Author Archives: Paul Pavao

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About Paul Pavao

I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.

Teachings That Must Not Be Lost: The Gospel

Dare we consider that the reason we have so much else wrong is because we have the Gospel wrong? For this post I am indebted to a friend, Matthew Bryan, who is writing a book on the subject. We’ll be … Continue reading

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Teachings That Must Not Be Lost

There are several long-forgotten teachings that used to be simple orthodoxy, known by all but the least educated Christians. For Protestants today, the Bible is a hodge-podge of competing verses, and which verses one prefers depends on which denomination he … Continue reading

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Will Christians Be Judged by Their Works

“The claim is that Revelation has a series of Judgments, and the one who has faith in Christ avoids the judgment based on works.” A friend wrote this to me. Here is my brief answer. I say brief because I … Continue reading

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The Primacy of the Roman Church

Why do I write on Roman Catholicism? Because of claims like these: I still have yet to see a good Protestant response to Irenaeus, who predates Cyprian: “Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, … Continue reading

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Q&A: When Did The Roman Catholic Church First Claim Peter’s Primacy?

“When did the RCC begin to claim that Peter was the first pope of Rome?” Cyprian and 80+ overseers that met with him at the Council of Carthage discussed Stephen’s claim to be the bishop over all bishops. They rejected … Continue reading

Posted in History, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Church Life and the Harper Valley PTA

There is a difference between admonishment and condemnation. We Americans have a lot of trouble distinguishing between the two, but there is one. Church Life and the Harper Valley PTA If you don’t know what the Harper Valley PTA is, … Continue reading

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God’s Not Disappointed

I watched Ragamuffin last night, and it reminded me of a teaching I did a few years ago. It took root in a lot of people’s hearts, and it would do most of us good to root it there as … Continue reading

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John is not Paul is not Peter is not James

Today I was discussing γεννηθη ανωθεν with some folks on Facebook. Those Greek words mean either "born again" or "born from above" in John 3:3,5. In the midst of discussing this, I pointed out that Peter twice uses αναγεννησασ, which … Continue reading

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The “Trinity” in the Gospel of John

The Holy Spirit is mentioned a lot in Scripture, but there is very little description (or none?) of how he is distinct from the Father or Son or really anything about him the way the Father and Son are described. … Continue reading

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Spiritual Gifts and John 1

John chapter 1 is not the most typical place to teach about spiritual gifts, but it turned out to be a great one for my kids this evening. John is for me the most mystical Gospel. I won’t say “most … Continue reading

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