Saint Paul

Saint Paul, St. Paul, Saul, Saul of Tarsus c.5 AD -- 64/65 AD

born, Saul of Tarsus (Roman province in Asia Minor)

Why Paul?

Jesus called Paul "a chosen instrument of mine" (Acts 9:15).

Paul was the perfect vehicle for the Lord's purposes:

• Affirm the New Covenant ("Testament")
• Clarify the New Covenant for the Jews, Gentiles and Christians
• Spread the Gospel across the Roman Empire and beyond
• Establish and guide the new Churches and communities

And, Paul was beyond smart. His logic is impeccable, his arguments deep, and his faith is unimpeachable.

Why Paul?

Jewish	✓
Roman citizen born outside of Isreal	✓
Studied Greek philosophy	✓
Studied Jewish religion (under the famous rabbi Gamaliel)	✓
Conversion from grave sin	✓

Paul's Name

• Jesus called him "Saul":

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) 

“Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul." (Acts 9:11)

"I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’" (Acts 22:7)

"We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’" (Acts 26:14)

• First called "Paul" in Acts 13:9:

 "Saul, who also is called Paul." 

• it was common for Jews to keep a Hebrew and Greek name
  • Παῦλος, or "Paulos"
• However, in his Letters, Paul calls himself "Paul":

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,* called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, (Rom 1:1)

Overview

• Paul is author of 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament
• Before his conversion, Paul persecuted Christians
• Christ converted him with an explicit purpose to convert the Gentiles

But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites,m16and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name. (Acts 9:13-16)

• ironically, Paul desperately wanted to convert Jerusalem
  • In Acts 22:18: he relates that the Lord told Paul to leave Jerusalem:

I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’" (Acts 22:18)

• even more ironic is that Paul wanted to convert the Empire but he was sent to Rome and to Caesar as a prisoner:

And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all you here present with us, look at this man about whom the whole Jewish populace petitioned me here and in Jerusalem, clamoring that he should live no longer. I found, however, that he had done nothing deserving death, and so when he appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him." (Acts 24:24-25)

even though it wasn't even necessary:

And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” (Acts 26:32)

But Paul embraced the Lord's purposes and methods:

But I have enjoyed God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold, that the Messiah must suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:22-23)

Among Paul's most important accomplishments are:

• At the Council of Jerusalem, settling the dispute with "Judaizers" that gentile Christian converts were not subject to Mosaic Law (Acts 15)

• Converting Jews outside of Israel, ex
  • Acts 18:4: "Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue, attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks."
  • Acts 18:19: "When they reached Ephesus, he left them there, while he entered the synagogue and held discussions with the Jews."
  • it wasn't always successful, such as in Acts 18:6: "When they opposed him and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be on your heads! I am clear of responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.'" (Acts 18 describes conversion of several Jews, including the couple Aquila and Priscilla, Titus Justus, and Crispus.)

• Converting the Greeks and establishing Churches, ex:
  • Acts 18:
  • Acts 18:22: Upon landing at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church* and then went down to Antioch.
  • Corinth was crucial, as it was both a crossroads of the Roman Empire and a place of great hedonism
• Correcting the established Churches in the Epistles
• Explaining and dlarifying "Life in Christ" in the Epistles

Of all his virtues, Paul was above all else perseverant:

• At Corinth, the Lord told him,

One night in a vision the Lord said to Paul, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent,10for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.” (Acts 18:10)

• In 2 Corinthians Paul describes what he suffered for the Lord: see Epistles section below for Paul’s Boast: His Labors (2 Cor 11 & 12)

Criteria for Sainthood

Why qualifies for a Saint?

Crteria
Holiness	✓
Model of Christian Life	✓
Teacher of the Church	✓
Intercessor	✓
Miracles	✓
Martyrdom	✓

Notable passages from Acts regarding Paul

Acts 6: Accusation against Stephen

They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Acts 7:58)

Acts 15: Council of Jerusalem

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts. ((Acts 15:8-9)

Acts 16: Paul in Athens & Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols. (Acts 17:16)

Acts 22: Paul’s Defense before the Jerusalem Jews

Acts Ch. 22

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison. (Acts 22:3-4)

Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. (Acts 17:22-23)

Acts 22: Paul before the Sanhedrin.

Paul divides the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Acts 23:6-11:

Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; [I] am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”

When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided.

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three.

A great uproar occurred, and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party stood up and sharply argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

The dispute was so serious that the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and rescue him from their midst and take him into the compound.

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”

Peter 2: Peter's admission that Paul is "hard to understand"

And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures. (2 Pt 3:15-16)

We can better take Peter's observation that Paul is "hard to understand" in the sense that the Gospel itself is hard to understand. In these verses, Peter extols the importance of understanding Paul, and elevates Paul's teachings to the level of "scriptures" -- Amazing!

Notable passages from the Epistles of Paul

Romans

Rom 5: Humanity’s Sin through Adam & Grace and Life through Christ

• here Paul explains original sin and its consequence, death
• and salvation from it through Christ:

For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17)

Rom 6: Freedom from Sin; Life in God.

We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:9-11)

2 Corinthians

2 Cor 11: Paul’s Boast: His Labors

From Ch. 11:30-33:

• "Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one."
• "Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep;"
• "dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers"
• "sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure."
• "the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches."
• "I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands"

From Ch 12:7-10:

because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated,* a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,* in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. 

Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12: "My grace is sufficient"

Although if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish, for I would be telling the truth. But I refrain, so that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated,* a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.  

Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:6-12)