Paul of Tarsus (Saul)

Paul of Tarsus is the central figure of this reference, and this card is only a short summary. For the full, cited account of his life, mission and legacy, read the main article on the Apostle Paul.

Identity

Paul was born Saul (Hebrew *Sha'ul*), a Jew "of the tribe of Benjamin," in Tarsus of Cilicia, on the plain of what is now southern Turkiye. He describes his own pedigree as "circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; according to the law, a Pharisee" (Philippians 3:5, Douay-Rheims). (Scripture) The Acts of the Apostles records his own words to a Roman tribune: "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city" (Acts 21:39). (Scripture) That same book presents his Roman citizenship as held from birth — "But I was born so" (Acts 22:28). (Scripture) Once a violent opponent of the earliest believers, he became, after an encounter on the road to Damascus, the foremost missionary to the gentile world and the author of the largest body of letters in the New Testament.

Dates and era

No birth year is recorded. Scholars infer a range of roughly 5 BC to AD 5 — the traditional shorthand is that Paul was born about the same time as Jesus — and his death in Rome is bracketed at about AD 62 to 67. (Scholarship) Every date in Pauline chronology is a reconstruction expressed as a range, anchored on only a handful of fixed points.

Key scripture

Paul is the protagonist of the second half of Acts, from the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) to his house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:30-31). His conversion is narrated three times (Acts 9; 22; 26), and his own testimony is richest in Galatians 1-2, Philippians 3:4-6 and 2 Corinthians 11. Thirteen New Testament letters bear his name.

History and tradition

Paul's historical existence, his arc from persecutor to Apostle, and his missionary career are as well-attested as anything in the period. (Scholarship) Seven letters are near-universally accepted as authentically his (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon); the authorship of six others is debated. His birth in Tarsus, his citizenship, and his education under Gamaliel rest on Acts alone, and most scholars accept them while a minority are cautious. His martyrdom in Rome under Nero, and the beheading reported from about AD 200, are early and consistent tradition rather than New Testament narrative. These distinctions are set out in full in the main article and in the source note on the Acts of the Apostles. To learn why his birthplace is honoured today, see why Tarsus and where Tarsus is.