Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans

I. The Apostle Paul before his conversion III. Paul's apostolic ministry Aids for Studying the Life of the Apostle Paul: About the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Romans Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 In the life of the Apostle Paul we must distinguish: 1) his life as a Jew and a Pharisee, 3) his life and work as a Christian and apostle. Paul was born in the Cilician city of Tarsus, located on the border between Syria and Asia Minor (Acts 21:39). He was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin (Rom.11:1 and Phil.3:5). His original name was Saul or Saul, and was given to him, probably, in memory of the first king of the Jews, who came from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul's parents belonged, by conviction, to the Pharisaic party, which was distinguished by its strict adherence to the law of Moses (Acts 23:6; cf. Phil 3:5). Probably for some merit, father or grandfather Ap. Paul received the rights of a Roman citizen - a circumstance that turned out to be useful for Ap. Paul during his missionary activity Acts 16:37 et seq.; Acts 22:25–29, 23:27 ). The language spoken in Paul's family was, without a doubt, then commonly used in the Jewish communities of Syria - Syro-Chaldean. Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Saul, while still a boy, became quite familiar with the Greek language, which was spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Tarsus - the Greeks 1. Tarsus, during the time of Ap. Paul, was in relation to the education of the inhabitants a rival of Athens and Alexandria, and the Apostle therefore could hardly, with his talent and curiosity, pass by Greek literature without becoming familiar with it. At least, based on his messages and speeches, one can conclude that he was acquainted with some Greek poets. The first quotation he makes from Greek poets belongs to the Cilician poet Aratus and is also found in Cleanthes - this is precisely the word: “we are His kind!” (Acts XVII.28). The second is borrowed from Menander (1 Cor. 15:33), the third is from the Cretan poet Epimenides (Titus 1:12). The likelihood of the hypothesis about his some acquaintance with Greek literature is also supported by the fact that the Apostle had to give his speeches to the educated Athenians, and for this he had to at least become somewhat familiar with their religious and philosophical views, since they were expressed in the poetic works of Greek thinkers. However, Paul's upbringing and training undoubtedly went in the direction of Judaism and rabbinism: this is evidenced by his peculiar dialectic, and his method of presentation, as well as his style. It is very likely that, in view of his special talents, he was already destined for rabbinical service early on. Perhaps for this purpose, Paul’s parents took care to teach him the craft of a tent-maker (σκηνοποιός – Acts XVIII, 3): according to the Jewish view, a rabbi had to stand independently of his students in relation to material support (Pirke Abot., II, 2). If we pay attention to all these circumstances of Paul's childhood, we will fully understand his grateful feelings with which he later said: "God, who chose me from my mother's womb" (Gal. 1:15). If indeed the task intended for Paul was to free the Gospel from the veils of Judaism in order to offer it in a purely spiritual form to the pagan world, then the Apostle needed to combine in himself two apparently opposite conditions. First of all, he had to come out of the depths of Judaism, because only in this case could he thoroughly learn what life under the law is, and be convinced from his own experience of the uselessness of the law for the salvation of man. On the other hand, he should have been free from the national Jewish antipathy towards the pagan world, which was especially permeated by Palestinian Judaism. Didn’t the fact that he grew up among the Greek culture, with him, help him in part to open the doors of the Kingdom of God to the pagans of the whole world. with which he discovers a fairly good acquaintance? Thus, Jewish legalism, Greek education and Roman citizenship are the advantages that the Apostle had with his spiritual gifts, especially received from Christ, which he needed as a preacher of the Gospel throughout the world. When Jewish boys reached the age of 12, they were usually taken to Jerusalem for the first time for one of the main holidays: from then on they became, according to the expression of that time, “sons of the law.” This was probably the case with Paul. But after this he remained in Jerusalem to live, it seems, with relatives, in order to enter the rabbinical school there (cf. Acts 23:16). At that time, the disciple of the famous Hillel, Gamaliel, was famous in Jerusalem for his knowledge of the law, and the future Apostle settled down “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3), becoming his diligent student. Although the teacher himself was not a man of extreme views, his disciple became a most zealous reader of the Law of Moses both in theory and in practice (Gal 1:14; Phil 3:6). He directed all the strength of his will towards the implementation of the ideal outlined in the law and in the interpretations of the fathers, in order to be awarded a glorious position in the Kingdom of the Messiah. Paul had three qualities that are rarely combined in a person, which already at that time attracted the attention of his superiors: strength of mind, firmness of will and liveliness of feeling. But in appearance, Pavel did not make a particularly favorable impression. Barnabas in Lycaonia was declared to be Jupiter, and Paul - only Mercury, from which it is clear that the first was much more impressive than the second (Acts 14:12). However, one can hardly attach importance to the testimony of the apocryphal work of the 2nd century - Acta Rauli et Theclae, where Paul is depicted as a short man, bald and with a large nose... Whether Paul was a man of a sickly build, it is difficult to say anything definite about this. Occasionally, he actually became ill (Gal 4:13), but this did not prevent him from traveling around almost the entire then European south. As for the “Angel of Satan” given to him (2 Cor 12:7), this expression does not necessarily indicate a physical illness, but can also be interpreted in the sense of special persecution to which Paul was subjected in carrying out his missionary work. The Jews usually married early. Was Paul married? Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea, and after them Luther and the reformers, gave an affirmative answer to this question. But the tone in which Paul speaks in 1 epist. to the Corinthians about the gift given to him (1 Cor. 7:7), may rather serve as a basis for the assumption that Paul was not married. Did Paul see Jesus Christ during his stay in Jerusalem? This is very likely, due to the fact that Paul visited Jerusalem on major holidays, and the Lord Jesus Christ also came here at this time. But in the letters of the Apostle Paul there is not a single indication of this (the words of 2 Cor 5:16 indicate only the carnal nature of the messianic expectations widespread among Jews). Having reached the age of thirty, Paul, as the most zealous Pharisee and a hater of the new, Christian teaching, which seemed to him a deception, received an order from the Jewish authorities to persecute the adherents of the new sect - Christians, then still called by the Jews simply “heretics-Nazarites” (Acts 24:5). He was present at the murder of St. Stephen and participated in the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem, and then went to Damascus, the main city of Syria, with letters from the Sanhedrin, which authorized him to continue his inquisitorial activities in Syria. Pavel finds no joy in his activities. As can be seen from the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, Paul was aware that on the way to realizing the ideal of righteousness ordained by the law, he had a very serious obstacle - namely, lust (v. 7). The painful feeling of one’s powerlessness in doing good was, so to speak, a negative factor in preparing the turning point that happened to Paul on the way to Damascus. In vain he tried to satiate his soul, which was seeking righteousness, with the intensity of his activities aimed at defending the law: he failed to extinguish the thought that was sharpening his heart that with the law one would not achieve salvation... But it would be completely contrary to the entire history of Paul to explain this turning point that took place in him as a natural consequence of his spiritual development. Some theologians present the event that happened to Paul on the road to Damascus as a purely subjective phenomenon that took place only in the mind of Paul. Galsten (in his essay “On the Gospel of Peter and Paul”) gives some witty considerations in favor of such a hypothesis, but Baur, Holsten’s teacher, who also considered the appearance of Christ at the conversion of Paul “an external reflection of the spiritual activity” of the Apostle, could not help but admit that this event remains extremely mysterious. The Apostle Paul himself looks at his conversion as a matter of coercion on the part of Christ, Who chose him as His instrument in the work of saving people (1 Cor 9:16, 18, cf. 5–6). The message about the fact itself, found in the book of Acts, agrees with this view of the Apostle. The conversion of Paul is spoken of three times in the book of Acts (Acts 9:1–22, 22:3–16, 26:9–20), and everywhere in these places one can find indications that the companions of the Apostle Paul actually noticed something mysterious that happened to Paul himself, and that this mysterious thing was to a certain extent accomplished sensually and was accessible to perception. They did not see the face that spoke to Paul, says the book of Acts (Acts 9:7), but saw a radiance that was brighter than the light of noon (Acts 22:6, 26:13); they did not clearly hear the words spoken to Paul (Acts 22:9), but they heard the sounds of the voice (Acts 9:7). From this, in any case, the conclusion should be drawn that the “appearance at Damascus” was objective, external. Paul himself was so sure of this that in 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 9:1), in order to prove the validity of his apostolic calling, he refers to this very fact of “his vision of the Lord.” In ch. XV of the same letter, he places this phenomenon along with the appearances of the