1 Corinthians 15:1-58
The Resurrection of the Dead
1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
"Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die." 33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Acts 23:1-11
Paul on the Resurrection
1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”
4 Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”
5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.”
6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)
9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
The Lord's Supper
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
1 Timothy 6:13-16
Paul Tells Timothy Jesus Testified to Pontius Pilate
13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
2 Timothy 2:8-9
Paul Tells Timothy that Jesus is Descended from David
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.
2 Timothy 4:9-18
Personal Remarks of Paul
9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas,and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Matthew 24:1-51
Jesus on the End of Days
1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Acts 17:16-34
Paul in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Philippians 4:3
Paul Mentions Clement and Others in His Letter to the Philippians
3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
I have read several articles saying that some people do not believe that Jesus existed, or maybe if He did He exist and walked the earth - He was just a Good Teacher...So some people think that He did exist, but that He is not Divine...One of the strongest reasons that I believe in Jesus and that He is Divine is St. Paul...St. Paul believed both in God and in Jesus...It took Saul, Paul a few years to come to believe that Jesus was who He said He was, but Saul finally did on the road to Damascus...And as we read about Saul or Paul, we see he was converts on the road to Damascus and spent time with others who knew Jesus or knew of Him, or wrote about Him as Luke did...So Paul got to know Jesus after His death and resurrection...I wonder how many other Jewish officials spent the time on researching Jesus as Paul did....
St. Paul adds credibility to Jesus' Disciples work to spread His Good News...Paul is one the greatest evidences that Jesus did exist and walked and taught on our earth...First of all He wrote several New Testament Books about Jesus....And when Luke was researching His work for Theophilus, he writes much about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles...So the author and researcher Luke meets Paul and writes much about him in the Acts...When you start reading about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, you see that Paul is not a believer in Jesus from the start...Paul was at the stoning of Stephen, who was a follower of Jesus...So from a theology standpoint, Paul, at first, is a non-Christian and has a very negative and a non-Christian viewpoint...As one read's Paul's different epistles, Paul has converted...He was converted by Jesus on the road to Damascus...Something big and believable had to happen to Paul on the road to Damascus for him to change his mind and start believing in Jesus...We learn that Paul later learns much about Jesus and the many things He did and taught...Paul has changed from non-Christian to Christian, and a believer in Jesus...We learn this in Paul's Epistles...Paul knew much about the Messiah from the Old Testament, and he includes many things Jesus did or facts and information about Him, in his epistles -about being the Messiah...And Paul would have had to have gotten this information about Jesus and His Teachings from someone...Paul, a Pharisee who knew much about the Old Testament, would not be making these things up about Jesus...After all, Paul originally did not believe in Jesus...So someone had to tell Paul about Jesus, or maybe Jesus told Him some things about Himself...And maybe Paul had a revelation after Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and thought and pondered about this meeting with the Messiah...And maybe much information was exchanged during Paul's conversion process with Jesus...Paul definitely converted on the day he met Jesus, and on that day he becomes a believer and follower of Jesus...Paul on the road to Damascus, became a Christian and wanted to learn more about who he had talked to...
So as we read Paul's epistles we see that he has done much research in gaining knowledge about Jesus...And we also see by the epistles, that Paul is also a very good writer...Paul's epistles are letters to the early churches that he has helped start with the foundation of his Jesus' research...And as many others passed on Jesus stories orally, we know that Paul as a writer and author of the New Testament epistles has written pages for any follower or anyone to follow about Him...Paul's stories in his epistles reflect his life's beliefs about the Old Testament and its prophecies and how he felt and what he believed after he researched and studied the ministry and life of Jesus...
One must ask how did Paul acquire all this knowledge on Jesus and His teachings?...We must also ask why did Paul want to know more about Jesus, after he originally was very negative and against Him...We do know that Paul went out and searched for information about Jesus and found a lot about Him and wrote much of the New Testament...Maybe Barnabas knew a lot about Jesus and told Paul...Maybe Luke, while doing his research on Jesus, shared all of his information on Jesus with Paul...And Paul would write thirteen epistles about Jesus...And if we give Paul credit for writing Hebrews then he wrote fourteen books of the New Testament...And since Paul wrote so many books of the New Testament, we know more about Paul's beliefs and ideas on Jesus than any other writer and author of the Bible...
