Paul, Apostle to the Nations
CHRIST Jesus on one occasion stated that he “was not sent forth to any but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. However, he did not thus limit his apostles, for after his resurrection he told them that they were to be his witnesses not only “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria” but also “to the most distant part of the earth”. (Matt. 15:24; Acts 1:8, NW) The one who pioneered this expansion of true worship was Paul, the apostle to the nations, first known as Saul of Tarsus.
Saul was a Hebrew, an Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees, and born a Roman citizen. (Acts 22:28; 23:6; Phil. 3:5, NW) Though born in Tarsus, he received his religious training in Jerusalem at the feet of the noted scholar Gamaliel. Saul, however, did not partake of the spirit of tolerance that characterized his able instructor; which spirit enabled Gamaliel, while teaching the traditions of Judaism as well as the law of Moses, to counsel the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of his day, to be broad-minded in their treatment of the followers of Christ: “Let them alone; (because, if this scheme and this work is from men, it will be overthrown; but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them;) otherwise, you may perhaps be found fighters actually against God.”—Acts 5:38, 39; 22:3; Gal. 1:14, NW.
On the contrary, religious zeal made Saul entirely oblivious to the danger of his fighting against God, even hardening him as regards the sufferings of others. Thus as a young man he could witness with approval the murder of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, by a mob.—Acts 7:58-60; 8:1.
In fact, Saul was such a religious zealot that before long he was taking the lead in the persecution of Christians. As he himself later told it: “Many of the holy ones I shut up in prisons, as I had received authority from the chief priests; and when they were to be executed, I cast my vote against them. And by punishing them many times in all the synagogues I tried to force them to make a recantation; and since I was extremely mad against them, I went so far as to persecuting them even in outside cities.”—Acts 8:3; 9:1, 2; 26:10, 11, NW.
SAUL BECOMES A CHRISTIAN
What caused such a bitter persecutor of Christians to do an about-face and become a Christian himself? A miracle, which, while at first blinding him physically, caused him to see spiritually. This miracle took place as Saul was on his way to Damascus in a campaign against the Christians. “Suddenly a light from heaven [“beyond the brilliance of the sun”] flashed around him, and he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ He said: ‘Who are you, Sir?’ He said: ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Nevertheless, rise and enter into the city, and what you must do will be told you.’” Saul rose, but had to be led into the city, for he was stone blind.—Acts 9:3-8; 26:13, NW.
For three days Saul neither ate nor drank. Then the Lord sent one of the disciples, Ananias by name, to Saul; upon whose visit Saul recovered his sight, was baptized, received the holy spirit, took nourishment and gained strength.—Acts 9:9-19, NW.
Had Peter been recognized as the vicar of Christ certainly Saul would immediately have visited him at Jerusalem; but no, he went to Arabia, doubtless to thoroughly acquaint himself with God’s purposes and his will for him. Returning to Damascus he so confounded the Jews by ‘logically proving that Jesus was the Christ’ that finally the Jews took counsel to do away with him. Hearing of this, Saul escaped from the city at night by means of a basket lowered from a hole in the wall, thus eluding his enemies who were watching for him at the city’s gates, day and night. So soon had Saul the persecutor become Saul the persecuted!—Acts 9:20-25; Gal. 1:16, 17, NW.
Arriving at Jerusalem Saul found the Christians there suspicious until Barnabas reassured them. In Jerusalem Saul preached with like telling effect, and so it was not long before his Jewish opposers in that city were also plotting against him. Escaping their clutches Saul went to Caesarea and then to his native city of Tarsus, where he preached until Barnabas looked him up to help out in Antioch. After about a year in Antioch Saul accompanied Barnabas to Jerusalem with a relief offering for the brothers there, they being in need because of a famine. (A.D. 44) Upon their return to Antioch the holy spirit indicated that Barnabas and Saul were to be set apart for special missionary activity.—Acts 9:26-30; 11:19-26; 12:25; 13:1-3, NW.
PAUL’S MISSIONARY TOURS
Among the high lights of Paul’s first missionary tour were the following: At Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, a sorcerer, Elymas, opposed the witness being given to the proconsul Sergius Paulus. To demonstrate the superiority of the true God whom Paul and Barnabas were serving over the demons, the sorcerer, their instrument, was stricken with blindness. Astounded by this display of divine power the proconsul became a believer.—Acts 13:4-12, NW.
Traveling by sea and land Paul and Barnabas arrived at Antioch of Pisidia (the record at Acts 13:43 changing from “Barnabas and Saul” to “Paul and Barnabas”), where they gave such an effective witness to the Jews in the synagogue one sabbath that on the following sabbath nearly all of the city gathered to hear the word of Jehovah. Seeing the people of the nations manifest such interest filled the Jews with envy, who then persecuted Paul and Barnabas, making it necessary for them to leave. At their next stop, Iconium, they had the same experience, and so they came to Lystra.—Acts 13:13 to 14:7.