Risen Christ to the apostles, separating it from his later visions. And the purpose of this chapter proves that he was not thinking here about anything else other than the external, bodily appearance of Christ, for this purpose is to clarify the reality of the bodily resurrection of the Lord, in order to draw a conclusion from this fact about the reality of the resurrection of bodies in general. But internal visions could never serve as proof of either the bodily resurrection of Christ or ours. It should also be noted that when the Apostle speaks about visions, he treats them with strict criticism. So he speaks hesitantly, for example, about his rapture to the third heaven: “I do not know,” “God knows” (2 Cor. 12:1 et seq.). Here he speaks of the Lord’s appearance to him without any reservations (cf. Gal 1:1). Renan makes an attempt to explain this phenomenon by some random circumstances (a storm that broke out in Livon, a flash of lightning, or an attack of fever in Paul). But to say that such superficial reasons could have such a profound effect on Paul, changing his entire worldview, would be extremely reckless. Reus recognizes Paul's conversion as an inexplicable psychological mystery. It is also impossible to agree with other theologians of the negative trend (Golsten, Krenkel, etc.) that in Paul there had long been “two souls” fighting among themselves - one the soul of a Jewish fanatic, the other of a person already disposed towards Christ. Pavel was a man cast, so to speak, from the same ingot. If he thought about Jesus on the road to Damascus, then he thought about Him with hatred, as most Jews tend to think about Christ now. That the Messiah could be presented to him as a heavenly, luminous image is extremely incredible. The Jews imagined the Messiah as a mighty hero who would be born in Israel, grow up in secrecy, and then appear and lead his people in a victorious struggle against the pagans, followed by his reign in the world. Jesus did not do this, and therefore Paul could not believe in Him as the Messiah; yet he could imagine Him to be in heaven. With the conversion of Paul, a decisive hour struck in the history of mankind. The time had come when the union once concluded by God with Abraham was to spread to the whole world and embrace all the nations of the earth. But such an extraordinary undertaking required an extraordinary figure. The twelve Palestinian apostles were not suited to this task, while Paul was, so to speak, prepared by all the circumstances of his life for its implementation. He was a true vessel of Christ (Acts 9:15) and was fully aware of it (Rom 1:1–5). What happened in Paul's soul during the three days that followed this great event? Chapter VI of the Epistle to the Romans gives us hints of this time. From here we see that the Apostle then experienced within himself the death of the old man and the resurrection of the new. Saul died, who placed all his power in his own righteousness, or, what is the same, in the law, and Paul was born, who believed only in the power of the grace of Christ. Where did his fanatical zeal for the law lead? To resist God and persecute the Messiah and His Church! Paul understood the reason for this result clearly: wanting to base his salvation on his own righteousness, he sought through this to glorify not God, but himself. Now it was no longer a secret to him that this path of self-justification leads only to internal discord, to spiritual death. But having died to the law (Gal. 2:19), Paul was resurrected to new life. He felt like a new creature in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). He understood the great significance of the atoning death of Christ, who had just appeared to him in the light. Instead of seeing in it, as before, a just punishment for a man who dared to call himself the Messiah, he saw in it a reconciling sacrifice offered by God Himself for the sins of the whole world and the sins of him, Paul. Now he understood who the prophet Isaiah portrayed under the guise of the Servant of Jehovah, taking upon himself the sins of the world. The veil fell from Paul’s eyes, and he saw the cross as an instrument for the salvation of the world, and he recognized the resurrection of Christ as a monument to a general amnesty for the human race, which had hitherto been under God’s condemnation. The new truth was now in his mind an invaluable gift of God's love for humanity, and he accepted it with all his heart; Realizing that he had nothing to add to it of his own, he felt reconciled with God. In the baptism given to him by the hand of Ananias, he died with Christ, was buried with Him, and with Him rose to new life (Rom. 6). Love for Christ burned in his soul with a bright flame, kindled in him by the action of the Holy Spirit communicated to him, and he now felt able to complete the feat of obedience and self-sacrifice, which seemed so difficult to him while he was under the yoke of the law. Now he has become not a slave, but a child of God. Paul now understood the significance of the various provisions of the Mosaic Law. He saw how insufficient this law was as a means of justification. The law now appeared in his eyes as an educational institution of a temporary nature (Col 2:16–17). Finally, who is He, thanks to Whom mankind received all the gifts of God without any assistance from the law? Is this person simple? Now Paul brought to mind that this Jesus, condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, was condemned as a Blasphemer, who declared Himself the Son of God. This statement hitherto seemed to Paul the height of wickedness and deception. Now he puts this statement in connection with the majestic phenomenon that happened to him on the road to Damascus, and Paul bows his knees before the Messiah not only as before the son of David, but also as before the Son of God. With this change in understanding the person of the Messiah, Paul combined a change in understanding the work of the Messiah. While the Messiah appeared to Paul's mind only as the son of David, Paul understood His task as the task of glorifying Israel and extending the power and binding force of the Mosaic Law to the whole world. Now God, who revealed to Paul in this son of David according to the flesh His true Son - the Divine Face, at the same time gave a different direction to Paul's thoughts about the calling of the Messiah. The Son of David belonged to Israel alone, and the Son of God could come to earth only to become the Redeemer and Lord of all mankind. Paul discovered all these main points of his Gospel for himself in the first three days following his conversion. What was for the 12 apostles their three-year conversion with Christ, which ended this circle of their education with the descent of the Holy Spirit on them on the day of Pentecost, was received by Paul through intense internal work within three days after his calling. If he had not done this hard work on himself, then the very appearance of the Lord for Paul and for the whole world would have remained dead capital (cf. Luke 16:31). Paul became an apostle from the very moment he believed in Christ. This is clearly evidenced by the history of his conversion, as reported in the book. Acts (ch. 9); and Paul himself (1 Cor 9:16, 17). He was forced by the Lord to take upon himself the apostolic ministry, and he immediately fulfilled this command. Paul's conversion probably took place in the 30th year of his life. His apostolic activity also lasted about 30 years. It is divided into three periods: a) preparation time - about 7 years; b) the apostolic activity itself, or his three great missionary journeys, covering a time of about 14 years, and c) the time of his imprisonment - two years in Caesarea, two years in Rome, adding here the time that elapsed from Paul's release from the first Roman bonds to his death - only about 5 years. a) Although Paul became a full-fledged apostle from the time of his calling, he did not immediately begin the work for which he was chosen. The Gentiles were to be his main concern (Acts 9:15), but Paul actually begins by preaching to the Jews. He goes to the Jewish synagogue of Damascus and here he already meets pagan newcomers, who for him are the bridge that led him to acquaintance with the purely pagan population of the city. By doing this, Paul showed that he fully recognized Israel's special rights to be the first to hear the message of Christ (Rom. 1:16, 2:9–10). And subsequently Paul never missed an opportunity to show special respect to the rights and advantages of his people. From the Damascus synagogue (Acts 9:20) Paul went to the nearby regions of Arabia. Here he acted for about three years as a preacher about Christ (Gal. 1:17, 18), while at the same time clarifying for himself in detail the system of the new teaching. However, Paul probably clarified many points of the Gospel only gradually, as the needs of the Church became apparent. This is his teaching about the relationship of the law to the Gospel, etc. After his stay in Arabia, Paul returned to Damascus, where his preaching aroused great fury among the Jews against him. (Damascus was at that time under the rule of the Arabian king Aretas). At this time, Pavel felt a desire to get to know St. Apex personally. Peter - this main witness of the earthly life of the Savior. From him he could receive detailed and accurate information about the activities of the Lord Jesus Christ, but only that: Paul did not need to teach the Gospel (Gal. 1:11, 12). Here, in Jerusalem, Paul intended to stay longer so that the Gospel sermon from the lips of him, a former fanatical persecutor of Christians, would make a greater impression on the listeners. But the Lord did not want to betray his chosen vessel to the fury of the Jerusalem Jews, and, by a special revelation, Paul left the city (Acts 22 et seq.). From here he went first to Caesarea, and then to Tarsus, where, in the bosom of his family, he awaited further commands of the Lord. He did not wait in vain. As a result of the persecution of believers, the first victim of which was St. Stephen, a fairly significant number of Hellenic believers, that is, Greek-speaking Jews, fled from Jerusalem to Antioch, the main city of Syria. These strangers preached the Gospel not to the Jews, but directly to the Greeks, and thus Christianity for the first time made its way directly among the pagans. A large and animated Christian community was formed in Antioch, in which the majority of converted Greeks were in unity with Christians of Jewish origin. The Apostles