole series of new words and sayings of a dogmatic or moralizing nature, belonging exclusively to St. to the Apostle Paul, such as, for example, “to be raised with one another,” “to be buried in Christ,” “to put on Christ,” “to put off the old man,” “to be saved by the washing of rebirth,” “the law of the spirit of life,” “another law in the members, rising against the law of the mind.” " and so on. Each message contains the truths and doctrines and moral teachings of the Christian, since Christianity itself is not only a well-known belief - the recognition by the mind of known truths, but certainly the very life of faith, in agreement with this faith.

The connection between the teachings of St. Apostle Paul and his life

Epistles of St. the Apostle Paul - these are the fruits of his apostolic zeal; his teachings set forth in them are a complete reflection of his life. Therefore, in order to better understand his messages, you need to study his life well and understand the inner character of his personality. To do this, there is no need to go into an analysis of all the details of his life, known to us from the book of Acts, but we only need to dwell on the inner side of his life and understand those facts that, according to the instructions of the apostle himself, served as a source for him to resolve many issues of Christian dogma and teachings about Christian morality.

Life and personality of St. apostle paul

“I am the least of the apostles and am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:9-10) - this is how he characterizes himself the great “apostle of tongues” (the title under which St. Apostle Paul entered the history of the Christian Church). Endowed by nature with rich mental abilities, he was raised and trained in the strict rules of the Pharisees and, in his own words, succeeded in Judaism more than many of his peers, for he was an immoderate zealot for his fatherly traditions (Gal. 1:14). When the Lord, who chose him from his mother’s womb, called him to apostolic service, he devoted all his energy, all the strength of his great spirit to preaching the name of Christ among the pagans of the entire cultural world of that time, after he had endured many sorrows from his relatives who were blind and bitter against Christ. . Studying the life and works of St. Apostle Paul according to the book of Acts of St. apostles, one truly cannot help but be amazed by the extraordinary indestructible energy of this great “apostle of tongues.” It is difficult to imagine how a person who did not have a powerful body and strong physical strength (Gal. 4:13-14) could endure as many incredible difficulties and dangers as the saint had to endure. to the Apostle Paul for the glory of the name of Christ. And what is especially remarkable: as these difficulties and dangers multiplied, his fiery jealousy and energy not only did not diminish, but flared up even more and became tempered like steel. Forced to remember his exploits for the edification of the Corinthians, he writes about them like this: “I was much more in labor, immensely wounded, more in prison and many times at death. Five times the Jews gave me forty stripes minus one; three times I was beaten with sticks, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea; I have been on journeys many times, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from robbers, ... in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and exhaustion, often in vigils, in hunger and thirst, often in fasting, in cold and nakedness..." (2 Cor. 11:23-27). Comparing himself with the other apostles and out of humility calling himself the “least” of them, St. Paul, nevertheless, with all justice could declare: “but I have labored more than all of them: not I, however, but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). And indeed, without the grace of God, an ordinary person would not be able to undertake such labors and accomplish so many feats. Just as courageous, direct and unshakable in his convictions Paul showed himself before kings and rulers, he was just as decisive and sincere in his relations with his fellow apostles: so, once he did not even stop before denouncing the Apostle Peter himself, when this great apostle gave a reason for criticism in the pagan capital of Asia Minor, Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14). This fact is important, by the way, because it clearly speaks against the false teaching of the Roman Catholics that St. the Apostle Peter was made by the Lord “prince over the other apostles” and, as it were, the deputy of the Lord Himself (which is why the popes allegedly bear the title “vicars of the Son of God”). Would St. dare? Apostle Paul, a former persecutor of the Church of Christ and later than others who came to the apostolic ministry, denounce the very deputy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the apostolic person? This is absolutely incredible. St. Paul denounced St. Peter, as equal to equal, as brother to brother. St. Apostle Paul, who originally bore the Hebrew name Saul, belonged to the tribe of Benjamin and was born in the Cilician city of Tarsus, which was then famous for its Greek academy and the education of its inhabitants. As a native of this city or as descended from Jews who came out of slavery from Roman citizens, Paul had the rights of a Roman citizen. In Tarsus Paul received his first education and, perhaps, became acquainted with pagan education, for traces of acquaintance with pagan writers are clearly visible in his speeches and epistles (Acts 17:28; 1 ​​Cor. 15:33; Titus 1:12) . He received his main and final education in Jerusalem at the then famous rabbinical academy, at the feet of the famous teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), who was considered the glory of the law and, despite