Paul of Tarsus

Saul (later called Paul) of Tarsus

Paul the Apostle, was a famous preacher of first century Christianity and was God’s tool used to spread the light of the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul is credited fir having written many books in the New Testament of the Bible. He was born an Israelite to a clan of the tribe of Benjamin, speaking the Aramaic and Hebrew tongues from infancy. He was an enthusiastic student and a stringent devotee of the Torah. He was the man that later had a peculiar meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ while on the road to Damascus. His life and duty were considerably altered and in turn eventually changed the course of the development of Western Civilization and culture.

There is a lot that has been said about the missionary trips of this distinguished servant of Christ which started about fourteen years after his transformation. His travels have left many Bible scholars confused about his powerful impact and how he founded of the Western Christian Church.

There is a lot that has been said about the missionary trips of this distinguished servant of Christ which started about fourteen years after his transformation. Tarsus was a town that joined both the Roman and Greek worlds in that its government was Roman and its culture was Greek. This region of Cilicia was one of numerous areas in which the Israelites had located during the dispersion. By right of birth in the Roman state of Cilicia, later as Paul the Apostle, he would use his Roman nationality in his defense.

According to Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas, "The conversion of Saul of Tarsus must surely rank among one of the most significant events, not just in church history but also–certainly that–but in world history." Saul persecuted Christians and was an eyewitn...

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...bid the Apostle Paul and his companions from going further east into Asia and Bithynia. Instead, God told them in a dream to travel westward to the Macedonia.

According to Robert J. Matthews, “Paul suffered persecution throughout his missions, loss of all physical goods, and eventual martyrdom. Only a certain kind of disposition could tolerate such a life for a period of twenty-five or thirty years.” During Paul’s last days, he was taken to Governor Felix in Caeserea in 58 AD where he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Paul appealed to Caesar in Rome. He finally arrived in Rome where he remained under house arrest for a couple more years. This is the time when he wrote many of his books. Paul was released from prison and traveled for a couple more years in much of the identical regions that he traveled before. He most likely died in prison as a martyr in 67 AD.