{"id":11282,"date":"2020-06-14T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-14T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=11282"},"modified":"2020-06-14T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T23:04:00","slug":"pauls-time-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/11282\/pauls-time-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul’s Time Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re up to the New Testament part in your book, Suffering and the Saints<\/a><\/em>, and Brad asked me when does the New Testament start. I answered correctly that commonly it\u2019s thought to be the book of Matthew but that we know it really started when the holy Ghost was sent back and filled the disciples.<\/span><\/p>\n

My question was what is the length of time between the disciples receiving the holy Ghost and Paul going forth to teach the Gentiles, as it feels like that is the real beginning of the New Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, Brad wants to know how many years transpired between Paul beginning his ministry and Peter preaching to Cornelius\u2019 house?<\/span><\/p>\n

Lots of love!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Allison<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Allison!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Concerning your first question, it cannot be determined from the scriptures exactly how much time passed from there day of Pentecost until God sent Paul with his gospel for the Gentiles. It was obviously a matter of years, not months. According to Paul, after his conversion, he went away to Mount Sinai (\u201cArabia\u201d) to meet with God, alone:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Galatians 1<\/em><\/span>
\n15. But when God, who set me apart from my mother\u2019s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased<\/em><\/span>
\n16. to reveal His Son to me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,<\/em><\/span>
\n17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went away into Arabia, and then returned again to Damascus.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It was there at Mount Sinai, I suppose, that Paul was caught up to the third heaven and received his incredible revelation of a new gospel:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

2Corinthians 12<\/em><\/span>
\n2. If in the body, I do not know, or if out of the body, I do not know; God knows. Such a man was caught up to the third heaven.<\/em><\/span>
\n3. And I know such a man \u2013 whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows,<\/em><\/span>
\n4. how that he was snatched up into Paradise and heard inexpressible things which are unlawful for a man to speak.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s gospel was indeed, as you say, a beginning, but it was not the beginning of the anew Testament. Paul\u2019s gospel was the beginning of the full knowledge of God, the beginning of the eternal gospel, instead of the gospel for the Jews which Peter and the other apostles, which passed away when God finished dealing with the Jews as Jews.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The story of Paul\u2019s conversion is told in Acts 9, and Peter\u2019s preaching at Cornelius\u2019 house is in Acts 10; however, that does not mean that Paul had begun preaching his new gospel before Peter was sent to that Gentile\u2019s house. As you have seen, Paul spent a significant amount of time seeking God (and no doubt studying the scriptures and learning of Him) after his conversion. Moreover, if Peter had heard of Paul\u2019s gospel before God sent Peter to preach at Cornelius\u2019 house, then Peter and the Jewish brothers who were with him would not have been surprised when God poured out the holy Ghost on the Gentiles:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Acts 10<\/em><\/span>
\n44. While Peter was still saying these things, the holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the Word.<\/em><\/span>
\n45. And those of the circumcision who believed, as many as came with Peter, were astonished because the gift of the holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles!<\/em><\/span>
\n46. They knew this because<\/strong> they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope this helps. It was good to hear from you!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastor John, We\u2019re up to the New Testament part in your book, Suffering and the Saints, and Brad asked me when does the New Testament start. I answered correctly that commonly it\u2019s thought to be the book of Matthew but that we know it really started when the holy Ghost was sent back and filled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}