God’s Grace Through the Life of the Apostle Paul

Because God chose to work through human authors as the immediate source of His inspired Word, the more we know about the human author the better.  Try to find out as much as you can about the writer’s background.  When studying one of Paul’s letters, for example, it is helpful to know that before the Lord radically changed his life, he used to get authorization papers from the Jewish high priests allowing him to imprison and kill Christians.  He persecuted the church out of a misdirected zeal to serve God.  This explains why the early Christians feared Paul for a time even after his conversion: “All those who heard him (preach) were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on God’s name?  And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” (Acts 9:21).  This also helps us understand why Paul describes himself as “the worst of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:16).  We don’t often think of Paul, a man whom God used to change the world, as struggling with horrible memories of the things he did before he met Christ.  Paul’s life is certainly a portrait of God’s grace.

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Grasping God’s Word

J. Scott Duvall

J. Daniel Hays