belonging to the party of the Pharisees, was a free-thinking man (Acts 5:34) and lover of Greek wisdom. Here, according to the custom accepted among Jews, young Saul learned the art of making tents, which later helped him earn money to feed himself by his own labor (Acts 18:3; 2 Cor. 11:8; 2 Sol. 3:8). Young Saul, apparently, was preparing for the position of rabbi, and therefore, immediately after completing his upbringing and education, he revealed himself to be a strong zealot of the Pharisees' traditions and a persecutor of the faith of Christ: perhaps, by appointment of the Sanhedrin, he witnessed the death of the first martyr Stephen (Acts 7: 58; 8:1), and then received the power to officially persecute Christians even outside Palestine, in Damascus (9:1-2). The Lord, who saw in him a vessel chosen for Himself, miraculously called him to apostolic service on the way to Damascus. Having been baptized by Alania, he became a zealous preacher of the teaching he had previously persecuted. He went to Arabia for a while, and then returned to Damascus again to preach about Christ. The rage of the Jews, outraged by his conversion to Christ, forced him to flee to Jerusalem (Acts 9:23) in 38 A.D., where he joined the community of believers. Due to the Hellenistic attempt to kill him (9:23), he went to his hometown of Tarsus. From here, around the year 43, he was called by Barnabas to Antioch to preach, and traveled with him to Jerusalem with alms for the hungry (Acts 11:30). Soon after returning from Jerusalem, at the command of the Holy Spirit, Saul, together with Barnabas, set out on his first apostolic journey, which lasted from 45 to 51 years. The apostles traversed the entire island of Cyprus, from which time Saul, after converting the proconsul Sergius Paulus to the faith, was already called Paul, and then founded Christian communities in the Asia Minor cities of Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. In 51 St. Paul took part in the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, where he ardently rebelled against the need for pagan Christians to observe the ritual Mosaic Law. Returning to Antioch, St. Paul, accompanied by Silas, undertook his second apostolic journey. First he visited the churches he had already founded in Asia Minor, and then moved to Macedonia, where he founded communities in Philippi, Thessaloniki and Beria. In Lystra St. Paul acquired his favorite disciple Timothy, and from Troas he continued his journey with the Writer Luke, who joined them. From Macedonia St. Paul moved to Greece, where he preached in Athens and Corinth, staying in the latter for a year and a half. From here he sent two messages to Thessalonians. The second journey lasted from 51 to 54 years. In 55 St. Paul went to Jerusalem, visiting Ephesus and Caesarea along the way, and from Jerusalem he arrived in Antioch (Acts chapters 17 and 18). After a short stay in Antioch, St. Paul undertook his third apostolic journey (56-58), visiting first of all, according to his custom, the previously founded churches of Asia Minor, and then founded his stay in Ephesus, where for two years he preached daily in the school of a certain Tyrannus. From here he wrote his letter to the Galatians regarding the strengthening of the Judaizers' party there and his first letter to the Corinthians, regarding the unrest that arose there and in response to the Corinthians' letter to him. The popular uprising stirred up against Paul by the silversmith Demetrius forced the apostle to leave Ephesus, and he went to Macedonia (Acts 1:9). On the way, he received news from Titus about the state of the Corinthian church and about the favorable effect of his message, as a result of which he sent a second letter to the Corinthians with Titus from Macedonia. Soon he himself arrived in Corinth, from where he wrote a letter to the Romans, intending, after visiting Jerusalem, to go to Rome and further to the West. Having said goodbye to the Ephesian presbyters in Melita, he arrived in Jerusalem, where, as a result of the popular rebellion that arose against him, he was taken into custody by the Roman authorities and found himself in prison, first under the proconsul Felix, and then under the proconsul Festus who replaced him. This happened in 59, and in 61 Paul, as a Roman citizen, of his own free will, was sent to Rome to be judged by Caesar. Having been shipwrecked off the island of Malta, St. The apostle only reached Rome in the summer of 62, where he enjoyed great leniency from the Roman authorities and preached without restrictions. This ends the story of his life, found in the book of the Acts of St. apostles (chap. 27 and 28). From Rome St. Paul wrote his letters to the Philippians (with gratitude for the monetary allowance sent to him with Epaphroditus), to the Colossians, to the Ephesians and to Philemon, a resident of Colossae, regarding the servant Onesimus who fled from him. All three of these messages were written in 63 and sent with Tychicus. A letter to the Palestinian Jews was also written from Rome in 64. The further fate of St. The Apostle Paul is not known exactly. Some believe that he remained in Rome and, by order of Nero, was martyred in 64. But there is reason to believe that after two years of imprisonment, Paul was given freedom and he undertook the fourth apostolic journey, which is indicated by his so-called “pastoral letters” - to Timothy and Titus. After defending his case before the Senate and the Emperor, St. Paul was released from his bonds and again traveled to the East; having spent a long time on the island of Crete and leaving his disciple Titus there for the ordination of presbyters in all cities (Titus 1:5), which testifies to his ordination of Titus as bishop of the Cretan Church, St. Paul traveled through Asia Minor, from where he