THE LASTING

LEGACY OF THE
APOSTLES
PAUL’S LETTERS: OUR EPISTLES
• During Paul’s second journey an important event took place in Corinth. In about A.D. 51,
when her wrote his Epistles ( that is letter ) to the Christian community in Thessalonika, he was
composing the first material that would eventually be included in the Christian Scriptures.
• A few weeks after he had written to the Thessalonians the first time, Paul found it necessary to
write to them again to clarify his earlier message. He certainly would have been shocked if
someone told him that he was writing part of the Bible. The only Bible he know was the
Hebrew Scriptures.
• The letters of Paul- as well as those of Peter, James, John, and Jude- were treasured by the
Christian communities. Copies were made by hand and circulated year after year.
• When the Christian communities received Paul’s letters, they were read during community
prayers and at the times of the Eucharist years after he wrote them there was a sizable
collection of Paul’s letters in circulation throughout the Mediterranean cities.
PAUL’S THIRD MISSIONARY
JOURNEY
• Paul rested from his journeys only a short time before
he was on the road again. He had promised the people of
Ephesus that he would be back. Also he wanted to see
how the communities in Asia Minor were doing. So, for
the third time in about eight years, he was walking west
on the caravan trail. Paul was now in his fifties.
WHAT DID NONBELIEVERS THINK
OF THE CHRISTIANS?
• The following excerpts from an anonymous letter to Diognetus, dating possibly from the second
century, clearly state thee somewhat mixed feelings that nonbelievers had about this new group
called Christians:
They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow
local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they
demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship.
They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens, they share all things with
others; but like aliens, suffer all things…
They marry and have children just like every one else; but they do not kill unwanted
babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared ed. They are at present “in the flesh” but they
do not live “according to the flesh”. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of
heaven. They obey the appointed laws, and go beyond the laws in their own lives.
PAUL’S RETURN TO JERUSALEM
• Paul knew that there was a trouble ahead for him in Jerusalem. As he told the people of
Ephesus when he was leaving them:
“I am on my way to Jerusalem, but have no idea what will happen to me there, except
that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear enough that imprisonment and
persecution await me. But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I
finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me- and that was to bear
witness to the Good News of God’s grace. (ACTS 20:22-24)
• As he sailed to Jerusalem and stopped at various communities, Paul seemed to be saying
farewell for the last time. Luke writes that the communities were deeply moved: “ When he had
finished speaking he knelt down with them all and prayed. By now they were all in tears; they
put their arms around Paul’s neck and kissed him; what saddened them most was his saying they
would never see his face again.” (Acts 20:37)
THE FINAL YEARS IN ROME
• A short time later Paul was placed on board a merchant ship carrying cargo, including a group of
prisoners, bound for Rome. The small craft was tossed furiously by several winter storms, and
eventually Paul and the others were ship-wrecked on the island of Malta. Finally, Paul did arrive at
Rome, where he was unexpectedly met and escorted through the city by a group of Roman Christians.
He saw that Rome, the largest and grandest city of the empire, also had its share in dingy, crowded
slums.
• Within three days of his arrival in Rome, Paul invited the local Jewish leaders to his house. Most of
them rejected his news about Jesus the Messiah. Nevertheless, Paul’s house soon became a very busy
place, as he welcomed everybody, Jews and Gentiles. His most regular visitors were from the Roman
Christian community.
• Probably soon after Paul had left Rome, a raging fire spread through about two-thirds of the city,
destroying the small shops, most of the slums- even the palace of the Emperor Nero. Though Nero was
not in Rome that July night in the year 64, the people suspected that he had arranged for the fire to be
started- perhaps so that he could rebuild the city the way he wanted it.
• Despite all the danger, many Romans had converted to Christianity. They avoided the pagan
religious ceremonies honoring the many gods; yet attending these ceremonies was considered
the patriotic duty of every Roman citizen.
• In A.D. 67, Nero ordered the mass execution for Christians.
• Paul and Peter both died in Nero’s persecutions. According to legend, Peter, because he was a
Roman subject and not a citizen , was crucified. Paul, a Roman citizen, was beheaded.
THE WAY IS NOW THE CHURCH
• Forty years had passed since Jesus had been executed on a Jerusalem hill and had risen from
the dead. The number of Christians around the Mediterranean, especially on its northern
shores, had been steadily growing. On the one hand, they were ordinary people who worked,
ate, laughed, and cried like everyone else. On the other hand, they seemed to have great self-
confidence, hope and meaning- different from their neighbors. Why?
• For Paul, Church was not a building for worship because Christians worshipped wherever it
was convenient, usually in private homes. Nor was the Church a powerful international
institution with well-known leaders and a system of laws.
THE CHURCH AND JUDAISM
• The latter half of the first century saw a dramatic alteration in the relationship between
Christianity and Judaism.
• Jesus was a Jew. While he was growing up, his parents taught him to speak the language
(Aramaic) used by the Jewish people, to read the Jewish Scriptures, and to say Jewish prayers.
He was at home in the great Temple in Jerusalem. The professional Jewish teachers admired
him for his learning.
• Though he criticized hypocrites and those overly strict about keeping religious rules, he
himself kept the Jewish Law, the Torah.
• Most Jews, however, did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. But as long as the Jewish
Christians kept the Torah, their belief about Jesus as the Messiah did not divide them from
their fellow Jews.
• Separation between Jewish Christians and the majority of the population in Jerusalem began
in the year 62 when James, the leader of the Christians there, was arrested by the high priest
for blasphemy, thrown from the roof of the Temple, and then stoned to death.
• During the next four years many Christians left their Jerusalem homes, crossed the Jordan,
and settled in Pella, a Gentile town
• Judaism is a Jewish religion in Israel.