Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, was born in Tarsus, one of the oldest cities in Cilicia, in the southeastern part of present-day Turkey. His father was of the tribe of Benjamin and a Roman citizen, and - according to St. Jerome - came originally from Giskala in the north of Galilee.
One theory is that Paul's family fled to Cilicia during the rebellion that broke out in the wake of Herod the Great's death in March, 4 BC.
According to Josephus there was a lunar eclipse the night Herod died. It's astronomically confirmed that a lunar eclipse took place in Judea the night between March 12 and 13 the year 4 BC.
The Roman governor and general, Varus, put down the rebellion and had nearly 2,000 Pharisees crucified along the road between Jerusalem and Damascus.
A likely explanation for how Paul's family was given Roman citizenship
When the famous philosopher Athenodorus (teacher of Emperor Augustus), who was born in Tarsus (year 74 BC, died year 7 AD), in his older days was commissioned by Emperor Augustus to put things in order in his hometown economy in shambles, he revised the city's civil rolls and had it implemented that only the more wealthy and those from old, finer families received Tarsian citizenship - which automatically gave them Roman citizenship.
With this documented event as a backdrop, it is obvious that Paul came from a wealthy family since his family was granted Tarsian citizenship and thereby also Roman citizenship. In Acts 21:39, Paul himself indicates that he is both a Roman citizen and a citizen of the city of Tarsus in Cilicia.
Sent as a youth to Jerusalem
Based on information in the scriptures, we know that Paul was brought up in a strict Pharisaic tradition: Acts 23,6; “…Brothers, I am a Pharisee from a family of Pharisees!”
He must have been sent to Jerusalem quite young as studies of the oral Torah usually began at the age of ten ("lived among my people from my youth." Acts 26,4).
Paul was probably lodged with a sister who one assumes was married and living in Jerusalem. Scripture gives information about her son (Acts 23:16).
Paul had two names
Born into a Jewish family with Roman citizenship, according to tradition, Paul had two names already from childhood, his Hebrew name was Saul. Paulus (Paul) was his Roman name.
The meaning of the name Paul is "small", but can also be understood as "humble". That Paul was possibly small in stature and for that reason given the name Paulus is a myth. Paul was given the name as a small child, at the same time as he was given the Hebrew name Saul (= "asked for"), i.e. long before anyone knew anything about his physical size as an adult.
The meaning of the name Saul, asked for, may allude to the fact that the family had strongly prayed for a son, that Paul's parents possibly had a daughter - or daughters from before.
Paul's language
Paul's mother tongue was Aramaic and Greek. And he probably knew some Latin.
In addition, he mastered Hebrew - the holy language, which one had to know as a disciple of a Pharisee.
The famous Pharisee Gamaliel is mentioned as Paul's teacher.
According to a rabbinic tradition, Gamaliel dealt especially with divorce law.
Paul's profession
Tradition dictated that one should be able to practice a practical profession. Paul was a tentmaker
(Acts 18:3). A tentmaker mastered sewing various kinds of seams, but also had to be able to weave. The materials were, among other things, fabric lengths of camel or goat hair. Lengths that were sewn together for tents and other things. Paul's hometown, Tarsus, was particularly famous for the production of linen fabric*, which was also used in tent production.
*The flax plant is annual. Different varieties of the species have been refined over the millennia to produce fibres, so-called spinnellin, for use in textiles, rope and straw. The flax plant is also used to produce oil. Eventually, linen was often replaced with cotton.
When was Paul born?
Paul was probably the same age as Jesus' youngest disciples, around 15-20 years younger than Jesus. Peter was probably four or five years older than Paul.
We know that Jesus was born in the year 7 "before Christ", at the same time as the great Roman census in the year 8/7 which is thoroughly documented under §8 in Emperor Augustus' epitaph: Res Gestæ Divi Augusti.
Based on the designation "young man" about Paulus at the stoning of Stephen, we can place his birth at around 15 AD.
Jesus was crucified on Friday 23 April in the year 34 (15 Nisan) and was then 40 years old. The Daniel prophecies about the seventy weeks (of years), which include the entire salvation work of Jesus, expire in the same year (in springtime).
The stoning of Stephen probably takes place in the year 35. Paul is present "as a young man" at the lynching (Acts 7:58).
Estimated age of Paulus at the stoning of Stephen, 20 years at the most.
