Ephesus

As the Early Christian Church began to grow and spread, it had to appeal and relate to the culture of the world it was growing into. Early church leaders such as Paul taught Christianity in a ways that related to their growing audience. The Early Church also developed similarities with the Greek and Roman cultures that was trying to relate to, although it still maintained a distinct culture of its own. Overall, the Church’s willingness to adapt to their audience and ability to maintain its…

social prejudices (p. 240). I have always thought that Paul had two different missionary, one with Barnabas and now with Silas and Timothy. But according to the text, Paul has a third missionary that started back in Jerusalem and goes onto Syria and Ephesus (p. 242). God had a plan salvation in the works for the Gentiles even in the Old Testament. How can I question God 's plans for my life, just because I don 't understand right now? God has much bigger plans for all of us that we cannot even…

gave His disciples the “Great Commission” (Mark 16:15), an urgency accompanied it, as reflected in the words of the angelic messengers, in Acts 1:10-11. Though the work was just commencing, an end was made apparent. Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus, chapter 4, identifies four purposes of church leadership and subsequently the purpose of the church 1) equip for the work of [the Kingdom of God]; 2) build up the body of Christ; 3) attain unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of…

St. Justin Martyr Justin Martyr, also known as Saint Justin, was an early Christian apologist (Wikipedia). He was born around 100 A.D. at Sychem, an ancient city of Samaria to pagan Greek parents. Justin displayed intelligence, his love for knowledge, and his devotion to the knowledge of Truth at a very young age. The Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church consider him to be a saint. His writings have standardized the foundation for a theology of history.…

Palestine into much larger geographic areas of the Mediterranean world. In particular, Paul engages a strategy in which he will preach and establish Christian communities in the major cities of the Empire, including Thessalonica, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, and Colossae” (Agosto, Efrain). The whole purpose of Paul’s ministry was to take the gospel to places that it had never been before, this style of ministry is known as “apostolic ministry” (Agosto, Efrain). Paul went on four missionary…

disciple” and the people that were receiving this were the Greek-speaking Jews that were living outside of the city of Israel. The Gospel of John was recorded or told to be written sometime following the year of 70 AD and before 90 AD in a place called Ephesus” (Hindson & Towns, 2013, pp. 383-384). In the Gospel of John, John himself shows that his identity falls on his own self as the only, “the disciple Jesus loved”…

The book of 1 Corinthians is one that many Christians are familiar with because of the love chapter. Many Christians are also very familiar with this book because the Paul wrote this book. The text of 1 Corinthians provides us with evidence that Paul wrote this book. 1 Corinthians 1:1(English Standard Version) says, “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,” Textual evidence shows that Paul was the author, but also scholars also agree…

St Paul St Paul, originally named Saul, was born in Tarsus, Cilicia and grew up in Jerusalem, where he studied the Hebrew Scriptures under Gamaliel (a leading authority in the Jewish religious establishment). Being raised as a Pharisaic Jew, during his early life he was a Pharisee - a group of Jewish people who controlled the law. Saul did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah and thought all these messages about him was rubbish so in his early life, he was a persecutor of the church and also a…

While typing this out I am sitting on a beautiful beach somewhere in Greece along the Aegean Sea. It 's easy to imagine scenes from the Odyssey or the Apostle Paul sailing up to bring the Good News. The view is one people would spend thousands of dollars to see but I get it for free. I am stranded in Greece - oh, woe is me . How did I end up camping on the beach in Greece? Let me tell you about the goodness of God during the last three months: Three months ago I was given the opportunity…

1.) Idealistic and spiritual motives were in fact at work. Doing penance for one's sins was a powerful spiritual factor. An especially powerful motive was the religious aura of Jerusalem, which had been a popular pilgrimage site for Christians. The popes of the Gregorian Reform delegated shedding blood to the laity. The Crusades were military expeditions launched against unbelieving Muslims and heretics. 2.) Pope Innocent III believed he could intervene in political affairs when moral or…