"Only Life Changes"

Question:
Did Paul carry out the proposed visit to Spain?

Answer:
The evidence strongly indicates St. Paul left Rome and travelled to Spain as he had planned. He spent up to four years there preaching and helping to establish churches. Spain was under Roman rule and at some point, Paul was arrested again and returned to Rome.

Question:
Did Paul visit the church in Rome?

Answer:
Indeed, Paul had no relationship to the Roman community prior to the drafting of his epistle. He neither established the church at Rome, nor, in fact, had he ever visited the illustrious city. Paul did long to see the Christians in the capital city of the empire.

Question:
The letter was eventually written while paul was en route; where was he going?
Answer:
So, it is likely that Romans was written while Paul was in Greece about to set sail for Jerusalem.

Question:
When was this Letter to the Romans Written?

Answer:
It was composed at Corinth in about 57 CE and addressed to the Christian church at Rome, which Paul had not visited yet.

Question:
To whom is this Letter of Paul’s addressed too?
Answer:
Paul’s letter to the Romans is the sixth book of the New Testament and the longest and doctrinally most significant of his writings. It was composed at Corinth in about 57 CE and addressed to the Christian church at Rome, which Paul had not visited yet. The letter expounds the gospel of Jesus Christ as the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and emphasizes the themes of grace, justification, and the obedience of faith. The letter has been influential in the history of Christianity and has shaped the thought of many prominent theologians and leaders. However, it also differs from other Pauline letters in that Paul did not claim apostolic authority over the Roman congregation and respected their prior evangelization.

Question:

Who is the author of the letter of Paul to the Romans?

Answer:
Paul’s Letter to the Romans by R.C. Sproul from Justified by Faith Alone The doctrine of justification by faith alone is at the center of Reformation theology, and remains critical for all believers today. In Romans 16:22 Tertius “who wrote this letter” greets the readers. Paul is the author of the letter, but Tertius is the scribe or amanuensis who did the actual writing. The name means “third” in Latin and was a common name for slaves (Jewett, 978). This fact alone does not tell us anything about his social status since some slaves were trained as scribes. Jewett suggests Phoebe provided Paul with Tertius’s

Question:
What do we know of Paul’s physical appearance?
Answer:
Physical appearance In the Acts of Paul he is described as “A man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked”. In the Latin version of the Acts of Paul and Thecla “written about A. D. 150”, it is added that he had a red, florid face. He was a bald-headed, bowlegged short man with a big nose, and an unbroken eyebrow that lay across his forehead like a dead caterpillar. That’s a paraphrase. It’s from the only physical description of Paul, in an early Christian document, the Acts of Paul. Even while Paul was carrying on his ministry, some fleshly critics charged that “his presence in person [was] weak and his speech contemptible.” ( 2 Cor. 10:10 NIV: For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”) But we should not forget that he became a Christian by a miraculous display from Jesus.

Question:
“How are the Greek elements in Paul’s background revealed in his correspondence?
Answer:
Since Paul spoke and wrote in Greek (he gives no indication that he knew Aramaic), he knew and used the Septuagint. Although Paul’s letters did not regularly reveal his life experiences, on occasion these experiences served his missionary needs, and so he included them.The apostle Paul definitely spoke Greek. He preached the gospel in Athens, read Greek literature and quoted Greek poets. Since he wrote his letters in Greek, his written Greek is extremely good, and he demonstrates a knowledge of Greek rhetoric. It is also important that metaphors played an important role in Hellenistic rhetoric mainly because of their philosophical traditions. So, as some of listeners of Paul were Hellenistic he had to “speak in their language”. Also, he had to trust me to the same doctrine those who had Jewish faith.

Question:
What was Paul’s distinctive contribution to Christianity?
Answer:
Paul’s contribution to the development of Christianity is in two forms: (1) his preaching, and (2) his writings. Luke, the church historian, informs us that Paul did not wait too long to begin preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. Upon his baptism, the apostle, at first, “spent several days with the disciples in Damascus” but then Luke reports: “At once he (Paul) began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20 NIV: At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.); a message that was once anathema to him. From that point on, the apostle did not relent from preaching and establishing churches where his legs would and could take him. Using Antioch of Syria as his base, he undertook three missionary journeys that covered a vast swathe of land that stretched from Judea in the east, to across regions in the northern arc of the Mediterranean Sea, to Corinth in the west. When the primitiveness of the modes of transportation is taken into consideration, such expansive coverage of territory is all the more remarkable. And when we add in the resistance from his opponents and the dangers from sea, rivers and bandits, we can only hardly begin to appreciate the energy of this apostle’s zeal to be the ‘servant of Christ Jesus’. Beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, abandoned; all these hardships and sufferings could not deter the man from accomplishing the mission that was entrusted to him ( 2 Cor. 11:23 NIV:Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. —Acts 9:15-16 NIV: But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”).

Question:
When is Paul remembered in the Christian year?
Answer:
January 25th commemorates the conversation of St. Paul.