This was at a time when you could be married as a 14-year-old and a person in their 40s was characterized as "old", or in old age, a characteristic which among other things is given to Zacharias, father of John the Baptist (Luk.1:18), while he was still doing temple service, and consequently had not passed fifty years.
Numbers 4:23 From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old you shall number them; all who shall enter the service and do work at the tent of meeting.
Was Paul ever married?
The question of whether Paul was married, or a widower, has arisen in connection with Paul referring to himself as a Pharisee, and then based on the understanding that a Pharisee must actually be married. Now this does not entail correctness, one did not have to be married to be a Pharisee, although it was indeed recommended that a disciple of a Pharisee wait to marry until the age of eighteen. In contrast, one had to be married to become a member of the high council, the Sanhedrin. Paul is nowhere mentioned as a member of the high council.
When was Paul converted?
The scriptures are clear that in the time after Stephen's martyrdom, Paul became an active persecutor of the church, and that his involvement in this activity must have continued for some time.
It is likely that his conversion took place around the year 37 AD, and that Paul had then been an active persecutor of the church for one and a half to two years when he was converted on the road to Damascus.
After his conversion, Paul goes to Arabia for a short time before he begins to preach in the synagogues in Damascus (Gal.1,17).
Was three years in Damascus and preached in the synagogues (Gal.1,18 and Acts 9,20).
How long was Paul in Arabia?
Paul was probably in Arabia for a very short time. The Nabatean area close to Damascus was called Arabia. That Paul uses the term "Arabia" probably alludes to the fact that he left the city of Damascus and stayed for a period in a nearby area "to sum up" after the great salvation experience.
The preaching that goes on that Paul spent three years in prayer in Arabia is based on a guesswork that messes up the chronology so that nothing is right. Moreover, such "hermitic egocentrism" has little to do with the person Paul as he appears in the scriptures.
The wording in Acts 9:20 indicates that Paul fairly shortly after his conversion - after a short stay in Arabia - began to preach in the synagogues in Damascus, and that this preaching work in Damascus lasted for a period of three years, which corresponds to the chronology in Gal. 1:17 a.m.
Luke and the Acts of the Apostles
Just to briefly say something about a relationship that has confused biblical history: Paul's biography in the Acts of the Apostles sometimes does not agree with Paul's own account inGalatians and 2 Corinthians.
In the introduction to the Gospel of Luke, Luke specifies that he is meticulous, someone who thoroughly checks the source material, etc.
Clearly, the Acts of the Apostles was completed by someone other than Luke, and probably after Luke's death, but largely based on Luke's notes. Which may also explain the abrupt ending of the Acts of the Apostles.
However, the theory that Luke died before completing the Acts of the Apostles etc. is a "solo theory" by this interpreter.
It should be specified that the biographical differences in the Acts of the Apostles versus the Book of Galatians and 2 Corinthians do not have the slightest significance for the evangelical content.
A fairly precisely timed event
2 Cor.11:32 In Damascus the governor of King Aretas kept watch over the Damascus city to seize me. 33 But I was brought down in a basket from an opening in the city wall and escaped from his hands.
An archaeological theory is that the hatch Paulus was dragged down from was a toilet hatch. In that case, an unflattering experience for Paulus.
In the year 37, following the death of Emperor Tiberius (March 16), King Aretas took control of Damascus. King Aretas dies in the year 40. The event where Paul escapes from Damascus could therefore not have happened after the year 40, the year in which King Aretas died.
Based on the chronology the writing itself gives, it is fairly certain that the flight from Damascus took place in the year 40, the same year that King Aretas died.
Aretas IV Filopatris, king of the Nabateans from c. year 9 BC to year 40 AD Parts of his kingdom were named Arabia. Among other things, the city of Petra (formerly Selah) and areas of today's Jordan were under the Nabatean kingdom.
Aretas' daughter, Phasaelis, was married to Herod Antipas.
Herod, who was also married to his niece Herodias, divorced Phasaelis in the year 36 AD. History does not say anything about how many wives or so-called concubines Herod Antipas had, but it is clear that polygamy was no stranger to the Herodes family.
Herod Antipas' father, Herod the Great, had had ten wives, though not all at the same time. It may be mentioned that when the Romans prohibited polygamy in the Roman Empire by law in 212 AD, the Jews were exempted from this law.
Phasaelis went back to his father's court after the divorce. This episode led to war between Herod and Aretas. The marriage between Herod and Areta's daughter had probably been a "political marriage", to strengthen an alliance. Which was very common.