and the Church of Jerusalem were surprised to receive news of this phenomenon of extreme importance, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch to find out more about this movement and lead it. At the same time, Barnabas remembered Paul, whom he had previously introduced to the apostles in Jerusalem, called him from Tarsus and took him with him to a field of activity worthy of him. From then on, internal communication was established between the community of Antioch and Paul, the magnificent result of which was the spread of the Gospel throughout the pagan world. After a number of days of common work in Antioch, Barnabas and Paul were sent to Jerusalem to take alms to the poor Christians of that city. This journey, which took place in the year of the death of Herod Agrippa (Acts 12), should be attributed to 44 A.D., because, according to Josephus, Herod Agrippa died in this year. b) The second part of the history of the Apostle’s activity as a preacher of the Gospel contains the stories of his three great apostolic journeys, along with his visits to Jerusalem during this time. In connection with these travels is the appearance of the most important letters of Paul. It is remarkable that his first journey falls in the year of the death of the last Jewish king: with the fall of the national Jewish royal power, the spread of the Gospel among the pagans begins. Jewish particularism has already outlived its time and is being replaced by Christian universalism. Paul's three missionary journeys had their starting point in Antioch, which was the cradle of mission among the Gentiles, as Jerusalem was the cradle of mission among Israel. After each of these journeys, Paul visited Jerusalem in order to consolidate the connection that existed and should exist between both missions (Gal. 2:2). He made his first journey with Barnabas. It was not distant: Paul visited this time only the island of Cyprus and the provinces of Asia Minor lying to the north of it. From that time on, the Apostle adopted the name Paul (Acts 13:9), consonant with his former name - Saul. He probably changed his name according to the custom of the Jews, who, when traveling through pagan countries, usually replaced their Jewish names with Greek or Roman ones. (They made John out of Jesus, and Apkim out of Epiakim). Addressing the pagans during this journey, the Apostle undoubtedly proclaimed to them the only means of justification - faith in Christ, without obliging them to fulfill the works of the law of Moses: this is clearly seen both from the very fact of Christ’s calling of a new Apostle, except for the 12th, and from the words of Paul himself (Gal. 1:16). Moreover, if already Ap. Peter found it possible to free the pagans who converted to Christianity from observing the Law of Moses (and above all, from circumcision - Acts 11:1-2), then we can be all the more sure that already on his first journey, the Apostle of the Gentiles Paul freed them from fulfilling the Law of Moses. Thus, the opinion of Gausrath, Sabota, Geus and others that Paul on his first journey had not yet developed a definite view on the question of the meaning of the law for the pagans should be recognized as unfounded. As for how Ap looked. Paul in the first time of his missionary activity on the meaning of the Law of Moses for Jewish Christians, this is a more complex question. We see that at the Council of Jerusalem, held in the presence of Apostle. Paul after his first journey, the question of the obligation of the Law of Moses for Jewish Christians was not raised: all members of the council, obviously, recognized that this obligation was beyond doubt. But Paul himself had a different view of this. From Galatians we see that he placed all the power that justifies man in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, that he had already died to the law from the time he was converted to Christ (Gal 2:18–20). The twelve apostles were apparently expecting some external event that would be a signal of the abolition of the law of Moses, for example, the appearance of Christ in His glory, while for Apostle. Paul, the need for this abolition became clear from the very moment of his calling. But Ap. Paul did not want to force the other apostles to take his point of view, but, on the contrary, he himself made concessions to them where they were the heads of Judeo-Christian communities. And subsequently he condescended to the views on the Law of Moses that had become established among Judeo-Christians, guided in this case by a feeling of brotherly love (1 Cor 9:19–22). In order for his disciple, Timothy, to be better accepted by the Jews, he circumcised him - however, already a considerable time after Timothy’s conversion to Christianity (Acts 16:1). On the other hand, when it came to the very principle of justification, Paul did not make any concessions: he did not allow Titus, a Greek, to be circumcised while at the Council of Jerusalem, because Paul’s enemies, who demanded this circumcision, would have accepted the Apostle’s consent to this as his betrayal of his convictions about the non-binding nature of the Law of Moses for Gentile Christians (Gal 2:3-5). The Apostolic Council generally ended very favorably for Paul. The Church of Jerusalem and its leading leaders recognized that the newcomers from Jerusalem—Jewish Christians—who troubled the Antiochian Christians were wrong when they demanded that the Antiochians, in addition to the Gospel, also accept circumcision, which supposedly made them full heirs of the promises of salvation. The Apostles of Jerusalem clearly showed that they do not consider it necessary for pagans turning to Christ to accept circumcision with all the rites of the Mosaic Law. Sermon by Ap. Paul was recognized here as completely correct and sufficient (Gal. 2:2-3), and Apostle. Paul, as you know, proclaimed to the pagans that if they accept circumcision when turning to Christ, then Christ will not bring them any benefit (Gal. 5:2-4). The Council demanded that pagan Christians observe only the most basic requirements of purity, known as the “Noahic commandments.” Levitical rites, thus, were reduced to the level of simple national customs - no more (Acts 15:28–29). On their return to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas took with them Silas, one of the believing men of the Jerusalem Church, who was commissioned to acquaint the Syrian and Cilician communities with the decision of the Apostolic Council. Shortly thereafter, Paul went with Silas on a second missionary journey. This time Paul visited the churches of Asia Minor that he founded on his first trip. Paul probably sought to visit Ephesus, the center of the religious and intellectual life of Asia Minor, but God decided otherwise. It was not Asia Minor, but Greece that demanded the Apostle. Detained by his illness in Galatia for quite a long time, Paul founded churches here (Gal IV:14) among the descendants of the Celts who moved here three centuries BC. When Paul and Silas went from here further to preach the Gospel, they had almost no success anywhere and soon found themselves on the shores of the Aegean Sea, in Troas. In a vision it was revealed to Paul here that Europe and, above all, Macedonia awaited him. Paul went to Europe, accompanied by Silas, Timothy, who joined him in Lycaonia, and the physician Luke (Acts 16:10 cf. Acts 20:5, 21:1, 28:1). In a very short time, the following churches were founded in Macedonia: Philippi, Anthipolis, Thessaloniki and Berois. In all these places, persecution was launched against Paul by the Roman authorities, because the local Jews represented Christ as a rival to Caesar. From persecution, Paul moved further to the south, and finally arrived in Athens, where he outlined his teachings before the Areopagus, and then settled in Corinth. Having lived here for about two years, during this time he founded many churches throughout Achaia (1 Cor.). At the end of this activity he went to Jerusalem and from here to Antioch. At this time Ap. Peter began his missionary travels outside Palestine. Having visited with Mark Fr. Cyprus, he arrived in Antioch, where Barnabas was at that time. Here both Peter and Barnabas freely visited the homes of pagan Christians and ate meals with them, although this was not entirely consistent with the decree of the Apostolic Council, according to which Jewish believers were obliged to follow the ritual prescriptions of the Mosaic Law in relation to food. Peter remembered the symbolic explanation given to him regarding the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10:10 et seq.), and in addition, he believed that moral duties (communication with the brethren) should come before obedience to the ritual law. Barnabas, from the time of his activity among the pagans, had already become accustomed to this subordination of the ritual to the spirit of Christian love. But suddenly the Christians sent by James from Jerusalem came to Antioch. They, in all likelihood, should have found out how the decree of the Apostolic Council was being carried out by Jewish Christians in Antioch, and they, of course, made it clear to both Peter and Barnabas that they were doing wrong here, entering into fellowship at meals with pagan Christians. This had a great effect on both, and both, in order to avoid temptation for their fellow tribesmen, stopped accepting invitations from pagan Christians to meals. Peter's action was very important in its consequences. The pagan Christians of Antioch, who at first had joyfully received such a famous Apostle as Peter, now saw with grief that he was alienating them, considering them as if unclean. This, of course, should have produced dissatisfaction with Peter in some, and a desire in others to maintain communication with him at all costs, even with the sacrifice of their freedom from the law. Paul could not help but stand up for his spiritual children and, in the consciousness that the law was no longer needed for Christians in general (Gal 2:19, 20), turned to Peter pointing out the incorrectness of his course of action, his instability. Peter, of course, himself was well aware that the law was no longer needed for Christians, and therefore remained silent on this speech of Ap. Paul against him, showing by this that he is in complete agreement with Paul. After this, Paul undertook a third missionary journey. This time he passed through Galatia and confirmed in the faith the Galatians, who were confused at that time by the Judaizing Christians, who pointed out the need