What’s Paul got against sinners?
Paul said God pre-picked people to get saved. Really?
Did Paul jockey for power?
Q Paul seems to say that someone named Epaphras started the church at Colossae. Then he adds that Epaphras is “one of our dearly loved associates” (Colossians 1:7). Does that sound like Paul is laying claim to a leadership role over this church, …
Paul: Accept people as they are
Q LIFE APPLICATION. Paul tells mature Christians in Rome, “Accept your fellow believers just the way they are. Remember, the Messiah did that for you. So do it for others, as a way of honoring God” (Romans 15:7). If Paul said this to you while the …
Paul bad-mouthing sinners
Q Was Paul mean? Paul has some harsh things to say about nonbelievers in Ephesians 4:17-19. How do you react to what he said? “I’m going to tell you something, and it comes from the Lord. Don’t live like an atheist or any other nonbeliever. They are …
How to swallow Paul’s sermon
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 …
Paul: False preachers be damned
Q Galatians is the angriest surviving letter Paul wrote. He was fed up with Jewish Christians trying to pressure non-Jews into observing all the ancient Jewish laws. Those included laws that require all men to be circumcised, and that everyone eat …
Paul didn’t want to die alone
Timothy’s route from Ephesus to Rome, where Paul was in prison Q LIFE APPLICATION. As Paul wraps up his letter, he tells Timothy, “Do the best you can to come and see me soon” (4:9). Many people who have been around folks who were about to die …
Mark’s reputation: He won’t finish what he starts
FUNNY THING ABOUT THE GENT credited with writing the Gospel of Mark—the only Bible book about Jesus that most scholars agree didn’t get finished. The book ends with Jesus asking some women to go tell his disciples that he’s back from the dead. But …
One-liners from angry Paul
PAUL WROTE AN ANGRY LETTER. It shows up at the tail end of 2 Corinthians, as chapters 10-13. Most Bible experts seem to think those chapters were not part of the letter preserved in the earlier nine chapters. The break between the comparatively …
Apostle Paul in your face
I SEE GLIMPSES OF ATTITUDE AND ANGER as I read the Bible letters of Paul and try to paraphrase them for the Casual English Bible. Does he sometimes cross the line and go so far into tickedness that he commits a sin? I’m pretty sure some Christians …
An oldie song about Jesus
IT’S ONE OF THE OLDEST SONGS about Jesus, many Bible experts say. Someone wrote the lyrics during the first generation of Christians, a few years after Jesus left the planet. That makes it a little bit older than the Gaither songs. The lyrics …
Peter welcomes a new breed of Christian
WITH ALL THE “US” AND “THEM” going on around the world these days, there are clues in the Bible about how to handle that problem. The problem of “Us” and “Them” has been around for a long time. Peter …