In his time, John the Baptist vehemently criticized the immoral relationship Herod Antipas had with Herodias, who was even Herod's uncle, and who was also his half-brother Phillips' wife. However, the Philip who was married to Herodias is not the same person as the tetrarch Philip mentioned in Luke 3:1, but another brother with the same name who lived in Rome. The criticism led to John the Baptist being imprisoned and beheaded.Herod Antipas eventually fell out of favor with the Romans and was exiled to Spain where he is said to have died around the year 39.
Paul's first meeting with Peter
The first meeting with Peter took place in Jerusalem around the year 40, three years after Paul's conversion (Gal 1:18). Paulus is at this time approx. 25 years. In this connection, Paul also visits James, one of Jesus' brothers. He does not visit the other disciples. Paul indicates that the visit with Peter lasted 15 days (Gal 1:18).
Paul and Barnabas in Antioch in Syria
After the meeting with Peter and James, Paul goes to Tarsus, to his family, and stays there until he is brought out by Barnabas in connection with a revival that had broken out in Antioch in Syria. For a whole year they were together there and taught a large crowd. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
The revival in Antioch was a direct result of the stoning of Stephen five or six years earlier, which led to a persecution where parts of the congregation were chased from Jerusalem and preached the gospel over large parts of the region. Equally to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch (Acts 11:19).
The meeting of the apostles in Jerusalem and the assumed length of the missionary journeys
From Galatians chapter 2 verse 1, it can be understood that the meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem took place 14 years after the first meeting with Peter, but this interpreter independently came to the conclusion that the meaning should be 14 years after Paul's conversion, - something also the Norwegian Professor D.A. Frøvig claims in his Galatians interpretation. In this sense, the meeting of the apostles in Jerusalem takes place approx. year 51, immediately before Paul's second missionary journey.
According to this interpreter's chronology, Paul's first missionary journey is of longer duration than is usually recorded.
This was groundbreaking work: There were large distances to be covered - on foot, in often rough and tortuous terrain. They had to earn a living along the way. And a lot of time must have been spent preparing the sermon for Jews and proselytes in the various synagogues they came to.
The purpose of the mission trip was to win people for the Way and to plant churches. Which was successful, several congregations are founded during Paul and Barnaby's first missionary journey. In particular, the new congregations in Lystra, Iconium and in Antioch in Pisidian (located 1000 meters above sea level, a city not to be confused with Antioch in Syria) are highlighted.
Everything indicates that this must have taken a long time.
In the Acts of the Apostles, the missionary journeys are presented very condensed, as a summary of highlights.
Paul's missionary journeys (approximate years)
Paul's first missionary journey
Between the year 46 and the year 50: Paul's first missionary journey which went to Cyprus and Asia Minor. Paul brings with him Barnabas, who was born in Cyprus, and whom he had met in connection with the revival in Antioch in Syria around the year 42. Among other things, they came to the city of Antioch in Pisidian (eg Galatia), a city located 1000 meters over the sea. The city was a Roman colony and mainly populated by retired legionnaires (former soldiers). As a Roman colonial city, it enjoyed a number of privileges.
The city also had a Jewish contingent and a synagogue.
It was in this small mountain town that Paul's famous statement to the Jews fell: "It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you, but since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles."
The stay ended with the local Jews conspiring against Paul and Barnabas and ensuring that they were "chased" as heretics out of the city. But it was too late to stop the gospel, it had already take root and borne fruit.
Now the journey went on to another city, Iconium, where they were also going to be chased with threats of stoning. From there Paul and Barnabas fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and preached the gospel there. In Lystra Paulus was stoned and when they thought he was dead he was thrown outside the city wall where his friends circled around him. But Paul was not dead, he was soon on his feet again. In Derbe, Paul and Barnabas were allowed to preach the gospel without anyone conspiring against them.
Paul's second missionary journey
About. year 51 to year 54 AD, Paul's second missionary journey which went to Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece. Paul has Silas with him. Later, Timothy and Luke join. After a while, Paul said to Barnabas: "Let us go back and visit our brothers in all the cities where we have preached the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing" (Acts 15:36).
The second missionary journey began somewhat turbulently when Barnabas wanted to take John - also called "Mark" with him, but Paul thought it was not wise to take the young Mark with him because on the first missionary journey he had already left them in Pamphylia, the first area they came to after Cilicia, and did not join them in the work. In other words, Paul perceived Mark as unreliable.