for circumcision and the ritual law in general and for Gentile Christians (Acts 18:23). Then he arrived in Ephesus, where his faithful friends Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, were already waiting for him, probably here preparing the ground for Paul’s activities. The two or three years that Paul spent in Ephesus represent the time of the highest development of Paul's apostolic activity. At this time, a whole series of flourishing churches appeared, later presented in the Apocalypse under the symbol of seven golden lamps, in the midst of which stood the Lord. These are precisely the churches in Ephesus, Miletus, Smyrna, Laodicea, Hieropolis, Colossae, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardis, Pergamum and others. Paul acted here with such success that paganism began to tremble for its existence, which is confirmed by the rebellion against Paul, initiated by the manufacturer of idol images - Demetrius. However, the joy of the great Apostle of Languages ​​was darkened at this time by the opposition that his enemies, the Judaizing Christians, showed him. They had nothing against his preaching about the “cross”; They were even pleased that Paul was bringing the pagan world to Christianity, since they saw this as beneficial for mosaicism. They actually strove to elevate the meaning of the law, but they looked at the Gospel as a means to this. Since Paul looked at things just the opposite, the Judaizers began to undermine his authority in every possible way among the pagans he had converted, and especially in Galatia. They told the Galatians that Paul was not a real Apostle, that the Law of Moses had eternal significance and that without it Christians were not guaranteed against the danger of falling into slavery to sin and vices. Because of this, the Apostle had to send a letter from Ephesus to the Galatians, in which he refuted all these false ideas. This epistle seems to have had the desired success, and the authority of Paul and his teachings is once again established in Galatia (1 Cor. 16:1). Then the Judaizers turned their efforts to another field. They appeared in the churches founded by Paul in Macedonia and Achaia. Here again they tried to undermine Paul's authority and to make people suspicious of the purity of his moral character. They were mostly successful with their slander against Paul in Corinth, and the Apostle in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians armed himself with all his might against these enemies of his, ironically calling them super-apostles (ύπερ λίαν οί απόστολοι). In all likelihood, these were those converted priests (Acts 6:7) and Pharisees (Acts 15:5), who, proud of their education, did not want to obey the apostles at all and thought to take their place in the churches. Perhaps they are understood by Paul under the name of Christ (1 Cor. 1:12), that is, those who recognized only the authority of Christ Himself and did not want to obey any of the apostles. However, the Apostle, with his first letter to the Corinthians, managed to restore his shaken authority in the Corinthian church, and his second letter to the Corinthians already testifies to the fact that his enemies in Corinth had already admitted themselves defeated (see Chapter 7). That is why Paul visited Corinth again at the end of 57 and stayed here for about three months. From Corinth, through Macedonia, Paul went to Jerusalem with donations for the poor Christians of the Jerusalem church, collected in Greece. Here James and the elders informed Paul that there were rumors about him among the Jewish Christians as an enemy of the law of Moses. To show the groundlessness of these rumors, Paul, on the advice of the elders, performed the rite of initiation into a Nazirite in Jerusalem. By this Paul did not do anything contrary to his convictions. The main thing for him was to walk in love and, guided by love for his fellow tribesmen, leaving time for their final emancipation from the Mosaic Law, he accepted the vow as something completely external, an obligation that did not affect or change his essential convictions. This event served as the reason for his arrest and from here a new period of his life begins. c) After his arrest in Jerusalem, Paul was sent to Caesarea to be tried by the Roman procurator Felix. He stayed here for two years until Felix was recalled (in 60). In the year 61, he appeared before the new procurator Festus and, since his case was dragging on, he, as a Roman citizen, demanded to be sent to Rome for trial. He completed his journey with significant delays and only arrived in Rome in the spring of the following year. From the last two verses of Acts we learn that he spent two years here as a captive, however, enjoying quite significant freedom of communication with his believing colleagues who visited him, who brought him news about distant churches and delivered messages from him to them (to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians). The book of Acts ends with this message. From here, the life of the Apostle can be described either on the basis of tradition, or using the guidance of some passages from his epistles. Most likely, as confirmed by the church fathers, Paul, after a two-year stay in Rome, was released and again visited the churches of the East and then preached in the west, as far as Spain. A monument to this last activity of the Apostle are his so-called pastoral epistles, which cannot be attributed to any of the earlier periods of his ministry. Since none of the Spanish churches claims descent from the Apostle Paul, it is probable that the Apostle Paul was captured immediately after he entered Spain and was immediately sent to Rome. The martyrdom of the Apostle, which the Apostle accepted on the street leading to Ostia 3, as the Roman presbyter Caius (2nd century) speaks about it, occurred in the year 66 or 67, according to the historian Eusebius 4. To establish the chronology of the life of the Apostle Paul, for this we need to use two firm dates - the date of his journey to Jerusalem with Barnabas in the 44th year (Acts XII chapter) and the date of his appearance at the trial before Festus in the 61st year (Acts XXV chapter). Festus died the same year he arrived in Palestine. Consequently, Paul could have been sent by him to Rome - at the latest - in the fall of 61. The captivity of the Apostle in Jerusalem, which happened two years earlier, thus followed in 59. Paul's third missionary journey, which preceded this captivity, included the Apostle's almost three-year stay in Ephesus (Acts 19:8, 10, 20:31), his journey through Greece with a rather long stay in Achaia (Acts 20:3) and a trip to Jerusalem. Thus, the beginning of this third journey can be considered the autumn of 54. The second missionary journey, through Greece, could not last less than two years (Acts 18:11–18) and therefore began in the fall of 52. The Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, which took place very shortly before this journey, probably took place at the beginning of 52 or at the end of 51. Paul's first missionary journey with Barnabas in Asia Minor, with a two-time stay in Antioch, spanned the previous two years and began in 49. Moving further back, we come to the moment when Barnabas took Paul with him to Antioch. This was around the year 44. How much time Paul had previously spent in Tarsus, in the bosom of his family, cannot be established exactly - perhaps about four years, so Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion can be dated back to the year 40. This visit was preceded by Paul's journey to Arabia (Gal. 1:18) and two stays in Damascus. He himself allocates three years for this (Gal. 1:18). Thus, Paul's conversion probably took place in the year 37. In the year of his conversion, Paul could have been about 30 years old, so we can date his birth to the 7th year AD. If he died in the 67th year, then his entire life was about 60 years old. The following considerations also convince us of the correctness of this chronology: 1) Pilate, as you know, was dismissed from the post of procurator in 36. Before the arrival of the new procurator, the Jews could afford the usurper act of executing Stephen, which they would not have dared to do under the procurator, since the Romans had taken away their right to carry out executions. Thus, the death of Stephen could have taken place at the end of the 36th or the beginning of the 37th year, and this, as we know, was followed by the conversion of Paul. 2) The journey of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem regarding the famine of 44 is confirmed by secular historians, who say that under the emperor. Claudius in 45 or 46, famine struck Palestine. 3) In Galatians, Paul says that he went to Jerusalem for an apostolic council 14 years after his conversion. If this council took place in the year 51, then it means that Paul’s conversion took place in the year 37. Thus, the chronology of the life of Ap. Paul takes the following form: The Life of Paul as a Jew and a Pharisee. The years of his preparation for apostolic activity and his first experiences in this activity. The first missionary journey, together with a two-time stay in Antioch, and the Apostolic Council. Second missionary journey and the founding of churches in Greece (two letters to Thessalonians) 5. Third Missionary Journey; stay in Ephesus; visit to Greece and Jerusalem (epistles: Galatians, two Corinthians, Romans). 59 (summer) – 61 (autumn). Captivity of Paul in Jerusalem; captivity in Caesarea. 61 (autumn) – 62 (spring). Journey to Rome, shipwreck, arrival in Rome. 62 (spring) – 64 (spring). Staying in Roman bonds (epistles to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians). 