St Mary's Church, Dymock

This Module looks at what the disciples did after Jesus returned to heaven, as recorded in the book called 'The Acts of The Apostles' (often just called 'Acts'), plus a summary of St Paul's Letters to the Romans and the Corinthians.
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The main Module has 6 parts that explore how the Apostles took out Jesus' message to the wider world, plus Paul's summary of the Gospel principles and ways of putting them into practice. There is also an optional Appendix that explores the rest of the New Testament Letters which were written to individuals and groups, to help us apply Jesus' teaching to our own life today.

• 3/0: Introduction (this page)
• 3/1: Drawing People In
• 3/2: The Need To Change
• 3/3: Taking the Message Out-1
• 3/4: Taking The Message Out-2
• 3/5: Paul's Letter to the Romans
• 3/6: Paul's Letter to the Corinthians
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• 3/7: Paul's Other Letters
• 3/8: General Letters - 1
• 3/9: General Letters - 2
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After Jesus returned to heaven, the Apostles first received the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised, which gave them courage and strength to preach Jesus' message to anyone who would listen - and thousands believed.
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At first they were drawn into a 'Fellowship of Believers', sharing everything in common (as they thought Jesus would return very soon - certainly in their lifetime), but they were persecuted by the established religious authorities, so they broke up and scattered.
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• Scholars accept the Letter to Romans is by Saint Paul.
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• Romans and Corinthians are the longest of St Paul's letters.
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In this Letter to the People of Rome, Paul provides a summary of the Gospel message that many find useful to us today.
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Scholars acknowledge that St Paul wrote many of the New Testament Letters, but the author of several is 'unsure', some may be by Paul, as their style is similar, or they could be by someone who admired him so wrote in his name.

• God promised Abraham he would have many dependents if he would start out for a land God would only reveal later.
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Paul and Barnabas make the first and second of four missionary journeys, taking the message out to, and making converts of, the people in Greece and 'Asia Minor' (parts of modern Turkey). They met with both success and resistance, some of it life threatening, including Paul being stoned (but surviving).
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Some still insisted all Christian converts must adopt the Jewish way of life too, but Paul and Barnabas disagreed and took their concerns to the Apostles in Jerusalem, where a 'Council' met and produced a clear instruction.
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• On the first journey they visit 4 towns in the region of Galatia but Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement over Mark, so make the 2nd journey separately.
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• On the second journey, Paul visits Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth and Ephesus.
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Paul makes a third missionary journey by choice but the fourth journey is forced on him when he's arrested and sent to Rome to defend himself before Caesar. Although under house arrest, he's still able to preach the Gospel.
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The Book of 'Acts' ends here, but history records that Paul was eventually decapitated by order of the Roman Emperor Nero.

• For the third journey, Paul returns to Ephesus then on to Macedonia (northern Greece) before returning to Jerusalem, via many stops on the way.
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• The route to Rome is delayed by a shipwreck, which takes them to the island of Malta.
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.In this Letter to the People of Rome, Paul provides a good summary of Jesus' teaching.
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Scholars acknowledge that St Paul wrote many of the New Testament Letters, but the author of several is 'unsure', some may be by Paul, as their style is similar, or they could be by someone who admired him so wrote in his name.
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• Jesus died and was buried in a stone tomb given by a secret follower, and that might have seemed that, but it wasn't the end, God had planned something more.
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Where the Letter to the Romans gives a summary of Jesus teaching, the two Letters to the Christians in Corinth give a good summary of how to put it into everyday practice.

• Scholars accept the 2 Letters to the people of Corinth are by Saint Paul (ie: 1 and 2 Corinthians).
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Paul wrote several other Letters to churches he founded on his journeys, or to people he worked with to support them or correct them where he'd heard they might be going wrong. They include guidance on Christian forgiveness, dealing with heresy, faith leaders, and elders.
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• Some, but not all, of these Letters are attributed to Saint Paul - the style of each Letter identifies the generally accepted author, or where scholars don't agree - as 'author unsure'.
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This Module begins with a substantial Letter addressed to the Hebrews justifying Jesus as the Messiah and declaring him the 'High Priest' of the New Covenant, different from the priests of the Old Covenant. It also includes the first Letter by the Apostle Peter.

• The letter to the Hebrews is shown in some Bibles as being by Saint Paul, but recent scholars now doubt that, so it's now attributed as author 'unsure'..
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• For a description of the 'letter' that is the Book of Revelation, see Module 6.
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Module 3/9 begins with the second Letter of the Apostle Peter, then a Letter thought to be by James, Jesus' brother, and three Letters by John (the same John who wrote the Gospel), and one by Jude, who writes about false teachers.
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It concludes with an introduction to the last book 'Revelation', which is effectively a Letter to us all but, because of the difficult style in which it's written (Apocryphal or 'hidden'), it's best to read it with a book alongside that interprets it, so it's not explored here at length.
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• Both '1 and 2 Peter' are thought to have been genuinely written by the Apostle Peter.
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• Scholars don't agree on the author of Revelation - is it John the Apostle or another John?
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