The Life of the Apostle Paul

St. Paul lived in Tarsus, still existing at coastal Turkey, from 4-64 A.D., and Catholics and many Christian faiths credit him for the early development and spread of Christianity. His travels spread the new Faith beyond the borders of Palestine (during that time). Before his conversion he was a Hellenized Jew and Roman citizen. His experience on the road to Damascus (See Acts chapters 9, 22 and 26) after which he took the name Paul, began a life-long affinity to Jesus Christ and he was a model of dedication and piety. His letters or Epistles became part of the New Testament.

Paul is venerated as a Saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches. He faced imprisonment and death for the sake of the faith of Jesus. What little we know about Paul comes from Paul's own letters and the Acts of the Apostles, some drawn from personal witness. It is claimed that he was present at the death of St. Stephen (Acts 7:58). Paul received a Jewish education in the tradition of the Pharisees, perhaps rabbinical training. Nothing is known of Paul's family. He was possibly divorced when he began teaching. Scripture tells us he was a tentmaker, a sound craft in those days. "Paul himself admits that he was one of the first persecuted Christians (Phil. 3:6) but later embraced the belief that he had fought against. Acts 9:1–9 memorably describes the vision Paul had of Jesus on the road to Damascus, a vision that led him to dramatically reverse his opinion. Paul himself offers no clear description of the event in any of his surviving letters; and this, along with the fact that the author of Acts describes Paul's conversion with subtle differences in two later passages, has led some scholars to question whether Paul's vision actually occurred. However, Paul did write that Jesus appeared to him "last of all, as to one untimely born" (1 Corinthians 15:8), and frequently claimed that his authority as "Apostle to the Gentiles" came directly from God (Galatians 1:13–16). In addition, an adequate explanation for Paul's conversion is lacking in the absence of his vision. Acts 9:5 suggests that he may ave had second thoughts about his opposition to Jesus' followers even before the Damascus Road experience, which has become synonymous with a sudden, dramatic conversion or change of mind."

After his conversion, Paul lived for three years in an area he called "Arabia", then returned to Damascus (Gal. 1:17-20) until forced to flee. Then he traveled to Jerusalem where he met St. Peter. He carried out his missionary activity in his home base of Tarsus (Gal. 1:21) and Syria. There he joined up with Barnabas, a leader of the church in Antioch. From there his faith spread throughout the empire. According to Acts, "in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians" (11:26). Acts describes three missionary journeys; they are considered the defining actions of Paul. For these journeys, Paul usually chose one or more companions for his travels. Barnabas, Silas, Titus, Timothy, Mark, Aquila and Priscilla, all accompanied him for some or all of these travels. He endured hardships on these journeys: he was imprisoned in Philippi, was lashed, and stoned several times, and almost murdered once. (ref.: 2 Cor. 11:24–27) 

About 49 A.D., after 14 years of preaching, Paul traveled to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus to meet with the leaders of the Jerusalem church (James, Peter, and John). That event is known as the Council of Jerusalem. The issue for the Council was whether Paul's innovative teachings aimed at non-Jewish Christians, teaching them that their salvation did not require obedience to the Law of Moses, could be reconciled with the traditions of the mother church in Jerusalem, which was composed of predominantly Jewish-Christians. Should a non-Jew who accepted Jesus Christ be required to accept Judaism as a precondition? Or could one be a Christian apart from being a Jew? On the other hand, if non-Jews could directly receive Christ, did that mean that Jewish believers were freed from the need to obey Mosaic Law. Acts states that Paul was the head of a delegation from the church of Antioch that came to discuss whether new converts needed to be circumcised. If so, this would mean that all Christians should observe the Jewish law, the most important being the practice of circumcision and dietary laws. This was said to be the result of men coming to Antioch from Judea and "teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved'" (Acts 15:1).

The verdict of the Council in Acts 15 reveals that Peter and James understood Paul's work within the parameters of the Mosaic Law; specifically, the Noachide Laws which the rabbis held were required of non-Jews for them to be deemed righteous. This view was put forth by James (Acts 15:20-21), and it became the verdict of the Council. They sent a letter accompanied by some leaders from the Jerusalem church back with Paul and his party to confirm that the Mosaic Law should not overburden the Gentile believers beyond abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality (Acts 15:29). The Council did not hold that the Mosaic Law was non-binding on Gentile Christians, only that they fell into the category of "righteous Gentiles" for which the Law's requirements were minimal. Meanwhile, Jewish believers were still expected to be observant. A rumor that Paul aimed to subvert the Law of Moses is cited in Acts 21:21, however, according to Acts, Paul followed James' instructions to show that he "kept and walked in the ways of the Law." Yet from his own teachings, apparently Paul did not regard the Mosaic Law as essential or binding in the slightest. For instance, regarding the Noachide law not to eat food offered to idols, he observes it only as expedient so as not to damage those weak in faith (1 Corinthians 8). Ultimately, the Pauline view that justification is entirely by the grace of Christ and is in nowise by works of Law is incompatible with the Jewish Noachide principle, which still gives pride of place to Jews as those who observe the entire Law.

Despite the agreement they achieved at the Council, Paul recounts how he later publicly berated Peter, accusing him of hypocrisy over his reluctance to share a meal with Gentile Christians because some Jewish Christians were present (Gal. 2:11–18). Despite Paul's assertion that all Christians, whether Jew or Greek, were "one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28), some Jewish-Christians still regarded themselves as set apart by their observance of the Law and looked down upon non-Jewish Christians as less perfect in their faith. These were the "Judaizers" who plagued Paul's ministry.

