APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES

Paul

“there shined round about him a light from heaven”

Also called Saul · Saul of Tarsus

VERSES THAT NAME HIM

182

RECORDS OF THE CALL

NAMED BESIDE HIM

19

SOURCES OUTSIDE SCRIPTURE on how it ends

HIS LIFE IN FOUR PARTS

How much does Scripture tell?

Persecutor of the church, called on the road to Damascus. Scripture gives no years for his life, so the ring is divided by how much is recorded: 21 records of what he did or what was said to him, one bead each. The last part is tradition and is drawn dashed. Choose a part to read it.

III · THREE JOURNEYS, ARREST, ROME; THE LETTERS

The church in Acts

• A year at Antioch Acts 11:25–30
• The first journey Acts 13:1–14:28
• The council at Jerusalem Acts 15:1–35
• The second journey Acts 15:36–18:22
• A vision at Corinth: “Be not afraid, but speak” Acts 18:9–10
• Three years at Ephesus Acts 18:23–21:17
• Seized, held, heard Acts 21:27–36
• At night in Jerusalem: “so must thou bear witness also at Rome” Acts 23:11
• Shipwreck, and Rome Acts 27:1–28:31
• His own list of sufferings 2 Corinthians 11:23–27
• “My grace is sufficient for thee” 2 Corinthians 12:7–9
• The prisons Acts 16:23–24
• Plans for Spain Romans 15:24
• Journeys in the letters 1 Timothy 1:3

CHAPTER BY CHAPTER

Where is he named?

One square for each chapter of the books that name Paul: 182 verses in 44 chapters. The darker the square, the more verses in it name him. Choose a chapter to read what happens there.

THE GOSPELS AND ACTS

THE LETTERS AND REVELATION

ACTS 23

15 verses name him

And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

WHAT HAPPENS HERE

• A Pharisee, son of a Pharisee
• His sister’s son
• At night in Jerusalem: “so must thou bear witness also at Rome”
• The prisons

No verse in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John names him.

CHAPTER I · BEFORE THE CALL

Saul of Tarsus

Tarsus, Jerusalem, the persecutor · 9 records

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 21:39

Born at Tarsus, brought up in Jerusalem

But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.

Born a Jew in Tarsus in Cilicia, “a citizen of no mean city”, and “brought up in this city” (Jerusalem) “at the feet of Gamaliel”.

NAMED WITH HIM

Gamaliel

WHERE

Tarsus, Jerusalem

PASSAGE

Acts 21:39·Acts 22:3·Acts 9:11

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 7:58

At Stephen’s stoning

And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.

A “young man … whose name was Saul” kept the clothes of those who stoned Stephen, and “was consenting unto his death”.

NAMED WITH HIM

Stephen

PASSAGE

Acts 7:58·Acts 8:1·Acts 22:20

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 8:3

Making havock of the church

And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

He “made havock of the church”, putting men and women in prison, and asked the high priest for letters to bring believers bound from Damascus.

TOLD IN 3 BOOKS

Acts 8:3·Acts 9:1–2·Acts 26:9–11·Galatians 1:13·+1

CHAPTER II · THE CALL

The road to Damascus

Damascus, Arabia, Jerusalem, Tarsus · 5 records

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 9:3–6

The road to Damascus

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

WHERE

Damascus

PASSAGE

Acts 9:3–6·Acts 22:6–10·Acts 26:12–18

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 9:19–25

Damascus, Arabia, the basket

Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

After his conversion he preached in the synagogues of Damascus, went into Arabia, came back to Damascus, and escaped over the wall in a basket.

WHERE

Damascus, Arabia

TOLD IN 3 BOOKS

Acts 9:19–25·Galatians 1:17·2 Corinthians 11:32–33

CHAPTER III · THE CHURCH IN ACTS

Journeys, chains, letters

Three journeys, arrest, Rome; the letters · 14 records

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 13:1–14:28

The first journey

¶ So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

First journey: sent out from Antioch with Barnabas to Cyprus and the cities of Pisidia and Lycaonia; at Lystra he was stoned and left for dead.

NAMED WITH HIM

Barnabas, John Mark

WHERE

Antioch in Syria, Salamis, Paphos, Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe

PASSAGE

Acts 13:1–14:28·Acts 14:19

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 15:36–18:22

The second journey

And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

He parted from Barnabas over Mark and set out with Silas. Timothy joined them at Lystra; a vision called them to Macedonia; they went on to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and Athens, and he stayed eighteen months at Corinth.

NAMED WITH HIM

Barnabas, Silas (Silvanus), Timothy, John Mark, Aquila, Priscilla and 1 more

WHERE

Lystra, Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth

PASSAGE

Acts 15:36–18:22

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 27:1–28:31

Shipwreck, and Rome

And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

On the voyage to Rome the ship was wrecked at Melita (Malta). At Rome he lived two whole years in his own hired house with a soldier guarding him, receiving all who came.

