Paul was born in the city of Tarsus of Cilicia sometime close to the beginning of the first century.  As was customary for Jewish boys, he learned a trade, that of a tent maker.  Paul wrote in Acts 22:3, “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.”  Paul described himself in Philippians 3:5, as “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee.”

            The first we read of Saul (later called Paul) is in Acts 7 in connection with the stoning of Stephen.  We are told that the clothes of those involved in the stoning were laid at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul.  Acts 8:1 informs us, “And Saul was consenting unto his death.”  His initial reaction toward his fellow Jews who became Christians was decidedly hostile.  Many years later as Paul stood before King Agrippa, he candidly admitted as much in Acts 26:9-11, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.  And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”  Yet, by the time of his death, Paul had preached the gospel to countless Jews and Gentiles and had written, by inspiration, at least 13 books of the New Testament.  What happened to this man?  What had brought about such a profound change?

            On his way from Jerusalem to the city of Damascus for the purpose of arresting those he found to be Christians, Paul miraculously met the Lord on the road.  After identifying Himself, the Lord told Paul to go into the city of Damascus where he would be told what to do.  After three days he was visited by a disciple named Ananias, who told him what to do, culminating with that marvelous exhortation, “And now why tarriest thou?  Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

            Paul was a specially chosen messenger to the Gentiles.  Even though he had not accompanied the other apostles with the Lord while Jesus was here on earth, Paul had been a witness of the resurrected Christ and an apostle chosen by Jesus “as one born out of time.”  That which he taught came from the Lord, and not from men.  In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul wrote, “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.  For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

            What can one write about Paul in the confines of an article such as this?  My mind is drawn to 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.   There we read, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.  Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.  Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”

            At times it appears that Paul’s life was filled with tension, pain and suffering, yet the message he brought was one of peace, harmony, joy and happiness.  There was a contentment and purpose that Paul felt that nothing else could match.  He wrote in Philippians 4, a letter he wrote from a Roman prison, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, there with to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

            By applying those same principles in our lives, we will be able to meet the challenges that Paul presented to us in that same chapter of Philippians.  In verse 9 he wrote, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

                                                Greg Litmer