64 (spring) – 67. Liberation from Roman bonds, second captivity in Rome and martyrdom there (epistles to the Hebrews and pastoral). The personality of the Apostle Paul. From the circumstances of the life of the Apostle Paul, one can deduce the concept of what the personality of this Apostle was like. First of all, it must be said that the spirit of any pedantry was alien to Paul. It often happens that great public figures are extreme pedants in carrying out their convictions: they do not want to take into account the reasonable demands of life. But Ap. Paul, with all the confidence in the truth of his convictions regarding the meaning of the Mosaic law and the grace of Christ in the justification of man, nevertheless, as necessary, either performed circumcision on his disciples, or resisted it (the story of Titus and Timothy - see Gal. 2: 3 and Acts 16: 3). Not recognizing himself as obligated to fulfill the law of Moses, he, however, in order to avoid temptation for the Jerusalem Christians, took the vow of a Nazirite (Acts 21:20 et seq.). Likewise, the Apostle judges differently on the issue of food in the letter to the Romans than in the letter to the Colossians (cf. Rom. 14 and Col. 2). For this indulgence, the Apostle found strength in Christian love, which completely dominated his heart. Where there was still a possibility of salvation for people, even to the smallest extent, there he used all the efforts of a loving father or even a loving mother to save his spiritual children from destruction. Thus, he put a lot of work into converting the Galatians and Corinthians to obedience to Christ. But he was not afraid to express final condemnation to those in whom no signs of repentance were seen (2 Tim 4:14; 1 Cor 5:5), who went against the very foundations of the Christian faith (Gal 5:12). And, again, where it was only about the grief inflicted on him personally, there he always knew how to forget and forgive his offenders (Gal 4:19) and even prayed to God for them (2 Cor 13:7). Conscious of himself in everything as a true servant of God and looking at the churches built by him as his merit before the judgment seat of Christ (1 Thess. 2:19 et seq., 2 Cor. 6:4; Phil. 2:16, 4:1), Paul nevertheless never wanted to put any pressure on them with his great authority. He left it to the churches themselves to arrange their internal affairs, having the confidence that love for Christ would keep them within certain boundaries and that the Holy Spirit would help them in their weaknesses (2 Cor 5:14; Rom 8:26). He, however, was not alien to what was happening that was especially important in various churches, and was present in his spirit at the analysis of the most serious church affairs, sometimes sending his decisions on these matters from afar (1 Cor 5:4). At the same time, however, Ap. Pavel always showed sober prudence and the ability to look at matters practically. He was extremely skillful in restraining the impulses of persons who were under the special charm of the gift of tongues. He knew how to find what to say to those Christians who, in anticipation of the imminent coming of Christ, had completely abandoned all work. He demanded from his spiritual children only what they could do. Thus, he makes less strict demands on the Corinthians in relation to marriage life than on the Thessalonians. In particular, Paul showed great prudence in the matter of his missionary calling. When he set out to educate Europe, he took advantage of those convenient roads that the Romans had either renewed or built again, and stayed in cities that, either through their trade or as Roman colonies, were in living relations with others. The latter circumstance was a guarantee that from here the Gospel would spread to new places. The Apostle also showed his wisdom in the fact that he sent his best message, outlining his teaching, to the capital of the Roman Empire, and precisely before he himself was to visit Rome. The results of the missionary activities of Ap. Pavel. When Ap. As Paul was going to his death, he could tell himself with consolation that the Gospel had spread throughout the entire world of that time. In Palestine, Phenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome, it was established even before Paul, but in any case, in almost all of Asia Minor and Greece, for the first time Paul and his companions proclaimed the word about Christ. Paul and his companions founded churches in Perga, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Troas, Philippi, Thessaloniki, Beria, Corinth, Cenchrea and other places in Achaia. Paul's disciples, in addition, founded churches in Collosi, Laodicea and Hieropolis, as well as in other areas of Asia Minor 6 . As for the composition of the churches founded by Paul and his companions and disciples, it consisted primarily of people of the lower classes of society, slaves, freedmen and artisans (1 Thess. 4:11; 1 Cor. 1:26). This was also pointed out by opponents of Christianity back in the 2nd century. (Celsus and Caecilius). Even clergy and bishops sometimes belonged to the slave class. However, there were cases when noble or rich women converted to Christianity (Evodia, Syntyche, Chloe, etc.). There were also some noble men among Christians, such as the proconsul of Cyprus Sergius, Paul (Acts 13:12), Dionysius, a member of the Athenian Areopagus (Acts 17:34) and others. Renan in his “Life of Ap. Paul" expresses the opinion that the composition of the Christian Church under St. Pavle was very small - perhaps those converted by Paul both in Asia Minor and in Greece were “no more than a thousand people...” We cannot agree with this opinion simply because Christianity at that time aroused serious fears against itself on the part of pagans and Hellenistic Jews, which could not have happened if the Christian churches in different cities consisted, as Renan suggests, of only 10-20 people each. In addition, in Paul's letters there is a hint of a relatively large number of churches (Gal. 6, etc.). Among secular writers, Pliny the Younger and Lucian speak about the “many” Christians. From the above-mentioned churches of Asia Minor, Greece and others, where Paul contributed his labors, the Gospel gradually spread to all countries of the world, and Monod in his book about St. Pavle (1893.3) rightly says: “if I were asked: who among all people seems to me to be the greatest benefactor of our family, I would, without hesitation, name Paul. I do not know of any name in history that would seem to me, like the name of Paul, to be the type of the broadest and most fruitful activity.” The results of the missionary activities of Ap. Paul's work is all the more amazing because in the field of this activity he had to overcome various important obstacles. There is constant agitation against him from the Judaizers, who follow in his footsteps everywhere, turning the Christians converted by Paul against him; unbelieving Jews are also trying by all means to put an end to the missionary activity of the Apostle; the pagans, from time to time, rebel against him; finally, with Paul’s illness, it was extremely difficult for him to travel, especially since he almost always walked... Nevertheless, “the power of the Lord was made perfect in Paul’s weakness” (2 Cor 12:9) and he overcame everything that stood as an obstacle in his way. About the messages of Ap. Paul. The Orthodox Church accepts in its canon 14 Epistles of St. Pavel. Some scientists believe that Ap. Paul wrote more epistles, and they are trying to find hints of the existence of the now supposedly lost messages of Paul in the epistles of St. Paul himself. Pavel. But all the considerations of these scientists are extremely arbitrary and groundless. If Ap. Paul seems to mention the existence of some kind of letter to the Corinthians in the fifth chapter. (v. 9), then this mention may refer to the first chapters of the 1st epistle, and those passages from Paul’s supposed epistle to the Corinthians that became known to scientists at the beginning of the 17th century. in the Armenian translation, are an obvious forgery (see about this in the article by Prof. Muretov: “On the apocryphal correspondence of Apostle Paul with the Corinthians” Theological Bulletin, 1896, III). Under mentioned in Chapter IV of the 16th Art. last to the Colossians, the “epistle to the Laodiceans” can easily be understood as the epistle to the Ephesians, which, as a district letter, was transferred to Laodicea, from where the Colossians were to receive it under the title “epistles from Laodicea.” If Polycarp of Smyrna seems to mention Paul’s “epistles” to the Philippians, then again here the Greek. the word επιστολας; has a general meaning of “message” in Latin. Litterae. Regarding the apocryphal correspondence of Ap. Paul with the philosopher Seneca, representing six letters of Paul and eight of Seneca, then its non-authenticity is fully proven by science (see article by Prof. A. Lebedev: “Correspondence of Apostle Paul with Seneca” in the collected works of A. Lebedev). All messages from Ap. Paul are written in Greek. But the language is not classical Greek, but living; the spoken language of the time was quite rough. His speech was strongly influenced by the rabbinical school that educated him. For example, he often uses Hebrew or Chaldean expressions (αββα, αμήν, μάρανα, etc.), Jewish figures of speech, and Jewish parallelism of sentences. The influence of Jewish dialectics is also reflected in his speech when he introduces sharp antitheses and short questions and answers into his speech. Nevertheless, the Apostle knew the Greek spoken language well and freely disposed of the treasury of Greek vocabulary, constantly resorting to replacing some expressions with others - synonymous ones. Although he calls himself “ignorant of words” (2 Cor 11:6), this can only indicate his unfamiliarity with the literary Greek language, which, however, did not prevent him from writing a wonderful hymn of Christian love (1 Cor 13), for which the famous orator Longinus ranks the Apostle among the greatest orators. To the disadvantages of the Ap style. Paul can be attributed to the quite often encountered anacoluths, i.e., the absence of a corresponding main clause, insertion, etc., which, however, is explained by the special enthusiasm with which he wrote his messages, as well as by the fact that for the most part he did not write his messages with his own hand, but dictated them to copyists (probably due to weak eyesight). The letters of the Apostle Paul usually begin with greetings to the Church and end with various messages about himself and greetings intended for individuals. Some of the epistles have predominantly dogmatic content (for example, Epistle to the Romans), others mainly concern the structure of church life (1st Corinthians and pastoral), others pursue polemical goals (Galatians, 2nd Corinthians, Colossians, Philippians, Hebrews). Others can be called messages of general content, containing various of the above-mentioned elements. In the Bible they are arranged according to the relative importance of their content and the importance of the churches to which they are addressed. In the first place, therefore, it was decreed to the Romans, in the last place to Philemon. The Epistle to the Hebrews is placed after all, as having received general recognition in relation to authenticity