Biblical Literacy Podcast

In Paul’s letter to the thriving Roman Christian community at the time, he begins his letter as a “servant of Christ” whom god called into the role of an apostle. Paul’s desire is to come to Rome to preach Christ’s death and resurrection as God’s means of forgiveness for everyone’s sins. He condemns the reign of sin over Jew and Gentile and reinforces the fact that God’s judgment is simple for Jew...

Paul planned to visit Corinth; instead, he went directly to Macedonia. He could have washed his hands of the Corinthian Church. They were awful to him, even joking about how short he was. From Macedonia he wrote to them, explaining that he decided not to come see them because he felt he could not be the “aroma of God” he needed to be in order to be a God-like influence. Instead, he would cause the...

If you really want to know Paul, study 2 Corinthians.  Paul’s world was falling apart.  He cared deeply for the church in Corinth.  While in Ephesus, in an effort to help the Corinthian church, Paul wrote Corinthians “A”.  The Corinthians wrote Paul back.  He then wrote 1 Corinthians (Corinthians “B”).  He sent Timothy and Erastus to work with the church … to no avail.  In order to “fix things” he...

Paul wrote letters to the Corinthians from Ephesus.  This lesson includes the entire book of 1st Corinthians – all 16 Chapters. It is important to remember the context in which Paul’s letter was written.  The church had numerous major problems – sex, food, idolatry, lawsuits, divisions, bad theology, women’s issues.  Prior letters had already been sent back and forth between Paul and the Corinthia...

During Paul's second missionary journey he stopped in Ephesus and reasonsed with the Jews in the sysnagogue. He didn't stay there long but left, his friends and fellow believers Aquila and Priscilaa stayed behind. A learned and eloquent man from Alexandria, Apollos, came into the town teaching about Jesus.  Apollos’s teachings had notable holes!  Apollos understood the baptism taught by John the B...

While in Thessalonica Paul won some converts, but his message was considered a threat to the Romans.  Paul was forced to leave the city under duress.  He was prohibited from finishing his teaching to the early church.  They were confused regarding “the Last Things”. Paul’s letters focused on cleaning up this confusion.  Paul’s aim was to encourage the early church as to the second coming of Christ...

In Paul’s 2nd letter to the Thessalonians, he identifies God as our Father, showing the commonality of all believers before God.  He is thankful to God for the church’s ever growing faith and love and steadfastness in light of persecutions. Paul wrote about the 2nd coming of Jesus in more detail, reminding the Thessalonians not to be confused about a false letter claiming to be from Paul, trying t...

While in Corinth, Paul wrote 2 letters to the church in Thessalonica.  Because he had to leave Thessalonica so suddenly, and flee to Corinth, due to the threatening crowd, he was concerned about the new followers he left behind.  He wrote them letters encouraging them to continue in the church’s faith and steadfastness.  He told them he was proud of them for accepting his message as the very word...

Paul went to Corinth from Athens. Corinth, by all accounts was a wealthy and vibrant city, mostly due the unique location for trade and travel. Positioned with two harbors, one that faced Italy to the west and another facing Turkey to the East the route through Corinth was the safest way to sail from Italy to Troas, Ephesus, or other key cities in the eastern Mediterranean. While in Corinth, one n...

After leaving Philippi, Paul, Silas and Timothy, went through Amphipolis and Apollonia arriving in Thessalonica – on the road toward Rome.  In Thessalonica Paul preached in the synagogue telling the Jews of Jesus, proclaiming him as the Messiah.  Some Jews and many Greeks were persuaded.   Disbelieving Jews, jealous of the success of God’s work among the Greeks, worked up a crowd.  The church sent...

After a return trip through the Galatian towns reinforcing the churches, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch.  Paul continued his efforts to strengthen the churches in Galatia, fearing that that the churches were following a different teaching, a distortion of the true gospel. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul reiterated the message that all are saved by faith in Christ, not attempting to liv...