The disagreement about Mark led to an exchange of words between Paul and Barnabas, so strong that they parted ways. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed to Cyprus. Paul instead chose Silas as a companion on the second missionary journey (Acts 15:37-40).
It is not reported that Paul and Barnabas ever traveled together again, but the friendship endured and Paul speaks warmly of Barnabas. Later, Mark joins Paul during the period he is in custody in Rome (Col 4:10, 2 Tim 4:11).
In the second missionary journey, Paul first traveled overland, through Syria and Cilicia, to visit and strengthen the churches there. In Lystra Timothy joined them (Acts 16:1-5). From Lystra they went north through Phrygia and Galatia (Acts 16:6).
Paul remained for some time in Galatia due to an unspecified illness (malaria has been speculated). From Galatia, Paul intended to travel northeast through Bithynia, an area on the coast of the Black Sea, but when they tried to reach Bithynia they were denied it by the Holy Spirit.
Instead, they traveled around Mysia and went down to Troas (Acts 16:7-8).
Troas was located on the coast of the Aegean Sea. They then set out from Troas and headed straight for Samothrace, and the next day for Neapolis (Acts 16:11). One sees how the Spirit of the Lord directed Paul, Silas and Timothy westward - away from Asia, completely contrary to Paul's plans. Instead, they headed in the direction of Macedonia and Greece.
In Troas, Paul had a night vision in which a man from Macedonia begged him: "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9). Paul realized that the vision was a message from the Lord. The very next day he had sailed across the Dardanelles (Hellespont), the strait that separated him from Europe.
In Macedonia, congregations were established in Philippi (Acts 16:11-39), Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9) and Berea (Acts 17:10-15).
Nor did this second missionary journey proceed without strife. Paul and Silas were often contradicted by those who refused to believe. Once they were even thrown into prison for casting a spirit of divination out of a slave girl (Acts 16:16-40).
Disputes were never far away. To save him from imminent danger in Berea, the brothers sent Paul out to the coast and on to Athens. Silas and Timoteus remained in Berea.
The men who brought Paul to Athens returned with orders from Paul to Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible (Acts 17:14-15).
It was while waiting for Silas and Timothy to arrive in Athens that Paul gave his famous speech at Areapogas (Acts 17:22). The speech is given to Luke who retold it in Acts 17:22-34.
From Athens, Paul traveled on to Corinth, capital of the province of Achaia and seat of the Roman governor of the region. When Paul came to the coastal city of Corinth, Gallio, brother of Seneca, was proconsul in the city. In Corinth, Paul gets to know some professional colleagues and fellow believers, the tentmakers Aquila and Priscilla. Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half and preached the gospel to Jews and Greeks with great success. On the return trip, Paul traveled with Aquila and Priscilla to Ephesus.
Not long after, Apollos traveled from Ephesus to Corinth, urged by Aquila and Priscilla. Apollos was a Jew born in Alexandria. He had great knowledge of the scriptures and great gifts of speech.
From Ephesus, Paul sailed around Rhodes and Cyprus to Cæcarea. From there he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the congregation. He then went to Antioch in Syria and stayed there for about a year before starting the third missionary journey.
Paul's third missionary journey
Year 55 to year 58 (approx): Paul's third missionary journey which went to Ephesus, Macedonia and Greece.
The first leg of the third missionary journey was made overland (in the upper districts of Acts 19:1) in Asia Minor, through regions such as Galatia and Phrygia, areas with cities such as Iconium and Paul's hometown of Tarsus, where he probably took the opportunity to visited his family. Eventually he came to Ephesus in Asia Minor where he stayed for about three years (Acts 19:1-41).
Most of the time was concentrated on Ephesus where Paul, among other things, taught for 2 years at a school called Tyrannos' school.
After his stay in Ephesus, Paul went to Macedonia. After traveling through Macedonia he came to Greece where he stayed for three months (Acts 20:1-3).
While waiting to sail to Syria, Paul discovered a conspiracy against him, which caused him to go through Macedonia instead (Acts 20:3). He then came to Philippi during the Passover and stayed there during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. From Philippi he sailed over to Troas (Acts 20:6). Scripture states that Paul was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem - for the day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16).
From Troas, Paul traveled about Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos (stayed at a place on the island called Trogillium) and Miletus (Acts 20:13-16).
In Miletus, the elders from the church in Ephesus came to meet him one last time (Acts 20:17-38).
