The beginnings of Paul are an interesting jumble, and they highlight the cosmopolitan world that was the Roman Empire. He was born in an Asian city now in located on the southern coast of Turkey called Tarsus in about the year 10. His parents were Jewish, presumably strict Pharisees. They were also Roman citizens.
It is important to note that even though Judea was within the Roman Empire most Jews were not Roman citizens. Citizenship outside of Italy was an honor reserved for people who made great contributions to the Empire. Thus, we may presume that Paul's parents were people of influence and perhaps even moderate wealth.
At the age of fourteen Paul was sent to Jerusalem to train to be a Rabbi. His teacher was a prominent man named Gamaliel. Rabbis, at the time, were also taught another trade. The idea was to keep teachers from becoming a burden on society. They also wanted to have something to fall back on during hard times. Paul was trained to be a tent-maker.
Paul grew to be a man of firm convictions and fiery temperament. He always acted on his beliefs. Thus, when he was confronted with what he took to be a heresy to Judaism, he worked with all his might to quell it. This heresy would one day come to be known as Christianity and Paul was among the foremost of its persecutors.
Paul was present at the stoning of Stephen, and though he did not participate, he encouraged the violent act that destroyed the first of the martyrs. He then participated in a general persecution including, "going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women and threw them into jail."
He then undertook a mission to Damascus. There he intended to continue attacking Christians. However, on the way, he had a vision. This vision is described several times in the Bible, three times in the book of Acts. Paul saw Jesus who asked why Paul persisted in persecuting Him. He then commissioned Paul to preach His message to the Gentiles.
This meeting with Jesus made Paul a Christian. Even so, Paul always insisted that he remained both a Jew and a Roman. But before he could fully accept this message from Jesus, Paul spent some time in Arabia and then Demascus. Searching his soul, he undertook the mission he believed had been given to him directly by Jesus. He preached in Demascus for three years. His enemies were determined to kill him so he had to slip out of the city by night.
He went to Jerusalem and there gained official sanction from the elders of the Church, including Peter and James, to bring the message of Jesus to the Gentiles. Along with Barnabas, he then went on his first Missionary Journey to Cyprus, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. During this journey they met many hardships. Paul was even stoned, though not killed, in Lystra. It was an ironic twist that Paul underwent the same gruesome punishment he had sanctioned for Stephen and for the very cause Stephen had suffered.
Around 50 A.D. he returned to Jerusalem to report to the church elders. His visit provoked a dispute over whether Christians had to first become Jews. Paul said no. The controversy was temporarily resolved in his favor and he went on his second and third missionary journeys to Galatia, Phrygia, Macedonia and Greece. He even went to Athens where he argued with philosophers as well as pagans.
It was during this period that he met Luke, a doctor who would become a close adherent and would eventually write one of the gospels as well as the book of Acts. After his third missionary journey, Paul returned to Jerusalem where he ran into a dispute with the Sanhedrin. He was the object of a huge civil disturbance. For this, he was arrested and eventually brought to Caesarea.
While there, he was questioned and tried several times, but his enemies could not seem to make their charges stick. Even so, he was held by the governor, Felix, who was afraid he might again create problems in Jerusalem. The next governor, Festus, seemed to be loathe to come to a decision on his case, so after over two years of house arrest, Paul invoked his right as a Roman citizen to demand a trial before the Emperor.
He was sent on the next ship to Rome. However, the ship met heavy seas and wrecked on the Island of Malta. Paul prayed and was visited by an Angel and the entire crew was saved. Paul eventually took another boat and reached Italy. He was met by supporters and eventually made it to Rome.
The Acts of the Apostles is an original source that largely chronicles Paul's life up to this point. It is thought by some scholars that the book may even have been a legal brief based on the recollections of Paul and the diary of Luke to help serve in his defense in his trial before the Emperor. Interestingly, neither the book of Acts nor Paul's surviving letters depicts the results of Paul's trial.
It is known that he spent at least two years under house arrest waiting his audience with Nero. Extant literature close to the time indicates that Paul was either tried and executed by the sword or he died during the persecution that came about after the great fire where Nero was reputed to have incited the blaze and to have fiddled during the conflagration in about 64 AD.
Some tradition also has it that Paul escaped the persecution and went on to continue his preaching in Spain. Whatever his end, it is certain that Paul was a great influence on modern Christianity, both through his missionary work and his writing.
It has been said that if it were not for Paul and a few others such as Barnabas that Christianity would have remained a small unknown branch of Judaism. Paul was the leading missionary to the Gentiles.
Gentiles are the name given to people who are not Jewish. While many within the early church were determined that a Christian must first become a Jew, Paul insisted that this was not the case. Paul recognized that the message of Jesus was for all men. In a letter to the Galatians he thoroughly spelled out a case for the message of Jesus being a "New Covenant" with humanity.
