Since half the New Testament is Paulian writings, Christ's conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus - which set that all in motion - is a divine miracle. Has to be. So was Paul's entire Gospel ministry.
Peter to the Jews. Paul to the Gentiles. That was our Lord's plan as he sent them out as Apostles and.... here we all are today.
We're on this post as believers because someone probably told all of us about the Gospel.
I'm grateful as can be Paul endured to persevere for people like me and I read his letters for what they are. Love letters to Timothy. Encouraging and straight letters to the churches at that time. Letters to governing rulers and tyrants and all those they subjected. It's all in Paul's writings!

We had a pretty cool rivalry between two profs at DTS who were FOR YEARS trying to best each other on Paul's writings tethered to the OT. One professor (who's now with the Lord) advocated that Paul NEVER wrote anything not grounded in the OT. And so he'd toss out a chapter and verse to the other prof and tell him where a particular Paulian verse was grounded from in the OT. It was fascinating to hear these two go at it in love and admiration for the Old and New Testaments. 25 years of going at it in fact.

And if we see who was greatly impacted by the writings of the one chosen to preach to us gentiles - Paul - it's an incredibly long list over the centuries.
It includes Augustine of Hippo and Martin Luther more recently.
Luther couldn't gel his priestly training in those early 1500's days with the writings of Paul, especially Romans 1:17 and 3:24;

"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.' "
"being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;"

And so in Luther's prayerful reflection and contemplation of the text, notably Paul's writings he said, the 95 Thesis was developed and nailed to the Wittenberg, Germany Church door on October 31, 1517.
And here we are, still in the Age of the Church and the Apostle Paul's writings are inspired and worthy of our time.

The more I read Scripture, the more wondrous and grander it becomes.
That was the week one lesson from those who taught me as a disciple at seminary.
Where some claim seminary is cemetery and all the rest of the inaccuracies.
We were told as students that if when you graduate - after years of study and mission field ministry - if you feel you've got this... that you've "got it" (Like academia is built on)... you know, you start with 100% of things to know and you work until there's little left to know... If that's how you come away from the studies, then the entire faculty and staff and chaplain have failed you as a disciple.
It was a stark discussion.

But "if" you come away from your studies, as one who sees just how little you really do know in comparison to the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God we worship.... you're right where God wants you to be. Knowledgable but in awe and in love with the Creator of all things visible and invisible.

I think that was Martin Luther.
I know it's this trapper.
Who's eternally grateful to Paul.
By God's grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, I'll thank Paul personally some fine morning.

Blessings,
Mark

I like how you break the ice so to speak,
Mark , I've been waiting to read a response on the meat of the new testament.
Just like Chancey, I struggled with Paul's writings, along with the book of acts, Hebrews and revelation.
Maybe it's a milk first thing, then meat.
Saul now Paul had a zeal for God. He was a Pharisie of Pharisies. He was righteous in his own mind but somthing was pricking at him . Like in Acts 9 : 4 and 5 Jesus said ( Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? ) Saul replied (Who art thou Lord?And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: " Jesus " it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.) Jesus was calling a self righteous sinner home. Luke 5: 31-32 (They that are whole need not a physician ;but they that are sick. ) Through revelation of Jesus, Paul would learn there are none righteous especially himself. Rom 5; 10 (As it is written there is nome righteous no not one ) Saul new the law to the letter, but now by the grace of God the scales had fallen from his eyes. Saul came to realize he was not only a sinner, but the chief of sinners. 1 Timothy 1:1(This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all exceptions, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. ) the gospels are of course a great eye witness account of Jesus ministry to the lost children of Israel, but like In John 20:29 ( Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me,thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.)
I believe this sets a tone for Paul's ministry to the Gentiles and Jews alike. Jesus came to fulfill the law by living the law to the letter which no man could ever do . Saul now Paul was the man fore the job to bring the good news to the Gentiles. And to show that true salvation is by Grace through faith. Not of our selves.
Paul said in 1 cor I am the least of the apostles. Back to Jesus words in Luke 14:11 (For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.) In a nut shell I believe we are all the lost children of Israel. That is until we are grafted in by the grace and mercy of God.

Giant Sage,
I touched on what is a topic so large, how can we put it in words?
For instance the heresy of Gnosticism (still with us today by the way - Solomon was correct, there are no new things under the sun) was growing during the days of the early church, what with false doctrines as a mix of Eastern mysticism and Jewish legalism all wrapped in one, primarily as an answer to evil in the world. The evil was the physical body and the goal of Gnostics is to leave this evil body, this evil existence on this eve earth and the Gnostics believed Jesus could not have had what was evil - a body. Or it was a deception (the heresy of docitism). So Paul wrote to the church in Colossae (and also to the church in Corinth and Galatia), who he'd heard were listening to these false teachers, these Gnostics, and so the resurrection was in question?

The Gospel is simple: Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead. 10 words. That's pretty simple.
Yet the Gnostics denied the Resurrection. They didn't deny a Jesus. They just set their sights - and hope - on a "spiritual" heaven with no embodiment (imprisonment in a corrupt shell) and a resurrected body was NOT their faith.

So Paul is the guy! The main guy! Who wrote passionately about the love of God, the truth of the Gospel and whose writings were used extensively in the workings of the doctrines of our faith.
Christ called Saul for a reason that day on the road to Damascus. A good thing too for those Christians Saul was riding for to persecute.
But most important for us all today as Paul is key to ALL the OT and.... ALL the NT.

You don't have a NT without Paul. God doesn't deal in coincidence and it's no coincidence Paul is 1/2 the NT.

I'm sermon prepping and I'm going to use a Chuck Swindoll true or false quiz in the beginning of the message.
Ready?

1. Prayer is more important than mowing your widowed grandmother's lawn.
2. Sharing the gospel is more important than taking a meal to a new mother and father just home from the hospital.
3. Doing "sacred" work, such as preaching or being a missionary, is more important than "secular" work, such as accounting or being a lawyer.

If you answered "true" to any of these questions, you've been deceived by the ancient heresy of Gnosticism.
More importantly if you've been taught that heaven is all there is after death, you've been deceived by Gnosticism. Many preachers have been.

My sermon topic is called "Life after Life after death."

Heaven is a true place. We know that.
But "Come Lord Jesus" means an embodied Jesus. The wonder of the Easter Hope isn't "Friday" where Jesus went Home to be with the Father. It's Resurrection "Sunday!"

Believers also will be resurrected (embodied) - Life After - the life after death (heaven). And THAT is the Gospel Hope of Eternity on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Which Paul wrote much about! For instance read 1 Corinthians with this backdrop of what was going on then... and what still goes on today. Mysticism. Gnosticism. Or any number of blends.
I think I read more Paul at funerals than Jesus' recorded words. But if we believe the words of Paul are inspired, then these have one authorship at the end of the day.
And we have a cooperative divine simplicity.

Legalists can't understand Paul.
Mystics too.
Gnostics dispute all of Paul.

We don't.
Praise God Saul became Paul.

Blessings,
Mark

Mark.
I like the quiz, Chuck is right! Practice what you preach.
Love thy neighbour as thy self. I don't believe this commandment is legalism, but natural, if your listening to the voice inside.
Rich

Paul's letter to Christian Jews in Rome is our Bible study at church. Justification, sanctification, and glorification being the subject matter.