180 



PAUL. 



514 

 Bep ) 



P.U'L. The full sketch ..f the Apostle Paul's life (A. D. 44). bearing alms from the disciples in tin- lor 



in tin- Kvvi-mi'.KiiiA HHITANMI-A HUT city (An ;n). 



i 514 I 4-A ml fK eelf Ill:l ". v doubts i" regard to the | Shortly after (A. n. I'.i. under tin- special dir, 



trustworthiness of (he New Testament <(' tlie Holy Spirit, given throuv'h the church at Ami 

 records. But of all ancient historical ' och. the npostle bcL-ins his recorded missionary 



activity, in company with Barnabas anil John Mark 

 .). landing in Cyprus, the native 

 country of Barnabas. they pass from Salamis t l'a 

 jilms. where a Jewish son-crcr is relinked and pun- 

 ished. and the Roman proconsul. Sergius I'auhis. is 

 converted (Act xiii. 5-12). As the name Paul occurs 

 from this jioint onward in the narrative, the change 



books there is not one that has been si thoroughly 

 tested as the Acts of the Apostles. The many point* 

 of contact with Roman history, Greek usage, and 

 Mediterranean topography furnish sufficient data to 

 establish the accuracy of the writer. As rafwdi the 

 Pauline epistles, the most destructive critics admit the 

 genuineness of four (lialatians, 1 and '2 Corinthians, 

 and Romans). Thc-c epistles arc in themselves suf- 



ficient to show the character and teachings of Paul. 

 They attest the fact that Christianity was widely dif- 

 fused in A. D. 58. The ircnuincness of the other Kpis- 

 tles has not been successfully impugned. The objec- 

 tions arise frompreconccived theories in regard to the 

 apostolic age. (The Epistle to the Hebrews, of course, 

 occupies an exceptional position. See HKHRKWS. ) 

 The strongest array of probabilities is made aiming 

 the pastoral epistles, but the ohjections raised have 

 been answered repeatedly (see PASTORAL Hi': 

 The following sketch assumes the authenticity of the 

 narrative in the Acts of the Apos_tles, as well as the 

 genuineness of the epistles bearing the name of 

 Paul. 



1. Life of the Aposlle.-^-Sti\\\ was born at Tarsus in 

 Cilieia (Acts ix. 11; xxii. 3) ; he was of the tribe of 

 Benjamin (Phil. iii. 5; 2 Cor. xi. 22), and l.y birth a 

 Roman citizen (Acts xvi. 37 ; xxii. 2S). He was edu- 

 cated at Jerusalem under Gamaliel (Acts xxii. 3 ; 

 xxvi. 4, 5). But he seems never to have seen the 

 Lord Jesus during His ministry (1 Cor. vi. 1 ; xv. 8). 

 This does not invalidate the previous statement about 

 his education, since our Lord's ministry la.-ted at most 

 only three years and a half. Saul 6rst appears in the 

 Acts of the Apostles as a younir man zealous for the 

 death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 

 vii. 58 ; viit. 1). How old he was at this time i- mi 

 certain. It is inferred by some from Acts xxvi. 10 

 that he was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, hut 

 the "vote" referred to may have been in some lower 

 tribunal. His Jewish zeal seems to have placed him 



at the head of the persecution 

 death of Stephen (Acts viii. 3 



that arose after the 

 ix. 1, 2). and on the 



way to Damascus as the cmis.-ary of the high-priest 

 he was converted to Christ by an appearance of the 

 Lord himself. Three accounts of this occurrence arc 

 given in the Acts (ix. 1-19; xxii. 3-16; xxvi. 

 1SKJO), and there are many allusions to it in the 

 epistles. Thus his life was transformed, and he never 

 ceased to assert that he had seen the Lord. To deny a 

 real objective appearance on this occasion is to assert 

 that Paul was either a deceiver or himself deceived. 

 The date of this conversion is probably A. D. 37 (see 

 below). 



The completeness of the change is emphasized in 

 all the narratives, and the conversion seems to have 

 been regarded by Saul himself as a call to the apostle- 

 ship. He at once began to preach at llama-.-:, 

 ix. 19, 20), but soon retired to Arabia (lial. i. IT). 

 spending the larger part of three years in quiet prep- 

 aration. Returning to Damascus, he met with p, r-<- 

 ration from the Jews (AcU ix. iM. J > : '2 Cor. xi. 32. 

 33), but escaped to Jerusalem, when- the disciples 

 seemed doubtful respecting him (Acts is. -t*\. Imt 

 Barnabas befriended him. 