First of all, Paul writes in more detail about the resurrection of Jesus than any other apostle or disciple...St. Paul also gives us his account of the Last Supper of Jesus...Where would have he gotten all his information on Jesus and these topics about the resurrection and Jesus' Last Supper?...Jesus told the Story of His Second Coming and the End of the Ages, Judgement Day...In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul says God has assigned and appointed Jesus the Man who will be over Judgement Day...Now Paul was a smart man...Paul lived during the time of Jesus...He was a great writer and a great orator...He was a great Theist...He had great knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures of his time, being a Pharisee, and studying under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3)...And being a Pharisee meant that He was a Jew that would have believed in Judaism, and he would have strong beliefs about Judaism as he would have interpreted the Old Testament Scripture...So he would have known about the One who was to come - the Messiah...But he did not know who the Messiah was...And Paul's meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus changed him...Maybe Paul with his Old Testament knowledge, and this meeting made things now seem to fall in place about the One who was to come, and now actually the Messiah had arrived on earth and did actually dwell among us...
So how did Paul learn about two of the most important events (the LORD's Supper and His resurrection) in Jesus life?...How did he know that Jesus would be over the End of Ages, as Jesus Himself said and be Judge?...How did Paul know so much about Jesus, if Jesus were just a myth or just a legend?...And how long was it after Jesus' death, when Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus?...Some say that Paul started learning about Jesus months after His death...Some have dated Paul's letters early as 40 a.d...We know Paul was before Gallio in 51 a.d....Some researchers have Paul's conversion as early as 33 a.d., or between 33-36 a.d...Most believe Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended between 30-33 a.d...Most agree Paul's letters were written over a period of more than ten years at the minimum...And Paul would have learned these different things about Jesus through his talking to others, and related these things he was learning (from other people who knew or met Jesus) to the Old Testament as he learned more and more about Him...Paul wrote about these things like Jesus' Last Supper and His Resurrection because he believed that Jesus was a Person, but more than a Person...Paul without question identifies Jesus as the Messiah...
Paul writes to Timothy in two different epistles and gives us two different facts about Jesus...He identifies Jesus as a descendant of David's lineage...Paul also knew that Jesus testified before Pontius Pilate...So we see through all his writings and in Luke's books, that Paul knew a lot about Jesus...
Most theologians think that when St. Paul was writing his epistles to the new churches that he was setting up, that the Four Gospels were not even written yet...Why would He be setting up new churches based on Jesus and His teachings, if he did not believe that such a Man ever existed?...St. Paul would have gotten some information, if not a lot, from St. Peter and St. James (Galatians 1:18-19)...He also saw Jesus after He resurrected, on the road to Damascus...Paul would spend fifteen days with St. Peter and St. James and would learn as much as He could about Jesus...And we do not know what all Jesus may have taught Paul in his conversion on the road to Damascus, but we do know that Paul preached on his own for three years, before he visited Peter and Jesus' brother James in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:18)...And we do not know how many more times Paul visited Peter, James, and the other disciples over his life...Maybe Stephen, who was stoned (Acts 7) would give Paul some hearsay information on Jesus...Stephen was a Jesus follower who died for Him...The people around Stephen's stoning afterwards, may have given Paul some more information, and maybe Paul was influenced by Stephen's death, and his willingness to die for Him...But we really do not know what St. Paul preached in Damascus for three years, before meeting with Peter and James...It is possible Ananias gave him information on Jesus, since he was a Jesus disciple...Maybe it was the other disciples he met in Damascus over time that gave him more information on Jesus, before he began his preaching about Him being the Son of God (Acts 9:19-22)...We know that Paul grew more and more powerful and baffled even the Jews (who did not believe in Jesus) for his sudden change to an apostle of Jesus after being a believer in Judaism...Maybe Paul knowing the Jerusalem Council, they might have provided him with further information on Jesus, since this council were close followers of Jesus...Also Paul was a friend of Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...Luke had researched and gathered a lot of information about Jesus...Maybe Paul read and discussed with Luke all the information he had gathered about Jesus...And as I read the Acts of the Apostles that was written by Luke, to be mostly about Peter, in the first half of the Book of Acts and then about Paul in the second half of the Book of Acts...Paul and Luke became friends...When Paul was writing Timothy in his second letter to him, he mentions John Mark, who wrote the Gospel According to Mark, and that Luke is the only one with him...I can imagine the great stories among Paul, Mark, Luke, and Timothy, that they would have had together about our LORD, Jesus Christ...I believe they would have shared much knowledge about Jesus...
