PAUL, APOSTLE, Saint. — Apostle who spread Christianity among the Gentiles, born in Tarsus (q.v.) in Cilicia in the first decade of the common era and martyred in Rome under Nero, most probably in AD 67.
OUTLINE:
I. Life
II. Epistles
III. Doctrine
IV. Pauline Theology
V. Liturgical Feasts
VI. Archaeology
VII. Christian Iconography
VIII. Apocalypse of P
IX. Acts of P
X. Preaching of P.I. Life
1. Youth
By birth Paul inherited Roman citizenship (Acts 16:37; 22:25–28) and a deep attachment to the Mosaic Law. He boasts of being “a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee” (Phil 3:5), elsewhere calling himself “a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6) and recalling his almost fanatical zeal “for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal 1:14). Though it is possible that in cosmopolitan Tarsus Paul attended Greek schools, traces of Hellenistic education are tenuous and debatable (cf. Acts 17:28; 1 Cor 15:33; Tit 1:12), whereas his rabbinic formation is undeniable, which he completed by going (c. AD 14–20?) to Jerusalem. There he studied “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3), a teacher well known in Jewish traditions and of calm, balanced spirit (cf. ibid. 5:34 ff.).The fruit of his attachment to the Mosaic religion was his participation in the first persecution against the nascent Church. Paul appears for the first time at the stoning of Stephen (q.v.). It is difficult to specify his exact role. The text merely states that during the grim action the stoners, to be more free, laid aside their garments “at the feet of a young man named Saul” (under this name he is always remembered until his first missionary journey). It is certain, however, that immediately afterward this “young man” took a very active part in the persecution (Acts 26:9–11).