at a relatively late date. In his epistles, the Apostle appears to us as a faithful and caring leader of the churches founded by him or standing in relation to him. He often speaks angrily, but he knows how to speak meekly and kindly. In a word, his messages seem to be examples of this type of art. At the same time, the tone of his speech and the speech itself take on new shades in different messages. However, all the magical effect of his speech is felt, according to John Weiss, only by those who read his messages out loud, since Ap. Paul spoke his epistles aloud to a scribe and intended them to be read aloud in the churches to which they were sent (Die Schriften d. N. T. 2B. S. 3). It must be added to this that the epistles of Paul are exemplary in the grouping of thoughts they contain, and this grouping, of course, required whole days and even weeks to compile each larger epistle. Ap. Paul as a theologian. His teaching is Ap. Paul expounds not only in his epistles, but also in speeches placed in the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13:16–41, 14:15–17, 17:22–31, 20:18–36, 22:1–21, 23:1–6, 24:10–26, 26:1–23, 28:11–20 ). In the revelation of Paul's teaching, two periods can be distinguished - the first, embracing his speeches and epistles composed before his captivity, the second, extending from Paul's capture to his death. Although in the first period the Apostle was most occupied with the conflict with the Judaizers, and in the latter his thoughts were attracted by other circumstances in the lives of believers, nevertheless, we can state the fact that in both periods the basic type of teaching of the Apostle remained the same. Already in the first period, the Apostle Paul raised the main subject of his Gospel with the question of man’s correct relationship to God or the question of justification. He teaches that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength and that therefore God Himself shows humanity a new path to justification - faith in Christ, according to whose merits justification is given to everyone. To prove the inability of man to justify himself by his own strength, the Apostle, both in his speeches and in his epistles, depicts the state of man in paganism, in Judaism, which (Judaism), although it was not in such darkness as paganism was, nevertheless did not feel within itself the strength to follow the path of virtue, which the Law of Moses outlined for it. To explain this inability to follow the path of virtue, the Apostle speaks of the power of ancestral sin that weighs on people. Adam sinned first - and from him the sinful infection spread to all humanity and was expressed in a whole series of individual sins. As a result, man became inclined to sin even where reason told him the correct course of action - he, as the Apostle puts it, submitted to the flesh. But God left the pagans to their passions, and gave the Jews under the guidance of the law so that they would recognize the need for divine help. And so, when this pedagogical goal was achieved, the Lord sent a Savior to people in the person of His Only Begotten Son, who took on human flesh. Christ died for people and reconciled them with God, and it is this redemption of people from sin and death and their rebirth into a new life that he considers it his duty to proclaim. Paul. A person must only believe in this and he begins a new life in Christ, under the guidance of the Spirit of God. Faith is not only knowledge, but the perception of Christ by the entire inner being of a person. It is not his work, his merit, but primarily owes its origin to the mysterious grace of God, which attracts the hearts of people to Christ. This faith gives a person justification—real justification, and not just an imputation of the righteousness of Christ. A person who believes in Christ becomes truly reborn, a new creation, and no condemnation weighs down on him. The society of justified believers forms the Church of Christ or the Church of God, which the Apostle compares either to a church or to a body. In fact, however, the Church does not yet represent its ideal realized. It will reach its ideal state or glorification only after the second coming of Christ, which, however, will not occur before the Antichrist comes and the final defeat of evil is accomplished. In the second period (and last) the teaching of Ap. Paul takes on a predominantly Christological character, although the Apostle often reveals those thoughts expressed in the epistles and speeches of his earlier ones. The face of the Lord Jesus Christ is characterized here as the face of not only the Redeemer, but the Creator and Provider of the universe. Even after His incarnation, He did not lose His Sonship of God, but only entered into a new form of existence, human, which, however, after the resurrection of Christ, was replaced by a new one - glorified. Along with the glorification of the God-man, man in general is reborn and enters into that close communion with God that he once possessed. Man’s true homeland is now not the earth, but the sky, where Christ is already seated. In order to especially prove the greatness of Christianity to his fellow Jewish Christians, Paul depicts (in the Epistle to the Hebrews) Christ as exceeding in His power the angels who participated in the giving of the Sinai law and Moses, the lawgiver. As for moral precepts and decrees regarding the order of church life, they are almost evenly distributed across all epistles. For the most part, moralizing thoughts come in the messages after the dogmatic or polemical section, representing, as it were, a conclusion from dogmatic teaching. Ap. Paul as a theologian had an extremely great influence on the development of Christian theology. He was the first to express those Christological teachings that were subsequently revealed in the epistles of other apostles, in the Gospels and the first works of Christian writing of the second century. In the doctrine of atonement, under the influence of Paul were Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and apologists, Augustine and other later theologians. But the question arises: how original and independent is Paul’s teaching? Was he not himself influenced by Hellenic philosophy or at least rabbinic theology? Many researchers say that if the first assumption cannot be considered probable, then the second is very plausible... Is this really so? First of all, Paul's dependence on rabbinic theology should have been reflected in his exegetical method. But a careful comparison of the rabbinic interpretations and the Pauline interpretations reveals a significant difference between the two. Firstly, the rabbis, explaining the Holy Scripture, certainly wanted to find in it a justification for the religious and ritual opinions of Judaism. The content of the Bible was thus already determined in advance. To do this, they performed extremely inappropriate operations on the text, interpreting it mainly in a typical allegorical way. The Apostle, although he accepts the traditions of the Jewish church, but not in their rabbinic coloring, but as the property of the entire Jewish people, who kept them in their memory. He takes them only to illustrate his points, without giving them independent significance. If he allows, in places, an allegorical interpretation, then his allegories actually take on the character of prototypes: the Apostle looked at the entire history of the people of God as transformative in relation to the history of the New Testament and explained it in the messianic sense. Next. In his teaching about Christ, Paul is also independent of Jewish-rabbinic opinions. For the Jews, the Messiah was not only not an eternal being, but was not even the first manifestation of the will of God to save people. Before the world, says the Talmud, there were seven things, and the first of these things was the Torah. The Messiah-Deliverer was presented only as the highest embodiment of the idea of ​​legality and the best executor of the law. If the law is fulfilled well by people, then there is no need for a special Messiah... For the Apostle Paul, Christ, existing from eternity as a full Divine person, is the cornerstone of the entire building of redemption. This alone already indicates that Paul’s teaching about Christ and the teaching of the rabbis about the Messiah are diametrically opposed! Further, Paul also differs from the rabbis in his understanding of the atonement. According to the rabbis, a Jew himself could achieve real righteousness - for this he only had to strictly fulfill the law of Moses. The Apostle Paul said the exact opposite of this, arguing that no one can be saved by his own strength. The Messiah, according to the rabbinic view, must appear to the Jews who have justified themselves before God, in order to crown their righteousness, to give them, for example, freedom and power over the whole world, and according to the Apostle Paul, Christ came in order to grant justification to humanity and establish a spiritual kingdom on earth. Paul's teaching differs from that of the rabbis in other points: on the question of the origin of sin and death, on the question of the future life and the second coming of Christ, on the resurrection of the dead, etc. From this we can correctly conclude that the Apostle himself developed his teaching on the basis of the revelations that came to him, adjoining what came to him from the gospel of Christ through other apostles and preachers - witnesses of the earth life of the Savior... a) patristic: John Chrysostom “7 words on the Apostle Paul.” b) Russians: Innocent, Archbishop. Khersonsky. Life of the Apostle Paul. Prot. Mikhailovsky. About the Apostle Paul. Prot. A. V. Gorsky. History of the Apostolic Church. Artabolevsky. About the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. St. Glagolev, 2nd great journey of St. Paul with the preaching of the Gospel. Jerome. Grigory. 