Paul was not what we call 'a systematic theologian'. He was not like some of the scholars of our time who spend their lives carefully working out a system of theological understanding. As we have seen, in his war among the Gentile churches he led a very strenuous, demanding unpredictable kind of life on his endless travels. He was not able to refer to a theological library or even to our complete Bible, but early training as a Pharisee influenced his thinking. His theological understanding was hammered out in the midst of the practical problem and complexities of day-to-day life in the Gentile Christian communities, but influencing everything that he said and did was his clear knowledge that his life had been totally revolutionized, transformed, by confrontation he had had with the living Jesus Christ whose presence had continued with him ever since. Paul remained totally convinced that if Jesus Christ could transform him, then anyone else could equally transformed, and this was the great news which he brought : the people who made up the very mixed populations of cities like Corinth and Ephesus. There was no person so despairing or despised who could not be given a new life and a new beginning by Jesus Christ; there was person too educated or important to need the revolution which Je Christ could bring into his life.