• Pathros
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • Papyrus evidence of the fifth century B.C.E. shows a Jewish colony situated all the way at the southern end of ancient Egypt at Elephantine by Syene.

  • Patmos
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • PATMOS

      (Patʹmos).

      An island where the apostle John was exiled “for speaking about God and bearing witness to Jesus.” (Rev. 1:9) While there, he received the Revelation. According to ancient tradition, John, having been condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in the fifteenth year of Domitian’s reign (c. 95 C.E.), was released after the death of that ruler.

      Situated in the Icarian Sea (a part of the Aegean) about thirty-five miles (56 kilometers) W of Asia Minor, Patmos lay less than 150 miles (240 kilometers) from all seven congregations specifically addressed in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. This small volcanic island (about 9 miles [14 kilometers] long and 5 miles [8 kilometers] wide) has a very irregular coastline and is quite barren and rocky. But today wheat, olives and grapes are cultivated there. Apparently because of its isolation, Patmos, along with other Aegean islands, served as a penal isle.

  • Paul
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • PAUL

      [little].

      An Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin and an apostle of Jesus Christ. (Eph. 1:1; Phil. 3:5) Though perhaps having both the Hebrew name Saul and the Roman name Paul from childhood (Acts 9:17; 2 Pet. 3:15), this apostle may have chosen to go by his Roman name in view of his commission to declare the good news to the non-Jews.—Acts 9:15; Gal. 2:7, 8.

      Paul was born in Tarsus, a prominent city of Cilicia. (Acts 21:39; 22:3) His parents were Hebrews and evidently adhered to the Pharisaic branch of Judaism. (Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5) He was a Roman citizen from birth (Acts 22:28), his father having perhaps been granted citizenship by Julius Caesar for services rendered during the Egyptian war. Paul probably learned the trade of tentmaker from his father. (Acts 18:3) But, at Jerusalem, he received instruction from the learned Pharisee Gamaliel, suggesting that Paul was from a prominent family. (Acts 22:3; 5:34) Language-wise, Paul was versed at least in Greek and Hebrew. (Acts 21:37-40) At the time Paul traveled as a missionary he was unmarried. (1 Cor. 7:8) During this general period, if not already earlier, he had a sister and a nephew who resided in Jerusalem.—Acts 23:16-22.

      It was the apostle Paul’s privilege to write more of the Christian Greek Scriptures than anyone else. He was given supernatural visions (2 Cor. 12:1-5) and, by means of the holy spirit, was enabled to speak numerous foreign tongues.—1 Cor. 14:18.

      PERSECUTION, CONVERSION AND EARLY MINISTRY

      The Biblical record introduces Saul or Paul as the “young man” at whose feet the false witnesses who stoned Christ’s disciple Stephen laid their outer garments. (Acts 6:13; 7:58) Paul approved of the murder of Stephen and, because of misdirected zeal for tradition, began a campaign of vicious persecution against Christ’s followers. When they were to be executed, he voted against them. At the time of their trial in synagogues he endeavored to force them to recant. He extended his persecution to cities other than Jerusalem, and even procured written authorization from the high priest to search out disciples of Christ as far N as Damascus, in Syria, and to bind and bring them to Jerusalem, probably for trial by the Sanhedrin.—Acts 8:1, 3; 9:1, 2; 26:10, 11; Gal. 1:13, 14.

      As Paul neared Damascus, Christ Jesus revealed himself to him in a flashing light and commissioned him to be an attendant and a witness of the things he had seen and would yet see. Whereas those with Paul also fell to the ground because of this manifestation and heard the sound of someone speaking, Paul alone understood the words and was blinded, necessitating his being led by the hand to Damascus. (Acts 9:3-8; 22:6-11; 26:12-18) For three days he neither ate nor drank. Then, while praying in the house of a certain Judas at Damascus, Paul, in vision, saw Christ’s disciple Ananias come in and restore his sight. When the vision became reality, Paul was baptized, received holy spirit, partook of food and gained strength.—Acts 9:9-19.

      The record at Acts 9:20-25 describes Paul’s spending time with the Damascus disciples and “immediately” beginning to preach in the synagogues there. It describes his preaching activity up until the time he was forced to leave Damascus due to a plot against his life. On the other hand, Paul’s letter to the Galatians speaks of his going off into Arabia after his conversion, and then returning to Damascus. (Gal. 1:15-17) It is not possible to assign the trip into Arabia a definite place in the order of events.

      Paul may have gone into Arabia right after his conversion in order to meditate on God’s will for him. In such case, Luke’s use of the word “immediately” would mean that immediately upon his return to Damascus and associating with the disciples there Paul began his preaching. However, at Galatians 1:17 Paul is evidently emphasizing the fact that he did not immediately go up to Jerusalem; that the only place outside of Damascus to which he went during that early period was Arabia. So, the trip to Arabia does not necessarily have to have come immediately after his conversion. It may be that Paul first spent some days in Damascus and quickly made public renunciation of his previous course of opposition by expressing his faith in Christ in the synagogues. Thereafter he may have made his trip into Arabia (the actual purpose of which is undisclosed) and upon his return continued his preaching in Damascus, becoming stronger in it to the point that his opposers sought to put him to death. The two accounts are complementary rather than contradictory, and the only question is as to the precise order of events, which simply is not provided.

      Arriving at Jerusalem (perhaps in 36 C.E.; the three years mentioned at Galatians 1:18 possibly meaning parts of three years), Paul found that the brothers there did not believe that he was a disciple. However, “Barnabas came to his aid and led him to the apostles,” evidently Peter and “James the brother of the Lord.” (James, though not one of the twelve, could be designated as an apostle because of being such for the Jerusalem congregation.) For fifteen days Paul stayed with Cephas (Peter). While at Jerusalem Paul spoke boldly in the name of Jesus. When the brothers learned that the Greek-speaking Jews were therefore making attempts to kill Paul, “they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.”—Acts 9:26-30; Gal. 1:18-21.

      It appears that Paul (possibly about 41 C.E.) was privileged to experience a supernatural vision so real that he did not know whether it was in the body or out of the body that he was caught away to the “third heaven.” The “third heaven” seems to refer to the superlative degree of the rapture in which he saw the vision.—2 Cor. 12:1-4.