The Epistles to the Corinthians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Epistles to the Corinthians - Essay Example Although Paul is considered to have been one of the most accessible of early church figures, he has nevertheless proven difficult to identify in terms of who he was as a man.   Attempting to define Paul, author Victor Paul Furnish (1994) identifies two Pauls, one identified in his relation within the church and one identified in his historical context.   Within the church, he is determined to be the apostle for the Gentiles as Colossians highlights his function as a missionary to them and as Ephesians grants them equal status with the Jews as beneficiaries of the promises of Christ (Beker, 1991: Chs. 3 & 4).   Historically, there is evidence that Paul was a Pharisee prior to embarking upon his missionary work, but this provides less information than one might otherwise assume (Saldarini, 1988).   â€Å"Precisely as a Jew, and subsequently as a Jewish Christian, he [Paul] was also very much a man of the Hellenistic age: apparently trained in the subjects that constituted the lower and middle levels of Hellenistic education, clearly at home among the socially elite of urban society, both willing and able to engage the religious and intellectual concerns of the non-Jewish world† (Furnish, 1994: 11).   Combining these two viewpoints, Furnish indicates that Paul was a man of tremendous but practical conviction.   He had a firm grasp on his faith and beliefs, but was cognizant of the need to adapt the message to suit the needs of the audience.   He consistently placed his orations on the level of his opinion or interpretation.