At Lystra, because of a miracle that Paul had performed, the people were ready to worship Paul and Barnabas. But it was not long before the fickle populace, influenced by Jews from Antioch and Iconium, stoned Paul, dragged him outside the city and left him for dead. But Jehovah had more work for his apostle to the nations, and so we read that “when the disciples surrounded him, he rose up and entered into the city”. Before long Paul and Barnabas were retracing their steps and, arriving back at Antioch, gave a good report to the congregation there.—Acts 14:8-28, NW.
Between his first and second missionary tours Paul together with some other brothers from Antioch went to Jerusalem to a meeting of the Christian governing body, there to ascertain if parts of the law of Moses still applied to Christians. Among the things that that body ruled against were fornication and the eating of blood.—Acts 15:1-35.
“Now after some days Paul said to Barnabas: ‘Above all things, let us return and visit the brothers in every one of the cities in which we published the word of Jehovah to see how they are.’” The question of whether or not to take along John Mark, who had departed from them at Pamphylia on their first tour, split the missionary group, Paul then taking Silas while Barnabas took John Mark.—Acts 15:36-41.
It was on this second tour, after having gone over the territory previously covered in the first tour, that Paul had a vision by night of a Macedonian beseeching him, “Step over into Macedonia and help us.” Thus the message spread from Asia Minor to Europe. At Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia, Paul and Silas were cast into prison because of having freed a slave girl from demon control, her owners being incensed at their loss of gain because the girl was no longer able to practice the art of prediction. At midnight the Lord released them by means of an earthquake, resulting in the jailer and all his household’s becoming Christians. They were able to establish a congregation in Philippi as also in Thessalonica, their next stop, where their stay was again cut short because of violent persecution.—Acts 16:1 to 17:9, NW.
At Beroea, their next stop, Paul and Silas found many noble-minded Jews with hearing ears. Learning of this, their enemies came from Thessalonica and aroused opposition, making it necessary for Paul to leave, who then set sail for Athens. At Athens Paul made use of every opportunity to preach, reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and others that worshiped God and also with whomever he met in the market places. Certain of the Grecian philosophers, becoming curious, led Paul to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, where he had the opportunity to give a public discourse, telling them of the “Unknown God” whom they were worshiping and of the resurrection. Upon hearing of a resurrection some began to mock; others, however, became believers.—Acts 17:10-34, NW.
From Athens Paul traveled to Corinth, where Silas and Timothy joined him. There he remained for a year and a half and found much interest even as God assured him in a vision that no harm would befall him and that he had “many people in this city”. While there Paul wrote his two letters to the Thessalonians, his first canonical ones. Returning to Antioch Paul concluded his second missionary tour, from A.D. 49 to 51, on which he traveled from 2,500 to 3,000 miles.—Acts 18:1-22.
After spending some time in Antioch Paul started out on his third missionary tour, this time alone, although en route he was joined by Luke and others. On this tour he largely retraced the route taken on his second tour, additionally giving a good witness in the province of Asia. In the course of his travels he came to Ephesus, where he remained three years. There possibly “Paul’s general practice was to work at his trade from sunrise to 11 a.m., at which hour Tyrannus had finished his teaching; then from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to preach in the hall, . . . and then lastly to make a house to house evangelistic canvass that lasted from 4 p.m. to far in the night. One wonders when he found time to eat and sleep.” (Daily Life in Bible Times, A. E. Bailey) How like full-time pioneer ministers today who do part-time secular work to support themselves!
Fearing the effect of Paul’s preaching on their craft of making silver shrines of Artemis (Diana), the silversmiths of Ephesus gathered a mob and created an uproar by shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Tactful handling of the situation by the city recorder quieted the uproar and prevented harm from coming to Paul and his companions. After this Paul preached in Macedonia and Greece, gave valuable instructions at Miletus to the older men of Ephesus who came there for that purpose, and then he hurried on to Jerusalem, the tour lasting from A.D. 52 to 56. During it he wrote his letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians.
PAUL’S PRISON EXPERIENCES
Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem even though Christian prophets all along the way foretold that he would suffer bonds and tribulations there; which prophecies came true, his enemies involving him in a riot which resulted in his imprisonment. But though men could bind Paul they could not bind the truth, for he continued to give testimony to it. He gave more than one effective witness to Governor Felix, who, according to Josephus, was one of the most corrupt and oppressive rulers ever sent to Judea from Rome. Felix hinted a bribe would be welcome, but Paul refused to buy his way out. Felix therefore let him remain in prison at Caesarea, thereby also currying the favor of the Jews. At the end of two years Felix was replaced by Festus and the Jews renewed their charges against Paul. Having designs to make away with Paul, they pressed Festus to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem for trial. Paul, however, stood his ground; he was before Caesar’s judgment seat where he, as a Roman, should be judged, and so he appealed to Caesar. After a hearing before Festus and King Agrippa, arrangements were made to send Paul, together with some other prisoners, to Rome.—Acts 21:11 to 26:32, NW.
