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.

The Day of Atonement and the Goat for Azazel

I looked up the Kyle-Delitzsch commentary on Lev. 16:8, where a lot is cast for two goats on the day of atonement, one for Yahweh and one for Azazel. Kyle-Delitzsh is, or at least used to be, a prince among … Continue reading

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The Danger of False Assurance: Can a Saved Person Go to Hell?

Assurance We like to assure a new convert that they have eternal life. We point them to verses like John 6:47 and 1 John 5:13 Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. (John 6:47) … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Dealing with Scripture Honestly, Evangelicals, Gospel, Holiness, Modern Doctrines, Protestants, Rebuilding the Foundations, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What if we were to go and obey 2 Corinthians 6:14-18?

Paul did not write 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 in order to get the churches to pretend that worldly people are actually the children of God. He wrote that passage in order to tell us to get the people who make no … Continue reading

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The Bible’s Contradictions and Errors Are Inspired

In this post, I am not arguing against the Bible, but for it. If we believe the Bible is inspired by God himself, we should receive its words as they are rather than as we wish they were. When you … Continue reading

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Interpreting Paul’s Epistle to the Romans

I wrote this on Facebook today: How can you correctly interpret Romans if you don’t believe its foundational precepts? “Those who practice such things are worthy of death” (1:32) and “to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Dealing with Scripture Honestly, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Verses Evangelicals Ignore | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

News and New Articles

It’s been a minute since I updated this blog. Today I’ll give you the links for my most recent Christian-history.org posts and news about things I’m doing. New Articles on Christian-history.org A few weeks ago, I posted “I Desire Mercy … Continue reading

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Jesus Triumphantly Rescued Us! Atonement by Ransom

From a comment I put on Facebook: It was not until yesterday that I realized the full import of Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14. Both are saying we have been released because we were ransomed by his blood (Gr. apolutrosis), … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Rebuilding the Foundations, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Does Even the Slightest Sin Deserve Eternal Damnation?

Calvinists like to quote James 2:10 to teach that even the slightest sin requires eternal damnation. Here’s my response from my book, Rebuilding the Foundations: The passage is in James 2 and talks about showing favoritism to one another, yet … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Evangelicals, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Protestants | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tobit, Jesus, and the Breathtaking Power of Almsgiving from Within

Jesus told the Pharisees, “But give that which is within as charity and, behold, all things are clean for you” (Luke 11:41, NASB with note). Tobit says something similar: “For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin. Those … Continue reading

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Today’s Hodge-Podge: Messengers, Large Church Meetings, Archippus, and Apostolic Succession

For those interested, I wrote this in an email in response to questions concerning Colossians 4:14, 16-17: For at least 150 years, perhaps longer, it was perfectly okay that the Sunday morning meetings grew large enough to need big meeting … Continue reading

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