wrote a letter to Titus, instructing him on how to carry out the duties of a bishop. From the message it is clear that he intended to spend that winter of 64 in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12) near Tarsus. In the spring of 65, he visited the rest of the churches of Asia Minor and left the sick Trophimus in Miletus, because of whom there was an indignation against the apostle in Jerusalem, which led to his first bonds (2 Tim. 4:20). Did St. Paul through Ephesus is unknown, since he said that the elders of Ephesus would no longer see his face (Acts 20:25), but he apparently ordained Timothy as bishop for Ephesus at this time. Next, the apostle passed through Troas, where he left his phelonion and books with a certain Carpus (2 Tim. 4:13), and then went to Macedonia. There he heard about the rise of false teachings in Ephesus and wrote his first letter to Timothy. Having spent some time in Corinth (2 Tim. 4:20) and meeting the Apostle Peter on the way, Paul continued with him through Dalmatia (2 Tim. 4:10) and Italy, reached Rome, where he left the Apostle Peter, and Already in 66, he himself went further to the west, to Spain, as he had long assumed (Rom. 15:24) and as tradition claims. There, or upon returning to Rome, he was again placed in bonds (“second bonds”), in which he remained until his death. There is a legend that upon returning to Rome, he even preached at the court of Emperor Nero and converted his beloved concubine to faith in Christ. For this he was put on trial, and although by the grace of God he was delivered, in his own words, from the jaws of lions, that is, from being eaten by beasts in the circus (2 Tim. 4:16-17), he was nevertheless imprisoned. From these second bonds, he wrote a second letter to Timothy in Ephesus, inviting him to Rome, in anticipation of his imminent death, for a last meeting. Tradition does not say whether Timothy managed to catch his teacher alive, but it does say that the apostle himself did not wait long for his martyr’s crown. After nine months' imprisonment, he was beheaded by the sword as a Roman citizen, near Rome. This was in the year 67 A.D., in the 12th year of the reign of Nero. Taking a general view of the life of St. The Apostle Paul shows that it is sharply divided into two halves. Before his conversion to Christ, St. Paul, then Saul, was a strict Pharisee, a fulfiller of the law of Moses and the traditions of his fathers, who thought to be justified by the works of the law and by zeal for the faith of the fathers, reaching the point of fanaticism. Upon his conversion, he became an apostle of Christ, completely devoted to the work of the gospel gospel, happy with his calling, but aware of his own powerlessness in the performance of this high ministry and attributing all his deeds and merits to the grace of God. The very act of his conversion to Christ by St. Paul presents it exclusively as an act of God's grace. The entire life of the apostle before his conversion, according to his deep conviction, was a delusion, a sin and led him not to justification, but to condemnation, and only the grace of God rescued him from this destructive delusion. From this time on, St. Paul is trying only to be worthy of this grace of God and not to deviate from his calling. Therefore, there is no and cannot be any talk about any kind of merit - everything is God’s work. Being a complete reflection of the life of the apostle, the entire teaching of St. Paul, revealed in his letters, pursues precisely this basic idea: a person is justified by faith, regardless of the works of the law (Rom. 3:28). But from this we cannot conclude that St. The Apostle Paul denies any importance in the matter of salvation of a person’s personal efforts - good works (see, for example, Gal. 6:4 or Eph. 2:10, or 1 Tim. 2:10 and many others). By “works of the law” in his epistles we do not mean “good works” in general, but the ritual works of the Law of Moses. We must firmly know and remember that the Apostle Paul, during his preaching work, had to endure a stubborn struggle with the opposition of Jews and Judaizing Christians. Many of the Jews, even after accepting Christianity, held the view that for Christians it is also necessary to carefully fulfill all the ritual requirements of the Mosaic Law. They deluded themselves with the proud thought that Christ came to earth to save only the Jews, and therefore the pagans who want to be saved must first become Jews, that is, accept circumcision and become accustomed to fulfilling the entire Mosaic Law. This error so greatly hindered the spread of Christianity among the pagans that the apostles had to convene a council in Jerusalem in the year 51, which abolished the obligation of the ritual decrees of the Law of Moses for Christians. But even after this council, many Judaizing Christians continued to stubbornly adhere to their former view and subsequently completely separated from the Church, forming their own heretical community. These heretics, personally opposing St. Apostle Paul, brought confusion into church life, taking advantage of the absence of St. Apostle Paul in one or another church. Therefore St. Paul, in his epistles, was forced to constantly emphasize that Christ is the Savior of all mankind, both Jews and pagans, and that a person is saved not by performing the ritual works of the law, but only by faith in Christ. Unfortunately, this thought of St. Apostle Paul was distorted by Luther and his Protestant followers in the sense that St. The Apostle Paul denies the importance of all good works for salvation. If this were so, then St. would not have spoken. Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 13, that “if I have all faith, so much so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing,” for love manifests itself in good deeds.

