Interesting Facts about Paul

The Apostle Paul was the only man in the Bible known as Apostle, even though he was not one of Jesus’ inner circle of twelve. He was a prolific missionary and his writings offer wise instruction to people even today. He is known also as Saint Paul.

Paul was born Saul, in the Roman city of Tarsus, Cilicia. This is now known as Turkey. He is referred to as Saul of Tarsus or Paul of Tarsus in some histories. Tarsus was known as a trade hub on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

According to 2 Corinthians 10:10, he felt he was not even average physically, but rather appeared weak. The content of his speech was good, but it appears people did not enjoy listening to him – or at least that was what he thought people would say about him.

Acts 23:16 tells us that Paul had a sister who had a son. While the Bible does not give us their names, it does tell us how Paul’s nephew foiled a plot of Paul’s enemies to ambush him by taking the information to his uncle.

Paul was blessed to study under the tutelage of the eminent Rabbi Gamaliel, who was a leader in the Jewish Sanhedrin – the elders. Gamaliel was also a Pharisee, as Paul later became. Being a student of Gamaliel was an honor and a privilege, and one that Paul appreciated. It is believed by some that he became a Christian and encouraged the Jewish elders to be lenient with the apostles, who were no longer following Jewish law, but rather following Jesus.

As mentioned, Paul was a Pharisee. A Pharisee was someone who studied the Law intensively and were quite militant about making sure the Law was followed completely. Most Pharisees rejected the teachings of Jesus, because He showed that they were too interested in outer display and less interest in inner heart belief in God.

Paul’s original trade was tentmaker, which gave him a rapport with some of the people he met later in his missionary travels.

The last recorded event in which Paul was involved before his conversion was the stoning of Stephen, martyred for following Jesus. Paul, then known as Saul, stood by with the clothing of the witnesses. This was during the time when Saul was persecuting Christians.

After Paul’s miraculous conversion, he became one of the most amazing missionaries of all time. He was instrumental in starting and encouraging many, many churches throughout Asia and the Middle East. His written encouragement to these churches is still encouraging churches after all these years.

Paul wrote over half of the 27 books of the New Testament. However, when considering word count, Luke (author of the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts) comes out ahead with over 5,000 more words in his two books than all of Paul’s writings put together.

The conversion of Paul to Christianity was a spectacular event.

He was well known as one who sought out, imprisoned, beat, and even killed Christians. As a Pharisee, he believed he was doing right in doing this, as the Christians did not follow the tenets Pharisees did, which were based on the Mosaic Law.

One day, on the road to Damascus, he was met by God, who appeared in a bright light to speak to Paul, who realized quickly that he was speaking audibly to the living God. He was blinded by God’s light, and was led to the house of Ananias, a Christian who was expecting him because God let him know ahead of time that Saul was on his way.

The people who were traveling with Paul were able to hear the conversation but were unable to see what Paul was seeing. They led him to Damascus, where Ananias followed God’s words to restore sight to Paul, who went on to preach Christ.

Because it was so spectacular, and because it was detailed in the Bible, his conversion is often discussed and is very well known.

born saul

Following his conversion, the Bible still refers to him as Saul for some time. In Acts 13:9, it mentions that he is also called Paul, and refers to him from there on as Paul. He refers to himself as Paul in all of his epistles. The name Paul means “little” – he may have been indicating himself in relation to God.

One of the first missionaries after Christ, Paul took the message of the gospel all over Asia and the Middle East. He traveled to Cyprus, Rome, Ephesus, Macedonia, Jerusalem, and many other locations. He wrote to many of the churches he was involved with, and he also wrote to some he had not been able to visit but had heard about that needed instruction.

paul survived

Paul, on one of his journeys, found himself as a prisoner on a ship in a storm. The captain and the sailors were very concerned. Part of their concern was that they may lose some of the prisoners, which was something for which they could be punished. Paul told them if they stayed on the ship, they would all be safe. They listened to him and, after the ship was thrown onto rocks and broken, all crew and passengers were able to reach land safely, as Paul had told them.

paul snake bite

While on the island of Melita, the survivors were treated kindly by the natives. They built a fire for them because it was wet from the storm and cold. Paul, to be helpful, gathered up a bunch of sticks to add to the fire, and when he did, a snake struck his hand, hanging there as he lifted it from the fire. The snake was a venomous one, and the natives were shocked, and believed that Paul must have been a murderer and the snakebite was vengeance for surviving the shipwreck.

Instead, though, Paul shook off the viper into the fire and had neither swelling nor death – no harm came to him whatsoever. This impressed the natives, who then believed that Paul was a god. This was even further believed as Paul went on to heal many of the sick on the island before their replacement ship arrived to take them on their way.