10 facts about saint paul

Introduction

Saint Paul is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of the Western world.

Just a quick look at the headlines of his life are enough to understand his impact; his works are some of the earliest Christian documents that we have, 13 of the 27 books of the bible are written by him, and he's the hero of another, Acts of the Apostles.

Famously converted on the road to Damascus, he travelled tens of thousands of miles around the Mediterranean spreading the word of Jesus and it was Paul who came up with the doctrine that would turn Christianity from a small sect of Judaism into a worldwide faith that was open to all.

What we know about Paul comes from two extraordinary sources.

The first is the Acts of the Apostles, written after Paul's death, almost certainly by the same author who wrote St Luke's gospel. There is evidence that Acts was written to pass on the Christian message, but behind the theology lie clues about Paul's life. The author of Acts claims that he knew Paul and even accompanied him on many of his journeys.

The second source is Paul's own letters.

They represent Paul's own version of events, and it seems reasonable to accept them as the more reliable account.

The one thing most people do know about St Paul is that he underwent a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Precisely what happened has been hard to determine as the accounts in Acts and the letters differ on the details.

For example, when St Paul talks about his conversion he makes no mention of a journey from Jerusalem to Damascus.

But behind the paradoxes and the puzzles, there are fascinating glimpses of the man. Reading Paul's letters and Acts of the Apostles we learn that Paul was born in Tarsus, in modern day Eastern Turkey, he was a tent maker by trade, was an avid student under the top Jewish teacher in Jerusalem and was also a Roman citizen.

Here is a man who worked with his hands but wrote with the grace of a Greek philosopher; a Jewish zealot who nevertheless enjoyed the rights of citizenship in the world's greatest empire.

In his letters, we also discover the Paul who writes warmly of his friends, both men and women, the Paul who frets about how the members of his churches are coping without him and who defends their status as true converts and the Paul who appeals for the freedom of a slave.

But like all great and charismatic figures there is another side; the Paul who berates his followers for backsliding and doubting; the Paul who tells women to keep silent and condemns homosexuality and the Paul who'll stand up to the Apostle Peter, one of the most senior people in the early church and call him a hypocrite to his face.

Academics are trying to piece together these scraps of information with a new technique that's rather like a combination of sociology and forensic anthropology.

Spread of christianity today: Marshall, I. Tabor for the Huffington Post [ ]. Oxford University Press. The Other Bible.

They've come up with a picture of Paul who'd be a man of his time and place; a hot headed Mediterranean who'd be quick to defend his honour and the honour of his followers, but who'd demand loyalty in return.

Paul wrote some of the most beautiful and important passages in the whole of the Bible, but his works have also been used, among other things, to justify homophobia, slavery and anti-Semitism.

He has also been accused of being anti-feminist, although many modern scholars would argue that in fact he championed the cause of women church leaders. In the final analysis, Paul was the first great Christian theologian, establishing some of the building blocks of the faith that we now take for granted, though there are those who argue that in laying out these ground rules, Paul has obscured and separated us from the true teachings of Jesus.

But perhaps the true sign of Paul's importance is that even nearly years after his death he still inspires passion; whatever you feel, it's hard to feel neutral about Paul.

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Paul in scripture

In this section Dr Mark Goodacre, Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Birmingham, explores the biblical references to Paul.

However one explains the phenomenon, there is little doubt that the events of the first Easter, sometime in the early 30s of the first century, made a powerful impact on the first followers of Jesus.

Yet the utterly bizarre nature of the claims that they were making is easy to miss after two thousand years of familiarity with Christianity. Let us pause to consider for a moment what it was that they were saying.

God has acted decisively, once for all, by sending his beloved Son to his own people, Israel.

This Jesus, whom some acknowledged as Christ, was subjected to an appalling and humiliating death. Everyone in the Roman Empire knew about crucifixion and the fact that Jesus died in this way was not something one would expect anyone to have been proud of. That God's Anointed One could have been so publicly humiliated seemed outrageous.

But for these early Jesus people, the public humiliation was conquered through resurrection, God's vindication of Jesus, and this convinced them that Jesus was not a criminal who had died for his own sins; he had died for the sins of others.

Paul the persecutor

At this stage, it is incorrect to talk about Christianity.

