Thirdmill Online Courses

THE HEART OF PAUL'S THEOLOGY

Course description

Paul passionately proclaimed the good news of individual salvation in Jesus Christ, but this wasn't the heart of his gospel. According to Paul, salvation is not primarily about individuals being saved from the wrath of God. Rather, the gospel is about the triumph of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. This course will unpack these issues as the central message of Paul in Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians. You will gain a better understanding of the kingdom of God and rejoice in Jesus’ amazing plans for his people and his world. This course is based on the lecture series, The Heart of Paul's Theology, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and presented by Dr. Reggie M. Kidd.

Dr. Reggie M. Kidd

Dr. Reggie M. Kidd is a seminary professor and ordained minister. He earned his M.A.R: and M.Div. at Westminster Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. at Duke University. He currently teaches at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He has published the following books: Wealth and Beneficence in the Pastoral Epistles and How Can I Keep from Singing?

Goals and Objectives

GOALS

In this course, we would like to accomplish the following:

1. We hope that you learn the key biblical teachings about Paul and the heart of his theology, focusing on his epistles to the Galatians, the Thessalonians, and the Corinthians.

2. We hope you learn to rejoice in the grace of God and in His kingdom community, and that you develop a healthy attitude regarding Christ's second coming as you see how it fits in the larger plan for the kingdom of God. 

3. We hope that you will apply the teachings of these New Testament epistles to your own life, especially that you become less individualistic and less legalistic, and that you actively participate in the extension of the kingdom of God as you wait for Christ's return.

OBJECTIVES

When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:

1. Obtain satisfactory grades in all the tests, demonstrating that you can identify key biblical teachings about the life and ministry of Paul, the background and content of his epistles to the Galatians, the Thessalonians, and the Corinthians, and that you understand the key emphasis of Paul's theology.

2. Answer the application questions in the study guides, expressing your attitude regarding the grace of God, the kingdom community, and the second coming of Christ, and showing how this course has affected your life, especially that you have become less individualistic and less legalistic, and that you are actively participating in the extension of the kingdom of God as you wait for Christ's return.

Thematic Outline of the Course

1. Paul and His Theology
2. Paul and the Galatians
3. Paul and the Thessalonians
4. Paul and the Corinthians

Explanation of Assignments

The Multimedia Lessons

1. Study the lessons, watching the video, listening to the audio, or reading the text.
2. Complete the study guides for each lesson. These study guides will prepare you for the online quizzes and help you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the completion of the Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)
3. Take the online quizzes on each section of the lessons. The quizzes may be taken as many times as you want, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade will be from the first attempt.
4. Optional: We recommend that you look through the glossaries and use the learning games to become familiar with special names and technical terms used in the lessons. 
5. Take the cumulative test for each complete lesson. You may take the test again as many times as you want for review, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade is from the first attempt.
6. When you have finished all the lessons on the multimedia lectures, take the final exam on the lectures.

Other Activities

1. Complete the supplementary lessons for each lesson. These lessons give you additional background information and provide other learning aids related to the lessons. You may repeat these lessons as many times as you want, and the official grade will be the highest score out of all the attempts.
2. Complete the questionnaires for the lessons to help assimilate the teachings and apply them to your own life. These are not quizzes. The answers are more subjective. The grade is for completing the assignment.
3. There is a final lesson based on required additional reading. These are graded as extra credit. For the extra credit, the student should do the reading, complete the study guides, and take the corresponding quizzes and cumulative test based on the reading. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the Reading Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)

For the extra credit, we recommend that you work on these reading assignments and quizzes during the entire course, instead of waiting until you finish all the lessons based on the video lectures. For each lesson, do the percentage of the work on them that corresponds to the number of lessons in the course. 

Optional Activities

Some institutions may require you to do one or more of the following optional assignments. If so, read the instructions in lesson 1 and follow the specific guidelines given in the instructions for each lesson.

1. The Written project
2. Essay Questions
3. Journal Questions 
4. Optional Additional Reading

Grades

The final grade will be calculated as follows:

1) The quizzes on the lectures are each worth 10 points.
2) Each cumulative test is worth 30 points.
3) Each supplementary lesson is worth 10 points.
4) Each questionnaire is worth 10 points.
5) The final exam on the lectures is worth 100 points.
6) Each quiz on the reading assignments is worth +10 points extra credit.
7) The cumulative test on the additional reading is worth +30 points extra credit.

The final grade of the course will be calculated by adding the corresponding percentages of all assignments and tests, making a total of 100% possible.

A total course score above 70% is considered passing.

 

Greek and Hebrew

Some lessons in our courses make reference to words in Greek or Hebrew. If you have not studied these languages, you might want to at least become familiar with the alphabets.

For the Greek alphabet, see:
https://www.billmounce.com/greekalphabet/greek-alphabet

For the Hebrew alphabet, see: 
http://hebrew.billmounce.com/BasicsBiblicalHebrew-01.pdf