Episode 170 – Paul’s Places – Part 11: Summary 1 Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: I passed on to you what was most important ... Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time … Last of all … I also saw him. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 3 through 8, New Living Translation ******** VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re very grateful to be able to be with you today. We have been working on a series we call “Paul’s Places” for several weeks now. In fact, this is our 11th lesson in this series. By “Paul,” of course, we’re referring to the Apostle Paul who wrote at least 13 of books contained in the New Testament. Nine of those books are letters Paul wrote to churches that are identified in our Bibles by the names of cities or, in the case of Galatians, a region that would be in modern-day Turkey. Anyone who has missed any of the previous lessons can find them on our website, crystalseabooks.com, or on their favorite podcast app. We started this series for one simple reason – to help people understand that the New Testament documents are historically reliable. So, today we want to begin to summarize some of the major points that we’ve covered during this series. To do that, today In the studio we have RD Fierro, the author of a number of great Christian books and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, what’s on your mind as we begin to summarize our series on “Paul’s Places?” RD: Well, I’d like to first start by thanking our listeners for joining us here today. Then, I’d like to reinforce the point you just made. We wanted to do this series to help listeners begin to understand that the New Testament is historically reasonable and reliable. When it comes to our Bibles, our scripture, two questions are of supreme importance. Do we have a text that we may say with confidence is the text as it was written by the inspired writers almost 2,000 years ago? And if we do, can we be confident in the trustworthiness of the account that the document writer penned? In the case of the New Testament there is an abundance of evidence that the answer to both questions is a resounding “yes.” VK: As we mentioned in our last episode of Anchored by Truth we are now 2,000 years removed from the time that Jesus walked on the earth, performed His miracles, died, and rose again. And we are almost 2,000 years removed from the time when people began hearing about those events and either accepting or rejecting the meaning of what had occurred. And during that 2,000 years a lot has happened. Empires have risen and fallen. Civilizations have changed. Science and technology have lifted people off this planet and to the nearest celestial body. And we have communication and information transfer methods that would have seemed miraculous to most people who walked the earth during Jesus and Paul’s time. And that has created a peculiar danger for us hasn’t it? And that’s what you want to talk about today. RD: Yes. We are so far removed historically from Jesus’ earthly ministry that too often today people forget that the entire Christian faith is based on one historical fact: that Jesus died, rose from the grave, and then ascended into heaven. VK: That’s what we heard about in our opening scripture from 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. Paul says in that passage that he passed on to the church in Corinth what was “most important.” Paul said that this fact is the most important fact for the Christian faith - that “Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day.” So, when we say that the entire Christian faith is dependent on one historical fact we are not making an overstatement. RD: No, we are not. And while I think most Christians have a general understanding of the importance of the resurrection I fear that the passage of those 2,000 years has allowed many to drift into an almost mystical interpretation of it. VK: What do you mean? RD: We have seen lots of movies and television shows filled with special effects that have portrayed various Bible stories. And we’re accustomed to seeing those kinds of productions about all kinds of historical events, not just those contained in the Bible. But when we see these productions we know that Hollywood has injected in a certain amount of romanticism. They take dramatic license for the purpose of making their story-telling more entertaining. Pretty soon it becomes hard for us to think about the real history, especially history that happened 2,000 years ago. So, we allow our perception of a plain historical fact to take on the same tinge of mysticism or fantasy that we know infest so much of contemporary drama. We forget that the resurrection of Jesus is a plain, unvarnished historical event just as real as whether your neighbor’s kid played soccer in high school, whether George Washington was the first president of the United States, or whether you went to the gas station this morning. VK: Well, you may have a point. We live in a culture and a society where entertainment producers, among others, try to blur the lines between fiction and reality. These days it takes a considerable effort to make sure that we sort out truth from lies and distortions. And we are fed plenty of lies by a great many media sources. So, you are concerned that even Christians can lose sight of the reality of the resurrection. What you’re saying is that we have to consciously resist any attempts to mythicize or allegorize the resurrection. We must continually remind ourselves and others that Jesus walked out of a stone tomb just as certainly as we put gas in our car the last time we filled up. RD: Yes. And the letters that Paul sent to the various churches makes that point repeatedly. And in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15 Paul is explicit that if the resurrection did not take place the entire Christian faith is in vain. VK: The Amplified Bible puts it this way in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 14: “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain [useless, amounting to nothing], and your faith is also vain [imaginary, unfounded, devoid of value and benefit--not based on truth].” RD: This is why it is so important that we ensure that we understand and can explain why the New Testament documents, including the Pauline epistles, are reliable historically. 