2The Old Testament was merciless because it created a legal relationship between man and God.

In essence it read:

“If you want to have a relationship with God, you must keep the law.”

In accordance with this, a situation arose in which God was, in essence, the judge, and man was the criminal, eternally in the dock for failure to fulfill contractual obligations.

The Old Testament was also merciless because it:

a) deprived of hope . No one could keep the law, because such is human nature. Therefore, life became hopeless,

b) Deprived of life . In trying to keep the law, a person could deserve nothing but condemnation, and condemnation is death,

c) Deprived of strength . The law clearly ordered what to do, but it was powerless to help in the implementation of these instructions.

The New Testament was completely different:

+ a) He created loving relationships . It arose precisely because God so loved the world.

+ b) He created the relationship between the Father and his sons. A person is no longer a criminal who breaks an agreement. He was the son of God, even if he was a disobedient son ,

+ c) God changed a person’s life, not by imposing a new law, but by changing his heart ,

+ d) He thus not only told man what to do, but gave him the power to keep the commandments of God. Thus, he gave man power and authority .

Paul continues to contrast the two covenants.

The Old Testament was created in glory. When Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, which formed the code of the Old Testament, his face shone with such light that everyone was afraid to approach him (Ex. 34:30).

Surely it was a passing glow. It did not survive, and it could not survive for long.

The New Testament and the new relationship established by Jesus Christ between man and God have a brighter shine that will never fade because it gives people forgiveness rather than condemnation, life rather than death.

But here's a word of caution.

The Jews preferred the Old Testament - the law; they rejected the New Covenant, the new relationship in Christ.

Again, the Old Testament was a good law, but still second-class, just a stage in development.

As one great commentator put it: “When the sun is up, there is no need for lamps.” But as the saying aptly expresses: “The worst is the main enemy of the best,” people generally tend to stick with the old, even if they are offered much better.

