If Paul was God-inspired why did he think that Jesus would come back during his lifetime?

Question

Edit : To all those who accuse me of being stupid etc, read some of the answers for scripture references!

Answer 1

Good question. Have you seen my suggestion in one of my question that the bible should only include all the books found in the old testament together with the four gospel, perhaps the Acts and then the last book, Revelation. The rest of the new testament scriptures will be compiled as reference book for Christian living if you may want to keep it. We are living in the twenty-first century, the Bible should have a new look, what do you say?

Answer 2

Because there is no god and all prophets are false.

Romans

Paul says that everyone, even in his day, had the gospel preached to them. Even the Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders? In any case, if Paul is right about that, then Jesus is a false prophet, since he said he would return before the gospel was preached to everyone. (Mt.10:23) 10:18

Paul believed that the end of the world was coming soon. "The day is at hand." 13:11-12

Paul believed that Jesus would return and defeat Satan "shortly" -- within his own lifetime. 16:20

No wonder they don't understand, they are Christians and have not read it.... Here is another book worth, just in case:

1 Corinthians

Paul tells the Corinthians to be good until "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (He expected Jesus to return within their lifetimes.) 1:7-8

Paul, like Jesus and the other New Testament writers, expects the end to come soon. "The time is short." So there's no time for sex or marriage since the world will be ending soon. 7:29

Paul says that the end of the world will come during his lifetime. 10:11, 15:51

Wow, he goes on and on:

Philippians

Paul tells the Philippians to be good "till the day of Christ." So he must have expected Jesus to return within their lifetimes. 1:10

"The Lord is at hand." Paul thought that the end was near and that Jesus would return soon after he wrote these words. 4:5

1 Thessalonians

Paul expected Jesus to return within the lifetime of his followers. 3:13

Paul thought he would live to see the rapture. 4:15, 17

Paul prays that the Thessalonians will be good until Jesus returns, implying that he expected this to happen within their lifetimes. 5:23

Answer 3

Instead of posting foolish babblings, why not post scripture to back up your question. Paul shared the word of God because that was what God expected Him to do.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Answer 4

For the very same reason that many are stating that we are living in the end times now. It is a hope for what is to come based on the interpretation of various passages of the Bible. Christ said that he would return and he told the diciples what some of the signs would be. Those signs were present in Paul's day as well as in ours. Each generation hopes that theirs will be the one when Jesus returns. As far as God inspired, keep in mind that Paul heard the words of Jesus himself or had been told what Jesus had said. Much of his writing was done based on that information, not necessarily on the "Inspiration of God" in my opinion.

Answer 5

Paul was urging believers to be ready because we don't know WHEN Jesus would return.....neither the hour nor the day .Guess that was on his wish list considering all of his trials & tribulations eg floggings , jailing , shipwrecking , looong journeys mainly on foot ( wearing only sandals ! ) etc
Not to mention trying to put out bush fires among the believers in the Churches he started . That would be enough for me to want an early rescue !

Answer 6

For the SAME reason that EVERY GENERATION has seen themselves as the WORST GENERATION of all time since Christ. Because they are living in the moment and suffering. And you can only base your suffering on "what you know." Not how the generation before or after will suffer. Therefore, it seems as if the world should be coming to an end because it can't get any worse to you. There's pollution, disease everywhere, war, the planet is falling apart, on and on. But, in most eyes this is normal for their generation, its just that we're living it, so it just seems worse to US.

Thus, the world HAS to be ending soon.

Answer 7

Indeed, that is a somewhat odd question...Paul had no idea when Christ was coming back, no one does except God Himself...not even Christ knew when His Father was planning His return! When the Bible speaks of Christ coming back "soon", that is a relative term, with no specific time reference (1000 years are like a day to God, and a day is like 1000 years). All we know is that Christ will return like a thief in the night. Hope we're all ready!

Answer 8

God-inspired? I don't think so....

You might like this book:
"The Mythmaker, Paul and the Invention of Christianity" by Hyam Maccoby
.

Answer 9

Since we are all called to look for Christ, in our lifetime I think that Paul was very much on the right track. I believe that you are referring to the verse that says not a generation will pass away... In 70 A.D. when the temple fell, people began looking for Jesus to return.

I believe that Jesus will come back for me( his church) when I pass away. In my lifetime.

He will come for the ressurrected church when it is God's time.

Answer 10

He was hoping, the way Jesus told us all to hope, to watch, to be excited for. We are to anticipate His return, knowing that we cannot know the day or the hour. Paul knew he could not predict the time, but he longed for it, knowing the good that will come of it.