NAMED WITH HIM

Aristarchus

WHERE

Malta (Melita), Rome

PASSAGE

Acts 27:1–28:31

SCRIPTURE · ACTS 16:23–24

The prisons

And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.

Prisons named in Scripture: Philippi, where he and Silas were put in the stocks; Herod's judgment hall at Caesarea; and Rome. In several letters he writes as a prisoner.

NAMED WITH HIM

Timothy

WHERE

Philippi, Rome

TOLD IN 5 BOOKS

Acts 16:23–24·Acts 23:35·Acts 28:16·Ephesians 3:1·+3

SCRIPTURE · 1 TIMOTHY 1:3

Journeys in the letters

The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

The letters to Timothy and Titus name journeys that are hard to place in Acts: Timothy left at Ephesus when Paul went into Macedonia, Titus left in Crete, a winter planned at Nicopolis, a cloak left at Troas and Trophimus left sick at Miletum.

NAMED WITH HIM

Tychicus, Trophimus

WHERE

Crete, Nicopolis

TOLD IN 3 BOOKS

1 Timothy 1:3·Titus 1:5·Titus 3:12·2 Timothy 4:13·+1

CHAPTER IV · AFTER SCRIPTURE

After Scripture

Tradition, by who said it and when · 6 sources

SCRIPTURE FIRST

What Scripture says of his end

Acts ends with Paul two whole years in his own hired house in Rome, “Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”

Scripture Acts 28:30–31

In 2 Timothy he writes as a prisoner in Rome who has already made his “first answer” in court: “the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”.

Scripture 2 Timothy 1:17·2 Timothy 4:6–7·2 Timothy 4:16–17

Whether Paul wrote 2 Timothy is debated, as the Letters page shows; Scripture does not record his death.

Scholars 2 Timothy 1:1 John Rutherfurd, 1915·Philip Schaff, 1890

THEN TRADITION · 6 SOURCES, EARLIEST FIRST

• c. 95 Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 5:5-7 Early church
• c. 170 Dionysius of Corinth, quoted by Eusebius, Church History 2.25.8 Early church
• 2nd c. The Muratorian fragment Early church
• c. 200 Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 36 Early church
• c. 200 Gaius, quoted by Eusebius, Church History 2.25.7 Early church
• c. 325 Eusebius, Church History 2.22.2 and 2.25.5 Early church

Each is labelled with who said it and when; none is blended into Scripture.

THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM

Who was with him?

Every record of Paul in Scripture, in story order (Acts as told, with the Lord's words to him where Acts or his letter sets them). A person counts as "with him" only where a verse of that record names them both. 19 people in all.

named in the passage from first to last mention Point at a column to see what happens; click it to keep it (click again to let go); choose a name to follow that person.

II · THE CALL

Fifteen days with Peter

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

NAMED WITH HIM HERE

• Barnabas Acts 9:27
• Peter Galatians 1:18
• James, the Lord’s brother Galatians 1:19

SIDE BY SIDE

One moment, several accounts

4 moments of his story told by more than one book, each in its own words in the King James Version. His names are marked; switch on "only here" to underline the words that just one account has.

Acts

Acts 9:4

9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Acts

Acts 22:6

22:6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

Acts

Acts 26:16

26:16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

Galatians

Galatians 1:15

1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

NEAR AND FAR

Where was he?

27 places named in his story, with what happened there and how far each lies from Jerusalem. Tradition's places are dashed, with who placed him there and when. Choose a card or a pin.

Scroll to zoom · drag to move · the map stays on his places Land outline: the Atlas (Natural Earth)

OPEN QUESTIONS

What readers still ask

21 questions the reviewed sources leave open for Paul, with the answers given and who gives them, and 4 things Scripture does not say, in italic. Choose one.

VIEWS, WITH WHO HOLDS THEM · THIS PAGE

Did the men with Saul hear the voice? Acts 9:7 says they were “hearing a voice”; Acts 22:9 that “they heard not the voice of him that spake to me”. (In date order.)

They heard a sound, not the words

Matthew Henry (early 18th century); W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson (1891), who also report Wordsworth and Hackett

Henry: they heard “a confused noise” but did not understand what was said. Conybeare and Howson: the voice spoke articulately to Saul, but to the rest it was “a sound mysterious and indistinct”.

Scholars Acts 9:7·Acts 22:9 Matthew Henry, 1706-1721·W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, 1891

Leave the differences as they stand

W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson (1891)

They judge it “both more prudent and more honest to leave these well-known discrepancies exactly as they are found in the Bible”, and note that readers explain them differently according to their view of inspiration.

Scholars Acts 9:7·Acts 22:9·Acts 26:14 W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, 1891

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