En route Paul and those with him suffered shipwreck and were stranded on the isle of Malta. After wintering there several months they finally got to Rome. There Paul was able to hire his own house, although he was continually in chains. He continued to preach, to both Jew and Gentile, for two years, A.D. 59 to 61; during which time he wrote his canonical letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, to Philemon and to the Hebrews.—Acts chapters 27 and 28.
It is generally believed that after those two years Paul was released for a time, visited Crete with Titus, also possibly Spain, and made another missionary tour through Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece. During this time he wrote his first letter to Timothy and his letter to Titus. Imprisoned again about A.D. 65, he wrote his final letter, the second to Timothy, and suffered martyrdom at the hands of Nero A.D. 66.
PAUL’S CHARACTERISTICS
Paul, above all else, had a keen appreciation of the honor bestowed upon him to be the apostle to the nations: “I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who delegated power to me, because he considered me trustworthy by assigning me to a ministry, although formerly I was a blasphemer and a persecutor.” And far from being proud because of his office, he humbly asked his brothers to pray for him that he might have the needed freeness of speech so as to give a good witness.—Eph. 3:8; 6:18, 19; 1 Tim. 1:12, 13, NW.
Paul was shown such mercy because his heart was right. “I was shown mercy, because I was ignorant and acted with a lack of faith.” (Acts 26:9, 10;1 Tim. 1:13, NW) And having been favored with the Christian ministry Paul rendered sacred service with a clean conscience, unselfishly; he was no peddler of God’s Word. In striking contrast with those who claim to be his successors, he did not try to please men, but only God and Christ.—2 Cor. 2:17; Gal. 1:10; 2 Tim. 1:3; 3:10, 11, NW.
Though once a ruthless persecutor of Christians, now he was as gentle with those whom he taught as a nursing mother with her own children, exhorting and consoling them as a father does his children. (1 Thess. 2:7, 8, 11, NW) Nevertheless he could also express righteous indignation, as when he rebuked Peter for his vacillation and those of his countrymen who opposed the truth.—Acts 28:25-28; Gal. 2:11-14, NW.
Though well educated, Paul did not call attention to himself: “My speech and what I preached were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of spirit and power, that your faith might be, not in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power.” (1 Cor. 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 1:12;1 Thess. 2:3-6, NW) Nor did he need to resort to written letters of recommendations. Those to whom he brought the truth were living letters that could be read by all men.—2 Cor. 3:1-3, NW.
Although Paul was politically and religiously free, he made himself a slave to all that he might gain the most persons to Christ. He became all things to people of all kinds so that he might by all means save some. (1 Cor. 9:19-23, NW) When he addressed the Jews he used one kind of approach. (Acts 13:16-41) When addressing superstitious pagans he used another. (Acts 14:14-17) And when addressing worldly-wise Athenians he used still a different kind of approach.—Acts 17:22-31.
And what a record of endurance he left behind! To unreasonable persons who provoked him to boast he said, among other things: “By Jews I five times received forty strokes less one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I experienced shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the deep; in travels often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from highwaymen, in dangers from my own race, in dangers from the nations, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and toil, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, in abstinence from food many times, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things of an external kind, there is what rushes in on me from day to day, the anxiety for all the congregations.” (2 Cor. 11:24-28, NW. See also 1 Corinthians 4:8-13; 2 Corinthians 1:8-11; 4:8; 6:4-10.) Yet Paul, far from grumbling and complaining, stated: “I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be self-sufficient. . . . For all things I have the strength by virtue of him who imparts power to me.” (Phil. 4:11-13, NW) He rejoiced that his hardships resulted in spreading the truth.—Phil. 1:12-14.
Paul was greatly rewarded for his faithfulness. He was given supernatural visions and heard words that it was not lawful for man to speak. (2 Cor. 12:1-5) He had the privilege of writing fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the Christian Greek Scriptures. His writings are masterpieces of calm reasoning, clear logic. How ably he presents the case for justification by faith in his letter to the Romans! How fully he proves the teaching of the resurrection, and in his first letter to the Corinthians how well he shows how love works! How strikingly he makes clear to the Galatians the folly of wanting to return to Moses’ law! How convincingly he presents the proofs to the Hebrews that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and the Messiah! Truly, though his bodily presence may have been weak, his letters were most powerful.—2 Cor. 10:10.
As Paul faced certain death at the hands of Nero he could look back with confidence that he had fought the right kind of fight, and that the heavenly reward assuredly awaited him. (2 Tim. 4:6-8) What an example Paul left for us! How much greater would be the witness given if more shared his appreciation of the Christian ministry!