Perry Stiltz
Before It WasWritten
What Paul Actually Followed
A conversation with the Apostle.
What Paul Actually Followed
A conversation with the Apostle.
We all claim the same Scriptures.
We still split into a thousand churches.
Why?
Because much of what we call “Bible-centered” is actually interpretation-centered. We argue over systems, methods, and verses — and wonder why so little of Jesus shows up in the room.
Before It Was Written is a conversation with the Apostle Paul about what he actually followed — before the New Testament existed.
This is not a call to throw the writings away. It is a call to see what they are for.
Not a vision. Not a new revelation. A reader sits with Paul’s letters long enough that the voice becomes familiar — and then asks the questions the modern church still carries.
The claim at the center is simple and far-reaching: what the first churches called “the Word” was not a future collection of writings. It was Christ Himself — His New Covenant of discipleship, God-in-mankind. The letters serve that center. They are not the center.
“I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.”
— Galatians 4:19
1 Corinthians, chapters 1–3. A visual guide to the first three chapters: the church’s problems, and how Paul answers each one with Christ.
Chapter 1 is shown here. The download includes chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Download the guide
Christ: the Solution to our Sinfulness. A short chart of the Corinthian church — division, immaturity, disorder — and how Paul answers each problem with Christ Himself.
Not a summary of the book. A working example of the claim: the writings point to the solution. They are not the solution.
Download the chart
perry stiltz was born in Napa, California. After losing both parents as a child, he spent his life asking what a faith is for when the world can take people without warning.
Since 2012 he has given more than ten thousand hours to one question: what did the earliest believers mean by “the Word”? He is the author of Think Like Paul and The Likeness Project.
With visuals — one for each chapter. This edition is not the text-only paperback on Amazon.
$8 illustrated PDF
25 studies on the message the first churches followed. The workbook, as a PDF.
$11 PDF download
Samples are free.