3rd great journey of the Apostle Paul. c) foreign in Russian. Renan. Apostle Paul. Farrar. Life of the Apostle Paul (in translations by Matveev, Lopukhin in Fr. Fiveysky). Harmful. Ap. Paul 7. On the theology of the Apostle Paul, you can read the extensive and thorough dissertation of Prof. I. N. Glubokovsky. The Gospel of the Apostle Paul according to its origin and essence, book. 1st Pet. 1905 and book. 2nd Pet. 1910. All literature about the Apostle Paul in different languages ​​up to 1905 is listed here. The book by Prof. is also useful here. Simone. Psychology Ap. Paul (translated by Bishop George, 1907). Interesting and important in apologetic terms is the article Nosgen a Der angebliche orientalische Einsclag der Theologie des Apostels Paulus (Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift, 1909 Heft 3 and 4). About the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Romans. During his stay in Corinth for the third time (Acts 20:2 et seq.), when the Corinthians kept themselves relatively calm, without entering into disputes with each other, Apostle. Paul wrote (around the beginning of 59) the letter to the Romans, the most important and most elaborate of his letters. This letter was dictated by the Apostle to the scribe Tertius in the house of Gaius, in which the local Christian community gathered (Rom. 16:22 et seq.), and through Phoebe, a resident of the port of Cenchrea, who was respected among Corinthian Christians, sent to Rome (Rom. 16:1 et seq.). Paul writes with the joyful consciousness that his great task is completed, since he has proclaimed the Gospel from Jerusalem - in the east to Illyricum - in the west (as far as the Adriatic - Sea) and has established churches in all the more important cities as strongholds of the Gospel (Rom. 15:19, 23). But his fiery spirit does not thirst for peace, but for new conquests: he wants to visit the West - first of all, the capital of the empire, Rome, and then Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). Only he must first personally carry to Jerusalem the donations collected in Macedonia and Greece (Rom. 15:25 et seq.), without hiding the fact that he is endangering his life on this journey (Rom. 15:31). All this corresponds to the position of Ap. Paul at the end of his third journey (cf. Acts 19:21, 20:22, 24:17). According to many ancient and new scholars of Paul's writings, the Epistle to the Romans is a summary of Christian teaching, which the Apostle offered to the Romans as a report on his preaching, which he was now ready to transfer to the West. But with this assumption, the fact that the letter is addressed to Rome is accidental, and in addition, the idea that this letter contains an exposition of Christian teaching is also incorrect. In fact, there is no complete disclosure of all the main truths of the Gospel: there is no detailed Christology and eschatology, and there is no mention at all of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Finally, it is striking that the Apostle here means to show the inconsistency of the Judeo-Pharisee point of view, and not to depict a pagan view of life. Others, assuming that the Roman Church consisted primarily of Jews who had converted to Christ (there were a lot of Jews living in Rome), and refer to Romans 4:1, where Paul speaks of Abraham, “our father according to the flesh,” and to Romans 7:1 et seq., where the readers are portrayed as people who were “under the law” and now freed from it, define the purpose of the epistle as follows: Paul wanted to give these clarification to Roman Christians regarding the true meaning of his mission, not related to the Law of Moses, and to win them over to his side, so that their distrust would not prevent him from acting in the West. But the evidence given in favor of this opinion is untenable. Ap. Paul equally, in his letters written to churches formed from converted Gentiles, speaks of the ancient Jews: “our fathers” (1 Cor 10:1) and assumes in them familiarity with the Law of Moses (Gal 4:21). It is obvious that, in his view, all Christians were the new “covenant people” and the true descendants of Abraham “in spirit.” It is obvious that pagan Christians also had to become acquainted with the Old Testament (of course, in the LXX translation) as a historical basis for understanding the gospel story. Moreover, a number of passages in Romans clearly indicate a Gentile Christian readership. Thus: Romans 1:6 classifies Roman Christians as “those called of Jesus Christ” among the Gentiles; in Rom. 1:13 the Apostle expresses the hope of having “some fruit” among them, as among the other Gentiles; in Rom. 15:16 he exhibits his epistle to them as part of his priestly ministry among the Gentiles; in Romans 11:13 he directly speaks of them as pagans, while in Romans 9:3 he calls the Jews his brothers and relatives in the flesh. Finally, in the 28th ch. book Acts (Acts 28:21 et seq.) the Roman Jews tell Paul that they know nothing about him, have not received any letters about him from Judea (much less from him!) and all they know about Christianity is that it causes controversy everywhere... All this would be difficult to understand if the Roman Church consisted of converted Jews. Others believe that the Roman Christians were pagan converts who received the Gospel through Judaizing Christians, who taught them that keeping the law was necessary for Christians, too. The Apostle wants to correct their ideas about Christianity and instill in them a correct understanding of the meaning of the Law of Moses. As proof of this view of the purpose of the epistle, they point out that the Apostle in the first part of the epistle refutes the defenders of the law and circumcision, as well as the advantages of the people of Israel. But this view is contradicted by the fact that the Apostle clearly expresses his joy regarding the general state of the Roman Church. He thanks God for all Roman Christians (Rom. 1:8); he testifies that he himself has the same faith as they, and wants to be comforted by this faith of theirs (Rom. 1:12); he is convinced that they are full of good humor, filled with all knowledge, so that they themselves are able to instruct each other; hence he looks at his message only as a reminder, and not as teaching something new (Rom. 15:14 et seq.). All this was some kind of ingratiation, if in fact Judaizing Christianity dominated in Rome, against which the Apostle constantly fought. There is also an opinion according to which the Roman Church had a mixed composition, that is, it consisted of Christians, Jews and pagans. The Epistle was written with the goal of reconciling both, with the first eight chapters directed to Jewish Christians, and the next 9–15 to pagan Christians. But against such an assumption it must be said that it is hardly possible to reveal such conciliatory goals throughout the entire epistle. Only could the 14th and 15th chapters have such a tendency... The most likely assumption is that the Epistle to the Romans was written to refute the views of Pharisaic Judaism, but was directed to the Church, which consisted for the most part of converted pagans, among whom were Jewish Christians, but there was no Jewish agitation. Why, however, did Paul write a letter to such a Church in a clearly anti-Jewish spirit? The Roman Church was founded not by Paul, not even by Barnabas, not by Peter, but by unknown Christian aliens who, to prove the truth of the Gospel, referred, of course, to the prophecies fulfilled in Christ. But the book that contained these prophecies also contained the Law of Moses, as a revelation given by God to the chosen people of Israel. Through this, the opinion could easily arise that the Gospel is only an improvement of the Old Testament or a new law with more stringent requirements. This is how the Romans could easily understand the Gospel, who primarily looked at religion as the punctual execution of legally established ceremonies. When Roman Christians heard about Paul, they might have imagined that Paul's teachings allowed moral laxity or served as an excuse for the moral laxity that reigned in Rome at that time. The Jews could always point to this. That is why Paul decided, before his arrival in Rome, to acquaint the Romans with his preaching, free from the limited narrow legalistic understanding of the Gospel. In his message, he offered them an outline of his anti-Pharisee polemics and showed that the Gospel is not a new law, but a power that gives a person justification from sins and brings him into communion with God. By this he wanted to strengthen the faith of the Romans, give them a more complete understanding of Christ and His work and cut off access to all Jewish agitation. The message, one might say, is a vivid protest against the spirit of nomism... Both ancient interpreters and modern researchers agree (two or three exceptions cannot count) that the author of the Epistle to the Romans was Ap. Paul. Julicher, in his preface to the explanation of the Epistle to the Romans (ed. Weiss), says: “the authenticity of the message can only be disputed by those who dare to exclude the personality of Ap from history. Paul." The only thing that makes it somewhat difficult for interpreters is the fact that the message, strictly speaking, has three conclusions: Rom.15:33; Rom.16:20, 24. But this can be explained by the fact that Paul first finished the epistle on Romans 15:33, and then found it necessary to add greetings, again first completed by the 19th verse of XVI and ch., followed by a conclusion (verse 20), but then continued in verses 21-23, to which Paul could not help but give a conclusion again (v. 24). As for doxology of the XIVth chapter. (Rom. 14:24–26), then most codices place it at the very end of the epistle. Ap. Paul mainly speaks in the letter about the justification of man, which should have as its natural consequence the blessedness of man. People owe this justification only to the Gospel. In the Gospel or in Christianity, the truth of God is revealed, that is, the will of God reaches us, and His being penetrates into us; through faith we enter into vital communion with God, and Divine righteousness at the same time becomes ours, and we form from ourselves the real Kingdom of God - the kingdom of righteousness. The Apostle develops this thought as follows. First, he states the fact that outside the Gospel there is only the revelation of the wrath of God, to which both those who maliciously protect themselves from the truth, and those who, although they know the truth, do not put it into practice, must fall. Almost all the pagans belong to the first category, whom God betrayed for this departure from the truth to the will of their passions and vices, to the second - mainly Jews and partly pagans (I chapter. - III chapter. Art. 20). So, God previously, before the proclamation of the Gospel, was angry with people. Now it’s not like that: He communicates His righteousness to people through the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the sins of people. Everyone who believes in Christ the Redeemer becomes justified in the sight of God (III:21-26). This method of justification is also contained