Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 16:47, 18 January 2025

Saint Paul the Apostle
Saint Paul (c. 1611) by Peter Paul Rubens
Apostle to the Gentiles, Martyr
Born	Saul of Tarsus c. 5 AD Tarsus, Cilicia, Roman Empire
Died	c. 64/65 AD Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
Venerated in	All Christian denominations that venerate saints
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Major shrine	Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome, Italy
Feast	25 January – Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul 10 February – Feast of Saint Paul's Shipwreck in Malta 29 June – Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (with Peter the Apostle) 30 June – Former solo feast day, still celebrated by some religious orders 18 November – Feast of the dedication of the basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul Saturday before the sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Feast of the Twelve Apostles and Paul the thirteenth Apostle (Armenian Apostolic Church)
Attributes	Christian martyrdom, sword, book
Patronage	Missionaries, theologians, evangelists, and Gentile Christians, Malta
Theology career
Education	School of Gamaliel
Occupation(s)	Christian missionary and preacher
Notable work	Certain: Epistle to the Romans Epistle to the Galatians First Epistle to the Corinthians Second Epistle to the Corinthians First Epistle to the Thessalonians Epistle to Philemon Epistle to the Philippians Disputed: Second Epistle to the Thessalonians Epistle to the Colossians Epistle to the Ephesians First Epistle to Timothy Second Epistle to Timothy Epistle to Titus
Theological work
Era	Apostolic Age
Language	Koine Greek
Tradition or movement	Pauline Christianity
Main interests	Torah, Christology, eschatology, soteriology, ecclesiology
Notable ideas	Pauline privilege, Law of Christ, Holy Spirit, Unknown God, divinity of Jesus, thorn in the flesh, Pauline mysticism, biblical inspiration, supersessionism, non-circumcision, salvation

Paul also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, and he also founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD.

The main source of information on Paul's life and works is the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. Approximately half of its content documents his travels, preaching and miracles. Paul was not one of the Twelve Apostles, and did not know Jesus during his lifetime. According to the Acts, Paul lived as a Pharisee and participated in the persecution of early disciples of Jesus, possibly Hellenised diaspora Jews converted to Christianity, in the area of Jerusalem, before his conversion. Some time after having approved of the execution of Stephen, Paul was traveling on the road to Damascus so that he might find any Christians there and bring them "bound to Jerusalem". At midday, a light brighter than the sun shone around both him and those with him, causing all to fall to the ground, with the risen Christ verbally addressing Paul regarding his persecution in a vision. Having been made blind, along with being commanded to enter the city, his sight was restored three days later by Ananias of Damascus. After these events, Paul was baptized, beginning immediately to proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish messiah and the Son of God. He made three missionary journeys to spread the Christian message to non-Jewish communities in Asia Minor, the Greek provinces of Achaia, Macedonia, and Cyprus, as well as Judea and Syria, as narrated in the Acts.

Fourteen of the 27 books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the Pauline epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, with varying degrees of argument about the remainder. Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by some scholars to have come from followers writing in his name, using material from Paul's surviving letters and letters written by him that no longer survive. Other scholars argue that the idea of a pseudonymous author for the disputed epistles raises many problems.

Today, Paul's epistles continue to be vital roots of the theology, worship and pastoral life in the Latin and Protestant traditions of the West, as well as the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions of the East. Paul's influence on Christian thought and practice has been characterized as being as "profound as it is pervasive", among that of many other apostles and missionaries involved in the spread of the Christian faith.

Christians, notably in the Lutheran tradition, have classically read Paul as advocating for a law-free Gospel against Judaism. Polemicists and scholars likewise, especially during the early 20th century, have alleged that Paul corrupted or hijacked Christianity, often by introducing pagan or Hellenistic themes to the early church. There has since been increasing acceptance of Paul as a fundamentally Jewish figure in line with the original disciples in Jerusalem over past misinterpretations, manifested through movements like "Paul Within Judaism".

Names

Paul's Jewish name was "Saul" (Hebrew: שָׁאוּל, Modern: Sha'ûl, Tiberian: Šā'ûl), perhaps after the biblical King Saul, the first king of Israel and, like Paul, a member of the Tribe of Benjamin; the Latin name Paulus, meaning small, was not a result of his conversion as is commonly believed but a second name for use in communicating with a Greco-Roman audience.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was a Roman citizen. As such, he bore the Latin name Paulus, which translates in biblical Greek as Παῦλος (Paulos). It was typical for the Jews of that time to have two names: one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek.

Jesus called him "Saul, Saul" in "the Hebrew tongue" in the Acts of the Apostles, when he had the vision which led to his conversion on the road to Damascus. Later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, "the Lord" referred to him as "Saul, of Tarsus". When Ananias came to restore his sight, he called him "Brother Saul".

In Acts 13:9, Saul is called "Paul" for the first time on the island of Cyprus, much later than the time of his conversion. The author of Luke–Acts indicates that the names were interchangeable: "Saul, who also is called Paul." He refers to him as Paul through the remainder of Acts. This was apparently Paul's preference since he is called Paul in all other Bible books where he is mentioned, including those that he authored. Adopting his Roman name was typical of Paul's missionary style. His method was to put people at ease and approach them with his message in a language and style that was relatable to them, as he did in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23.

Available sources

The main source for information about Paul's life is the material found in his epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles. However, the epistles contain little information about Paul's pre-conversion past. The Acts of the Apostles recounts more information but leaves several parts of Paul's life out of its narrative, such as his probable but undocumented execution in Rome. The Acts of the Apostles also appear to contradict Paul's epistles on multiple matters, in particular concerning the frequency of Paul's visits to the church in Jerusalem.

Sources outside the New Testament that mention Paul include:

• Clement of Rome's epistle to the Corinthians (late 1st/early 2nd century);
• Ignatius of Antioch's epistles to the Romans and to the Ephesians (early 2nd century);
• Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians (early 2nd century);
• Eusebius's Historia Ecclesiae (early 4th century);
• The apocryphal Acts narrating the life of Paul (Acts of Paul, Acts of Paul and Thecla, Acts of Peter and Paul), the apocryphal epistles attributed to him (the Latin Epistle to the Laodiceans, the Third Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Correspondence of Paul and Seneca) and some apocalyptic texts attributed to him (Apocalypse of Paul and Coptic Apocalypse of Paul). These writings are all later, usually dated from the 2nd to the 4th century.

Biography

Early life

The two main sources of information that give access to the earliest segments of Paul's career are the Acts of the Apostles and the autobiographical elements of Paul's letters to the early Christian communities. Paul was likely born between the years of 5 BC and 5 AD. The Acts of the Apostles indicates that Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, but Helmut Koester took issue with the evidence presented by the text. Some have suggested that Paul's ancestors may have been freedmen from among the thousands of Jews whom Pompey took as slaves in 63 BC, which would explain how he was born into Roman citizenship, as slaves of Roman citizens gained citizenship upon emancipation.

He was from a devout Jewish family based in the city of Tarsus, which had been made part of the Roman Province of Syria by the time of Paul's adulthood. Tarsus was of the larger centers of trade on the Mediterranean coast and renowned for its academy, it had been among the most influential cities in Asia Minor since the time of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC.

Paul referred to himself as being "of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee". The Bible reveals very little about Paul's family. Acts quotes Paul referring to his family by saying he was "a Pharisee, born of Pharisees". Paul's nephew, his sister's son, is mentioned in Acts 23:16. In Romans 16:7, he states that his relatives, Andronicus and Junia, were Christians before he was and were prominent among the Apostles.

The family had a history of religious piety. Apparently, the family lineage had been very attached to Pharisaic traditions and observances for generations. Acts says that he was an artisan involved in the leather crafting or tent-making profession. This was to become an initial connection with Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he would partner in tentmaking and later become very important teammates as fellow missionaries.

While he was still fairly young, he was sent to Jerusalem to receive his education at the school of Gamaliel, one of the most noted teachers of Jewish law in history. Although modern scholarship accepts that Paul was educated under the supervision of Gamaliel in Jerusalem, he was not preparing to become a scholar of Jewish law, and probably never had any contact with the Hillelite school. Some of his family may have resided in Jerusalem since later the son of one of his sisters saved his life there. Nothing more is known of his biography until he takes an active part in the martyrdom of Stephen, a Hellenised diaspora Jew.

Some modern scholarship argues that while Paul was fluent in Koine Greek, the language he used to write his letters, his first language was probably Aramaic. In his letters, Paul drew heavily on his knowledge of Stoic philosophy, using Stoic terms and metaphors to assist his new Gentile converts in their understanding of the Gospel and to explain his Christology.

Persecutor of early Christians

Paul says that before his conversion, he persecuted early Christians "beyond measure", more specifically Hellenised diaspora Jewish members who had returned to the area of Jerusalem. According to James Dunn, the Jerusalem community consisted of "Hebrews", Jews speaking both Aramaic and Greek, and "Hellenists", Jews speaking only Greek, possibly diaspora Jews who had resettled in Jerusalem. Paul's initial persecution of Christians probably was directed against these Greek-speaking "Hellenists" due to their anti-Temple attitude. Within the early Jewish Christian community, this also set them apart from the "Hebrews" and their continuing participation in the Temple cult.

Conversion

Paul's conversion to the movement of followers of Jesus can be dated to 31–36 AD by his reference to it in one of his letters. In Galatians 1:16, Paul writes that God "was pleased to reveal his son to me." In 1 Corinthians 15:8, as he lists the order in which Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, Paul writes, "last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also."

According to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, it took place on the road to Damascus, where he reported having experienced a vision of the ascended Jesus. The account says that "He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' He asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting'."

According to the account in Acts 9:1–22, he was blinded for three days and had to be led into Damascus by the hand. During these three days, Saul took no food or water and spent his time in prayer to God. When Ananias of Damascus arrived, he laid his hands on him and said: "Brother Saul, the Lord, Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." His sight was restored, he got up and was baptized. This story occurs only in Acts, not in the Pauline epistles.

The author of the Acts of the Apostles may have learned of Paul's conversion from the church in Jerusalem, or from the church in Antioch, or possibly from Paul himself.

According to Timo Eskola, early Christian theology and discourse was influenced by the Jewish Merkabah tradition. John Bowker, Alan Segal and Daniel Boyarin have variously argued that Paul's accounts of his conversion experience and his ascent to the heavens (in 2 Corinthians 12) are the earliest first-person accounts that are extant of a Merkabah mystic in Jewish or Christian literature. Conversely, Timothy Churchill has argued that Paul's Damascus road encounter does not fit the pattern of Merkabah.

Post-conversion

According to Acts:

And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

— Acts 9:20–22

Early ministry

After his conversion, Paul went to Damascus, where Acts 9 states he was healed of his blindness and baptized by Ananias of Damascus. Paul says that it was in Damascus that he barely escaped death. Paul also says that he then went first to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus. Paul's trip to Arabia is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, although it has been theorized that he traveled to Mount Sinai for meditations in the desert. He describes in Galatians how three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem. There he met James and stayed with Simon Peter for 15 days. Paul located Mount Sinai in Arabia in Galatians 4:24–25.

Paul asserted that he received the Gospel not from man, but directly by "the revelation of Jesus Christ". He claimed almost total independence from the Jerusalem community (possibly in the Cenacle), but agreed with it on the nature and content of the gospel. He appeared eager to bring material support to Jerusalem from the various growing Gentile churches that he started. In his writings, Paul used the persecutions he endured to avow proximity and union with Jesus and as a validation of his teaching.

Paul's narrative in Galatians states that 14 years after his conversion he went again to Jerusalem. It is not known what happened during this time, but both Acts and Galatians provide some details. At the end of this time, Barnabas went to find Paul and brought him to Antioch. The Christian community at Antioch had been established by Hellenised diaspora Jews living in Jerusalem, who played an important role in reaching a Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers." From Antioch the mission to the Gentiles started, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.

When a famine occurred in Judea, around 45–46, Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Jerusalem to deliver financial support from the Antioch community. According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative center for Christians following the dispersion of the believers after the death of Stephen. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians".

First missionary journey

The author of Acts arranges Paul's travels into three separate journeys. The first journey, for which Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the Antioch community, and led initially by Barnabas, took Barnabas and Paul from Antioch to Cyprus then into southern Asia Minor, and finally returning to Antioch. In Cyprus, Paul rebukes and blinds Elymas the magician who was criticizing their teachings.

They sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas went on to Pisidian Antioch. On Sabbath they went to the synagogue. The leaders invited them to speak. Paul reviewed Israelite history from life in Egypt to King David. He introduced Jesus as a descendant of David brought to Israel by God. He said that his group had come to bring the message of salvation. He recounted the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. He quoted from the Septuagint to assert that Jesus was the promised Christos who brought them forgiveness for their sins. Both the Jews and the "God-fearing" Gentiles invited them to talk more next Sabbath. At that time almost the whole city gathered. This upset some influential Jews who spoke against them. Paul used the occasion to announce a change in his mission which from then on would be to the Gentiles.

Antioch served as a major Christian home base for Paul's early missionary activities, and he remained there for "a long time with the disciples" at the conclusion of his first journey. The exact duration of Paul's stay in Antioch is unknown, with estimates ranging from nine months to as long as eight years.

In Raymond E. Brown's An Introduction to the New Testament, published in 1997, a chronology of events in Paul's life is presented, illustrated from later 20th-century writings of biblical scholars. The first missionary journey of Paul is assigned a "traditional" (and majority) dating of 46–49 AD, compared to a "revisionist" (and minority) dating of after 37 AD.

Council of Jerusalem

A vital meeting between Paul and the Jerusalem church took place in the year 49 AD by traditional (and majority) dating, compared to a revisionist (and minority) dating of 47/51 AD. The meeting is described in Acts 15:2 and usually seen as the same event mentioned by Paul in Galatians 2:1–10 The key question raised was whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. At this meeting, Paul states in his letter to the Galatians, Peter, James, and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles.

The Jerusalem meetings are mentioned in Acts, and also in Paul's letters. For example, the Jerusalem visit for famine relief apparently corresponds to the "first visit" (to Peter and James only). F. F. Bruce suggested that the "fourteen years" could be from Paul's conversion rather than from his first visit to Jerusalem.

Incident at Antioch

Despite the agreement achieved at the Council of Jerusalem, Paul recounts how he later publicly confronted Peter in a dispute sometimes called the "Incident at Antioch", over Peter's reluctance to share a meal with Gentile Christians in Antioch because they did not strictly adhere to Jewish customs.

Writing later of the incident, Paul recounts, "I opposed to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong", and says he told Peter, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?" Paul also mentions that even Barnabas, his traveling companion and fellow apostle until that time, sided with Peter.

The outcome of the incident remains uncertain. The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that Paul won the argument, because "Paul's account of the incident leaves no doubt that Peter saw the justice of the rebuke". However, Paul himself never mentions a victory, and L. Michael White's From Jesus to Christianity draws the opposite conclusion: "The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata, never again to return".

The primary source account of the incident at Antioch is Paul's letter to the Galatians.

Second missionary journey

Paul left for his second missionary journey from Jerusalem, in late Autumn 49 AD, after the meeting of the Council of Jerusalem where the circumcision question was debated. On their trip around the Mediterranean Sea, Paul and his companion Barnabas stopped in Antioch where they had a sharp argument about taking John Mark with them on their trips. The Acts of the Apostles said that John Mark had left them in a previous trip and gone home. Unable to resolve the dispute, Paul and Barnabas decided to separate; Barnabas took John Mark with him, while Silas joined Paul.

Paul and Silas initially visited Tarsus (Paul's birthplace), Derbe and Lystra. In Lystra, they met Timothy, a disciple who was spoken well of, and decided to take him with them. Paul and his companions, Silas and Timothy, had plans to journey to the southwest portion of Asia Minor to preach the gospel but during the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him to go to Macedonia to help them. After seeing the vision, Paul and his companions left for Macedonia to preach the gospel to them. The Church kept growing, adding believers, and strengthening in faith daily.

In Philippi, Paul cast a spirit of divination out of a servant girl, whose masters were then unhappy about the loss of income her soothsaying provided. They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities and Paul and Silas were put in jail. After a miraculous earthquake, the gates of the prison fell apart and Paul and Silas could have escaped but remained; this event led to the conversion of the jailor. They continued traveling, going by Berea and then to Athens, where Paul preached to the Jews and God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue and to the Greek intellectuals in the Areopagus. Paul continued from Athens to Corinth.

Interval in Corinth

Around 50–52 AD, Paul spent 18 months in Corinth. The reference in Acts to Proconsul Gallio helps ascertain this date (cf. Gallio Inscription). In Corinth, Paul met Priscilla and Aquila, who became faithful believers and helped Paul through his other missionary journeys. The couple followed Paul and his companions to Ephesus and stayed there to start one of the strongest and most faithful churches at that time.

In 52, departing from Corinth, Paul stopped at the nearby village of Cenchreae to have his hair cut off, because of a vow he had earlier taken. It is possible this was to be a final haircut before fulfilling his vow to become a Nazirite for a defined period of time. With Priscilla and Aquila, the missionaries then sailed to Ephesus and then Paul alone went on to Caesarea to greet the Church there. He then traveled north to Antioch, where he stayed for some time (Ancient Greek: ποιήσας χρόνον τινὰ. Some New Testament texts suggest that he also visited Jerusalem during this period for one of the Jewish feasts, possibly Pentecost. Textual critic Henry Alford and others consider the reference to a Jerusalem visit to be genuine and it accords with Acts 21:29, according to which Paul and Trophimus the Ephesian had previously been seen in Jerusalem.

Third missionary journey

According to Acts, Paul began his third missionary journey by traveling all around the region of Galatia and Phrygia to strengthen, teach and rebuke the believers. Paul then traveled to Ephesus, an important center of early Christianity, and stayed there for almost three years, probably working there as a tentmaker, as he had done when he stayed in Corinth. He is said to have performed numerous miracles, healing people and casting out demons, and he apparently organized missionary activity in other regions. Paul left Ephesus after an attack from a local silversmith resulted in a pro-Artemis riot involving most of the city. During his stay in Ephesus, Paul wrote four letters to the church in Corinth. The letter to the church in Philippi is generally thought to have been written from Ephesus, though a minority view considers it may have been penned while he was imprisoned in Rome.

Paul went through Macedonia into Achaea and stayed in Greece, probably Corinth, for three months during 56–57 AD. Commentators generally agree that Paul dictated his Epistle to the Romans during this period. He then made ready to continue on to Syria, but he changed his plans and traveled back through Macedonia, putatively because certain Jews had made a plot against him. In Romans 15:19, Paul wrote that he visited Illyricum, but he may have meant what would now be called Illyria Graeca, which was at that time a division of the Roman province of Macedonia. On their way back to Jerusalem, Paul and his companions visited other cities such as Philippi, Troas, Miletus, Rhodes, and Tyre. Paul finished his trip with a stop in Caesarea, where he and his companions stayed with Philip the Evangelist before finally arriving in Jerusalem.

Conjectured journey from Rome to Spain

Among the writings of the early Christians, Pope Clement I said that Paul was "Herald (of the Gospel of Christ) in the West", and that "he had gone to the extremity of the west".

Where Lightfoot's translation has "had preached" below (in the "Church tradition" section), the Hoole translation has "having become a herald". John Chrysostom indicated that Paul preached in Spain: "For after he had been in Rome, he returned to Spain, but whether he came thence again into these parts, we know not". Cyril of Jerusalem said that Paul, "fully preached the Gospel, and instructed even imperial Rome, and carried the earnestness of his preaching as far as Spain, undergoing conflicts innumerable, and performing Signs and wonders". The Muratorian fragment mentions "the departure of Paul from the city (39) when he journeyed to Spain".

Visits to Jerusalem in Acts and the epistles

The following table is adapted from the book From Jesus to Christianity by Biblical scholar L. Michael White, matching Paul's travels as documented in the Acts and the travels in his Epistles but not agreed upon fully by all Biblical scholars.

Last visit to Jerusalem and arrest

In 57 AD, upon completion of his third missionary journey, Paul arrived in Jerusalem for his fifth and final visit with a collection of money for the local community. The Acts of the Apostles reports that initially he was warmly received. However, Acts goes on to recount how Paul was warned by James and the elders that he was gaining a reputation for being against the Law, saying, "they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs." Paul underwent a purification ritual so that "all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law."

When the seven days of the purification ritual were almost completed, some "Jews from Asia" (most likely from Roman Asia) accused Paul of defiling the temple by bringing gentiles into it. He was seized and dragged out of the temple by an angry mob. When the tribune heard of the uproar, he and some centurions and soldiers rushed to the area. Unable to determine his identity and the cause of the uproar, they placed him in chains. He was about to be taken into the barracks when he asked to speak to the people. He was given permission by the Romans and proceeded to tell his story. After a while, the crowd responded. "Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, 'Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.'" The tribune ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks and interrogated under flogging. Paul asserted his Roman citizenship, which would prevent his flogging. The tribune "wanted to find out what Paul was being accused of by the angry Jerusalemites, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet". Paul spoke before the council and caused a disagreement between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. When this threatened to turn violent, the tribune ordered his soldiers to take Paul by force and return him to the barracks.

The next morning, 40 Jews "bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul", but the son of Paul's sister heard of the plot and notified Paul, who notified the tribune that the conspiracists were going to ambush him. The tribune ordered two centurions to "Get ready to leave by nine o'clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor."

Paul was taken to Caesarea, where the governor ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod's headquarters. "Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, and they reported their case against Paul to the governor." Both Paul and the Jewish authorities gave a statement "But Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing with the comment, "When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case."

Marcus Antonius Felix then ordered the centurion to keep Paul in custody, but to "let him have some liberty and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs." He was held there for two years by Felix, until a new governor, Porcius Festus, was appointed. The "chief priests and the leaders of the Jews" requested that Festus return Paul to Jerusalem. After Festus had stayed in Jerusalem "not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought." When Festus suggested that he be sent back to Jerusalem for further trial, Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen to "appeal unto Caesar". Finally, Paul and his companions sailed for Rome where Paul was to stand trial for his alleged crimes.

Acts recounts that on the way to Rome for his appeal as a Roman citizen to Caesar, Paul was shipwrecked on Melita, which is present-day Malta, where the islanders showed him "unusual kindness" and where he was met by Publius. From Malta, he travelled to Rome via Syracuse, Rhegium, and Puteoli.

Two years in Rome

Paul finally arrived in Rome c. 60 AD, where he spent another two years under house arrest, according to the traditional account. The narrative of Acts ends with Paul preaching in Rome for two years from his rented home while awaiting trial.

Irenaeus wrote in the 2nd century that Peter and Paul had been the founders of the church in Rome and had appointed Linus as succeeding bishop. However, Paul was not a bishop of Rome, nor did he bring Christianity to Rome since there were already Christians in Rome when he arrived there; Paul also wrote his letter to the church at Rome before he had visited Rome. Paul only played a supporting part in the life of the church in Rome.

Death

Paul's death is believed to have occurred after the Great Fire of Rome in July 64 AD, but before the last year of Nero's reign, in 68 AD. Pope Clement I writes in his Epistle to the Corinthians that after Paul "had borne his testimony before the rulers", he "departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance." Ignatius of Antioch writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians that Paul was "martyred", without giving any further information. Tertullian writes that Paul was 'crowned with an exit like John' (Paulus Ioannis exitu coronatur), although it is unclear which John he meant.

Eusebius states that Paul was killed during the Neronian Persecution and, quoting from Dionysius of Corinth, argues that Peter and Paul were martyred "at the same time". This is also reported by Sulpicius Severus, who claimed Peter was crucified while Paul was beheaded. John Chrysostom provides an account of Nero imprisoning Paul, but not of his execution, and no mention of Peter. Lactantius only mentioned ' who first persecuted the servants of God; he crucified Peter, and slew Paul' (Paulum interfecit).

Based on the letters attributed to Paul, Jerome claims Paul was imprisoned by Nero in 'the twenty-fifth year after our Lord's passion' (post passionem Domini vicesimo quinto anno), 'that is the second of Nero' (id est, secundo Neronis), 'at the time when Festus Procurator of Judea succeeded Felix, he was sent bound to Rome, (...) remaining for two years in free custody'. Jerome interpreted the Second Epistle to Timothy to indicate that 'Paul was dismissed by Nero' (Paulum a Nerone dimissum) 'that the gospel of Christ might be preached also in the West'; but 'in the fourteenth year of Nero' (quarto decimo Neronis anno) 'on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the thirty-seventh year after our Lord's passion' (anno post passionem Domini tricesimo septimo).

A legend later developed that his martyrdom occurred at the Aquae Salviae, on the Via Laurentina. According to this legend, after Paul was decapitated, his severed head bounced three times, giving rise to a source of water each time that it touched the ground, which is how the place earned the name "San Paolo alle Tre Fontane" ("St Paul at the Three Fountains"). The apocryphal Acts of Paul also describe the martyrdom and the burial of Paul, but their narrative is highly fanciful and largely unhistorical.

Remains

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Paul's body was buried outside the walls of Rome, at the second mile on the Via Ostiensis, on the estate owned by a Christian woman named Lucina. It was here, in the fourth century, that the Emperor Constantine the Great built a first church. Then, between the fourth and fifth centuries, it was considerably enlarged by the Emperors Valentinian I, Valentinian II, Theodosius I, and Arcadius. The present-day Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls was built there in the early 19th century.

Caius in his Disputation Against Proclus (198 AD) mentions this of the places in which the remains of the apostles Peter and Paul were deposited: "I can point out the trophies of the apostles. For if you are willing to go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies of those who founded this Church".

Writing on Paul's biography, Jerome in his De Viris Illustribus in 392 AD mentions that "Paul was buried in the Ostian Way at Rome".

In 2002, an 8-foot (2.4 m)-long marble sarcophagus, inscribed with the words "PAULO APOSTOLO MART", which translates as "Paul apostle martyr", was discovered during excavations around the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the Via Ostiensis. Vatican archaeologists declared this to be the tomb of Paul the Apostle in December 2006, the excavation having been completed in November. In the early 2000s, Vatican archaeologists conducted excavations to make the tomb more accessible to pilgrims. These excavations confirmed the presence of a white marble sarcophagus beneath the altar. The sarcophagus was not removed, but a window was created to allow visitors to view it.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI announced that radiocarbon dating of bone fragments found in the sarcophagus indicated they were from the 1st or 2nd century, aligning with the traditional timeline of Paul's life. The Pope argued that this discovery, along with other artifacts such as a piece of purple linen laminated with pure gold, grains of incense, and blue textiles with linen filaments, all support the hypothesis that the remains are indeed those of Saint Paul. However, Ulderico Santamaria, the head of the Vatican Museums' diagnostics laboratory and a Professor with expertise in Analytical Chemistry and Materials Engineering at Tuscia University, urged caution, noting that the dating neither confirms nor invalidates the relics' traditional assignment to St. Paul.

The Vatican also confirmed that it had discovered and restored the earliest known image of Saint Paul, dating to the early 4th century AD, in the Catacomb of Saint Thekla, close to the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. In 2010 it was revealed that this icon, painted on the ceiling of a catacomb, was adjacent to the oldest known depictions of Saint Peter, Saint John, and Saint Andrew, surrounding an image of Christ as the Good Shepherd.

Church tradition

Various Christian writers have suggested more details about Paul's life:

1 Clement, a letter written by the Roman bishop Clement of Rome around the year 90, reports this about Paul:

By reason of jealousy and strife Paul by his example pointed out the prize of patient endurance. After that he had been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, had preached in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world and having reached the farthest bounds of the West; and when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance.

— Lightfoot 1890, p. 274, The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, 5:5–6

Commenting on this passage, Raymond Brown writes that while it "does not explicitly say" that Paul was martyred in Rome, "such a martyrdom is the most reasonable interpretation". Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote in the 4th century, states that Paul was beheaded in the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. This event has been dated either to the year 64 AD, when Rome was devastated by a fire, or a few years later, to 67 AD. According to one tradition, the church of San Paolo alle Tre Fontane marks the place of Paul's execution. A Roman Catholic liturgical solemnity of Peter and Paul, celebrated on 29 June, commemorates his martyrdom, and reflects a tradition (preserved by Eusebius) that Peter and Paul were martyred at the same time. The Roman liturgical calendar for the following day now remembers all Christians martyred in these early persecutions; formerly, 30 June was the feast day for St. Paul. Persons or religious orders with a special affinity for St. Paul can still celebrate their patron on 30 June.

The apocryphal Acts of Paul and the apocryphal Acts of Peter suggest that Paul survived Rome and traveled further west. Some think that Paul could have revisited Greece and Asia Minor after his trip to Spain, and might then have been arrested in Troas, and taken to Rome and executed. A tradition holds that Paul was interred with Saint Peter ad Catacumbas by the via Appia until moved to what is now the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, writes that Pope Vitalian in 665 gave Paul's relics (including a cross made from his prison chains) from the crypts of Lucina to King Oswy of Northumbria, northern Britain. The skull of Saint Paul is claimed to reside in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran since at least the ninth century, alongside the skull of Saint Peter.

The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul is celebrated on 25 January.

Feast days

Roman Catholicism

The Roman Martyrology commemorates Paul with a feast celebrating his conversion on 25 January. The Roman Martyrology also commemorates Paul and Peter with a solemnity on 29 June.

Eastern Orthodoxy

The Eastern Orthodox Church has several fixed days for the commemoration of Paul:

• 7 March – The Synaxis of the Saints of the Dodecanese Islands.
• 29 June – The Apostles Peter and Paul.
• 30 June – The Twelve Apostles.
• 12 October – The Synaxis of the Saints of Athens.

The Eastern Orthodox Church also has numerous non-fixed days for the veneration of Paul:

• 21 Days before Pascha – Synaxis of the Saints of Rhodes.
• 21 Days after Pascha – Synaxis of the Saints of Euboea.
• First Sunday of May – Synaxis of the Saints of Gortyna and Arkadia in the island of Crete.
• The Sunday between 16 and 22 August – Synaxis of the Saints of Lefkada.

The Church of England

The Church of England celebrates the Conversion of Saint Paul on 25 January as a Festival. Furthermore, along with Saint Peter, Paul is remembered by the Church of England with a Festival on 29 June.

Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has two festivals for Saint Paul, the first being his conversion on 25 January, and the second being for Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June.

Patronage

Paul is the Patron Saint of several locations. He is the Patron Saint of the island of Malta, which celebrates Paul's arrival to the island via shipwreck on 10 February. This day is a public holiday on the island. Paul is also considered to be the Patron Saint of the city of London.

Physical appearance

The New Testament offers little if any information about the physical appearance of Paul, but several descriptions can be found in apocryphal texts. In the Acts of Paul he is described as "A man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked". In the Latin version of the Acts of Paul and Thecla it is added that he had a red, florid face.

In The History of the Contending of Saint Paul, his countenance is described as "ruddy with the ruddiness of the skin of the pomegranate". The Acts of Saint Peter confirms that Paul had a bald and shining head, with red hair. As summarised by Barnes, Chrysostom records that Paul's stature was low, his body crooked and his head bald. Lucian, in his Philopatris, describes Paul as "corpore erat parvo, contracto, incurvo, tricubitali" ("he was small, contracted, crooked, of three cubits, or four feet six").

Nicephorus claims that Paul was a little man, crooked, and almost bent like a bow, with a pale countenance, long and wrinkled, and a bald head. Pseudo-Chrysostom echoes Lucian's height of Paul, referring to him as "the man of three cubits".

Writings

Part of a series of articles on
Paul in the Bible
Pauline literature (Authorship) Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon
Related literature Lost epistles Apocalypse of Paul Coptic Apocalypse of Paul Acts of Paul Paul and Thecla Peter and Paul Prayer of Paul
See also Paul the Apostle Apostles in the New Testament Pauline Christianity
v t e

Part of a series on
Catholic philosophy
Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham
Ethics Cardinal virtues Just price Just war Principle of Double Effect Casuistry Probabilism Natural law Personalism Social teaching Liberation Theology Christian Humanism Virtue ethics Works of mercy
Metaphysics Conceptualism Realism Moderate realism Nominalism Quiddity (essence / nature) Haecceity Quinque Viae Predestination Theological determinism Compatibilism Divine Attributes
Schools Augustinianism Victorines Llullism Cartesianism Christian Neoplatonism Friends of God Molinism Ressourcement Occamism Scholasticism Second scholasticism Neo Scotism Thomism Analytic Salamanca
Philosophers Ancient Ambrose Athenagoras Athanasius Augustine Benedict Boethius Clement Cyprian Cyril Gregory (of Nazianzus) Gregory (of Nyssa) Irenaeus Jerome Cassian Chrysostom Climacus John of Damascus Justin Maximus Dionysius Origen Paul Tertullian Medieval Abelard Albert Alcuin Alexander Anselm Autrecourt Aquinas Bacon Bede Berengar Bernard Bonaventure Buridan Catherine Cusa Eckhart Eriugena Giles Gregory I Grosseteste Gundissalinus Hildegard Hugh Isidore Llull Lombard Martin Ockham Oresme Paschasius Roscellinus Scotus Siger Symeon Thierry Modern Arnauld Ávila Azpilcueta Bellarmine Bonald Bossuet Brentano Botero Cajetan Chateaubriand Cortés Descartes Erasmus Fénelon Gracián Kołłątaj Krasicki La Mennais Liguori Maistre Malebranche Mariana Meinong Mercado Molina More Newman Pascal Rosmini Sales Soto Suárez Vico Vitoria Caramuel Contemporary Adler Anscombe Balthasar Barron Benedict XVI Blondel Chesterton Congar Copleston Finnis Garrigou-Lagrange Geach Gilson Girard Gutiérrez Dávila Guardini Haldane Hildebrand John Paul II Lonergan Lubac MacIntyre Marcel Marion Maritain McLuhan Mounier Pieper Rahner Stein Taylor
Catholicism portal Philosophy portal
v t e

Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 13 identify Paul as the author; seven of these are widely considered authentic and Paul's own, while the authorship of the other six is disputed. The undisputed letters are considered the most important sources since they contain what is widely agreed to be Paul's own statements about his life and thoughts. Theologian Mark Powell writes that Paul directed these seven letters to specific occasions at particular churches. As an example, if the Corinthian church had not experienced problems concerning its celebration of the Lord's Supper, today it would not be known that Paul even believed in that observance or had any opinions about it one way or the other. Powell comments that there may be other matters in the early church that have since gone unnoticed simply because no crises arose that prompted Paul to comment on them.

In Paul's writings, he provides the first written account of what it is to be a Christian and thus a description of Christian spirituality. His letters have been characterized as being the most influential books of the New Testament after the Gospels of Matthew and John.

Date

Paul's authentic letters are roughly dated to the years surrounding the mid-1st century. Placing Paul in this time period is done on the basis of his reported conflicts with other early contemporary figures in the Jesus movement including James and Peter, the references to Paul and his letters by Clement of Rome writing in the late 1st century, his reported issues in Damascus from 2 Corinthians 11:32 which he says took place while King Aretas IV was in power, a possible reference to Erastus of Corinth in Romans 16:23, his reference to preaching in the province of Illyricum (which dissolved in 80 AD), the lack of any references to the Gospels indicating a pre-war time period, the chronology in the Acts of the Apostles placing Paul in this time, and the dependence on Paul's letters by other 1st-century pseudo-Pauline epistles.

Authorship

Seven of the 13 letters that bear Paul's name, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon, are almost universally accepted as being entirely authentic and dictated by Paul himself. They are considered the best source of information on Paul's life and especially his thought.

Four of the letters (Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) are widely considered pseudepigraphical, while the authorship of the other two is subject to debate. Colossians and 2 Thessalonians are possibly "Deutero-Pauline" meaning they may have been written by Paul's followers after his death. Similarly, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus may be "Trito-Pauline" meaning they may have been written by members of the Pauline school a generation after his death. According to their theories, these disputed letters may have come from followers writing in Paul's name, often using material from his surviving letters. These scribes also may have had access to letters written by Paul that no longer survive.

The authenticity of Colossians has been questioned on the grounds that it contains an otherwise unparalleled description (among his writings) of Jesus as "the image of the invisible God", a Christology found elsewhere only in the Gospel of John. However, the personal notes in the letter connect it to Philemon, unquestionably the work of Paul. Internal evidence shows close connection with Philippians.

Ephesians is a letter that is very similar to Colossians but is almost entirely lacking in personal reminiscences. Its style is unique. It lacks the emphasis on the cross to be found in other Pauline writings, reference to the Second Coming is missing, and Christian marriage is exalted in a way that contrasts with the reference in 1 Corinthians. Finally, according to R. E. Brown, it exalts the Church in a way suggestive of the second generation of Christians, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" now past.

The defenders of its Pauline authorship argue that it was intended to be read by a number of different churches and that it marks the final stage of the development of Paul's thinking. It has been said, too, that the moral portion of the Epistle, consisting of the last two chapters, has the closest affinity with similar portions of other Epistles, while the whole admirably fits in with the known details of Paul's life, and throws considerable light upon them.

Three main reasons have been advanced by those who question Paul's authorship of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, also known as the Pastoral Epistles:

1. They have found a difference in these letters' vocabulary, style, and theology from Paul's acknowledged writings. Defenders of the authenticity say that they were probably written in the name and with the authority of the Apostle by one of his companions, to whom he distinctly explained what had to be written, or to whom he gave a written summary of the points to be developed, and that when the letters were finished, Paul read them through, approved them, and signed them.
2. There is a difficulty in fitting them into Paul's biography as it is known. They, like Colossians and Ephesians, were written from prison but suppose Paul's release and travel thereafter.
3. 2 Thessalonians, like Colossians, is questioned on stylistic grounds with, among other peculiarities, a dependence on 1 Thessalonians—yet a distinctiveness in language from the Pauline corpus. This, again, is explainable by the possibility that Paul requested one of his companions to write the letter for him under his dictation.

Acts

Although approximately half of the Acts of the Apostles deals with Paul's life and works, Acts does not refer to Paul writing letters. Charles Williams believes that the author of Acts did not have access to any of Paul's letters. He claims that one piece of evidence suggesting this is that Acts never directly quotes from the Pauline epistles. Further, discrepancies between the Pauline epistles and Acts could also support this conclusion. The scholarly consensus was indeed that the author of Acts did not know the Pauline epistles, but such consensus got superseded.

British Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby contended that Paul, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, is quite different from the view of Paul gleaned from his own writings. Some difficulties have been noted in the account of his life. Paul as described in the Acts of the Apostles is much more interested in factual history, less in theology; ideas such as justification by faith are absent as are references to the Spirit, according to Maccoby. He also pointed out that there are no references to John the Baptist in the Pauline Epistles, although Paul mentions him several times in the Acts of the Apostles.

Others have objected that the language of the speeches is too Lukan in style to reflect anyone else's words. Moreover, George Shillington writes that the author of Acts most likely created the speeches accordingly and they bear his literary and theological marks. Conversely, Howard Marshall writes that the speeches were not entirely the inventions of the author and while they may not be accurate word-for-word, the author nevertheless records the general idea of them.

F. C. Baur (1792–1860), professor of theology at Tübingen in Germany, the first scholar to critique Acts and the Pauline Epistles, and founder of the Tübingen School of theology, argued that Paul, as the "Apostle to the Gentiles", was in violent opposition to the original 12 Apostles. Baur considers the Acts of the Apostles were late and unreliable. This debate has continued ever since, with Adolf Deissmann (1866–1937) and Richard Reitzenstein (1861–1931) emphasising Paul's Greek inheritance and Albert Schweitzer stressing his dependence on Judaism.

Views

Self-view

In the opening verses of Romans 1, Paul provides a litany of his own apostolic appointment to preach among the Gentiles and his post-conversion convictions about the risen Christ. Paul described himself as set apart for the gospel of God and called to be an apostle and a servant of Jesus Christ. Jesus had revealed himself to Paul, just as he had appeared to Peter, to James, and to the twelve disciples after his resurrection. Paul experienced this as an unforeseen, sudden, startling change, due to all-powerful grace, not as the fruit of his reasoning or thoughts.

Paul also describes himself as afflicted with "a thorn in the flesh"; the nature of this "thorn" is unknown.

There are debates as to whether Paul understood himself as commissioned to take the gospel to the gentiles at the moment of his conversion. Before his conversion he believed his persecution of the church to be an indication of his zeal for his religion; after his conversion he believed Jewish hostility toward the church was sinful opposition, that would incur God's wrath. Paul believed he was halted by Christ, when his fury was at its height. It was "through zeal" that he persecuted the Church, and he obtained mercy because he had "acted ignorantly in unbelief".

Understanding of Jesus Christ

Paul's writings emphasized the crucifixion, Christ's resurrection and the Parousia or second coming of Christ. Paul saw Jesus as Lord (kyrios), the true messiah and the Son of God, who was promised by God beforehand, through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. While being a biological descendant from David ("according to the flesh"), he was declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.

According to E. P. Sanders, Paul "preached the death, resurrection, and lordship of Jesus Christ, and he proclaimed that faith in Jesus guarantees a share in his life." In Paul's view, "Jesus' death was not a defeat but was for the believers' benefit", a sacrifice which substitutes for the lives of others, and frees them from the bondage of sin. Believers participate in Christ's death and resurrection by their baptism. The resurrection of Jesus was of primary importance to Paul, bringing the promise of salvation to believers. Paul taught that, when Christ returned, "those who died in Christ would be raised when he returned", while those still alive would be "caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air".

Sanders concludes that Paul's writings reveal what he calls the essence of the Christian message: "(1) God sent his Son; (2) the Son was crucified and resurrected for the benefit of humanity; (3) the Son would soon return; and (4) those who belonged to the Son would live with him forever. Paul's gospel, like those of others, also included (5) the admonition to live by the highest moral standard: "May your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"."

In Paul's writings, the public, corporate devotional patterns towards Jesus in the early Christian community are reflective of Paul's perspective on the divine status of Jesus in what scholars have termed a "binitarian" pattern of devotion. For Paul, Jesus receives prayer, the presence of Jesus is confessionally invoked by believers, people are baptized in Jesus' name, Jesus is the reference in Christian fellowship for a religious ritual meal (the Lord's Supper; in pagan cults, the reference for ritual meals is always to a deity), and Jesus is the source of continuing prophetic oracles to believers.

Atonement

Paul taught that Christians are redeemed from sin by Jesus' death and resurrection. His death was an expiation as well as a propitiation, and by Christ's blood peace is made between God and man. By grace, through faith, a Christian shares in Jesus' death and in his victory over death, gaining as a free gift a new, justified status of sonship.

According to Krister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role, and salvation by faith, is not the individual conscience of human sinners, and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the problem of the inclusion of gentile (Greek) Torah observers into God's covenant. "Dying for our sins" refers to the problem of gentile Torah-observers, who, despite their faithfulness, cannot fully observe commandments, including circumcision, and are therefore 'sinners', excluded from God's covenant. Jesus' death and resurrection solved this problem of the exclusion of the gentiles from God's covenant, as indicated by Romans 3:21–26.

Paul's conversion fundamentally changed his basic beliefs regarding God's covenant and the inclusion of Gentiles into this covenant. Paul believed Jesus' death was a voluntary sacrifice, that reconciled sinners with God. The law only reveals the extent of people's enslavement to the power of sin—a power that must be broken by Christ. Before his conversion Paul believed Gentiles were outside the covenant that God made with Israel; after his conversion, he believed Gentiles and Jews were united as the people of God in Christ. Before his conversion he believed circumcision was the rite through which males became part of Israel, an exclusive community of God's chosen people; after his conversion he believed that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but that the new creation is what counts in the sight of God, and that this new creation is a work of Christ in the life of believers, making them part of the church, an inclusive community of Jews and Gentiles reconciled with God through faith.

According to E. P. Sanders, who initiated the New Perspective on Paul with his 1977 publication Paul and Palestinian Judaism, Paul saw the faithful redeemed by participation in Jesus' death and rising. Though "Jesus' death substituted for that of others and thereby freed believers from sin and guilt", a metaphor derived from "ancient sacrificial theology," the essence of Paul's writing is not in the "legal terms" regarding the expiation of sin, but the act of "participation in Christ through dying and rising with him." According to Sanders, "those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death, and thus they escape the power of sin  he died so that the believers may die with him and consequently live with him." By this participation in Christ's death and rising, "one receives forgiveness for past offences, is liberated from the powers of sin, and receives the Spirit."

Relationship with Judaism

Some scholars see Paul as completely in line with 1st-century Judaism (a Pharisee and student of Gamaliel as presented by Acts), others see him as opposed to 1st-century Judaism (see Marcionism), while the majority see him as somewhere in between these two extremes, opposed to insistence on keeping the "Ritual Laws" (for example the circumcision controversy in early Christianity) as necessary for entrance into God's New Covenant, but in full agreement on "Divine Law". These views of Paul are paralleled by the views of Biblical law in Christianity.

Paul redefined the people of Israel, those he calls the "true Israel" and the "true circumcision" as those who had faith in the heavenly Christ, thus excluding those he called "Israel after the flesh" from his new covenant. He also held the view that the Torah given to Moses was valid "until Christ came," so that even Jews are no longer "under the Torah," nor obligated to follow the commandments or mitzvot as given to Moses.

Paul is critical both theologically and empirically of claims of moral or lineal superiority of Jews while conversely strongly sustaining the notion of a special place for the Children of Israel. Paul's theology of the gospel accelerated the separation of the messianic sect of Christians from Judaism, a development contrary to Paul's own intent. He wrote that faith in Christ was alone decisive in salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike, making the schism between the followers of Christ and mainstream Jews inevitable and permanent. He argued that Gentile converts did not need to become Jews, get circumcised, follow Jewish dietary restrictions, or otherwise observe Mosaic laws to be saved.

According to Paula Fredriksen, Paul's opposition to male circumcision for Gentiles is in line with Old Testament predictions that "in the last days the gentile nations would come to the God of Israel, as gentiles (e.g., Zechariah 8:20–23), not as proselytes to Israel." For Paul, Gentile male circumcision was therefore an affront to God's intentions. According to Hurtado, "Paul saw himself as what Munck called a salvation-historical figure in his own right," who was "personally and singularly deputized by God to bring about the predicted ingathering (the "fullness") of the nations."

According to Sanders, Paul insists that salvation is received by the grace of God; according to Sanders, this insistence is in line with Judaism of c. 200 BC until 200 AD, which saw God's covenant with Israel as an act of grace of God. Observance of the Law is needed to maintain the covenant, but the covenant is not earned by observing the Law, but by the grace of God.

Sanders' publications have since been taken up by Professor James Dunn who coined the phrase "The New Perspective on Paul". N.T. Wright, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, notes a difference in emphasis between Galatians and Romans, the latter being much more positive about the continuing covenant between God and his ancient people than the former. Wright also contends that performing Christian works is not insignificant but rather proof of having attained the redemption of Jesus Christ by grace (free gift received by faith). He concludes that Paul distinguishes between performing Christian works which are signs of ethnic identity and others which are a sign of obedience to Christ.

World to come

According to Bart Ehrman, Paul believed that Jesus would return within his lifetime. N.T. Wright argues that Paul's eschatology did not remain static however, developing in his later epistles the idea that he would probably not see the Second Coming in his lifetime. Wright also argues that this shift was due to perspective and not belief. Paul expected that Christians who had died in the meantime would be resurrected to share in God's kingdom, and he believed that the saved would be transformed, assuming heavenly, imperishable bodies.

Paul's teaching about the end of the world is expressed most clearly in his first and second letters to the Christian community of Thessalonica. He assures them that the dead will rise first and be followed by those left alive. This suggests an imminent end but he is unspecific about times and seasons and encourages his hearers to expect a delay. The form of the end will be a battle between Jesus and the man of lawlessness whose conclusion is the triumph of Christ.

Before his conversion he believed God's messiah would put an end to the old age of evil, and initiate a new age of righteousness; after his conversion, he believed this would happen in stages that had begun with the resurrection of Jesus, but the old age would continue until Jesus returns.

Role of women

The second chapter of the first letter to Timothy—one of the six disputed letters—is used by many churches to deny women a vote in church affairs, reject women from serving as teachers of adult Bible classes, prevent them from serving as missionaries, and generally disenfranchise women from the duties and privileges of church leadership.

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

— 1 Timothy 2:9–15

The King James Bible (Authorised Version) translation of this passage taken literally says that women in the churches are to have no leadership roles vis-à-vis men.

Fuller Seminary theologian J. R. Daniel Kirk finds evidence in Paul's letters of a much more inclusive view of women. He writes that Romans 16 is a tremendously important witness to the important role of women in the early church. Paul praises Phoebe for her work as a deaconess and Junia who is described by Paul in Scripture as being respected among the Apostles. It is Kirk's observation that recent studies suggest that the passage in 1 Corinthians 14 ordering women to "be silent" during worship was a later addition, apparently by a different author, and not part of Paul's original letter to the Corinthians.

Other scholars, such as Giancarlo Biguzzi, believe that Paul's restriction on women speaking in 1 Corinthians 14 is genuine to Paul but applies to a particular case where there were local problems of women, who were not allowed in that culture to become educated, asking questions or chatting during worship services. He does not believe it to be a general prohibition on any woman speaking in worship settings since in 1 Corinthians Paul affirms the right (responsibility) of women to prophesy.

Biblical prophecy is more than "fore-telling": two-thirds of its inscripturated form involves "forth-telling", that is, setting the truth, justice, mercy, and righteousness of God against the backdrop of every form of denial of the same. Thus, to speak prophetically was to speak boldly against every form of moral, ethical, political, economic, and religious disenfranchisement observed in a culture that was intent on building its own pyramid of values vis-a-vis God's established system of truth and ethics.

— Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

There were women prophets in the highly patriarchal times throughout the Old Testament. The most common term for prophet in the Old Testament is nabi in the masculine form, and nebiah in the Hebrew feminine form, is used six times of women who performed the same task of receiving and proclaiming the message given by God. These women include Miriam, Aaron and Moses' sister, Deborah, the prophet Isaiah's wife, and Huldah, the one who interpreted the Book of the Law discovered in the temple during the days of Josiah. There were false prophetesses just as there were false prophets. The prophetess Noadiah was among those who tried to intimidate Nehemiah. Apparently, they held equal rank in prophesying right along with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elisha, Aaron, and Samuel.

Kirk's third example of a more inclusive view is Galatians 3:28:

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

— Galatians 3:28

In pronouncing an end within the church to the divisions which are common in the world around it, he concludes by highlighting the fact that "there were New Testament women who taught and had authority in the early churches, that this teaching and authority was sanctioned by Paul, and that Paul himself offers a theological paradigm within which overcoming the subjugation of women is an anticipated outcome".

Classicist Evelyn Stagg and theologian Frank Stagg believe that Paul was attempting to "Christianize" the societal household or domestic codes that significantly oppressed women and empowered men as the head of the household. The Staggs present a serious study of what has been termed the New Testament domestic code, also known as the Haustafel. The two main passages that explain these "household duties" are Paul's letters to the Ephesians and to the Colossians. An underlying Household Code is also reflected in four additional Pauline letters and 1 Peter: 1 Timothy 2:1ff, 8ff; 3:1ff, 8ff; 5:17ff; 6:1f; Titus 2:1–10 and 1 Peter. Biblical scholars have typically treated the Haustafel in Ephesians as a resource in the debate over the role of women in ministry and in the home. Margaret MacDonald argues that the Haustafel, particularly as it appears in Ephesians, was aimed at "reducing the tension between community members and outsiders".

E. P. Sanders has labeled Paul's remark in 1 Corinthians about women not making any sound during worship as "Paul's intemperate outburst that women should be silent in the churches". Women, in fact, played a very significant part in Paul's missionary endeavors:

• He became a partner in ministry with the couple Priscilla and Aquila who are specifically named seven times in the New Testament—always by their couple name and never individually. Of the seven times they are named in the New Testament, Priscilla's name appears first in five of those instances, suggesting to some scholars that she was the head of the family unit. They lived, worked, and traveled with the Apostle Paul, becoming his honored, much-loved friends and coworkers in Jesus. In Romans 16:3–4, thought to have been written in 56 or 57, Paul sends his greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and proclaims that both of them "risked their necks" to save Paul's life.
• Chloe was an important member of the church in Corinth.
• Phoebe was a "deacon" and a "benefactor" of Paul and others.
• Romans 16 names eight other women active in the Christian movement, including Junia ("prominent among the apostles"), Mary ("who has worked very hard among you"), and Julia.
• Women were frequently among the major supporters of the new Christian movement.

Beth Allison Barr believes that Paul's beliefs on women were progressive for the time period. Barr notes that medieval theologians rarely quoted him to support their patriarchal views and that Pope John Paul II believed that using these passages to support the inferiority of women would be akin to justifying slavery, due to the historical context of the household codes. Wives, like slaves, were considered to be under male authority in Roman law. Barr believes that Paul's intended message was to counter these ideals: he addresses women first and places Jesus as the ultimate authority that everyone was meant to submit to. She also notes that Paul did not believe that women were "deformed men" like his Roman contemporaries and used maternal language most frequently, often using such metaphors to describe himself as a woman. Barr believes that Roman authorities thought that early Christians were "gender deviants" precisely because they did not enforce the household codes as intended. She also believes that Paul was quoting Cicero when saying that women should be silent, before going on to counter this reasoning, and that this is more obvious when the verses are read aloud.

Views on homosexuality

Most Christian traditions say Paul clearly portrays homosexuality as sinful in two specific locations: Romans 1:26–27, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Another passage, 1 Timothy 1:8–11, addresses the topic more obliquely. Since the 19th century, however, most scholars have concluded that 1 Timothy (along with 2 Timothy and Titus) is not original to Paul, but rather an unknown Christian writing in Paul's name some time in the late-1st to mid-2nd century.

Influence

Paul's influence on Christian thinking arguably has been more significant than any other New Testament author. Paul declared that "Christ is the end of the law", exalted the Christian church as the body of Christ, and depicted the world outside the Church as under judgment. Paul's writings include the earliest reference to the "Lord's Supper", a rite traditionally identified as the Christian communion or Eucharist. In the East, church fathers attributed the element of election in Romans 9 to divine foreknowledge. The themes of predestination found in Western Christianity do not appear in Eastern theology.

Pauline Christianity

Paul had a strong influence on early Christianity. Hurtado notes that Paul regarded his own Christological views and those of his predecessors and that of the Jerusalem Church as essentially similar. According to Hurtado, this "work against the claims by some scholars that Pauline Christianity represents a sharp departure from the religiousness of Judean 'Jesus movements'."

Marcion

Marcionism, regarded as heresy by contemporary mainstream Christianity, was an Early Christian dualist belief system that originated in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144. Marcion asserted that Paul was the only apostle who had rightly understood the new message of salvation as delivered by Christ.

Marcion believed Jesus was the savior sent by God, and Paul the Apostle was his chief apostle, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible and the God of Israel. Marcionists believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament.

Augustine

In his account of his conversion experience, Augustine of Hippo gave his life to Christ after reading Romans 13. Augustine's foundational work on the gospel as a gift (grace), on morality as life in the Spirit, on predestination, and on original sin all derives from Paul, especially Romans.

Reformation

In his account of his conversion Martin Luther wrote about righteousness in Romans 1 praising Romans as the perfect gospel, in which the Reformation was birthed. Martin Luther's interpretation of Paul's writings influenced Luther's doctrine of sola fide.

John Calvin

John Calvin said the Book of Romans opens to anyone an understanding of the whole Scripture.

Modern theology

Visit any church service, Roman Catholic, Protestant or Greek Orthodox, and it is the apostle Paul and his ideas that are central – in the hymns, the creeds, the sermons, the invocation and benediction, and of course, the rituals of baptism and the Holy Communion or Mass. Whether birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage or death, it is predominantly Paul who is evoked to express meaning and significance.

In his commentary The Epistle to the Romans (German: Der Römerbrief; particularly in the thoroughly re-written second edition of 1922), Karl Barth argued that the God who is revealed in the cross of Jesus challenges and overthrows any attempt to ally God with human cultures, achievements, or possessions.

In addition to the many questions about the true origins of some of Paul's teachings posed by historical figures as noted above, some modern theologians also hold that the teachings of Paul differ markedly from those of Jesus as found in the Gospels. Barrie Wilson states that Paul differs from Jesus in terms of the origin of his message, his teachings and his practices. Some have even gone so far as to claim that, due to these apparent differences in teachings, that Paul was no less than the "second founder" of Christianity (Jesus being its first).

As in the Eastern tradition in general, Western humanists interpret the reference to election in Romans 9 as reflecting divine foreknowledge.

Views on Paul

In Judaism

Jewish interest in Paul is a recent phenomenon. Before the positive historical reevaluations of Jesus by some Jewish thinkers in the 18th and 19th centuries, he had hardly featured in the popular Jewish imagination, and little had been written about him by the religious leaders and scholars. Arguably, he is absent from the Talmud and rabbinical literature, although he makes an appearance in some variants of the medieval polemic Toledot Yeshu (as a particularly effective spy for the rabbis). The Karaite scholar Jacob Qirqisani also believed that Paul created Christianity by introducing the doctrine of Trinitarianism.

However, with Jesus no longer regarded as the paradigm of gentile Christianity, Paul's position became more important in Jewish historical reconstructions of their religion's relationship with Christianity. He has featured as the key to building barriers (e.g. Heinrich Graetz and Martin Buber) or bridges (e.g. Isaac Mayer Wise and Claude G. Montefiore) in interfaith relations, as part of an intra-Jewish debate about what constitutes Jewish authenticity (e.g. Joseph Klausner and Hans Joachim Schoeps), and on occasion as a dialogical partner (e.g. Richard L. Rubenstein and Daniel Boyarin). Boyarin in particular reads Paul as a 'Jewish thinker', one who 'lived and died convinced he was a Jew living out Judaism.'

He features in an oratorio (by Felix Mendelssohn), a painting (by Ludwig Meidner) and a play (by Franz Werfel), and there have been several novels about Paul (by Shalom Asch and Samuel Sandmel). Jewish philosophers (including Baruch Spinoza, Leo Shestov, and Jacob Taubes) and Jewish psychoanalysts (including Sigmund Freud and Hanns Sachs) have engaged with the apostle as one of the most influential figures in Western thought. Scholarly surveys of Jewish interest in Paul include those by Hagner 1980, pp. 143–65, Meissner 1996, Langton 2010, Langton 2011a, pp. 55–72 and Langton 2011b, pp. 585–87.

In Gnosticism

In the 2nd (and possibly late 1st) century, Gnosticism was a competing religious tradition to Christianity which shared some elements of theology.

Elaine Pagels concentrated on how the Gnostics interpreted Paul's letters and how evidence from gnostic sources may challenge the assumption that Paul wrote his letters to combat "gnostic opponents" and to repudiate their statement that they possess secret wisdom. In her reading, the Gnostics considered Paul as one of their own.

In Islam

Muslims have long believed that Paul purposefully corrupted the original revealed teachings of Jesus, through the introduction of such elements as paganism, the making of Christianity into a theology of the cross, and introducing original sin and the need for redemption.

Sayf ibn Umar claimed that certain rabbis persuaded Paul to deliberately misguide early Christians by introducing what Ibn Hazm viewed as objectionable doctrines into Christianity. Ibn Hazm repeated Sayf's claims. Paul has been criticized by some modern Muslim thinkers. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas wrote that Paul misrepresented the message of Jesus, and Rashid Rida accused Paul of introducing shirk (polytheism) into Christianity. Mohammad Ali Jouhar quoted Adolf von Harnack's critical writings of Paul.

In Sunni Muslim polemics, Paul plays the same role (of deliberately corrupting the early teachings of Jesus) as a later Jew, Abdullah ibn Saba', would play in seeking to destroy the message of Islam from within. Among those who supported this view were scholars Ibn Taymiyyah (who believed while Paul ultimately succeeded, Ibn Saba failed) and Ibn Hazm (who claimed that the Jews even admitted to Paul's sinister purpose).

Other views

Other critics of Paul the Apostle include United States president Thomas Jefferson, a Deist who wrote that Paul was the "first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus." Christian anarchists, Leo Tolstoy and Ammon Hennacy, as well as German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche held similar views.

Discussions in Bahá'í scholarship have focused on whether Paul changed the original message of Christ or delivered the true gospel, there being proponents of both positions.

See also

• Achaicus of Corinth
• Collegiate Parish Church of St Paul's Shipwreck
• List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
• New Perspective on Paul
• Old Testament: Christian views of the Law
• Paul, Apostle of Christ, 2018 film
• Pauline mysticism
• Pauline privilege
• Persecution of Christians in the New Testament
• Persecution of religion in ancient Rome
• Peter and Paul, 1981 miniseries
• Psychagogy
• St. Paul's Cathedral

References

Notes

Language notes

1. Latin: Paulus; Koinē Greek: Παῦλος, romanized: Paûlos; Coptic: ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; Hebrew: פאולוס השליח
2. Aramaic: שאול ܫܐܘܠ, romanized: Šāʾūl

General notes

1. ^ Acts 8:1 "at Jerusalem"; Acts 9:13 "at Jerusalem"; Acts 9:21 "in Jerusalem"; Acts 26:10 "in Jerusalem". In Galatians 1:13, Paul states that he "persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it," but does not specify where he persecuted the church. In Galatians 1:22 he states that more than three years after his conversion he was "still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ," seemingly ruling out Jerusalem as the place he had persecuted Christians.
2. Tertullian knew the Letter to the Hebrews as being "under the name of Barnabas" (De Pudicitia, chapter 20 where Tertullian quotes Hebrews 6:4–8); Origen, in his now lost Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, is reported by Eusebius as having written "if any Church holds that this epistle is by Paul, let it be commended for this. For not without reason have the ancients handed it down as Paul's. But who wrote the epistle, in truth, God knows. The statement of some who have gone before us is that Clement, bishop of the Romans, wrote the epistle, and of others, that Luke, the author of the Gospel and the Acts, wrote it
3. Paul's undisputed epistles are 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, and Philemon. The six letters believed by some to have been written by Paul are Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.
4. ^ 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus may be "Trito-Pauline", meaning they may have been written by members of the Pauline school a generation after his death.
5. The only indication as to who is leading is in the order of names. At first, the two are referred to as Barnabas and Paul, in that order. Later in the same chapter, the team is referred to as Paul and his companions.
6. This clause is not found in some major sources: Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Vaticanus or Codex Laudianus
7. Paul does not exactly say that this was his second visit. In Galatians, he lists three important meetings with Peter, and this was the second on his list. The third meeting took place in Antioch. He does not explicitly state that he did not visit Jerusalem in between this and his first visit.
8. Note that Paul only writes that he is on his way to Jerusalem, or just planning the visit. There might or might not have been additional visits before or after this visit, if he ever got to Jerusalem.
9. Sanders 2019: "Paul only occasionally had the opportunity to revisit his churches. He tried to keep up his converts' spirit, answer their questions, and resolve their problems by letter and by sending one or more of his assistants, especially Timothy and Titus. Paul's letters reveal a remarkable human being: dedicated, compassionate, emotional, sometimes harsh and angry, clever and quick-witted, supple in argumentation, and above all possessing a soaring, passionate commitment to God, Jesus Christ, and his own mission. Fortunately, after his death one of his followers collected some of the letters, edited them very slightly, and published them. They constitute one of history's most remarkable personal contributions to religious thought and practice.
10. Dunn 1982, p. n.49 quotes Stendahl 1976, p. 2 "... a doctrine of faith was hammered out by Paul for the very specific and limited purpose of defending the rights of Gentile converts to be full and genuine heirs to the promise of God to Israel" Westerholm 2015, pp. 4–15: "For Paul, the question that 'justification by faith' was intended to answer was, 'On what terms can Gentiles gain entrance to the people of God?" Bent on denying any suggestion that Gentiles must become Jews and keep the Jewish law, he answered, 'By faith—and not by works of the (Jewish) law.'" Westerholm refers to: Stendahl 1963 Westerholm quotes Sanders: "Sanders noted that 'the salvation of the Gentiles is essential to Paul's preaching; and with it falls the law; for, as Paul says simply, Gentiles cannot live by the law'. (496). On a similar note, Sanders suggested that the only Jewish 'boasting' to which Paul objected was that which exulted over the divine privileges granted to Israel and failed to acknowledge that God, in Christ, had opened the door of salvation to Gentiles."
11. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), "The Mishnah says that sins are expiated (1) by sacrifice, (2) by repentance at death or on Yom Kippur, (3) in the case of the lighter transgressions of the positive or negative precepts, by repentance at any time  The graver sins, according to Rabbi, are apostasy, heretical interpretation of the Torah, and non-circumcision (Yoma 86a). The atonement for sins between a man and his neighbor is an ample apology (Yoma 85b)." The Jewish Encyclopedia states, "Most efficacious seemed to be the atoning power of suffering experienced by the righteous during the Exile. This is the idea underlying the description of the suffering servant of God in Isa. liii. 4, 12, Hebr.  of greater atoning power than all the Temple sacrifices was the suffering of the elect ones who were to be servants and witnesses of the Lord (Isa. xlii. 1–4, xlix. 1–7, l. 6). This idea of the atoning power of the suffering and death of the righteous finds expression also in IV Macc. vi. 27, xvii. 21–23; M. Ḳ. 28a; Pesiḳ. xxvii. 174b; Lev. R. xx.; and formed the basis of Paul's doctrine of the atoning blood of Christ (Rom. iii. 25)."
12. 115 years and 6 months from the Crucifixion, according to Tertullian's reckoning in Adversus Marcionem, xv

Citations

1. "Saul of Tarsus: Rooted in Three Worlds". In the Footsteps of Paul. PBS. 2003. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
2. ^ Brown 1997, p. 436.
3. Harris 2003, p. 42: He was probably martyred in Rome about 64–65 AD
4. ^ Harris 2003.
5. Domar: the calendrical and liturgical cycle of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Armenian Orthodox Theological Research Institute, 2003, p. 446.
6. Acts 22:3
7. Brown 1997, p. 442.
8. ^ Sanders 2019.
9. ^ Powell 2009.
10. Dunn 2001, p. 577, Ch 32.
11. Rhoads 1996, p. 39.
12. Dunn 2009, pp. 345–346.
13. Acts 8:1
14. Acts 9:2
15. Acts 26:13–20
16. Acts 22:7–9
17. Acts 22:11
18. Acts 9:3–22
19. Brown 1997, p. 407.
20. Eusebius (1885). "Book VI/Chapter 25" . Church History . S.13 – via Wikisource.
21. ^ Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy 1990, p. 920, col.2, Ch 60:2.
22. Kümmel 1975, pp. 392–94, 401–03.
23. "Paul and His Influence in Early Christianity". United Methodist Church. Archived from the original on 23 August 2000.
24. Carson & Moo 2009.
25. Aageson 2008, p. 1.
26. Thiessen, Matthew (2023). A Jewish Paul. Baker Academic. pp. 4–10. ISBN 978-1540965714.
27. Fredriksen, Paula (2018). Paul: The Pagans' Apostle. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300240153.
28. ^ Hurtado 2005, p. 160.
29. ^ Dunn 2003, p. 21.
30. a. Marrow, Stanley B. (1986). Paul: His Letters and His Theology : an Introduction to Paul's Epistles. Paulist Press. pp. 5, 7. ISBN 978-0809127443.
    b. "Why did God change Saul's name to Paul?". Catholic Answers. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
31. Acts 22:25–29
32. Greek lexicon G4569 Σαύλος (Saul)
    Greek lexicon G3972 Παύλος (Paul)
    Hebrew lexicon H7586 שׁאוּל (Shaul/Saul)
33. Acts 16:37, 22:25–289
34. ^ Prat 1911.
35. Lewis & Short 1879, Paulus: "a Roman surname (not a praenomen;)".
36. Cole 1989.
37. Acts 9:4; 22:7; 26:14
38. Acts 26:14
39. Acts 9:11
40. Acts 9:17; 22:13
41. Acts 13:9
42. 1 Corinthians 9:19–23
43. "Why did God change Saul's name to Paul?". Catholic Answers. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
44. ^ Dunn 2003, pp. 19–20.
45. ^ Cross & Livingstone 2005, St Paul.
46. ^ Martin, Dale B. (2009). "Introduction to the New Testament History and Literature – 5. The New Testament as History". Open Yale Courses. Yale University.
47. Ehrman 2000, pp. 262–65.
48. Ladeuze 1909.
49. White 2007, pp. 145–47.
50. Koester 2000, p. 107.
51. Acts 16:37,Acts 22:25–29
52. John B. Polhill, 532; cf. Richard R. Losch, The Uttermost Part of the Earth: A Guide to Places in the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2005), 176–77.
53. ^ Wright 1974, p. 404.
54. "Saint Paul the Apostle | Biography & Facts | Britannica". britannica.com. 22 July 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
55. Philippians 3:5
56. ^ Dunn 2003, pp. 21–22.
57. Acts 23:6
58. Dunn 2003, p. 22.
59. ^ Acts 23:16
60. ^ Romans 16:7
61. 2 Timothy 1:3
62. Philippians 3:5–6
63. Acts 18:1–3
64. Dunn 2003, pp. 41–42.
65. Acts 18:3
66. Romans 16:4
67. Acts 22:3
68. Acts 7:58–60; 22:20
69. Dunn 2009, pp. 242–44.
70. Bruce 2000, p. 43.
71. Lee 2006, pp. 13–26.
72. Kee 1983, p. 208.
73. Galatians 1:13–14, Philippians 3:6, Acts 8:1–3
74. Dunn 2009, pp. 246–47, 277.
75. Dunn 2009, pp. 246–47.
76. ^ Dunn 2009, p. 277.
77. ^ Bromiley 1979, p. 689.
78. Barnett 2002, p. 21.
79. Niswonger 1992, p. 200.
80. Galatians 1:16
81. 1 Corinthians 15:8
82. Acts 9:4–5
83. Acts 9:1–22
84. Acts 9:17
85. Acts 9:18
86. Aslan 2014, p. 184.
87. McRay 2007, p. 66.
88. Eskola 2001.
89. Churchill 2010, pp. 4, 16–17, 22–23.
90. Churchill 2010, pp. 250ff..
91. Acts 9:20–22
92. Hengel 1997, p. 43.
93. 2 Corinthians 11:32
94. Galatians 1:17
95. Lake 1911, pp. 320–23.
96. Wright 1996, pp. 683–92.
97. Hengel 2002, pp. 47–66.
98. Galatians 1:13–24
99. Galatians 4:24–25
100. Galatians 1:11–16
101. Harris 2003, p. 517.
102. Galatians 1:22–24
103. ^ Galatians 2:1–10
104. Barnett 2005, p. 200.
105. Dunn 2009, p. 369.
106. Acts 11:26
107. Dunn 2009, p. 297.
108. Dunn 2009.
109. Ogg 1962.
110. Barnett 2005, p. 83.
111. Acts 11:26
112. Acts 13–14
113. Dunn 2009, p. 370.
114. Acts 13:8–12
115. "Saul Of Tarsus (known as Paul, the Apostle of the Heathen)". JewishEncyclopedia.com. 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2020. His quotations from Scripture, which are all taken, directly or from memory, from the Greek version, betray no familiarity with the original Hebrew text (…) Nor is there any indication in Paul's writings or arguments that he had received the rabbinical training ascribed to him by Christian writers
116. Acts 13:13–48
117. Acts 14:28
118. Spence-Jones 2015, p. 16.
119. Brown 1997, p. 445.
120. Brown 1997, pp. 428–29.
121. Brown 1997, pp. 428–29, 445.
122. Acts 15:2
123. ^ Bechtel 1910.
124. Acts 15:2,Galatians 2:1
125. ^ White 2007, pp. 148–49.
126. Acts 11:27–30
127. ^ Galatians 1:18–20
128. Bruce 2000, p. 151.
129. ^ Galatians 2:11–14
130. White 2007, p. 170.
131. McGrath 2006.
132. Mills 2003, pp. 1109–10.
133. Köstenberger, Kellum & Quarles 2009, p. 400.
134. Acts 16:6–10
135. Acts 16:5
136. Acts 16:16–24
137. Acts 16:25–40
138. Acts 18:2
139. Acts 18:18–21
140. Acts 18:18
141. Driscoll 1911.
142. Acts 18:19–21
143. Acts 18:22–23
144. Acts 18:21
145. "Pulpit Commentary on Acts 18". biblehub.com. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
146. Acts 21:29
147. Crease 2019, pp. 309–10.
148. Acts 20:34
149. McRay 2007, p. 185.
150. Michael Flexsenhar 111, 'The Provenance of Philippians and Why it Matters: Old Questions, New Approaches,' Journal for the Study of the New Testament Volume 42, Issue 1 2019 : 18-45.
151. ^ Acts 20:1–2
152. Sanday n.d., p. 202.
153. Romans 15:19
154. Burton 2000, p. 26.
155. Petit 1909.
156. Acts 21:8–10, Acts 21:15
157. 1st Clement – Lightfoot translation Early Christian Writings 1 Clem 5:5: "By reason of jealousy and strife Paul by his example pointed out the prize of patient endurance. After that he had been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, had preached in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world and having reached the farthest bounds of the West; and when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance".
158. See also the endnote (3) by Arthur Cleveland Coxe on the last page of wikisource 1st Clement regarding Paul's preaching in Britain.
159. Chrysostom's Homilies on 2 Timothy, verse 4:20
160. Cyril on Paul and gifts of the Holy Ghost (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II Volume VII, Lecture 17, para. 26)
161. The Muratorian Fragment lines 38–39 Bible Research
162. Acts 9:26–27
163. Galatians 1:17–18
164. Acts 11:29–30, Acts 12:25
165. Acts 11:30, 12:25
166. Acts 15
167. Galatians 2:1
168. Acts 15:1–19
169. Acts 15:36–40
170. Acts 18:21–22
171. Acts 21:17ff
172. Acts 24:17
173. Romans 15:25, 2 Corinthians 8–9, 1 Corinthians 16:1–3
174. Acts 21:21
175. Acts 21:22–26
176. Acts 21:27–36
177. Acts 22:22
178. Acts 22:30
179. Acts 23:10
180. Acts 23:12
181. Acts 23:23
182. Acts 24:1
183. Acts 24:22
184. Acts 24:23
185. Capes, Reeves & Richards 2011, p. 203.
186. Acts 27:39–44
187. Acts 28:1–10
188. Acts 28:11–14
189. Polhill 1999, pp. 80, 164–5, 329.
190. Acts 28:30–31
191. Irenaeus Against Heresies 3.3.2: the "...Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops.  The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate"; Christian Classics Ethereal Library
192. Acts 28:14–15
193. Romans 1:1, 7, 11–13; 15:23–29
194. MaGee Greg. "The Origins of the Church at Rome" Bible.org; Accessed 18 March 2013
195. Pope Clement I, First Epistle to the Corinthians, 5:7
196. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians, 12:55. "You are initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred, the deservedly most happy, at whose feet may I be found (...)."
197. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. "De praescriptione haereticorum. Caput XXXVI [3] - Wikisource". la.wikisource.org (in Latin). Retrieved 12 November 2023. Tertullian (1885). "CHURCH FATHERS: The Prescription Against Heretics (Tertullian)". New Advent. Translated by Peter Holmes. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
198. Eusebius, Church History, Book 2, Chapter 22, Paragraph 3
199. Eusebius, Church History, Book 2, Chapter 25, Paragraph 8
200. Sulpitius Severus (1894). "Chronicle / Sacred History, Book II. Chapter 29". New Advent. Retrieved 11 November 2023. In the meantime, the number of the Christians being now very large, it happened that Rome was destroyed by fire, while Nero was stationed at Antium. (...) Nero could not by any means he tried escape from the charge that the fire had been caused by his orders. He therefore turned the accusation against the Christians (...) At that time Paul and Peter were condemned to death, the former being beheaded with a sword, while Peter suffered crucifixion.
201. John Chrysostom (1889). "Concerning Lowliness of Mind. Chapter 4". New Advent. Retrieved 11 November 2023. Now Nero had then cast him into prison. (...) when he saw Paul having lighted a lamp throughout the world, (...) exerted himself both to extinguish what was preached, and to put the teachers out of the way; in order that he might be allowed with authority to do anything he pleased; and after binding that holy man, cast him into prison.
202. Lactantius. "Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died, addressed to Donatus". ccel.org.
203. Lactantius. "De mortibus persecutorum - Wikisource". la.wikisource.org (in Latin). Retrieved 12 November 2023.
204. Jerome (1892). "De Viris Illustribus Chapter 5: Paul". New Advent. Translated by Ernest Cushing Richardson. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
205. Khazarzar, Ruslan. "Hieronymus. De viris illustribus. Caput V". khazarzar.skeptik.net (in Latin). Retrieved 11 November 2023.
206. Tajra 2010, p. 188.
207. ^ Ratzinger, Joseph Aloisius (2009). General Audience of 4 February 2009: St Paul's martyrdom and heritage. Paul VI Audience Hall, Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
208. De Leonardis & Masi 1999, p. 21.
209. James 1924.
210. "Lucina". spazioinwind.libero.it.
211. ^ Eusebius (1885). "Book II/Chapter 25" . Church History  – via Wikisource.
212. Jerome. "On Illustrious Men : Chapter 5". New Advent. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
213. Fraser, Christopher (7 December 2006). "St Paul's tomb unearthed in Rome". BBC News. Archived from the original on 24 December 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
214. "On Paul's tomb, at the origins of Roman Christianity". Exaudi. 4 July 2024. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
215. Valsecchi, Maria Cristina (31 December 2006). "St. Paul's Tomb Unearthed in Rome". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
216. ^ "Bones confirmed as St Paul's remains". The Independent. 29 June 2009. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
217. "Pope Says Tests 'Seem to Conclude' Bones Are the Apostle Paul's". The New York Times. 29 June 2009. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
218. Squires, Nick (29 June 2009). "Bone fragments confirmed to be Saint Paul". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 November 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
219. "Vatican: Relics analysis is inconclusive". UPI. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
220. Pisa, Nick (28 June 2009). "'Oldest' image of St Paul discovered". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
221. "Earliest icons of Peter and Paul found". NBC News. 22 June 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
222. Brown & Meier 1983, p. 124.
223. Butler 1866, 30 June: St. Paul, the Apostle.
224. 2 Timothy 4:13
225. Cuming, H. Syer (December 1870). "Notes on a group of reliquaries". Journal of the British Archaeological Association.
226. "Chambers' The Book of Days". 1869. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
227. Martyrologium Romanum (2nd ed.). Vatican City. 2004. p. 115
228. Martyrologium Romanum (2nd ed.). Vatican City. 2004. p. 359.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
229. Sanidopoulos, John (7 March 2015). "Synaxis of All Saints of the Dodecanese". Mystagogy Research Center. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
230. "Lives of all saints commemorated on June 29". www.oca.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
231. "Lives of all saints commemorated on June 30". www.oca.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
232. Sanidopoulos, John (12 October 2010). "Synaxis of All Saints of Athens". Orthodox Christianity Then and Now. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
233. "Σύναξη πάντων των εν Ρόδω Αγίων". Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής (in Greek). Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
234. "Σύναξη πάντων των Ευβοέων Αγίων". Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής (in Greek). Archived from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
235. Sanidopoulos, John (7 May 2017). "Synaxis of All Saints of Gortyna and Arkadia in Crete". Orthodox Christianity Then and Now. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
236. Kontogiorgakis, Georgios. "Αγιολόγιο – Ιερά Μητρόπολις Γορτύνης και Αρκαδίας" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
237. "Σύναξη των εν Λευκάδι Αγίων". Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής (in Greek). Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
238. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
239. "Feasts and Festivals". www.lcms.org. Archived from the original on 27 April 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
240. "Public Holidays in Malta". www.gov.mt. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
241. Barnstone 1984, p. 447.
242. Malherbe 1986, p. 170.
243. Budge 1901, p. 531, The History of the Contending of Saint Paul.
244. Budge 1901, p. 501, The Acts of Saint Peter.
245. Barnes 1844, p. 212.
246. ^ Aune 2010, p. 9.
247. ^ Dunn & Rogerson 2003, p. 1274.
248. ^ Perkins 1988, pp. 4–7.
249. 1 Corinthians 11:17–34
250. Powell 2009, p. 234.
251. Wiley 2002, p. 21.
252. Donaldson 2010, p. 53.
253. Donaldson 2010, p. 39.
254. Bitner 2015, p. 268.
255. Andria 2012, p. 271.
256. Dunn 2010, pp. 170–71.
257. MacDonald & Harrington 2000, p. 58.
258. 1 Corinthians 7:8–9
259. Brown 1984, p. 48.
260. ^ Aherne 1908.
261. Barrett 1963, pp. 4ff.
262. Williams 1957, pp. 22, 240.
263. Mount 2022, p. 32.
264. Shillington 2007, p. 18.
265. Marshall 1980, p. 42.
266. Romans 1
267. Galatians 1:16
268. 1 Corinthians 9:1
269. Galatians 1:12–15, 1 Corinthians 15:10
270. 2 Corinthians 12:7
271. Coogan, Michael D.; Brettler, Marc Z.; Newsom, Carol A.; Perkins, Pheme, eds. (2010). "The Second Letter Of Paul To The Corinthians". The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version With The Apocrypha (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 2038. Nature of the thorn is unknown.
272. Horrell 2006, p. 30.
273. ^ Philippians 3:6
274. 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16
275. ^ Powell 2009, p. 236.
276. Acts 9:1–2
277. 1 Timothy 1:13
278. Romans 1:3
279. 1 Thessalonians 4:14–18
280. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
281. 1 Corinthians 1:2
282. 2 Corinthians 12:8–9
283. 1 Thessalonians 3:11
284. 1 Corinthians 16:22
285. Romans 10:9–13
286. Philippians 2:10–11
287. 1 Corinthians 6:11
288. Romans 6:3
289. 1 Corinthians 11:17–34
290. 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17
291. Hurtado 2005, pp. 134–52.
292. Cross & Livingstone 2005, Atonement.
293. Ephesians 2:8–9
294. Galatians 4:4–7
295. Stendahl 1963.
296. Dunn 1982, p. n.49.
297. Finlan 2004, p. 2.
298. Westerholm 2015, pp. 4–15.
299. Gal 2.14
300. Mack 1997, pp. 88–89, 92.
301. Mack 1997, pp. 91–92.
302. Romans 5:6–10, Philippians 2:8
303. Romans 3:20b, Romans 7:7–12
304. Galatians 3:28
305. Philippians 3:3–5
306. Galatians 6:15
307. Romans 6:4
308. Jewish Encyclopedia, SIN
309. Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), ATONEMENT
310. Orr 1915, p. 2276.
311. ^ Sanders 1977.
312. Dunn 1982.
313. Galatians 6:16
314. Philippians 3:3
315. Galatians 3–4
316. Romans 2:16–26
317. Romans 9–11
318. Zechariah 8:20–23
319. ^ Larry Hurtado (4 December 2018 ), "When Christians were Jews": Paula Fredriksen on "The First Generation"
320. Romans 11:25
321. Jordan Cooper, E.P. Sanders and the New Perspective on Paul
322. ^ Sanders 1983.
323. Dunn 1982, pp. 95–122.
324. ^ "New Perspectives on Paul". Ntwrightpage.com. 28 August 2003. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
325. Romans 2:13ff
326. Ehrman 2006.
327. N.T. Wright (2018), Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay, page 58, University of St. Andrews
328. 1 Corinthians 15:51–53
329. 1 Thessalonians 4:16ff
330. Rowland 1985, p. 113.
331. 2 Thessalonians 2:3
332. Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 10:11, Galatians 1:4
333. Kroeger & Kroeger 1998.
334. 1 Timothy 2:9–15
335. Wright 2006, pp. 5–10.
336. Kirk, J. R. Daniel. "Faculty". fuller.edu. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012.
337. 1 Corinthians 14
338. 1 Corinthians 11
339. Giguzzi 2004, pp. 95–107.
340. ^ "Prophet, Prophetess, Prophecy". Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.
341. Exodus 15:20
342. Judges 4:4
343. Isaiah 8:3
344. 2 Kings 22:14, 2 Chronicles 34:22
345. Nehemiah 6:14
346. Galatians 3:28
347. Kirk 2012.
348. Stagg & Stagg 1978.
349. Ephesians 5:22–6:5
350. Colossians 3:18–4:1
351. Titus 2:1–10
352. 1 Peter 3:1–9
353. Gombis 2005, pp. 317–30.
354. MacDonald 2004, p. 109.
355. 1 Corinthians 14:34–36
356. Achtemeier 1985, p. 882.
357. Keller 2010.
358. Romans 16:3–4
359. 1 Corinthians 1:11
360. Romans 16:1–2
361. Romans 16
362. Allison Barr, Beth (2021). The Making of Biblical Womanhood. Brazos Press. pp. 44–62. ISBN 9781587434709.
363. "Catechism of the Catholic Church – Article 6: The sixth commandment". vatican.va. 10 January 1951.
364. M. Mikhail. "The Coptic Orthodox Church's View on Homosexuality."
365. "Christianity and Homosexuality". CARM – The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry. 25 November 2008.
366. Romans 1:26–27
367. 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
368. 1 Timothy 1:8–11
369. Ehrman 2000, p. 393.
370. Collins 2002, p. 4.
371. Romans 10:4
372. 1 Corinthians 10:14–17, 1 Corinthians 11:17–34
373. Romans 9
374. Mack 1995.
375. "Guzik". 15 December 2015.
376. Augustine 2019, pp. 354–430.
377. Herrmann 2016, pp. 475–488.
378. Parker 1993.
379. "Christianity Before Paul". HuffPost. 29 November 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
380. Maccoby 1998, p. 14.
381. Wilson 2011, chapters 9, 10, 12.
382. Dwyer 1998, p. 27.
383. Wrede 1907, p. 179.
384. Langton (2010), pp. 23–56
385. ^ Adang 1996, pp. 105–06.
386. Langton (2010), pp. 57–96
387. Langton (2010), pp. 97–153
388. Langton (2010), pp. 154–76
389. Boyarin 1994, p. 4.
390. Langton (2010), pp. 178–209
391. Langton (2010), pp. 210–30
392. Langton (2010), pp. 234–62
393. Langton (2010), pp. 263–78
394. Pagels 1992, pp. 1–12, 98.
395. Hindson & Caner 2008, p. 280.
396. De Young 2004, p. 60.
397. ^ Riddell 2001, p. 235.
398. ^ Waardenburg 1999, p. 276.
399. ^ Waardenburg 1999, p. 255.
400. De Young 2004, p. 64.
401. ^ Anthony 2011, p. 68.
402. ^ Brann 2010, pp. 65–66.
403. Pall 2013, p. 55.
404. Jefferson 1854.
405. Tolstoy 1891, p. 17
406. Hennacy 2010
407. "Christianity from a Bahá'í Perspective". bahai-library.com. Retrieved 26 December 2021.