The first century a.D. evangelist Paul of Tarsus
was one of the earliest and most important Christian teachers. As
a "hellenized" Jewish citizen of Rome, Paul had a background in both
the Jewish teachings of the Torah
and the Greek-language philosophy and culture which predominated in the
wider Roman empire. Moreover, Paul was able to travel freely throughout
that empire at a time when not all Jews, many of whom lacked
official Roman citizenship, could. Paul styled himself the "apostle to
the Gentiles (non-Jews)," and sought to spread his interpretation of
the Christian faith beyond the comparatively narrow confines of the
Jewish community of Palestine. In doing so, he helped begin the
transformation of Christianity from a solely Jewish religious movement
into a creed which was predominantly non-Jewish (and indeed, after
several centuries, even anti-Jewish). At least seven letters by Paul to
various early Christian communities eventually became part of the New
Testament canon (there are five more attributed to him in the canon,
but many scholars suspect they are pseudepigraphic). Excerpted
below are his letters to congregations in Roman and Ephesus, which
present a view of what some of the earliest Christians believed.
Excerpts from the Letters of Paul(Open English Bible, OEB)