These earliest followers of Jesus were devout Jews who continued to offer sacrifice at the Temple and to observe the whole Jewish Law. Essentially, they were a small sect within Judaism. So how would such a sect have been viewed by other Jews who were not members of it? Thankfully, we have a pretty clear answer to this question because one of the most famous converts to the new Messianic sect was a Jew named Paul and before his conversion he was so horrified by the claims of this new movement that, he tells us, he persecuted it violently.

So why did people like Paul persecute Jesus' followers?

The problem seems to have focused around the cross. It was simply intolerable to zealous Jews like Paul that God's special envoy could have died a criminal's death. He describes it as a "stumbling block" to Jews (1 Corinthians ), using the Greek word skandalon from which we derive our word "scandal".

It was unthinkable that the Messiah could have suffered in this way. The problem would have been sharply focused for someone like Paul. He was not from Israel but was born in Tarsus, in modern Turkey. Jews like Paul, who lived outside the Jewish homeland, were called diaspora Jews. Since they lived among pagans, they were particularly conscious of how their religion might appear to those around them.

Jews were called to be a light to the nations (Isaiah ); this story of a crucified Messiah might have the opposite effect. It could hold Judaism up to ridicule.

So Paul attempted to snuff out this fledgling movement before it could do too much damage.

Damascus road

The importance of Paul's conversion, his turn-around from persecuting Jesus to preaching Jesus, cannot be underestimated.

Paul himself finds it difficult to describe what had happened and in a fascinating passage in one of his letters he explains this as a resurrection appearance of Jesus (1 Corinthians )

Paul the missionary

The Damascus Road experience was both a conversion and a call. It was a conversion away from his previous life as a zealous persecutor of Jesus' followers and it was a call to a new life advancing the cause of the new movement with even more vigour than he had shown before.

Now, with boundless energy, Paul preached the gospel of the Christ crucified for the sins of all people far and wide, beginning at Jerusalem and continuing all the way to Rome. His achievement was a matter of some pride for him:

Luke tells us of three enormous missionary journeys, charting [Paul's] progress from Antioch in Syria and moving westwards through (modern day) Turkey and Greece and finally back to Jerusalem again.

For Paul this was a particularly punishing business.

Unlike other early Christian missionaries, Paul earned his own living wherever he went. Luke says that he was a tentmaker (Acts ) and Paul often talks about how he combined his preaching of the gospel with working with his hands (see 1 Corinthians 9).

Paul's life was remarkable and there is little doubt that it changed the course of Christianity.

He made an impact as apostle, as theologian, and as letter-writer. Paul the apostle had expanded the church far and wide, flinging open the doors to Gentiles, strenuously fighting for his conviction that the gospel was for all people and that no barriers should be put in the way of Gentiles. Paul the theologian was the first to work through many of the intriguing questions that Jesus' life, death and resurrection had thrown up.

And Paul the letter-writer gave us not only some of the profoundest pieces of early Christian theological reflection, but also some of the finest, most poignant writing in history.

Revelation

At the end of the Bible, though, lies not Paul but Revelation, a book that at first sight looks like the black sheep in the New Testament family.

With its fantastic visions of heaven, its gory stories of the future, its impenetrable signs and symbols, many a reader has given up in exasperation in the attempt to fathom out its mysteries.

Some Christians have struggled with Revelation; Luther wished it was not in the New Testament at all.

Yet at heart, Revelation is a profoundly Christian book. Its central message is that in spite of any appearance to the contrary, God is still Lord and King over the universe. It is a vision of God's kingdom, his judgement but most importantly his sovereignty over everything. Where there is injustice in the world, this will be rectified.

Where there is sin, sickness, disease and the devil, these will be eradicated. John, [its author] is a seer and has been given a revelation of what is going on in heaven. He is able to see God's perspective. And the message he hears there is that after all, God is indeed in control, through Jesus his Son, who has conquered death through his own victory over death.

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Further reading

The Cambridge Companion to St Paul, James D G Dunn (Editor), Cambridge University Press ()

Past event & Present Salvation, Paul S Fiddes, Darton, Longman & Todd ()

"Dictionary of Paul and his letters, Gerald F Hawthorne (Ed), Ralph P Martin (Ed), Daniel G Reid (Ed), Inter-Varsity Press ()

The first urban Christians: the social world of the apostle Paul, Wayne A Meeks, Yale Univesrity Press ()

In the steps of St Paul, H V Morton, Methuen ()

What Saint Paul really said: Was Paul of Tarsus the real founder of Christianity?, Tom Wright, Lion Publishing ()

Paul: The mind of the apostle, A N Wilson, W W Norton ()

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