What About The Letters Written By Paul?

Chapter 4

Day 4

 In Acts 13:1-3, We see that Barnabus and Saul (Paul) were ordained and sent to minister to the gentiles. Before we get into the letters Paul wrote, we need to see what this mission was to Paul. Paul eventually became known as the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” In order to accomplish this, he took on many responsibilities. Let’s talk about just three of these:

 Missionary: On his three missionary journeys, Paul established many churches in Asia. He would go into a city and preach the word of God. As the number of Christians grew, Paul would train and appoint leaders for them and then he would move on. (Acts 13)

 Elder: Paul cared for these churches and was the overseer of them all. In the early church fathers they called this position “Arch-Bishop.”  As the number of churches in each country grew, Paul appointed Elders in each country to look after their churches and empowered them to appoint Elders within each congregation (1 Timothy 5:17-19; Titus 1:5-16).

 Spiritual Leader: Paul accepted his responsibility for these people and considered them his disciples and Spiritual Children (Titus 1:4). As the spiritual leader of the churches in Asia, Paul considered it his duty to keep in touch with all the churches and give them spiritual guidance.

 In carrying out his responsibilities, Paul wrote letters to these churches. He wrote these letters to exhort the churches, correct the churches, and to establish leadership in the churches. Let’s look at each of these things separately beginning with the definition of exhort.

 Exhort:  Urge to do something; to urge somebody strongly and earnestly to do something; to give somebody urgent or earnest advice. Paul urged the people of these churches to keep the faith because they were being lead astray by some false prophets that had crept into the church (Jude1; 3 John). Paul also advised them of their responsibilities to God. He advised them how to live a Christian life (something Christians need today) and how they must be Christ like (Galatians 2: 20; Ephesians 3:14-21)).

Correct: Paul’s desire was not to punish the churches, but to correct them. He let them know about the wolves in sheep’s clothing that crept into their church and were spreading lies and deceit among them (Galatians 2: 1-5). We in today’s society think of correction as punishment. If you love someone as Paul loved these churches, you could never punish them but you would want to correct their ways so they would live for Christ as they were intended. Paul told them what the sins were that they were to avoid. It’s funny, I don’t see long hair, smoking, or wearing shorts among them.

Establish Leadership In The Churches: Since Paul could not get back to the churches himself, he also wrote letters to Timothy and Titus encouraging them to be overseers (Bishops) of these churches and told them what to look for in the Elders they selected to lead the churches. This would eliminate the false prophets that were leading the churches back into bondage to sin. He also included in his letters (1 Corinthians) the organization of the body of Christ (the church).

              Paul, having been a man who persecuted the church at one time (Acts 9), was just as jealous to protect and defend the church. These letters written by him and others in the New Testament were intended to encourage, correct wrong thinking, and demonstrate their love for the early churches established among the Gentiles.

Daily Bible Readings:

Read Titus chapter 1