After the meeting with the presbyters from Ephesus, Paul traveled through Kos, Rhodes, Patara, Cyprus. - Then to Syria where he arrived in the city of Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo. From Tire he sailed to Ptolemais. From there it continued on foot to Cæcarea.
From Cæcarea, Paul went up to Jerusalem where he had much trouble in store.
Paulus and Tyrannos' school
An older additional letter to Acts 19:9 states that Paul taught in Tyrannus' school in Ephesus from the fifth to the tenth hour (11am-4pm). Paul probably rented a lecture hall in a private school named after the owner, Tyrannos.
Between five and ten o'clock was allegedly the most affordable time of day to rent such a room.
Based on the information the scriptures provide, it can be assumed that Paul himself paid the rent for the lecture hall with money he earned in the morning as a tent maker - and that he also paid maintenance for several of those he had around him (Acts 20:34).
Acts 19, While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior and came to Ephesus. There he met some disciples 2 and asked them: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "We have not even heard that there is any Holy Spirit."
3 "What kind of baptism were you baptized with then?" he asked. "John's baptism," they answered.
4 Then Paul said: "John baptized with a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in him who came after him, that is Jesus.”
5 After hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. They spoke in tongues, and they spoke prophetically. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
8 He then went to the synagogue and spoke freely and openly there for three months. He held talks with people and convinced them about the things that have to do with the kingdom of God. 9 Some hardened themselves and would not believe, but spoke disparagingly of the Way while everyone was listening. Then Paul broke with them and kept the disciples away from them, and afterwards he taught every day in the school of Tyrannus.
10 He continued with this for two years, so that all who lived in Asia could hear the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Paul is imprisoned
Year 58 (approx.)
Riots break out in Jerusalem against Paul, who is accused of taking a gentile into an area of the temple forbidden to gentiles. The reason was that some Jews from Asia Minor had seen Paul together with one Trophimus from Ephesus outside the city and thought that Paul had led him into the temple.
Paul is imprisoned by the Roman commander in Jerusalem, Claudius Lysias, who ensures that Paul is sent away (in safety) from Jerusalem to the Roman procurator for Judea, Antonius Felix, who resided in Caesarea on the Mediterranean.
Felix allows Paulus to sit in custody under relatively free conditions for two years.
Year 60 (approx. according to coin finds)
Felix is replaced by Porcius Festus, who arranges for Paulus to present his case to King Agrippa II. Paul pleads his case before Herod Agrippa II (b. year 27 - d. c. 92) at Caesarea Maritima (Acts 25:13).
When did Paul die?
In church history, it is believed that Paul suffered martyrdom in the wake of pyromania accusations and reprisals against the congregation after the great city fire that broke out in Rome in July 64.
Another version indicates that Paul should have continued his missionary activities and realized his plans to go to Spain (Rom.15:24).
If Paulus died around the year 64, he was around 50 years old at his death.
Paul's 13 letters:
Letter to the Romans - First letter to the Corinthians - Second letter to the Corinthians - Letter to the Galatians - Letter to the Ephesians - Letter to the Philippians - Letter to the Colossians - First letter to the Thessalonians - Second letter to the Thessalonians - First letter to Timothy - second letter to Timothy - letter to Titus - letter to Philemon.
Paul and the book of Hebrews
When it comes to the letter to the Hebrews, there is great uncertainty as to whether it was possibly authored by Paul, therefore - as a rule - only the term "author of the letter to the Hebrews" is used when referring to the author.
By Tertullian (ca.160 -225) the letter was referred to as "Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos", hence the title Epistle to the Hebrews, but that it should have been authored by Barnabas as Tertullian claims, has little support today. Many have been suggested as the author of the letter. Martin Luther thought it could be authored by Paul's associate Apollos.
How long was Paul in custody?
There was a limit to how long a Roman citizen could be held in custody before the case was brought to court. If the case was not brought to court within two years, the case was dismissed and the defendant released.
Paulus's case probably became obsolete and he was released according to the current rule.
In the Roman Empire, prisons were used in connection with detention. Penalties consisted of the death penalty, banishment, confiscation of property etc., not serving time in a prison. The Romans had no concept of "imprisonment".
If Paulus had been convicted, he would most likely have been sentenced to exile at that time. This takes place a few years before the great city fire in Rome that broke out in July 64, and the subsequent pyromania accusations against Christians.
Based on 1 Timothy, it is indicated that Paul was released from custody, and continued in the mission.
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