Q

Paul was preaching about a radical shift in the ancient Jewish religion. Essentially, the Chosen People weren’t as elite as they used to be. Now, everyone was chosen: “Here’s God’s plan that I’ve been entrusted to pass along to you. Non-Jews are equal partners with Jews….Because of Jesus the Messiah, everyone shares equally in the blessings God promised to his people” (Ephesians 3:6). What do you think it would have taken for a Jew in Paul’s day to swallow that sermon?

A

Many Jews believed it. The first Christians, in fact, were essentially messianic Jews—they were Jews who be­lieved that Jesus was the Messiah that the prophets said God would send. Most Jews, however, rejected the idea that Jesus was the Messiah. They expected a warrior like King David, not pacifist rabbi. Miracles helped convince some Jews that the apostles were for real and their story was nonfiction. Lame folks starting walking. Blind folks stopped bumping into walls. Uneducated souls started talking in languages they hadn’t learned.

Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Ephesians

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Q

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul says God gave us “the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13) and that “God’s Spirit in us guarantees that we’re in his family and we’ve got the family inheritance waiting for us.” (1:14). How do you think people can know that God’s Spirit is in them? Is there a way to know for sure that the Spirit is with us, guiding us?

A

Some Christians in Pentecostal churches teach that we can know the Holy Spirit is in us when we speak in tongues, also known as unknown languages or angelic languages. But most Christians say you don’t have to speak in what sounds like gibberish before the Holy Spirit comes into your life.

A few weeks after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Peter, leader of the apostles, launched the Christian movement with an energizing sermon in Jerusalem. There he declared that a promise God delivered centuries earlier through one of the prophets had just been fulfilled: “I’m going to throw open the floodgates of heaven and let the Holy Spirit pour out on all people” (Acts 2:17).

Many Christians say that means everyone has access to God’s Spirit, and that his Spirit communicates to our own spirit that lives inside our physical body. Many would argue that it is this Spirit who talks to us in a way that some would identify as our conscience talking to us. For example, we see someone who needs a little help, and we get a nudge that feels like someone inside our head is telling us to do the right thing.

From Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Ephesians

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In a nutshell—which is where many Jews probably felt Paul belonged—Paul essentially argued in Galatians 4 that God had a two-part plan for saving people from sin. Part 1: Obey the laws of Moses until Jesus comes. Part 2: Obey the laws that the Spirit impresses on your heart. But if Jewish Christians argued that there’s no reason why Part 1 and Part 2 can’t co-exist, what are some of the key points, questions, or criticisms you think Paul probably heard and fought against?

A

Here are some arguments Paul might have heard.

“Jesus was a circumcised Jew, from a family of observant Jews.” (Counterpoint: Jesus certainly seemed to honor the Ten Commandments, but he clashed with those rule-obsessed Pharisees over other rules, such as what a Jew can and can’t do on the Sabbath, and whether or not self-respecting Jews should mingle with non-Jews, tax-collectors, and prostitutes, whom Pharisees considered ritually unclean).

“If Moses delivered Part 1 of God’s plan and Paul is the main mouth delivering Part 2, then Paul is saying he’s at least as important as Moses. That’s not the kind of message you’d want to preach about yourself, unless you’re a self-absorbed jerk.” (Counterpoint: Paul wasn’t the star of Part 2. Jesus was.)

“You’re telling us to give up more than a thousand years of tradition just because you said so?” (Counter­point: Prophets predicted an end to the first contract. One of the most famous prophecies: “Look,” says the LORD, “the day is coming when I’m going to make a new agreement with my people, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. This agreement won’t look anything like the one I set up with their ancestors back when I took them by the hand and walked them out of Egypt. They broke that contract…Here’s the new deal I’m going to make with all of my people everywhere,” says the LORD. “I’m going to put my law inside them. I’m going to write it on their hearts…They won’t have to teach the law to anyone. Not ever again. Not to their neighbors. Not to their relatives. They won’t need to go around saying, ‘You really need to get to know the LORD.’ Everyone’s going to know me already. That includes society’s bottom dwellers and the top dogs—with everyone in between,” says the LORD. “I’ll forgive them for all the hurtful things they’ve done. Not just for­give. I’ll forget it, too” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 Casual English Bible).

Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Galatians

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Curious souls with an eye for detail might notice that just about every time Bible writers talk about going to or from Jerusalem they say they are going “up to Jerusalem” (Galatians 2:1), or they are headed home “down from Jerusalem” (Luke 10:30). It doesn’t matter if the writer is talking about going north, south, east, or west. It’s always “up” to Jerusalem and “down” from Jerusalem. Care to venture a guess why?

A

One guess is based on the fact that Jerusalem sits on the top of the ridge of hills. No matter where you’re coming from or going to, you have to climb the hill to get to Jerusalem and you have to descend the hill to leave. Another guess might spin around the fact that Jewish writers held Jerusalem in high regard. In all the world, the one and only Jewish Temple was in Jerusalem. There were synagogues throughout the world, but just one Temple.
Excerpt from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Galatians

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Q

Paul’s advice to slaves is particularly troubling in our culture that sees slavery as thoroughly selfish on the part of the slave owner, and absolutely unjustifiable. So how can we justify cutting Paul some slack and allowing him to get by with telling slaves to work for their masters as though they are working for their “brother” (1 Timothy 6:2)?

A

One battle at a time. Paul was fighting for the life of an emerging religion that was still in diapers. Christianity and the survival of the church that contained the Good News of Jesus—that was Paul’s main focus. He wasn’t out to change entrenched cultural practices. He was introducing his world to Jesus. Perhaps he figured that once people got to know Jesus, they would start acting like him, and free their slaves. In the meantime, he settles for reminding the slaves and slave masters that they are brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Excerpt from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for 1, 2 Timothy

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