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Christian apostle
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- Paul[a] also named Saul of Tarsus, [b] commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle
Paul redefined the people of Israel, those he calls the "true Israel" and the "true circumcision" as those who had faith in the heavenly Christ, thus excluding those he called "Israel after the flesh" from his new covenant.
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St. Paul is often considered to be the most important person after Jesus in the history of Christianity. His epistles (letters) have had enormous influence on Christian theology, especially on the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, and on the mystical human relationship with the divine. In addition to his extensive theological contributions, St. Paul played a crucial role in the development of Christianity away from its Jewish parent. Although he held that Jews and Gentiles alike were called to be transformed into one new humanity in Christ, his missions were largely focused on the conversion of Gentiles, and Christianity would eventually become a largely Gentile religion.
Read more below: Achievement and influence
Christianity
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Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 13 are attributed to Paul, and approximately half of another, Acts of the Apostles, deals with Paul’s life and works. Thus, about half of the New Testament stems from Paul and the people whom he influenced. Only 7 of the 13 letters, however, can be accepted as being entirely authentic (dictated by Paul himself)...
Paul was a Greek-speaking Jew from Asia Minor. His birthplace, Tarsus, was a major city in eastern Cilicia, a region that had been made part of the Roman province of Syria by the time of Paul’s adulthood. Two of the main cities of Syria, Damascus and Antioch, played a prominent part in his life and letters. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, he was active as a missionary in the 40s and 50s of the 1st century ce. From this it may be inferred that he was born about the same time as Jesus (c. 4 bce) or a little later. He was converted to faith in Jesus Christ about 33 ce, and he died, probably in Rome, circa 62–64 ce.
In his childhood and youth, Paul learned how to “work with [his] own hands” (1 Corinthians 4:12). His trade, tent making, which he continued to practice after his conversion to Christianity, helps to explain important aspects of his apostleship. He could travel with a few leather-working tools and set up shop anywhere. It is doubtful that his family was wealthy or aristocratic, but, since he found it noteworthy that he sometimes worked with his own hands, it may be assumed that he was not a common labourer. His letters are written in Koine, or “common” Greek, rather than in the elegant literary Greek of his wealthy contemporary the Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, and this too argues against the view that Paul was an aristocrat. Moreover, he knew how to dictate, and he could write with his own hand in large letters (Galatians 6:11), though not in the small, neat letters of the professional scribe.
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Until about the midpoint of his life, Paul was a member of the Pharisees, a religious party that emerged during the later Second Temple period. What little is known about Paul the Pharisee reflects the character of the Pharisaic movement. Pharisees believed in life after death, which was one of Paul’s deepest convictions. They accepted nonbiblical “traditions” as being about as important as the written Bible; Paul refers to his expertise in “traditions” (Galatians 1:14). Pharisees were very careful students of the Hebrew Bible, and Paul was able to quote extensively from the Greek translation. (It was fairly easy for a bright, ambitious young boy to memorize the Bible, and it would have been very difficult and expensive for Paul as an adult to carry around dozens of bulky scrolls.) By his own account, Paul was the best Jew and the best Pharisee of his generation (Philippians 3:4–6; Galatians 1:13–14), though he claimed to be the least apostle of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:22–3; 1 Corinthians 15:9–10) and attributed his successes to the grace of God.
Paul spent much of the first half of his life persecuting the nascent Christian movement, an activity to which he refers several times. Paul’s motivations are unknown, but they seem not to have been connected to his Pharisaism. The chief persecutors of the Christian movement in Jerusalem were the high priest and his associates, who were Sadducees (if they belonged to one of the parties), and Acts depicts the leading Pharisee, Gamaliel, as defending the Christians (Acts 5:34). It is possible that Paul believed that Jewish converts to the new movement were not sufficiently observant of the Jewish law, that Jewish converts mingled too freely with Gentile (non-Jewish) converts, thus associating themselves with idolatrous practices, or that the notion of a crucified messiah was objectionable. The young Paul certainly would have rejected the view that Jesus had been raised after his death—not because he doubted resurrection as such but because he would not have believed that God chose to favour Jesus by raising him before the time of the Judgment of the world.
Feb 2, 2015 · Evidence for the reality of Paul comes from the dozens of writers who quoted him within a generation of his death. Every single Christian source agrees that he was a real person. Clement (AD 95) mentioned Paul. Peter {AD 60) mentioned Paul.
Oct 12, 2016 · As the faith spread beyond Jerusalem—to Damascus, Syrian Antioch, and elsewhere—these followers of the Way irritated Paul and incited Paul’s ire. We’re not precisely certain why, but we gather that Paul wanted them eradicated, lest they compromise the Jewish faith and imping upon Torah.
- Rebecca Denova
- A Founder of Christianity. In the last century, scholars have come to appreciate Paul as the actual founder of the religious movement that would become Christianity.
- Paul's Works. In the New Testament, we have 14 letters traditionally assigned to Paul, but the scholarly consensus now holds that of the 14, seven were actually written by Paul
- Paul's Conversion. Paul was a Pharisee, and claims that when it came to “the Law,” he was more zealous and knew more about the law than anyone else. For the most part in his letters, the Law at issue was the Law of Moses.
- Paul as a Persecutor. Paul probably meted out what he himself received - the 39 lashes, a form of synagogue discipline. But this raises more questions. Synagogue councils had authority only upon the agreement of those in the community.
Paul, like other Jews, was a monotheist who believed that the God of Israel was the only true God. But he also believed that the universe had multiple levels and was filled with spiritual beings.
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Nov 17, 2023 · But there is something quite remarkable that many moderns take for granted: Paul was the first worldwide preacher of a “for everyone” religion. While, yes, Paul and Jesus were both Jews interested in the fate of Israel, Paul presented Jesus as lord of all, to the point where other deities are completely incomparable, as if they don’t even ...
