Biography of paul
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Who was Paul in the Bible?
Answer
There is much we can learn from the life of the apostle Paul. Far from ordinary, Paul was given the opportunity to do extraordinary things for the kingdom of God. The story of Paul is a story of redemption in Jesus Christ and a testimony that no one is beyond the saving grace of the Lord. However, to gain the full measure of the man, we must examine his dark side and what he symbolized before becoming “the Apostle of Grace.” Paul’s early life was marked by religious zeal, brutal violence, and the relentless persecution of the early church. Fortunately, the later years of Paul’s life show a marked difference as he lived his life for Christ and for the advancement of His kingdom.
Paul was actually born as Saul. He was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a province in the southeastern corner of modern-day Tersous, Turkey, sometime in the first decade AD. He was of Benjamite lineage and Hebrew ancestry (Philippians –6). His parents were Pharisees—fervent
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Nicholas J. Frederick, "The Life of the Apostle Paul: An Overview," in New Testament History, Culture, and Society: A Background to the Texts of the New Testament, ed. Lincoln H. Blumell (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; krydda Lake City: Deseret Book, ),
Nicholas J. Frederick is assistant professor of ancient scripture in the Department of Religious Education at Brigham Young University (Provo).
“Few figures in Western history have been the subject of greater controversy than Saint Paul. Few have caused more dissension and hatred. None has suffered more misunderstanding at the hands of both friends and enemies. None has produced more animosity between Jews and Christians.”[1]
These words, taken from a recent study of Paul by emeritus Princeton University professor John G. Gager, speak to the impact Paul has had in the two thousand years since the emergence of the Christian faith. Paul continues to be the topic of much debate in the modern era,
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Who was the Apostle Paul? - a brief biography (what he did and wrote)
In this article, I will try to sketch out a brief biography of the Apostle Paul. He is considered to be one of the most famous (and sometimes misunderstood as infamous) figures in history. His basic message was that the end of the age had arrived in the Jewish Messiah named resurrection of inaugurated the last days that would come to their culmination at Christ's return with the healing of the created order and the resurrection and judgement of humanity (Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 15).This conviction, paired with discerning how best to incorporate the nations (gentiles) into the family of Israel's God, changed the entire trajectory of his life. Paul's biography is interesting to us because of this single shift in Apostle Paul, sometimes called Saint Paul or Saul of Tarsus, lived from about 5 BCE / 5 CE to about 67 CE. Saul is the alternative name, especially in the Book of Acts (Acts of the Apostles). In that text,