Founding of churches

Paul spent the next few years traveling through western Asia Minor—this time entering Macedonia—and founded his first Christian church in Philippi, where he encountered harassment. Paul himself tersely describes his experience as "when we suffered and were shamefully treated" (1 Thes. 2:2); the author of Acts, perhaps drawing from a witness (this passage follows closely on one of the "we passages"), explains here that Paul exorcised a spirit from a female slave—ending her ability to tell fortunes and thus reducing her value—an act the slave's owner claimed was theft, wherefore he had Paul briefly put in prison (Acts 16:22). Paul then traveled along the Via Egnatia to Thessalonica, where he stayed for some time, before departing for Greece. First, he came to Athens, where he gave his legendary speech in Areopagus (Areios Pagos) and said he was talking in the name of the Unknown God who was already worshiped there (17:16–34). He next traveled to Corinth, where he settled for three years, and wrote the earliest of his surviving letters, the first epistle to the Thessalonians (1 Thes.) Again, Paul ran into legal trouble in Corinth: on the complaints of a group of Jews, he was brought before the proconsul Gallio, who decided that it was a minor matter not worth his attention and dismissed the charges (Acts 18:12–16). From an inscription in Delphi that mentions Gallio, we can securely date this hearing as having occurred in the year 52 A.D., providing a secure date for the chronology of Paul's life. Following this hearing, Paul continued his preaching (usually called his Third Missionary Journey), traveling again through Asia Minor and Macedonia, to Antioch and back. He caused a great uproar in the theater in Ephesus, where local silversmiths feared loss of income due to Paul's activities. Their income relied on the sale of silver statues of the goddess Artemis, whom they worshipped, and the resulting mob almost killed him (19:21–41). As a result, when he later raised money for victims of a famine in Judea and his journey to Jerusalem took him through the province once again, he carefully sailed around Ephesus—instead summoning his followers to meet him in Miletus (20:17–38). Paul's role as a leader within the early Christian community can be understood as deriving from his commission to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles (non-Jews), which was recognized by the Church at Antioch when it set him and Barnabas aside for this work (Acts 13:2-4). Paul considered the commission to preach to non-Jews to be his calling (I Timothy 2:3).

Arrest, Rome, and later life

Paul's final act of charity towards the Jerusalem Church was to raise funds from the wealthier Gentile churches he had founded to help the Jewish-Christians in Jerusalem, many of whom were in dire straits. These had been requested at the Council of Jerusalem (Gal. 2:10) as part of the agreement authorizing him to lead the Gentile missions. Paul knew that despite his agreement with Peter and James, many other members of the Jerusalem church continued to oppose him for teaching that salvation in Christ was entirely apart from the Mosaic Law, which to them seemed to undermine the Law altogether. Perhaps his charity was meant to be a peace-offering, to demonstrate that despite their differences he sincerely regarded them as brothers in Christ. Furthermore, as a turncoat from the Jewish faith, Paul had earned the enmity of the Jewish establishment. In the face of opponents both inside and outside the church, when Paul returned to Jerusalem bearing gifts, he may have felt like Jacob did when he was returning to see his brother Esau.

Love: One of the most beloved passages in Paul's letters is 1 Corinthians 13, on love. He lifts love above faith, calling it "the most excellent way." Paul describes the qualities of true love in words that have never been equaled for their truth and simplicity:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13 : 4-7).

Life in the Spirit: Paul taught that a virtuous life was the natural fruits of life in the spirit, a state of being "in Christ." The Christian does not have to work at being virtuous; rather he or she needs to be attentive to the spirit and lead a life that is spirit-led:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

Paul considered that he no longer lived but that Christ lived in him - hence the idea that trust in Jesus makes people 'new' (they are born again); he wrote, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who died for me” (Galatians 2:19). A Christian comes to be "in Christ" beginning with Baptism, a rite which symbolizes dying to the old self and putting on Christ and continuing with a life dedicated to him. As Jesus was crucified in the flesh and rose in spirit, so the Christian leaves aside his or her former life of self-seeking and sensual gratification and walks a new life in line with God and Christ (Romans 6:3-14). If a Christian remains faithful to the Christian walk, he can count on the Spirit of Christ to guide his way. "The mind of sinful man  is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6).

The cross was central to Paul's preaching. He described it as foolishness to the Greeks and as a stumbling block to Jews while for him it was the “power and wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). Christ, not the Temple nor the Law, was for Paul the very center of the cosmos and that he believed that this same Christ dwelt in him, despite his continued unworthiness. According to New Testament scholar Bruce Chilton, “Deep awareness of oneself, completion by the presence of the Spirit, made devotion the deepest pleasure.” As far as Paul was concerned, that was all he or anyone like him needed, and he held up that self-sufficiency… as a standard… ‘neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities… shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ’ (Romans 8:38-39)." Chilton adds, “If you care as God cares, then Christ - the center of the entire cosmos - inhabits the recesses of that inner longing, and nothing can ever separate you from that creative passion.”

This is not a complete history of St. Paul the Apostle. Some of it was copied from different public domain sources, a good part came from other Internet sources, and from the New World Encyclopedia which is covered by a Creative Commons license and therefore can be copied under certain conditions (non-commercial, etc.), see: www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Saint_Paul

See also https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm for reference. This reference points to the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 ed.

Fred Schaeffer, OFS

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