GetWisdom PaperturnSampler FINAL SinglePages - Flipbook - Page 59
Living for What Really Matters
PHILIPPIANS
synonyms and descriptions from Outline of Biblical Usage, Strong’s Definitions, and Thayer’s
Greek Lexicon, as well as all the other verses within the New Testament that also use καινς
(kainós).
Pen down what καινς (kainós) means:
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I absolutely love how Thayer’s Greek Lexicon explains this word: “recently made, fresh, recent,
unused, unworn.” So often as Christians we talk about being restored…but this verse reveals that
we’re more than restored. Restored would mean we’re just a new-and-improved version of what
we were before. But this verse here in 2 Corinthians tells us that, no matter what we did or how
we lived, in Christ we are brand new.
What does that tell us about Paul? When he chose to follow Jesus, his history against the church
is wiped out and wiped clean. It doesn’t mean there weren’t consequences (like built trust and
demonstrate the authenticity of his newness to Ananias and a multitude of believers), but in God’s
eyes there is no before—there is only now and evermore.
If Paul was made completely new the moment he chose to follow Jesus, why do you think why
Jesus blinded Paul? Just share your best guess.
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Paul’s blindness could only be explained as an encounter with Jesus Christ Himself. And being
blind allowed Paul to live undistracted for several days as he likely played and replayed the
experience in his head and reflected upon all his years of misunderstanding what it meant to truly
love and follow God. But I don’t think that’s all. I wonder if Jesus was using literal blindness to
show Paul that he had been living a life of spiritual blindness. As Paul’s sight was restored, so was
his relationship with Jesus and his understanding of his new life with the Creator of the Universe.
HISTORY LESSON
The New Testament is comprised of twenty-seven books, thirteen of which are attributed to Paul.
Additionally, about half of the book of Acts (written by Luke) is filled with stories of Paul’s life
and works. Scholars debate whether Paul also wrote Hebrews. If he did, he would have contributed
fourteen books (or 51.85 percent of the entire New Testament!). Paul was obviously influential in
spreading the gospel in the days of the early church. Of these thirteen however, only seven of them
are accepted as entirely authentic (in other words, we’re certain that they were written by Paul
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