20, 30, or 40 years ago it may or may not have been necessary. But today we are surrounded by nearly continuous claims that we must distrust the Bible except in a precious few areas where – it is grudgingly allowed – that archeology may indicate that the Bible got something right. VK: When, in fact, the exact opposite is true. The New Testament is filled with historical details and overwhelmingly archeology has provided solid support that the New Testament is accurate. And we have tried to bring a few of those details forward in this “Paul’s Places” series – like noting that Paul uses historically accurate terms even incidentally like when he described a Roman soldiers’ armor in Ephesians, chapter 6. RD: Right. In one of our episode on the letters to Ephesus and Colossae we pointed out that Paul used the term “machaira” when he was referring to the “sword of the Spirit.” Like most Greek words “machaira” is very precise. It refers to a relatively short sword that could be up to 19 inches long. One commentator said this about the machaira. “Of all the swords that a Roman soldier could use, this one was the deadliest. Indeed, the ‘machaira’ could be as long as 19 inches, but it was often shorter, resembling a dagger, therefore it was usually used in close combat. It was razor sharp on both sides of the blade and its very end turned upward, causing the point of the blade to be extremely sharp and deadly.” VK: And we pointed out in that episode of Anchored by Truth that that short sword was a perfect weapon for use in the fighting formation that the Roman infantry often used. So, Paul’s use of the term was both historically accurate as well as instructive from a spiritual standpoint. RD: The machaira was used for both offense and defense. So, when Paul said that we needed to adopt the word of God as our “sword” he was teaching a profound truth. We can think back to when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. For each of the three temptations that Satan presented to Jesus, Jesus responded with scripture. In this case all the scriptures that Jesus quoted to Satan came from the book of Deuteronomy. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 13 and 16 and from chapter 8 verse 3. VK: And for any Christian who tends to think that the Old Testament was no longer relevant after Jesus’ earthly ministry the temptation in the wilderness should settle that question. If Jesus thought well enough to quote the Old Testament to Satan that should make it good enough for us. RD: Absolutely. So, in Satan’s temptation in the wilderness Jesus showed that the word of God is suitable for defense. At other times Jesus showed us that the word of God was suitable for offense. A good example of using the word of God offensively, but respectfully, was when the Pharisees or Sadducees tried to use trick question to trip Jesus up. For instance, when the Sadducees tried to trick Jesus with the question about one woman marrying 7 brothers to deny the reality of life after death Jesus used a quote from Exodus, chapter 3, verse 6 to show them the error in their theology. The Sadducees insisted that there was no such thing as life after death and they denied the authority of the books of the Old Testament except for the Torah – the first five books. So, Jesus pointed out that even in one of the books they accepted, Exodus, God declared he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What Jesus was illustrating was that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to be alive because God used the present tense when he spoke of them. So, the point of Paul using the term machaira is … VK: No pun intended... RD: No pun intended – the point of Paul using the word machaira is that Paul simultaneously gave us evidence that he was using a culturally and historically appropriate reference to teach a spiritual truth – that God’s word may be used to deflect Satan’s attacks and temptation and it may also be used when we need to correct spiritual misunderstandings and beliefs no matter how sincerely those beliefs are held. The fact that Paul’s use of such culturally and historically illustrations in his teaching and preaching shows that he wrote and spoke during the time period that immediately followed Jesus’ earthly ministry. This is quite different from what many critics claim. There are times when Bible critics try to claim that the New Testament documents were written hundreds of years after the events they report. VK: You will sometimes hear critics say that the New Testament was created “hundreds of years” after the time period during which Jesus lived. And they will cite the fact that the early church councils that settled the content of the New Testament occurred in the Council of Hippo or the Council of Carthage. The Council of Hippo took place in 393 AD. The Council of