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“Richard Dawkins regards faith as an evil to be eliminated; he takes all religious faith to be blind faith. (Dawkins says) ‘Scientific belief is based on publicly checkable evidence, religious faith not only lacks evidence, its independence from evidence is its joy, shouted from the rooftops.â€� However, taking Dawkins own advice we ask: where is the evidence that religious faith is not based on evidence? Mainstream Christianity will insist that faith and evidence are inseparable. Indeed, faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence. The apostle Paul says what many pioneers of modern science believed, that nature itself is part of the evidence for the existence of God ,â€� Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature â€� have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So that men are without an excuse.â€� Dawkinsâ€� definition of faith turns out to be the direct opposite of the biblical one. Curious that he does not seem to be aware of the discrepancy.”
― John Lennox

“It is ironic that constructive thinkers are often misunderstood as negative, as they differ from those longing for positivity: constructive thinkers have been conditioned to find positive in negative rather than suffering from the negative in negative. Or as Paul the Apostle wrote, 'I have learned the secret to contentment in any and every circumstance.' He was right. Indeed the Lord is our strength, especially under the commandment to love one another. Otherwise we are nothing and easily thrown about by both our own and other people's mind control in a painful, mental, physical desperation to run from every thought, every thing, and every one not seeming so positive or immediately beneficial to us.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“This is God's beauty!

The Elegant nature of Esther,
The Meek nature of Moses,
The Pius nature of Paul,
The Passionate nature of Peter,
The Just nature of Jesus and then
The wise nature of you!”
― Israelmore Ayivor

“Paul was focusing on what was happening in him, not to him. Likewise, we can be sure that when something is happening to us, God is doing something in us--something that will shape us for eternity.”
― Chris Hodges, Fresh Air: Trading Stale Spiritual Obligation for a Life-Altering, Energizing, Experience-It-Everyday Relationship with God

“Don't worry about it, Borage. I've always been inclined to think that the Apostle Paul was similarly afflicted. He speaks often of a bodily weakness, and men have been at pains to name it, attibuting to him everything from lameness to lung sickness. But I think the clue lies in his experience on the road to Damascus. Tell me, do you see a great light?
Dr. Trudgett”
― Norah Lofts, Bless This House

“But by the grace of God I am what I am."

~1 Corinthians 15:10

"Paul was alluding here to his honest response to those who were constantly criticizing, slandering, and defaming him and his character. This was the 'thorn' in his side!!!”
― R. Alan Woods, The Journey Is the Destination: A Book of Quotes With Commentaries

“I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who empowers, enriches, equips, enlightens, energizes, recreates, revives, promotes, strengthens, purifies, sponsors, and prepares me! Yes, I can... ALL THINGS, I can!”
― Israelmore Ayivor

“They may call you "Stupid" because of what you've done in the past. Hey, you are going to be "Prominent" because of what the Lord has done. The stupid "S" in Saul was exchange to become the Prominent "P" in Paul... and you ask why? It's because of what the Lord has done, Give thanks!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

“The idea of Saint Paul whirling around in the giant teacups wile composing First Corinthians, as Paris TV films him with a telephoto lens—that just can't be. Saint Paul would never go near Disneyland. Only children, tourists, and visiting Soviet high officials ever go to Disneyland. Saints do not.”
― Philip K. Dick

“The whole page 199 about the apostle Paul, but especially this:
All of his words could be reduced to one sentence. "We preach Christ crucified" (1Cor. 1:23 NIV). It wasn't that he lacked other sermon outlines; it was just than he could not't exhaust the first one.”
― Max Lucado, Cast of Characters: Common People in the Hands of an Uncommon God

“True apostles do not speak to flatter people. True apostles are not self seeking. True apostles do not seek praise from mere men.”
― brother Billy

“The topic was eloquence, something Christians had been conflicted about since the first-century church when Paul wrote that in bringing the gospel, he did not come with “eloquence.â€� A few centuries later, Saint Augustine wrestled with the value of eloquence, associating it with his pagan background and training in Greek rhetoric while simultaneously employing it winsomely in his Christian writings. Such suspicion of beauty and form, whether in art, literature, speech, or human flesh, has shadowed Christian thought throughout the history of the church; sadly so, considering God is the author of all beauty.”
― Karen Swallow Prior, Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist

“Yet in Paul's letters we can hear something more than his own genius: an echo of female voices, of conversations over the years with the women of the Aegean cloth trade who were his close collaborators. During this long fellowship, the apostle has not only been talking to women: he has been listening.”
― Kate Cooper, Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women

“The Corinthians talked about spiritual things, but they did so in a fleshy and soulish way. The apostle Paul told them in the first book that they were fleshy and not spiritual (3:1), and in chapter 2 of the first book, he spoke of soulish men (v. 14). A spiritual man (v. 15) is one who does not behave according to the flesh or act according to the soulish life but lives according to the spirit, that is, his spirit (Rom. 1:9) mingled with the Spirit of God (8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17). Such a one is dominated, governed, directed, moved, and led by such a mingled spirit. Although the Corinthians spoke much about spiritual things, the apostle Paul designated them as fleshy and soulish. They were talking about spiritual things in the soul and in the flesh. Some may talk about the heavenly things in Ephesians, but they do so as Corinthians—in the soul or in the flesh.”
― Witness Lee

“Paul's aspiration was to know Jesus Christ in a way that was experiential.”
― Henry Hon, ONE: Unfolding God's Eternal Purpose from House to House

“Every believer should be an apostle ('one sent forth') since each believer is sent by the Lord Jesus to go and bear fruit. As a sent one, not every believer can preach like Peter to thousands...as in the beginning of Acts. However, every believer can be an apostle in a house, and can teach and experience fellowship as Paul did at the end of Acts. This conclusion opens the door for every believer to continue the writing of the book of Acts of the Apostles by visiting homes and opening their own house to build the assembly. --from ONE: Unfolding God's Eternal Purpose From House To House”
― Henry Hon

“It was not easy for Paul to stand as a mirror and confront Peter's bias towards the Gentiles. He even had to address Barnabas as well, who got swept up in group-think. The majority of the members, including Peter, were satisfied with the way they treated Gentiles. Paul, however, advocated strongly against the evident injustices. Being a Paul and addressing difficult topics on race is what the Church needed then and still needs today. Generally, as a church, we are comfortable with the Peters but feel somewhat awkward around the Pauls because the Pauls push us into an uncomfortable realm. The Pauls are rare but are more precious today than silver and gold.”
― Shaun Brooks

“â€�2 Corinthians 5:18â€� Paul says he’s been given the ministry of reconciling man to God. Didn’t Jesus do that in his ministry? Back in chapter 3—here —Paul says that God has qualified him to be the dispenser of his new covenant, but he doesn’t have a word to say about Jesus dispensing that covenant. And then he goes on to talk about the splendor of God’s work in sending the Spirit to inspire missionaries like himself. But where is the splendor of Jesusâ€� life and ministry? Wasn’t his work at least as important as Paul’s? Does Paul think God placed greater importance on his work than on Jesusâ€� work?
“I thought Paul was always talking about how humble he was.�
I pointed to my next passage: 2 Corinthians 6:2. “Well, how’s this for humility? Paul quotes Isaiah: ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, in the day of salvation I helped you.â€� This is supposed to be God promising salvation. But when does this promise come to fulfillment? Was it in Jesusâ€� life and death? No. Paul points to his own ministry and says, ‘I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.â€�!”
― Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus

“Scholars had generally concluded that in all but the Supper scene, Paul was not quoting sayings of Jesus from his ministry. Rather, he was engaged in a practice common throughout early Christian preaching. Paul and his fellow charismatic missionaries of the Christ were relaying directives and revelations which they believed they had received directly from heaven, through inspiration, through visions and interpreting glossalalia (speaking in tongues), or simply through a study of scripture. [...] Others admitted that Paul had no sense of Jesus as an ethical teacher, but saw himself as the mouthpiece for a Christ in heaven who operated on earth in the present time of faith, through God’s Spirit. The footnote pointed to a couple of passages by way of illustration. One of these was 1 Corinthians 14:36-38: ‘Did the word of God originate with you? Are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing is also done by the Lord’s word.â€� [...]
Paul’s world seemed to be one of inspiration and revelation directly from God—and a competitive one at that. Once again, the atmosphere created by the early documents, by the voices of those who had been the heart and soul of the apostolic generation, was curiously out of sync with the picture crafted by the later evangelists.”
― Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus