Unlocking The New Testament

Paul and his Letters

David Pawson looks at Paul and how he came to write his letters. Over a third of the New Testament focusses on him. “He’s had greater influence on… Europe than any other man.” He had 3 major influences on his life – his Jewish parentage, the Greek language because he came from Tarsus, and his Roman citizenship which gave him certain privileges. He was a missionary before his conversion – but on the wrong side. He had a personal encounter with Jesus (after his ascension) which began his conversion and was his call to evangelize the Gentiles. It was 13 years of preparation before he set off on that mission and he travelled first with Barnabas as his work partner. Most of Paul’s letters are written to churches around the Aegean Sea. His strategy was to plant a community of the Kingdom in every key city and then move on, leaving the church to evangelize their district. In the course of his travels he suffered much – shipwreck, flogging, jail, stoning, hunger as well as the care of the churches. He revisited churches as well as writing to them to encourage, teach and rebuke. A man of dedication and zeal, prayer, compassion and tears who was overwhelmed by God’s grace. These letters have become the Word of God.

 See Video

Letters of John 1

David Pawson says the letters of John are grandfatherly letters because John was an old man - and the only apostle to die of old age. John sees things as black or white. It’s in contrast to the relativism which has swept across the world in modern times. He seeks to ensure that his readers’ joy may be full, that they may be living blameless lives, that they may be safe from the wiles of the Devil and that they may have assurance. David puts John’s aims this way: To Promote Harmony; to Produce Happiness; to Protect Holiness; to Prevent Heresy – (David says “we have to be on constant guard against it”) - and to Provide Hope. The arrangement of John’s teaching is characteristic of Jewish Rabbis’ manner, not analytical but unstructured wisdom. The heresy of the time came from Greek philosophy which separated physical and spiritual, secular and sacred, temporal and eternal – and gave the impression that anything physical was dirty. They could not see that God could really become man. David says when we come to Christ, only our past sins are forgiven at that time. Future sins must be dealt with as they happen. This is a very important study for all.

 See Video

 Select Pages

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14  15 16 17 18 19