Background Information Flashcards
What 3 things could have been motivating the “intruders” in Galatians?
- Their theology: they truly believed that salvation came through Jesus and the law
- Persecution: they were worried that the Jerusalem church would be persecuted by non-messianic Jews in Judea if these gentile christians didn’t live according to the Torah
- Political: All subjects of the Roman empire had to worship the Roman gods, except jews who could just ‘pray for rome’. The gentile christians were not ethnic jews, but they were not worshipping the roman gods. The christians claimed they were under the exemption because they were ‘children of abraham’, the jewish authorities denied knowledge of this, but put pressure on Jewish Christians who put pressure on gentile christians to be circumcised to clear the mess up.
How were the Thessalonians treated by their community?
persecution.
- Jews: An angry mob ransacked the house Paul was staying in (Jason’s house)
- city officials: believed Paul was a religiously motivated trouble maker encouraging people to refuse to recognise/worship cesar as king, instead encouraging them to worship another king.
what was the crisis of faith in the Thessalonian church?
there were intruders claiming that paul had said all kinds of things about the Day of the Lord. These people were spreading rumours that:
- the day of the Lord had already come
- the people who died before the Day of the Lord were not going to be apart of the resurrection
what are some background issues of the Phillipians letter?
- Paul is in prison probably in Ephesus. He is expecting he might be put to death soon and is thinking about what will become of his life’s work and what is ahead.
- the philipians had given him financial support while he was in prison and sent him Epaphroditus
- Philipi was originally a macedonian town but then was annexed by Rome. Lots of retired roman soldiers lived there. They worshipped the Greco-Roman pantheon and emperors.
How is the book of Colossians related to the book Philemon?
Philemon was a leader in the church of Colosae,
What is the background of Philemon?
Philemon had a slave Onesimus who ran away. Onesimus went to Paul and became a christian. Paul was writing to Philemon to receive Onesimus back as he would receive Paul himself.
Who was Philemon?
- leader of church in Collosae, church probably met at his house
- gives financially to Paul probably
who was the letter Ephesians written to?
-probably the whole of asia minor.
What was Ephesus like in the early first century?
- large city.
- location on the coastal and land routes
- commercial, cultural and military importance
- worship of god Artemis was widespread
what was Colossae like in the early first century?
- worship of Artemis, roman emperors and collosae’s own gods
- significant jewish population
explain the geography of corinth.
In modern day greece. Peloponnese to the north, attica to the south. corinth based on strip of land between the two. Agean east, ionian west.
How does the geography of Corinth relate to the economy and culture?
- some travellers would haul ships across isthmus to avoid going all the way around greece. also, port city. these travellers would stimulate local economy.
- transient population
- focus on self-promotion, status, personal rights (Ciampa)
Describe how Paul was recieved by Corinthian society at large
- converted some jews, God fearers and pagans
- was forced to leave synagogue
- synagogue leaders brought Paul before Gallio
- Gallio saw Paul vs Synagogue as squabble within jewish community and not his business. did not charge Paul or respond when church member was beaten in daylight.
what was the social make-up of the corinthian church?
-actually there was a lot of diversity in the members’ social status.
Who were leading the corinthians away from Paul?
-the “super apostles”. some people were infiltrating the Corinthian church. they claimed to be apostles and were denegrating Paul for not having rhetoric ability or eloquence.