Persecution followed Paul and Barnabas, and actually promoted the spread of the Word in the same way Saul’s persecution of the believers in Jerusalem promoted the spread of the faith. Persecution by non believing Jews in Pisidian Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Iconium where they went to the synagogue and a great number of Greeks and Jews believed. There the non believer Jews chased them out to...

The Holy Spirit staked claim on Paul and Barnabas at the church in Antioch, “Set apart for ME Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2) On Cyprus Saul and Barnabas presented the Word of God in the synagogues, and began using his Roman Name Paul, and the first miracle God performed through Paul showed that God planned more for Paul than Paul could imagine.

God’s plan is perfect, we make choices and act based on our will. God uses our decisions and actions to complete his plan. Take Paul, persecuting the Church in Jerusalem caused the faithful to disperse to other cities. There they preached the Resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus. This changed Christianity from a fringe Jewish faction to a belief being taught throughout the world.

God’s plan is like a divine puzzle. It fits together perfectly, even though the pieces chose their shape and color. His pieces exercise their human choice, but the puzzle is always complete. Look at Paul, he chose his actions, from a Pharisee persecuting the early church to spreading the Word throughout the world as an apostle, he chose his path.

God is able to take every autonomous decision by independent humanity, and integrate it into the final perfect puzzle that expresses his will. We see that incredibly clearly in the apostle Paul. Integrating Scripture with our other historical knowledge provides us a view of Paul as the perfect piece of the puzzle that not only holds together other pieces, but also fills in the picture. Paul could...

Choices and decisions - we make them all day, every day. How do we do so when we want to follow God's will? In the case of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit fell in a miraculous way on the gentiles before their baptisms. This is very rare in Scripture. Earnest prayer and seeking the direction of God provides the guidance needed to make the proper decisions to advance the Word.

People generally do things for reasons, especially if it is something that takes a significant amount of time. The reason may not be well thought out, but if you are going to a great deal of effort, you likely have a reason for doing so! The apostles chose to obey Christ, and the Spirit came. Listeners chose to respond to Peter's teaching, and they were saved. The apostles continued to choose foll...

God’s timing was perfect. He chose the perfect moment to send His Son the Savior. Several factors were required to allow the church to establish and grow into the worldwide influence it became almost overnight, at least in the historical sense of “overnight.”  Without the Roman peace, the Roman roads, the Jewish dispersion, the temple worship, the key people in the key places, the church would hav...

In this lesson we continue the study of the perfect parallel between John's Gospel account of Jesus promises concerning the Helper He will Send and the Acts of The Holy Spirit. The cross reference between the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in Acts shows the complete manifestation of the Holy Spirit exactly as Jesus promised. The Holy Spirit fulfilled the purposes Jesus had set out. The Act...

In part 3 of the acts of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts, Mark Lanier focuses on a "check list' from John that precisely demonstrates Jesus' teaching on what the Holy Spirit would give His followers. Does the Holy Spirit's activity fullfill these promises? Go verse by verse and see the work of the Holy Spirit and find out if as Bob Dylans sings, "God Don't make promises that He don't keep" is...

In part 2 of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, Mark Lanier begins the lesson with revelations from the Old Testament concerning the Holy Spirit, using passages in Psalms and Isaiah and references as early as the creation story in Genesis. The Old Testament scripture testifies to the Spirit of God descending on people at different times but in a temporary capacity, unlike the dwelling promised by Christ...

Mark Lanier begins the study of the Acts of the Apostles  with the acts of the Holy Spirit. What is your view of the Holy Spirit?  In part 1, Mark examines what Jesus' words revealed concerning the paraclete using the synoptics Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and then examines John's gospel for further revelation. Find out if this fits with your understanding of how the Holy Spirit worked in the...

In this last installment for the gospel of John, Mark Lanier strengthens the case that John used Paul's circulating letter to the Ephesians when he wrote his gospel account. Why do we care about this? Listen in and find out and be blessed by God's words to us!

Listen as Mark Lanier builds a case for John having the letter of Paul to the Ephesians as John writes his Gospel. See if he can convince you that careful study reveals Paul's influence and takes you back to the city of Ephesians only a few decades after Christ's Resurrection.