Paul was an intelligent man...And the epistles he wrote are true letters written by St. Paul...These are not just made up epistles...They are not just letters written without much thought...Paul carefully investigated and researched Jesus, after meeting Him on the road to Damascus...He would have had to talk to others about the Last Supper and the Resurrection, because he was at neither event...How did He know about the End of the Ages and Judgment Day?...So Paul would have learned these things from direct eyewitnesses or those very close to Jesus' original disciples...Paul might have learned about these events as Luke went about his research on Jesus for Theophilus...And from the epistles we learn that he is always encouraging in his teachings for both Jew and Gentile to learn about Jesus...But mostly Paul is a minister and teacher to the Gentile...He gives advice to the Gentile for living one's life around Jesus...And many would learn from Paul's teachings...
Paul was flogged and jailed many times for teaching about Jesus...Why would he allow himself to be jailed for Someone who did not exist or who was just a Teaching Rabbi?...Paul knew the the Old Testament Bible in great detail...He studied and learned about a Messiah in the Old Testament Scripture...He would have studied Jesus and would have ask himself, did Jesus fulfill the Old Testament prophecies, before writing his epistles...Paul, when talking to the Athenians, tells them about the resurrection of Jesus...But he does not stop there...St. Paul tells these curious Athenian listeners that Jesus is the One Man that God has appointed to judge the world on judgement day...And God has proven that by raising Jesus from the dead...
Paul would write thirteen books of the New Testament Bible (fourteen if you count Hebrews -which many theologians give him credit for writing)...That is half the books of the New Testaments twenty seven books...Some other historians say that Paul wrote fewer of these epistles, but maybe Paul's followers wrote the rest of the total...But Paul is the largest contributor of books to the New Testament...The New Testament is all about Jesus and His gospel...It would be absurd for Paul to follow and to write about Jesus, speak about Him, go to jail for Him, be flogged for Him, year after year, without solid evidence and belief in his own mind that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He somehow resurrected from the dead...And that He actually did exist...Paul said that five hundred people had seen Jesus after His death...Jesus was widely seen after His resurrection...It is possible Paul talked to a few of these eyewitnesses, because where did he come up with his number of five hundred...After writing thirteen letters that are in the New Testament and teaching the gospel across the Roman Empire, would not somebody have said something (about Paul or his writings) if he was in error about Jesus?...And believing in Jesus and His Father, he would not lie about this and the things he wrote about...That was not in him to lie...So one can and should believe that Jesus was seen by five hundred or more people after His death...Paul traveled all over as a missionary, setting up new churches...If Jesus were just a Man and a believer in God as He was, why would Paul have all done these things for Him and write about Him and start up new churches for Him?...Why would he spend his latter life centered around Jesus, unless He was the Real Messiah?...It was because, Paul realized that Jesus was something more, much more than a Man...He was, in fact, the Messiah...For Paul to change from a society that accepted devout Judaism to one who backed a Criminal, who was recently crucified would not make any sense...Paul knew by becoming a devout follower of Christ, he would suffer and would go to jail and be persecuted, because he was attacking the very authorities he once was one of and worked with...Paul used to work with these very people and some were probably his friends, who know would be against his new teachings about Jesus...He knew their ways and their way of thinking...Paul says he was on trial for the hope of the resurrection of the dead (Jesus' death)...He knew that when he became a part of "the Way" and was a Christian, and that he was attacking his old religious authorities (whom he probably knew)...Paul's great conviction for his teachings and spreading the word of Christ are great evidences that Jesus did, in fact, walk the earth and that Jesus brought the Good News about His Father...And that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and was the One that was to come...Paul is by far the greatest contributor in number of books on Jesus in the New Testament...He knew his Subject and the One he wrote about very well...And I do believe he and Luke discussed the topic of Jesus at different times...
Tradition has it that St. Paul died a martyr in Rome for Jesus around 67 a.d. ...If we get anything from his writings and his actions, we get a great conviction that he and his followers believed in the resurrection and the teachings of Jesus...Look at all the Christian Churches that Paul started and the people that he converted...St. Paul believed in Jesus, His life, the resurrection, and His ascension to heaven...And he would go to his death believing in Him...Clement of Rome, the Bishop of Rome at the end of the first century (and not to many years after St. Paul), in a letter to the Corinthians (in chapter five) talks about the deaths of Paul and Peter and that both of them were martyred...And there is a Clement that Paul refers to in the Philippians...