peace to live by

Paul Under Persecution, Part 1 (TMF:2587)

Tuesday, April 08, 2025
Peace to Live By: Paul Under Persecution, Part 1 (TMF:2587) - Daniel Litton
(Tap to play feature or right-click to download)

       There were those who hated Jesus, mainly the leaders of his day, because really, they were jealous. He was stealing their worldly glory. The crowds were going after Jesus instead of going after them. Perhaps their teachings, which had been that which the crowds followed, those teachings were no longer the ‘thing.’ There were new teachings, as it was perceived, and the new teachings were doing-in the old. And we could say this revealed the Jewish leaders’s true hearts, that they were selfish and prideful. Jealously was just the surface emotion that lead back to deeper problems. And so, killing Jesus off wasn’t enough for these leaders, who we know as the Scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of the Law (that is, the Jewish Law). They were the original offenders, and they came after the church. Remember, Paul himself, as Saul, was one of them. Paul said of himself on one occasion, “as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church” (Philippians 3:5, 6, ESV).