in the Old Testament, as can be seen from the example of Abraham (III.27-IV ch.). The fruit of our justification by faith is reconciliation with God and eternal bliss, although the latter is still only the object of our hope (V: 1-11). Through justification we again achieve that state of innocence and glory that Adam once lost (V:12-21). In Christianity, a sinful life is no longer conceivable - a Christian with Christ began a new, holy life, from which he can no longer, should not, return to the previous order of life in sin (VI: 1-23). But where does the Law of Moses, which used to have such great importance, remain? We Christians, says the Ap., have already died to the law, and should not regret it, because it only helped to reveal our sinful inclinations, but did not provide the means to overcome them (VII, 1-25). Now Christians are under the guidance of the Spirit of Christ and live only for righteousness and in hope of eternal life (VIII, 1-11), which will undoubtedly become our property (VIII, 12-18). Our hope for future bliss is strengthened by the groanings of creation, the groanings of our own hearts and the groanings of the Holy Spirit abiding in us (VIII, 19–27). Moreover, faith in God's predestination also provides support for our hope of glorification (VIII, 28-39). Thus, Paul exhausted his theme - “the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith.” But since he said in the first chapter (v. 16) that the Gospel is the power of God, saving first of all the Jew, and meanwhile until now the Jews appeared to the Apostle as if they had lost all hope of salvation, he now considers it necessary to clarify that in fact he does not deny the possibility of salvation through the Gospel for the Jews. Although the number of already saved Jews is very small, and the vast majority, one might even say, the entire Jewish nation, became hostile to the Gospel and remained outside the threshold of the Kingdom of Christ, nevertheless, in the distant future the Jewish people will turn to Christ and will be accepted into the fold of the Church of Christ (Ch. IX-XI). In the next, exhorting, part of his letter, Paul explains to the Roman Christians the responsibilities that they assumed upon joining the Church of Christ. They must discover their faith in Christ in their lives - first of all, as members of church society (chap. XII), and then as members of the state, consciously submitting to state law (XIII, 1-12). Finally, Paul gives some instructions regarding the personal self-improvement of a Christian (XIII.12-14). All this represents the disclosure of the main position of the 12th chapter. 1st Art.: “Serve God!” Paul advises Roman Christians to be guided by the same principle of “serving God” in disputes about so-called indifferent things (adiaphora), which were then conducted in the Roman church: everyone should think only about how to please God, try to destroy partisanship, sacrificing their pride, following the example of Christ (14–15:4). In the same way, Roman Christians should not be divided into Jewish-Christian communities into pagan-Christian communities, because the Lord wants to have both pagans and Jews in His Church (XV: 5-13). Two remarks - about the tone of the message (XV: 14-21) and about the further plans of the Apostle (XV: 22-33) form an epilogue to the message. Greetings and some final exhortations are also added here (chapter 16). Thus, the Epistle to the Romans has the following arrangement: a) introduction (I, 1-17), b) didactic part (I, 18-XI, 36), c) exhortation part (XII, 1-XV: 13) and c) conclusion (XV: 14-XVI ch.). The text of the message can be determined from ancient manuscripts, from ancient translations and from quotations given in the works of the Fathers of the Church and church writers. Of the manuscripts, some are written in capital letters and appeared earlier than the 10th century, others are written in ordinary script, as they began to write from the 10th century. There are 11 first and the most ancient of them: Sinai (s s) and Vatican (B) - both 4th century, Alexandrian (A) and Codex Ephraim (C) - 5th century. All manuscripts - both ancient and recent - fit into one of three categories. This is either 1) the Alexandrian text (s s, A, B, C), probably so called because it was used in Egypt and the capital of Egypt, Alexandria; or 2) Greco-Latin, so called because it was adopted in Western churches and was accompanied by a Latin translation; or 3) Byzantine, which includes almost all later manuscripts written in ordinary small print, and which was adopted in the Greek empire. There are differences between these texts, and it is not easy to decide which of these text forms to prefer. Of the translations of the message, two date back to the 2nd century. This is precisely the ancient Latin translation of Itala (from which the Vulgata was revised and adopted in the Catholic Church) and the Syriac translation of Peschito. Both of these translations not only agree with each other on essential points, but also correspond to the text of our Greek manuscripts, which is very important in the sense of attesting to the integrity of our Greek text. Itala is closer to the Greco-Latin text, and Peschito is closer to the Byzantine one. The third, somewhat later translation - Coptic (Egyptian) follows exactly the Alexandrian text. As for the quotations from the epistle found among church writers of the 2nd century, they also confirm our confidence in the integrity of the Greek text adopted by us, at least in the most important places. Yes, St. Irenaeus of Lyon in 185 AD published a work in which about 84 verses from the Epistle to the Romans are given. Around 150, Justin the philosopher quotes from the epistle. to the Romans ch. III Art. 11–17. Around 140 the heretic Marcion published his edition of Paul's epistles, and Tertullian, in his work against Marcion, cites about 38 verses of the epistle to this edition. In addition, Tertullian himself in his writings cites about a hundred quotations from the book of Romans (190–210). Finally, Clement of Rome around 96 cites in his letter to the Corinthians a passage from chapter 1. last Romans (vv. 28–32). In the Bibles published by the Holy Synod in 4 languages, the Byzantine text of the Epistle to the Romans (the so-called Textus Receptus) is printed. Our Slavic translation of the message is based on this text, but the Russian translation significantly deviates from it and gives additions to it in many places (printed in italics). From the patristic interpretations and explanations of ancient church theologians on the Epistle to the Romans, the following works are known: 1) Origen (3rd century), preserved in the Latin revision of Rufinus; 2) Ephraim the Syrian (4th century) - preserved in translation into Armenian, from which a Latin translation was made, in 1905 and Russian; 3) Amrosiast or, as suggested, the Roman deacon Hilarius (4th century); 5) Augustine (late 4th century); 6) John Chrysostom 33 conversations (4th century) – transl. into Russian language again at St. Petersburg. spirit. Academies; 7) Theodore of Mopsuet (4th and 5th centuries); 8) blessed Theodorit (5th century) – transl. in Russian language; 9) Ecumenia (10th century) and 10) Theophylact of Bulgaria (11th century), - trans. in Russian language Since the Reformation, many interpretations of the book of Romans have appeared in the West. The most famous works are: 1) Luther (16th century), 2) Calvin, 3) Melonchthon, 4) Baza - all of the same time, 5) Grotius (17th century). In the 19th century. the most valuable works published by: Tholuck, Meyer, Fritzsche, Philippi, Hengel, Umbreit, Ewald, Hoffmann, Godet, Weiss, Lipsius, Sanday (in English); In the 20th century. the works of Luliclier (ed. I. Weiss in Schriften d. N. T.), Lietzmann, Richier, and especially the serious and enormous work of Th. Zahn'ä Der Brief an die Komer. 1910 Of the Russian works, the most famous is the one compiled on St. To the Fathers, interpretation of the Epistle to the Romans by Bishop Theophan (Govorov). Published several times by the Athos Russian Panteleimon Monastery. In addition, individual interpretations on the last. to the Romans in Russian. language is not available. There are only brief explanations of the message in textbooks and manuals on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament assigned to the spirit. seminaries (Ivanova, Kheraskov, Rozanov, Lebedev). In the East, in big cities, there are still many people who speak two or three languages. And such people are found in the lower classes of society. It is believed that the Apostle had already been to Corinth twice before (cf. 2 Cor 13:2). There is now a basilica here, called S. Paolo fuori le mura. See I. Frey's brochure about this. Die letzten Lebensjahre des Paulus. 1910. In Greece, in the city of Delphi, a letter from Emperor Claudius to the Delphians carved on stone is kept. In this letter, Gallio, the brother of the philosopher Seneca, is named as the proconsul of Greece, the same one to whose trial Ap was brought. Paul by his enemies, the Jews in Corinth. The famous scholar Deisman, in his article on this monument (appended to Deisman's book Paulus, 1911, pp. 159-177) proves that the letter was written in the period from the beginning of 52 to August 1, 52. From this he concludes that Gallio was proconsul in this year and probably took office on April 1, 51 or even later, in the summer. Paul had already served 1 1/2 years before Gallio assumed the proconsulship in Corinth; Consequently, he arrived in Greece and specifically in Corinth in the 1st month of the 50th year, and left here at the end of the summer of the 51st year. Thus, according to Deisman, the second missionary journey of the Apostle lasted from the end of the 49th year to the end of the 51st year... But such an assumption still rests on insufficiently solid foundations. Why Ap. Did Paul not visit Africa and, in particular, such an important city as Alexandria? Deisman (p. 135) explains this by the fact that in the 38th year, at the beginning of Paul’s missionary activity, persecution of the Jews began in Alexandria, and later other preachers appeared there... Among those translated into Russian, the following works about the life of the Apostle Paul are remarkable: Weinel. Paulus, der Mensch und sein Werk (1904) and Α Deissmann. Panlus. Eine kultur und religionsgeschichtliche Skizze, with the beautiful map “The World of the Apostle Paul” (1911). The book was written vividly by Prof. Knopfa Paulus (1909). You might be interested in: