Key Verse: "To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law" (1 Corinthians 9:19).
The Paschal Mystery is the believers privilege and task to realize, live and share God's redemptive plan for all mankind and his creation, in Christ. The apostle Paul declared that the Paschal Mystery is the essential message of the Gospel of Christ, as revealed in Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:24-29). Revealing, modeling and sharing the Paschal Mystery is the center of the work the Father sent Jesus Christ as Messiah to do here on earth. In living the Paschal Mystery, Jesus Christ passed over from life on earth in the mind of the flesh, through his passion, death, resurrection and ascension, into the new and glorified life with the Godhead, in the mind of the spirit, thus revealing God's redemptive plan for all mankind (Mark 8:31-34).
In 1 Timothy 1:15-17, the apostle Paul declared, "This saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ may display the uttermost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen".
The apostle Paul had the personal knowledge and wisdom of a Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-based mindset and life. He had a unique and radical transformation of being born from above. Because he life in the mind of the spirit after his conversion, he knew what it means to be born of the spirit. When he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul immediately surrendered to Christ, and steadfastly following Jesus Christ, in living the Paschal Mystery, in the mind of the spirit. After that dramatic conversion Paul zealously proclaimed the Gospel of Christ, in the mind of the spirit. He abruptly stopped persecuting and imprisoning those believers who chose to follow Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-19). In the context of his dramatic conversion, Paul like Jesus Christ, no longer saw, taught and practiced his Jewish religion in the limiting and erroneous perceptions of mind of the flesh.
Paul fully embraced God's divine call and commission to preach the new Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-based dispensation of the Gospel of Christ, to all people. Because he realized that most believers do not have such an unusual and abrupt personal conversion, he sought to be thoughtful, inclusive, compassionate and patient with all people. Paul knew that the stewardship, integrity grace and truth of the Gospel of Christ, as revealed in Jesus Christ, could only be sustained and maintained by believers who follow Jesus Christ, in living the Paschal Mystery with agape love, in the mind of the spirit (1 Corinthians 9:16-17).
Paul was so radically transformed by his personal encounter with the living Christ, that his preaching and ministry of reconciliation were self-supported. In patient and compassionate service and in the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul established Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-based witnessing paschal faith communities among Jews and Gentiles, Romans and Greeks, and godly and pagan believers. In steadfast faith, repentance and humble service, Paul followed Jesus Christ in living the Paschal Mystery, in the mind of the spirit. Paul sought to gently and patiently lead and win all souls to seek, discern and serve Christ (Logos, ADONAI, JEHOVAH) within the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, within himself and within all persons (Genesis 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 9:18-19, Colossians 1:24-29).
In the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul sought to discern the universal forgiveness, salvation, deliverance, freedom and truth of the Gospel of Christ, as revealed in Jesus Christ. He embraced and taught the catholicity of the Gospel of Christ. He steadfastly sought to adapt its catholicity and universal application to hearers and believers, in all traditions, religions, cultures, ethnic and secular groups (1 Corinthians 9:20-21).
In living the Paschal Mystery in the mind of the spirit, Paul had great compassion and encouragement for weak believers, who continued to struggle with the inner spiritual warfare, between the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit, within witnessing paschal faith communities (Romans 8:1-11). In the mind of the spirit, he patiently sought to apply the truth of the Gospel of Christ, to all situations, experiences and relationships. In his great zeal for the deliverance of human souls from the bondage and slavery to the sin of the mind of the flesh, Paul made many sacrifices, endured great hardship, and suffered rejection for the Gospel of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:22-23).
Are you willing to follow the apostle Paul in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, as revealed in Jesus Christ, in the mind of the spirit? Are you embracing the believers' privilege and responsibility to proclaim and live the Paschal Mystery, within your witnessing paschal faith community, in the mind of the spirit? Are you by faith, being delivered from the spiritual blindness, spiritual sleep and spiritual deafness and spiritual death of the mind of the flesh, within your tradition, religion, culture, ethnic and secular group? Are you, in the mind of spirit, passing over into the freedom and glory of human life in Christ, in the mind of the spirit?
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