Welcome

We continue our consideration of Paul’s character by referring to a time when Paul seemed to be over-concerned about principles. This was when he had been told by the keeper of the prison that the magistrates had given permission for Paul and Silas to go.

Readings: Deuteronomy 15; Ecclesiastes 7; Acts 5-6

Having read through the story of Genesis recently I tried to imagine what living in the Garden of Eden would be like. What would Adam and Eve do? How would they fill their time? But Genesis is not a story, it is what happened, and we are part of that reality, being descendants of Adam.

When God created the heavens and the earth and all things, He left it until the sixth day to create man. It was the same day that He created the beasts of the earth. Genesis 1:24 tells us that the beasts were living creatures. Creatures that are alive and that have breath.

The character of the apostle Paul was very different when he was a young man from his character later on in life. We know very little about his very early life. We know that he was born in Tarsus, he was a Jew, a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. He was, to use his own words, “brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers”. (Acts 22:3)

Let’s start by looking at the factual evidence regarding the family at Bethany, and then we will see what we can glean by looking at the circumstantial evidence which, whilst not conclusive, will provide an interesting bigger picture.

Readings: Numbers 33; Proverbs 24; John 6

Our New Testament reading in John 6 includes the ‘feeding of the five thousand’. This is the only miracle that Jesus performed that is recorded in all four gospels.

Readings: Numbers 24-25; Proverbs 17; Ephesians 5-6

Our New Testament readings today are taken from Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians 5 and 6. We first hear of Paul visiting the city of Ephesus in Acts 18:19 and subsequently what happened is recorded in Acts 19 and 20. He spent some three years in Ephesus and said a final goodbye to them in Acts 20:25, 37,38. This was for the Ephesians a very sad day. However, prior to his departure he warned them of the dangers they were to face from within and from outside the ecclesia. 

“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 89:1