Bible Alive: Faith in Paul

Bible Alive "Faith in Paul"

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Faith in the Pauline Literature
1. Look at Gen 15:6 and Rom 4:3. To what is faith connected in the mind of Paul? How is this thing (of which faith is intimately connected) achieved for Paul?
2. Read Eph 2:8-9. What, for Paul, is faith the key of? What does faith liberate us from? What must one do to have these things?
3. Read Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Phil 3:9-10. What, according to Paul, is faith for the justified or righteousness?
4. Read 2 Cor 5:17. What is faith in conjunction with baptism (according to Paul)?
5. Read Gal 2:20. Who for Paul is the central object of faith?
6. Read Rom 10:8, 13-15. Is faith for Paul just a matter of believing in Christ, or is it something more? If more, what? Indeed, for Paul, what does faith come from?
7. Look at how Paul bookends his massive Letter to the Romans: read Rom 1:5 and 16:26. What is similar about both passages? Is faith then, for Paul, simply intellectual assent or emotional “YES!” to Jesus or the Apostolic preaching? If not, what is it also?
8. Read 2 Cor 10:15; 1 Thess 3:10; Rom 14:1. Can Paul think that faith is accomplished in a single act or moment? Why or why not?
9. Read Gal 5:6. What is the principle for faith to grow according to Paul?
10. Read 1 Cor 2:2-16, 12:3; Eph 1:17-18, 3:14-17; Col 2:2. What for Paul is faith (think EYES)? What, by faith, are we able to “see” and “grasp” and “enter into”?
11. Read Gal 4:8-9; Eph 4:18, 5:8; 2 Cor 4:6. How, according to Paul, does the believer pass from ignorance of God onto the knowledge and love of God?
12. Rom 8:11, 19-23, 29; 1 Cor 6:15-20; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:19-23, 3:19-21; 1 Thess 4:17. What, according to Paul, are all things oriented toward? Given this, how important for Catholics is the principle of sacramentality?
13. Let’s summarize faith in Paul. Gather all these themes.