Paul’s Letters Bible Studies on melanienewton.com

Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, was born in Tarsus, a major Roman city on the coast of southeast Asia Minor. Tarsus was the center for the tent making industry. Paul was trained in that craft as his occupation (his primary paying profession). As a Jewish Pharisee from the tribe of Benjamin, Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, a well-respected rabbi of the day. Paul was an ardent persecutor of the early church until his life-changing conversion to Christianity. After believing in Jesus Christ as his Savior, Paul was sent by God as an apostle to take the gospel to the Gentiles. This was an amazing about-face for a committed Pharisee like Paul who ordinarily would have nothing to do with Gentiles. Paul wrote 13 letters that are included in the New Testament. Tradition has it that Paul was beheaded shortly after he wrote 2 Timothy in 67 A.D. 

The New Testament contains 13 of Paul’s letters. Eight of those letters Paul wrote to churches that he had started or had strongly influenced. He wrote five letters specifically to individuals-pastors and church leaders. Through the Grace Overflowing lessons, you will become familiar with the people receiving each letter, the challenges they were facing (similar to our own), and the “grace-overflowing” solutions God gave to them (and to us) through Paul.

In his letters, Paul presents Christ as everything we need for life. Our God wants us to learn to live dependently on His Son as we live out our daily lives. Paul teaches us how to do this through his letters. Each of Paul’s letters presents Christ as the answer to specific needs we have and how He meets those needs in our lives as we trust in Him to do it. For example,
• In Romans, Christ is our righteousness. 
• In Galatians, Christ is our freedom from the law.
• In Colossians, Christ is Lord over everything.
You will discover all of this in the Grace Overflowing Bible Study. You can experience God’s grace overflowing through Christ to your life every day.

Timothy was born and reared in Lystra (central Turkey). His mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, were devout Jews who became believers in Christ. Timothy first heard Paul preach the gospel on Paul’s first visit to Lystra and trusted in Christ. When Paul came back to Lystra, Timothy joined Paul on the rest of his second missionary journey. During that time, Timothy helped to establish churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. Six of Paul’s epistles to churches include Timothy in the salutations meaning that Timothy was with him when Paul wrote the letters. After Paul’s release from prison (around 62 AD), Timothy and Paul traveled to Ephesus where Timothy was left to care for the church. Paul wrote 1 Timothy around 64 A.D. from Rome or Macedonia. Paul wrote 2 Timothy (~ 67 AD) while Timothy was still in Ephesus.

Titus was a Greek who listened to Paul’s preaching and believed in Jesus. Paul brought him to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-4) to show the apostles and other Jewish believers how a Greek non-Jew could love God just as much as they did. Titus traveled with Paul on missionary journeys, helping in the work of sharing the gospel. During the 3 years Paul was teaching in Ephesus, Titus was there. Then, Paul sent him to Corinth to alleviate tension at that church (2 Corinthians 7:6-16) and to collect money for the poor (2 Corinthians 8:6-23). Paul thought of Titus not only as a very faithful friend but also as his spiritual son because he had led him to trust Christ. After Paul was released from the Roman prison where he had been for two years, he and Titus traveled to the island of Crete. Paul left Titus on Crete to continue teaching the new Christians and to appoint church leaders for each new church. Paul wrote to Titus soon after writing 1 Timothy.