Carthage took place in 397 AD. And since 301 AD to 400 AD was “the fourth century” they take some liberties and use the phrase “hundreds of years” after Christ to date the New Testament. RD: And it is true that in the Councils of Hippo and Carthage all 27 books that appear in our New Testament were affirmed as canonical. But that was not when the books, such as the Pauline epistles, were written. The best scholarship demonstrates that Paul’s epistles, as well as those of John and Peter, were written during the latter half of the 1st century AD – mere decades after Christ’s death. And that’s part of what we have been showing throughout this “Paul’s Places” series. VK: For instance, when we did our show on the epistle to the Galatians we pointed out that one of the issues Paul had to address in Galatians was that there was no need for anyone to first become a Jewish convert before becoming a Christian. At that point in the history of the church there was still some confusion, or deliberate distortion, about how to become an authentic Christian. There were agitators in some places that insisted that unless you were willing to follow Jewish requirements and customs that you couldn’t be a Christian. Paul forcefully rebuked this falsehood in the letter he wrote to the Galatians. Paul went so far as to call the Galatians who were being tempted to abandon the true gospel as being “foolish.” RD: Right. There would have been far less need to reject that false proposition – the heresy – that you had to first be a Jew to be a Christian once the church had been around for a few hundred years. There were other heresies that were circulating but by then the Judaizers assertions had largely faded from view. So, if someone had been trying to manufacture a fake epistle and attribute it to Paul in the late 4th century AD it is highly unlikely they would have used the Judaizer heresy as a primary subject of their fake. But in the latter half of the 1st century the stage of the development of the church made Paul’s observations in Galatians relevant. Even more so because from the book of Acts we know that even though Paul had personally preached in Galatia we do not have a record of him spending any lengthy period there. VK: You mean the way he did in Ephesus and Corinth. We are confident from Acts that Paul spent as much as 18 months continuously in Corinth and possibly up to 3 years continuously in Ephesus. RD: Yes. So, when you look within and across Paul’s epistles you see three things very clearly. First, Paul chooses the subjects for his epistles with a specific audience in mind. And he chooses the examples to illustrate his teaching very carefully – examples that will be particularly important to the local congregation with which he is communicating. VK: Such as Paul’s emphasis on the superiority of Christ to all other supposed sources of supernatural power and importance in the book of Ephesians. The temple of the goddess Diana was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and was found in Ephesus. Paul does not demean the local worship of Diana by name but simply asserts that “Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next. God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things.” Those are verses 21 and 22 from chapter 1 of Ephesians from the Good News Translation. RD: And earlier in verses 18 through 20 of that same chapter Paul had said, “I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.” VK: In other words, Paul was assuring the Ephesians who had given up their worship of the prominent local goddess Diana that they were in fact not giving up anything. To the contrary Paul assures them that they had turned from the lesser to the greater. He assures them that any power they might have hoped to obtain from any goddess their neighbors might be worshipping was more than replaced by the authentic power of the authentic God. This was the power that literally raised Jesus from the dead. RD: Exactly. Now today we can all understand and take comfort from the words that Paul wrote to the Ephesians. The Bible is suitable for all people in all ages in all nations and tribes. But those words would have been particularly poignant and important to a group that had had their whole world rearranged when they first heard the gospel. At any rate the first thing that we will always see was that Paul always addressed specific subjects for his intended audience. He might have addressed a subject because he had received questions about it or he may have known something about the region or culture that necessitated he cover a particular topic. But in all of his epistles Paul always chooses the subjects for his epistles with a specific audience in mind. The second thing we see throughout Paul’s letters is that Paul’s language, subjects, examples, and references are all consistent with a composition date of the 2nd half of the first century AD and consistent with someone who had travelled widely within the Roman Empire. VK: Said differently, there are no anachronisms or historical inaccuracies in the Pauline epistles. When Paul wrote his epistles he wasn’t writing history per se. But as he used examples and analogies in his writing he couldn’t help but mention things that were a part of his readers’ lives and times. So, though he wasn’t writing history Paul couldn’t avoid the historical implications that are present in any letters of the kind he was writing. RD: Yes. For instance in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 32 and 33 Paul describes an incident that occurred shortly after his conversion. Paul