The Life of Paul: Apostle of Jesus

May 27, 2011
Joshua Benson

Saint Paul - James Joseph Jacques Tissot (1836–1902)

Once a zealous persecutor of the early Christian movement, Paul became an influential co-author of the New Testament.

The heroes of Christian Mythology mainly consist of the prophets and apostles. One of the biggest names in Christian mythology is Paul. Paul was born in Tarsus, an urban center in Asia Minor. He was originally known as Saul, and he was a strong persecutor of members of the early Christian movement. He became known as Paul after his conversion into apostleship. Little is known about Paul’s life as a Pharisee, other than he was extremely zealous. His zeal did not change after he was converted to an apostle; he still preached with conviction for whatever he felt God was calling him to do.

Paul’s Conversion

While on a trip to Damascus to bring back converted Jews, Paul was converted to an apostle. In the book of Acts, Paul is left temporarily blind when, “suddenly there shone from heaven great light round about” (Acts 22:6). In Galatians, Paul simply says that God revealed his son to him (Galatians 1:15-16). Regardless of the means by which Paul was converted, he went on to be arguably the most influential apostle, especially in bringing together Jews and Gentiles into a brotherhood of Christ.

The Zeal of Paul

Paul boasted his value as an apostle. In the epistle to Philemon, Paul writes,

"If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless." (Philemon 3:4-6)

Paul also boasts that he works harder than any other apostle, although he conveniently claims that it is through the Grace of God. In the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul writes,

"For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them." (1 Corinthians 15:9-10)

Paul’s authority as an apostle was challenged in Corinth and he again delivered a boastful retort, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death oft” (II Corinthians 11:23). He measures his value through his suffering. Paul’s zeal served to function as a rhetorical device. His letters are an appeal to those who did not share his point of view. As E.P. Sanders writes, Paul’s “letters serve well those who attack other forms of Christianity” (Sanders 29).

Paul’s Trial and Execution

One of Paul’s greatest accomplishments in the early Christian movement was to bring together Jews and Gentiles. This mission came at great personal cost to Paul, as he brought into temple one of his assistants, Titus, who was a Gentile convert. He was arrested and imprisoned in Caesarea.

Acts says that Paul was tried in Rome and held in prison for two years. Because Paul was a Roman citizen, it is believed that he would have been beheaded instead of crucified. Some scholars believe that Paul was executed in Rome before the writing of the epistles to Timothy and Titus, leaving some to think that these letters were written by one of Paul’s followers after his martyr.