Abraham accepted God of his free will, and God favored Abraham for this reason. This was the covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants. The laws given to Moses were not set down for another couple hundred years. So Paul believed that they were not part of the original bargain, but were given later to Moses as an intermediate guide until Jesus came to set down the new "Law" and the New Covenant. He noted that Jesus died on the Cross not only for our sins, but to take on the burden of Mosaic Law. Thus, a Christian need not first become a Jew in order to follow Jesus. Paul said that like Abraham Christians are saved by their faith alone.
This insistence would have huge repercussions in the early 1500s when the reformation was sparked by Martin Luther in Germany. One of the differences between Luther and the Catholic church was Luther's belief, based on the writings of Paul, that men could not be saved by their good works but only on their belief in God. Of course, the debate over how important acting like a Christian is has raged ever since.
Paul, himself, seems to have been of the opinion that faith was all that was required. Nevertheless, a truly faithful person would act Christianly.
He succeeded in making Christianity a universal religion, not just in the spiritual sense but also in the physical sense. Spreading the Gospel far and wide across the Roman Empire was Paul's mission. His missionary journeys brought him to Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia and eventually Rome. There is no question that his Roman citizenship and his intense training as a Pharisee helped him immensely in this mission. He was arrested several times because of his preaching and several times was saved because of his elevated status within the Empire.
Besides being a fiery orator, Paul was also a capable writer. His letters make up the bulk of the epistles in the Bible. Because his writings were so treasured, they are among the most studied today. The words of Paul carry weight far greater than those of James or Peter, some of whose letters also survive. Paul's thoughtfulness, gentleness and steadfastness infuse his letters and they also infuse the close adherents of his words today.
Paul was a charismatic individual. He was a sure leader of men. Seldom did he doubt himself. He saw his mission as not only bringing the "Good News" to the Gentiles, but also to organize the Church so that it would grow, even when he was not present to urge it on. Thus, he created an organization and trained leaders. This organization would one day become modern Christianity as it came to supersede the original authority of the Church in Jerusalem.
Today Christians see Christ somewhat through the prism of Paul's teaching. Paul's follower, Luke, would write one of the Gospels as well as the Book of Acts. Paul was vitally shaped by a dramatic meeting with Christ on the Road to Demascus and it was this drama, coupled with his fervor that would mold Christianity for the next two Millenia.
Ultimately, it was Paul who both physically and theologically made Christianity a "universal" church.
Baptism - began as a ritual cleansing of the body and soul so that an individual would be pure before God. Originally a Jewish rite. John the Baptist popularized the rite, though his baptism was actually considered to be different from a baptism by the Holy Spirit. Baptism eventually became the symbol of a person's acceptance in and of Christianity. The validity of newborn baptism has been much disputed since the founding of the early church because of the infant's inability to understand the significance of the ritual.
Faith Alone - is a concept originated by the Apostle Paul. It is the idea that salvation and God's favor is based only on whether one has faith in Jesus and God. Contrast with works.
Gentile - is a person who is not a Jew or of the Jewish faith. Christians in the early church were both Jew and Gentile. Paul was a Jew as were most of the early church leaders, including Peter, James, John and Barnabas. However, Luke and others who were recruited by Paul were Gentiles. Paul believed that Judaism was not a separate religion, but a moral law or code by which people lived. One could be both a Jew and a Christian, as one might be a Stoic as well as a Christian.
New Covenant - An agreement between God and all mankind freely entered into by both parties. This contract was embodied in the message and promise of Jesus.
Old Covenant - The agreement God had with Abraham and Moses that he would favor the Jewish people if they would keep his laws.
Pharisee - A person who was of a sect of the Jewish religion that rigidly adhered to the Law of Moses. Paul was a Pharisee. He lived by the law of Moses his entire life and did not consider it to be in conflict with his Christian beliefs. However, he seemed to be constantly at odds with the Jewish faction within the Christian Church that wanted to impose the Mosaic Law upon the Gentiles in order for them also to be Christians. His position was that a Pharisee could also be a Christian, but one need not be a Pharisee to be a Christian.
Saved by Works - The idea that it is an individual's actions that are primary when God determines and disposes his favor. This concept is supported primarily in the Epistle of James in the New Testament and is buttressed by Old Testament teaching. The conflict between "works" and "faith" has raged for two millenia. Nevertheless, both concepts can be joined. One who has faith will do good works and one who does good works strengthens their faith.
For further study and references see below:
Paul and the Mosaic Law, by Durham-Tubingen Research Symposium on Earliest Christianity and Judaism, James D. G. Dunn (Editor). Discusses Paul's thoughts on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
The Apostle Paul: An Introduction to His Writings and Teaching, by Marion L. Soards.
Paul: A Man of Grit and Grace (Great Lives from God's Word, Volume 6), by Charles R. Swindoll.
Acts of the Apostles e-course.
The Screwtape Letters of C.S. Lewis reveal Christianity from a fascinating and different perspective. Visit An Analysis of the Screwtape Letters.
If you know of any good links to other websites about the Apostle Paul, please contact us.
Acts of the Apostles e-course.