says, “In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.” So, in a very off-hand kind of way Paul gives us an opportunity to check his historical accuracy. VK: Most commentators think Paul was converted to Christianity around 34 or 35 AD. Well we know from abundant historical sources that Aretas IV ruled the desert kingdom of Nabatea from 9 BC to 40 AD. In fact, Aretas IV was the most powerful king ever to rule Nabatea. Nabatea included southern Syria, Jordan, the Negev portion of Israel, the Sinai Peninsula and parts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. His capital city was Petra which is in modern day Jordan. The portion of Syria over which Aretas had control includes Damascus. So, we know that this casual reference of Paul to a king who ruled over a city where his life was endangered is a historically accurate reference. RD: And Aretas had actually interacted with scriptural history in another way. One of Aretas’ daughter married Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas is well known in the gospels as the king who ruled in Galilee during Jesus and John the Baptist’s lifetime. Antipas actually divorced Aretas’ daughter and then married the wife of his half-brother Herod Philip I. John the Baptist denounced this marriage in the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verse 18. This so enraged the wife that she later was able to get Antipas to order the execution of John the Baptist. Later Aretas attacked Antipas and destroyed his army – a defeat which Josephus said the Jews thought was divine retribution for Antipas’ murder of the Baptizer. VK: In other words, like the gears of a fine watch we see that scripture meshes very well with the history going on around it at the time. Are there any other observations of this type that you would like to make before we close? We don’t have a lot of time. RD: Yes. The third thing you see very clearly in Paul’s epistles is a concentration on Jesus. At times Paul would defend his own ministry but always to demonstrate that he had the qualifications to reveal to them profound truth – truth about Jesus. And Paul always displayed a keen understanding of the Jewish scriptures and how they revealed a picture of Jesus throughout. One reason that Paul may have displayed such a passion for truth and an awareness of scripture is because Paul was a student of Gamaliel. We only see Gamaliel revealed in two places in scripture. In Acts 5:34 and Acts 22:3. In Acts 22:3 Paul describes himself as having sat “at the feet of Gamaliel.” Gamaliel was one of the very few people who earned the title Rabban (“our master, our great one”) as opposed to the title Rabbi (“my master”). VK: And he was the Jewish leader who said in Acts chapter 5 that the Jews should be very careful in their dealings with the disciples after Jesus returned to heaven. His observation to his colleagues was that if the disciples were on a mission from God, fighting with them would be like fighting with God. That’s never a wise proposition. RD: Exactly. In all his letters Paul demonstrated a profound passion for showing how the Jewish scriptures not only foretold the appearance of the Messiah but the implications of that appearance. From Paul we get some of the clearest declarations of Jesus’ divinity and the fact that as the Son of God come in the flesh Jesus has the capability to save anyone who will place their trust in him. In his letters Paul displays a concentration on Jesus but always with a few toward why that is such good news for us – for Jesus’ people. So, again this is an amazing display of how scripture always weaves an awareness of the supernatural realm but brings that awareness into sharp focus for how it gives us better lives. VK: And, as you often say, one of the Bible’s main attributes is that it shows us how heaven and earth fit together. The first verse of the Bible says that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And the rest of the Bible shows us how those two realms continue to not only exist along side each other but how they interact with one another. At times that interaction is dramatic as when God came to earth in the form of a man. The second person of the Trinity came to earth, walked among us for a little over 30 years, and then finally ascended back to heaven. But that trip was the most important one of all time because it made our eternal salvation possible. RD: Amen. VK: Well, that’s a good place to end for today. This “Paul’s Places” series is all about helping people see more clearly that the Pauline epistles, the letters contained in the New Testament written by the Apostle Paul, are exactly what they claim to be. They are letters written by one of Christianity’s first evangelical preachers to convey important truths to those who had begun to place their trust in Jesus. Those letters most certainly assert Christ’s divinity but far from that assertion being some kind of myth it is backed up by solid historical evidence and testimony. Let’s close with prayer as we always do. Today let’s listen to a prayer of confession for our sins. The Bible tells us that when we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins. So, confession is not only good for our souls it is a good way to ensure that we may always go boldly into God’s presence to present our needs. ---- PRAYER OF CORPORATE CONFESSION VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Opening Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation) 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 3 through 8, New Living Translation paultanner.org/English Docs/SpecialArt/Pauline Chronology.pdf