Intro - Discipleship Principles of Paul

The year is 33 AD and numerous interesting things are taking place in the Roman providence of Palestine: The "disappearance" of Jesus Christ has the religious leaders in an uproar, and the apostles are impacting the world in ways that those same leaders would never have believed.

• Peter is head of the church in Jerusalem, and one of the leaders in a new “religious” system that is impacting society on many levels.

• Preachers, teachers, and missionaries are flooding the world as new churches spring up all over the world.

• One of these churches is in Antioch; a church that is becoming “a” – if not “the” – major church in all of Christianity. A church focusing on the Gentile portion of the followers of Jesus Christ.

• Because of the impact this “Christianity” is having on Judaism and those who are trying to incorporate both religious systems, a group known as Judaisers is rising up in opposition to those who simply desire to follow Christ in faith alone.

• The conflict has gotten so bad that the safety of believers is at a premium.

Into this interesting cauldron of unrest a character that is of importance to us enters. Of course this is the man Paul. This man – who had once been a leading opponent of Christianity – is now one of its strongest defenders.

Part of what makes Paul such an interesting person are the unique parts of his becoming an apostle although he had not been one of the original group while Christ was teaching and preaching. His position was gained through a very interesting "vision" of Christ Himself, after which he immediately changed his position, which would have been unusual for anyone, let alone a person of his position and authority .

If we continue to look at the early part of his ministry, we begin to get even more unique insights. Between his own writings and those of Luke found in Acts, we can fill in some of the timeline of his rise to such an important position in the early Church.

The writings of this important author of Scripture are what we want to study in these next articles.. We want to study these writings from the standpoint of the discipleship principles we find there. As we look at this man who would so quickly become a leader in the Church, we want to look at the way in which he approached the whole issue of working with those new believers and followers who were flooding into the Church.

But. first, we have to ask some questions about that timeline, because the information we find in the book of Galatians is fascinating. Beginning in verse fourteen of chapter one we read the words, "...I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was i for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles." By verse seventeen we run into the words, "...but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem...."

As we jump forward to the end of the chapter we pick up the timeline in verse twenty-two, "And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God with me. Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem..."

So, these gaps, combined with the remarkable principles that Paul shares about discipleship, gives us pause to ask an essential question as we begin, "Did God reveal all of the discipleship principles at once among the other revelations that he was given, or were these principles given over a longer period of time?"

To accomplish this we need to begin with a couple of things:

1. We need to look at the progression of Paul’s writings to see how those principles progressed if there is reason to think that the revelation may have happened over a longer period of time.

2. And, talk a little bit about the circumstances and audience of each book, if those principles might be seen as applying to individual situations.

There is so much in these various passages that give us a tremendous understanding about the work of discipleship in the early Church. They also help us determine the timeline that will govern our study, because Galatians is very possibly the first book written and the rest will follow from there.

The chronological order of the rest of his books are:

1. 1 & 2 Thessalonians

2. 1 & 2 Corinthians

3. Romans

4. Colossians

5. Ephesians

6. Philemon

7. Philippians

8. 1 Timothy

9. Titus

10. 2 Timothy

What we will do is take each book in order and look for the various principles found there. By looking at them in order we will also be able to see if there is any progression to those principles.