Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Before his conversion, Paul was known as Saul and was "a Pharisee of Pharisees", who "intensely persecuted" the followers of Jesus. Paul describes his life before conversion in his Epistle to the Galatians: For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
Acts quotes Paul referring to his family by saying he was "a Pharisee, born of Pharisees". [ 58 ] [ 59 ] Paul's nephew, his sister's son, is mentioned in Acts 23:16. [ 60 ] In Romans 16:7, he states that his relatives, Andronicus and Junia , were Christians before he was and were prominent among the Apostles.
The narrative underlines the authority of Peter, who could see through the deception by Ananias and Sapphira (verses 3–5, 8–9) and highlights the spiritual authority of the "church" (Greek: ekklesia, first used in Acts in verse 11) in form of 'signs' of God (inducing 'great fear' in verses 5 and 11, as well as healing miracles in the next section). [6]
The Acts of the Apostles introduces Gamaliel as a Pharisee and celebrated doctor of the Mosaic Law in Acts 5:34–40. In the larger context (vs.17–42), Peter and the other apostles are described as being prosecuted before the Sanhedrin for continuing to preach the gospel despite the Jewish authorities having previously prohibited it.
13:44-51: Paul and Barnabas being driven out of Antioch. 14:5-6: Jews and gentiles attempt unsuccessfully to stone Paul and Barnabas. 14:19-20: Jews stone Paul nearly to death. 16:16-24: Paul and Silas are flogged and imprisoned by gentiles in Philippi. 17:1-15: Paul and others are chased out of successive towns by Jews.
Paul – a Hellenistic Jew and former Pharisee – shifts his argument to cater to both audiences and the church as a whole. Because the work contains material intended both for specific recipients as well as the general Christian public in Rome, scholars have had difficulty categorizing it as either a private letter or a public epistle .
Paul's influence on Christian thinking is considered to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author. [3] According to Krister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role, and salvation by faith, is not the individual conscience of human sinners, and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the problem of the inclusion of Gentile (Greek) Torah ...
Seeing that there were both Pharisees and Sadducees on the Sanhedrin (see Acts 23:4–9 for the whole context): But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!"