In medicine, for a long time, supposedly due to religious reasons, they refused to use chloroform. When Wadsworth and the Romantics appeared in literature, critics said: “This will not work.” When Wagner started writing music, people refused to listen to it.

Churches around the world prefer the old and turn away from the new. What has always been done is considered right, and what has not been done is considered wrong.

We must be careful not to fall into the error of favoring the intermediate more than the final goal. We must not insist, as the Jews did, that the old way is right, and thereby reject the new glory offered by God.

Number of messages of St. apostle paul

Based on positive and reliable evidence, the general voice of the Church is adopted by St. the Apostle Paul has fourteen epistles, although in ancient times there was a lot of hesitation regarding the recognition of Paul's epistle to the Hebrews. These epistles are placed in the Bible in the following order: 1) Romans 2) 1 Corinthians 3) 2 Corinthians 4) Galatians 5) Ephesians 6) Philippians 7) Colossians 1 Thessalonians , or Thessalonians 9) Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, or Thessalonians 10) First Epistle to Timothy 11) Second Epistle to Timothy 12) Epistle to Titus 13) Epistle to Philemon 14) Epistle to the Hebrews.

This order is not chronological. This placement is made, as is easy to notice, based on the importance and vastness of the messages themselves and on the comparative importance of the churches and persons to whom the messages are addressed. The epistles to the seven churches are followed by the epistles to three persons, and the epistle to the Hebrews is placed behind all, because its authenticity is the last to be recognized. Epistles of St. of the Apostle Paul are usually divided into two unequal groups: 1) general Christian epistles and 2) pastoral epistles. These latter include two epistles to Timothy and an epistle to Titus, because they indicate the foundations and rules of good shepherding. Some passages in the epistles of St. Apostle Paul, such as , for example, 1 Cor 5.9, also Col. 4:16, gave reason to think that there were other Pauline epistles that have not reached us. But it is incredible that they could be lost with the care with which the primal Church preserved the writings of St. apostles Attributed to St. to the Apostle Paul, correspondence with the famous philosopher Seneca, brother of the proconsul Gallio mentioned in the Acts (18:12), did not deserve recognition of its authenticity.

Literature

• Alan, Kurt. “The Problem of Anonymity and Pseudonymity in Christian Literature of the First Two Centuries.” Journal of Theological Studies
  12 (1961): 39-49.
• Stowers, Stanley K. Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity
  . Library of Early Christianity. Vol. 8. Ed. Wayne A. Meeks. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1989.
• Wall, Robert W. “Introduction to Epistolary Literature.” New Interpreter's Bible
  . Vol. 10. Ed. Leander E. Keck. Nashville: Abingdon, 2002. 369-91.
• Karen Armstrong.
  Saint Paul. The Apostle We Love to Hate = St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate (Icons) . - M.: Alpina Non-fiction, 2016. - 250 p. — 2000 copies. — ISBN 978-5-91671-601-6.

The meaning of the messages of St. Apostle Paul and their subject

Epistles of St. The Apostle Paul are of great importance as part of the New Testament, for in them we find a deep and comprehensive disclosure and clarification of the truths of the Gospel teaching. In addition to some mostly beloved St. by the Apostle Paul of the truths of the faith of Christ, such as, for example, about the meaning of the Old Testament law in relation to the New Testament, about the corruption and corruption of human nature and about the only means of justification before God through faith in Jesus Christ, there is, one might say, not a single particular point in all Christian dogma, which would not find basis and reinforcement in Paul's epistles. Therefore, one who has not studied them in the most thorough manner cannot be a true theologian. Most of the messages are built according to the same plan. They begin with a greeting to the readers and gratitude to God for His providential actions in the place to which the message is addressed. Further, the message is usually divided into two parts - dogmatic and moral. In conclusion, St. the apostle concerns himself with private affairs, makes errands, speaks of his personal situation, expresses his well-wishes and sends greetings of peace and love. His language, lively and bright, resembles the language of the Old Testament prophets and testifies to his great familiarity with the Holy Scriptures.

Council messages

Jacob

Peter the 1st

Peter 2nd

John the Evangelist 1st

John the Evangelist 2nd

John the Evangelist 3rd

Judas