The Pauline Epistles
A Survey of Paul’s Life and Ministry through his own writings
Course Overview
• Why Study Paul?
• What makes him such an interesting hero of the faith to you?
Course Overview
• Why Study Paul?
• Simultaneously Humbling and Hopeful
Course Overview
• Why Study Paul?
• Simultaneously Humbling and Hopeful
• Clear example of a life of sacrifice and total dedication
Course Overview
• Why Study Paul?
• Simultaneously Humbling and Hopeful
• Clear example of a life of sacrifice and total dedication
• Great deal to learn about theology and church practices
Course Overview
• Why Study Paul?
• Simultaneously Humbling and Hopeful
• Clear example of a life of sacrifice and total dedication
• Great deal to learn about theology and church practices
• Example of “doing the work of an Evangelist”
Course Overview
• Why Study Paul?
• Simultaneously Humbling and Hopeful
• Clear example of a life of sacrifice and total dedication
• Great deal to learn about theology and church practices
• Example of “doing the work of an Evangelist”
• Masterful encourager and developer of others
Course Overview
• Epistles we will try to cover
• 1st/2nd Thessalonians
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Earliest Epistles
Written from Corinth during the 2nd missionary journey
Dealing with disruptions in the congregation
Coping with persecution
Understanding the Day of the Lord
Course Overview
• Epistles we will try to cover
• Galatians
• Near the end of his 3rd missionary journey
• Dealing with church issues
• Colossians
• The fight against seeking out “hidden” truth
• Waging war against the “New Age” movements of the time
Course Overview
• Epistles we will try to cover
• Philemon
• The equality of God’s love for all
• The Greatest Commandment lived out practically
• 2nd Timothy
• Final Epistle
• Closing thoughts on his life and ministry
Course Overview
• Paul is writing about:
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Overcoming persecution
Evangelizing the lost everywhere we go
Training up new believers to be effective in personal ministry
Avoiding the dangerous influences of the world into the church’s
doctrine
• Understanding the time is short
• Living a dedicated and transformed life to glorify God
• So Maybe we add one more reason to study Paul…
• The issues haven’t changed a whole lot…
Session 1: Overview of the
Apostle Paul
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Timeline of Paul’s Life
Chronology of Paul’s Writings
Chronology of Paul’s Journeys
Discussion of Paul’s life as Saul
Paul’s conversion experience
Timeline of Paul’s Life
• Paul at Damascus
37-40 AD
• First Journey
45-47 AD
• Second Journey
51-53 AD
• Third Journey
54-58 AD
• Imprisonment in Judea
58-60 AD
• Voyage to Rome
60-61 AD
• Imprisonment in Rome
61-63 AD
• Post-Imprisonment Journeys
63-67 AD
Chronology of Paul’s Writings
• First Thessalonians &Second Thessalonians
52 AD
• Galatians
55-57 AD
• First Corinthians & Second Corinthians
57 AD
• Romans
57-58 AD
• Ephesians, Philippians, & Colossians
62 AD
• Philemon
63 AD
• Hebrews, Titus, & First Timothy
64-65 AD
• Second Timothy
66-67 AD
Establishing Chronology
• Comes from direct references to events that take place in
certain ruler’s reigns
• Comes from double references
• Looking at the historical timeline we just studied in Acts tells us
where Paul would have been
• Who was with Paul, or not with Paul…
• Was he in prison or not?
• Comes from references plus some inferences
• Paul writes while imprisoned…but which imprisonment?
• Paul references expecting to see somebody soon on the next trip,
probably not his final imprisonment
Putting off the Old Man
• Who was Saul?
• What was He like?
A radical intervention
• What was Paul’s reaction to his encounter with Christ?
• Lessons from Acts 9
• God can bring people to Himself exactly where He finds them
• God may need to do something drastic in order to get our
attention
• After we are saved, we may still have some explaining to do
Humility & Hope for Us All
• Humility
• We are not very much to look at without Christ in our
countenance
• We are without hope
• We have lots of blood on our hands
• Hope
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The blood of Christ redeems us
It makes us something new
We have a purpose if we choose to take the blinders off
Our struggles in serving Him are few compared to the glory of
eternity
• He asks very little in return for what He provides
Next Week
• Session 2
• 1 Thessalonians
• Chapter 1 and 2
• Paul’s Thankfulness
• Paul’s Conduct
• Paul’s Expectations