This visit to Jerusalem is, for convenience, called the 

 "first," and the date was about A. n. 40. It lasted 

 for fifteen days (Gal. i. 18) ; during which he received 



has been connected with this event, but it is more 

 probable that the apostle had lx>th names. Depart- 

 ing to Perga, on the coast of Asia Minor. John Mark 

 deserts them (Act> \iii l::i. Moving northward to 

 Antioch in Pisidia. the preachers meet with marked 

 success among the <! entiles, and formally announce their 

 mi-.-ion to the heathen ( Vets xiii. H-.VJ). Pav-ini: to 

 Iconium they gain many converts, but arouse great en- 

 mity, and flee to Lystra and Il.-rbe. A cripple is 

 miraculously healed in the former city, when the in- 

 habitants attempt to wor.-hip the preachers (Acts xiv. 

 8-18). But opposition follows them : Paul is stoned ; 

 the missionaries retrace their steps and return to Anti- 

 och (Acts xiv. l'.K>s). 



Dr. Hatch claims that this record must omit many 

 of the labors of the apostle during the eleven years 

 from the first to the third visit to Jerusalem. Prob- 

 ably he did preach in Cilieia and elsewhere, but we 

 have no narrative of these labors. The su^.L'estion 

 that the story of this period is derived from a lost 

 Act* of Bariinliii.t is characteristic of the method pur- 

 Mi, -d in the article in the KM vc UIP.SDIA BKITANNICA. 

 Well-authenticated and consistent narratives in our 

 possession are treated as of doubtful authority; but 

 " lost, 1 ' books are more confidingly dealt with. 



About A. D. 50 Paul makes a third visit to Jerusa- 

 lem, of which we have two accounts : one in Acts xv. 

 l-2'.i. iriving the external history, and another by 

 Paul himself (Gal. ii. 1-10), telling of the private 

 eo i ili -re noes. (The literature is given by Dr. Hatch.) 

 Paul was recognized as an apostle of the nncircum- 

 eision ; it was decided that Christianity was not the 

 religion of a Jewish sect. It would appear from the 

 entire discussion, that Paul claimed to be. not one of 

 the twelve, but an apostle independent of the twelve. 

 Practically the same claim was asserted in the con- 

 flict with Peter at Antioch. shortly after ((!al. ii. 

 1 1-1 1'.), when the latter ''drew back and separated 

 himself. " 



In the second missionary journey Paul was not ac- 

 companied by Barnabas, for "a sharp contention" 

 arose between them respecting Mark, a relative ( 

 in," Col. iv. 10, R. V.) of the latter. Other causes 

 may have entered. The church at Antioch seems to 

 have been mainly on the side of Paul (Acts xv. 40), 

 and there is no warrant lor speaking of the "failure 

 at Antioch," since Paul returned there and remained 

 some linn- ( \.-i- xviii. L"J. 2M). The details of this 

 second journey ( \. n. "i 14) are given in Aets xvi. -xviii.. 

 and few important incidents seem to IH> omitti-d from 

 the account, l-'irst visiting the disciples in Syria and 

 Cilieia, he proceeds through Phrygia and Galaiia. hav- 

 ing with him Silas and Timothy (Acts xvi. 1-6). 

 Ilircct intimations from the Holy Spirit led them to 

 Troas, where a heavenly vision shows them the way 

 to Macedonia (Acts xvi. li-l'J). Luke seems to have 

 been of the company from Troas to Philippi. the lirst 

 European cilv in which Paul preached. A purplc- 

 Darned l.ydia. was the htvt convert. Coming 



tor ntteen ilavs (dal. i. l) ; during which he received dealer, named Ly in. was the first convert. Uoming 



a direct revelation of hi- mi--ion t the < leniile.s (Acts into conflict with heathen super-tition and covetous- 

 xxii. 17-21). He met the Apostle Peter and JamcsJ ness through a miracle of healing. Paul was impri-oncd. 



the Lord's brother, but his knowledge of the gospel together with Silas, but miraculously delivered and 



was not derived from them (Gal. i. 11,19). Driven honorably released as a Roman citizen (Acts xvi. 



away by the enmity of the Jews, he goes to Tarsus, Ifi-ln). At Tlicssalmiica. the next place of labor, 



and afterwards was brought to Antioch by Barnabas, success followed, but the Jews raised a mob against 



with whom he made his " second " visit to Jerusalem the preachers. The enmity of the Jews of These 



