Paul

• Name means: “little” (Saul: “asked of God”) (Paul was called Saul until [Acts 13:9] when he began his 1st missionary trip.)

• Hometown: Born at Tarsus: (Acts 9:11)(Acts 21:39) A city of Cilicia. (Turkey today) (Possibly born from 1-5 A.D.)

• Occupation: Tentmaker (Acts 18:3)
  • A goat hair cloth called Cilicium was manufactured in Cilicia and was largely used for tent making. Tentmaking was a common trade in Tarsus.
  • Tradition says that tentmakers often made sails for boats in the winter months.

• Paul was Jew (Acts 21:39)(Acts 22:3), a “Hebrew (Jew) of the Hebrews (Jews)” (Phil 3:5).

• He was descended from the tribe of Benjamin (Phil 3:5), and a Pharisee (Acts 23:6)(Phil 3:5), therefore, his father would also have been. We know nothing of Paul’s mother, but she was likely a “pious woman.”

• Even though Paul was a Jew, he was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37)(Acts 22:25-28).

• Paul would have known the local language of Aramaic, but he also knew Greek (Acts 21:37), and Hebrew (Acts 21:40).

• Paul had at least one sister, and she had a son (Acts 23:16). (Rom 16:7,11,21) may indicate that he had other relatives (the preferred reading of “my countrymen” is “my kinsmen.”)

• An Apocryphal book called The Acts of Paul and Thecla says that Paul was: “a man little of stature, thin haired upon the head, crooked in the legs, of good state of body, with eyebrows joining, and nose somewhat hooked, full of grace, sometimes he appeared like a man, and sometimes he had the face of an angel.”

• At a fairly early age, probably before his teens, Paul was sent to Jerusalem to study “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 5:34)(Acts 22:3). Gamaliel was one of the top rabbi’s of that time.

• Paul clearly stated that he was single (1 Cor 7:7-8), however, some believe that based on (1 Cor 9:5) he may have been married at one time and his wife died. Paul may have been a member of the Sanhedrin (Acts 26:10)(kind of like our Supreme Court today), and one of the requirements for its members was that they be married. (For more on the “Sanhedrin,” you can go here: https://jesusalive.cc/sanhedrin-definition.)

• When “some of them of Cilicia disputed with Stephen” (Acts 6:9) and made him the 1st Christian martyr, Paul was at the stoning and consented to it (Acts 7:58)(Acts 8:1)(Acts 22:20).

• Before he was converted, Paul was a merciless persecutor of Christians (Acts 9:1-3)(Acts 22:3-5)(Acts 26:9-11)(1 Cor 15:9)(Gal 1:13)(1 Tim 1:13).

• Paul was converted (app. 33-37 A.D.) on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19)(Acts 22:6-21)(Acts 26:13-23), at about noon (Acts 26:13).

• After this encounter, he was left blind, and taken on into the city of Damascus, where he did not eat or drink for three days (Acts 9:9).

• God appeared to a man named Ananias in a vision and told him to go to Paul, because God had given Paul a vision that Ananias would come and put “his hand on him, that he might receive his sight” (Acts 9:12). Ananias did this, and then baptized Paul (Acts 9:17-18).

• After his conversion, Paul went into Arabia for 3 years (Gal 1:17-18), probably to study and reflect on the revelation given to him by the Lord.

• After the 3 years, he went back to Damascus and began to preach the Gospel “boldly in the name of Jesus” (Acts 9:27), but soon after had to flee for his life (Acts 9:23-25)(2 Cor 11:33).

• As a result of his seeing the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus, he called himself an “Apostle” (one classic definition being “one who has seen the risen Christ”) who was “born out of due time” (1 Cor 15:8).
  *** Some scholars believe that Paul was God’s choice to replace Judas as the 12th apostle, but those in the “upper room” got ahead of God’s timing and chose Matthias (Acts 1:15-26). (I explain this more here: https://jesusalive.cc/paul-the-twelfth-disciple.)

• God called Paul to be “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15)(Acts 22:21)(Gal 1:16).

• The biggest part of Paul’s of ministry was done during the 3 missionary trips that he took which went from approximately 46 to 57 A.D.

• At the end of the 3rd missionary trip, Paul was warned by the prophet Agabus not to go to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-11), but he went anyway (Acts 21:15).

• In Jerusalem, he was falsely accused by the Jews (Acts 21:27-29), and then beaten by an angry mob (Acts 21:30-31). Paul was temporarily arrested by the Romans and put in chains until he informed them he was a Roman citizen (Acts 22:24-29). They then released him until the next day, when they had to take him into custody again when the Romans thought Paul would be “pulled in pieces” by another mob (Acts 23:10).

• The next day 40 Jews plotted to kill Paul (Acts 23:12-22), so he was transferred to Caesarea (about 75 miles away) and Governor Felix under heavy guard (Acts 23:23-35).
  (He had been in Jerusalem for 7 days: compare Acts 24:11-12 with Acts 24:1.)

• After 5 days, Paul pled his case before Felix (Acts 24:1-24). Felix said he would decide his case when Lysias the commander came (Acts 24:22), however, several days later he and his wife Drusilla sent for Paul and listened to him again. He continued to talk to Paul frequently for the next two years, but made no decision to let him go (Acts 24:26-27).

• Porcius Festus then replaced Felix (Acts 24:27), and retried Paul (Acts 25:1-11). Paul made an appeal to have his case tried before Caesar and Festus granted it (Acts 25:11-12).

• A few days later, he appeared before King Agrippa (Acts 25:13-26:32). He was then sent to Rome as a prisoner (Acts 27-28) spending two years there under house arrest (Acts 28:30). Apparently, he was temporarily released, but then rearrested, with a much more severe imprisonment under Emperor Nero (app. 65-67 A.D.).

• Tradition tells us that he was beheaded in about 67 A.D. on the Ostian Way shortly after writing his last Epistle (2 Tim). (The site where he was martyred is still visible today.)

• The place of Paul’s burial is said to be near the Basilica of St. Paul.

• Paul faced numerous trials during his lifetime, possibly more than any man in the Bible. He talks about some of these in (2 Cor 11:23-28). He was:
  • Put in prison over and over.
  • Flogged an uncounted number of times.
  • Faced death over and over.
  • Received 39 lashes from the Jews 5 times.
  • Beaten with rods 3 times.
  • Stoned one time.
  • Shipwrecked 3 times.
  • Spent a day and night in the sea.
  • Was in continual danger from rivers, robbers, his own people and the Gentiles.
  • Was in danger in the city, in the country, at sea, and from false brothers.
  • Was weary and in pain often, without sleep.
  • Often hungry and thirsty, cold and naked.
  • And, continually concerned about the health of all the churches.

(2 Cor 12:1-10) describes how Paul was caught up into paradise and heard words no man may utter. (Many scholars believe this occurred when Paul was stoned and left for dead in Acts 14:19-20). (2 Cor 12:7) says that because of the abundance of revelation given to him, he was given a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from being proud. (2 Cor 12:8) says that Paul asked for it to be removed 3 times and God refused saying His “grace was sufficient.” People disagree as to what this “thorn” was, but whatever it was, it appeared to be very debilitating. (It appears to have been a disease of the eyes. See: https://jesusalive.cc/pauls-thorn-in-flesh)

• It was said by some in the Bible that Paul was not very impressive in appearance or speaking (2 Cor 10:10), but he was certainly the most important person in the New Testament aside from Jesus.