Paul the Apostle See Harris, pp Paul is born a Hellenistic Jew and educated as a Pharisee (Phil. 3:5; 2 Cor. 11:22) [I was] circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

Paul harasses members of the early Jesus movement (1 Cor. 15:9; Gal.1:13-14) For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

Paul encounters the risen Jesus (ca CE) (1Gal. 1:10-12, 16) Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ … [When God was pleased] to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being …

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 1 Corinthians 15:8

After his revelation, Paul travels to “Arabia” and then returns to Damascus (Gal. 1:16-17) [When God was pleased] to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

“After three years,” he visits Jerusalem to meet Peter (Cephas) and James “the Lord’s brother” (Gal. 1:18-19) Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.

He then travels to “Syria and Cilicia,” presumably as a missionary to Gentiles (non-Jews), and steering clear of Jewish churches (Gal. 1:21-24) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches in Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me. “Fourteen years later,” with Titus and Barnabas, Paul makes a second visit to Jerusalem (ca. 49 CE), presumably to confer with Peter, John, James, and representatives from Antioch about admitting Gentiles as equal members of the church (Gal. 2:1-10; cf. Acts 15)

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) —those leaders contributed nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.

After the Jerusalem consultation, Paul returns to Antioch, where he opposes Peter over the issue of dining with Gentiles (Gal. 2:11-14) But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self- condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Traveling from Antioch to Greece, Paul establishes the first Christian congregations of Europe (Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth); he remains in Corinth for eighteen months (ca CE), and writes a letter to the Thessalonians (ca. 50 CE—see Acts 18:11-12) Paul visits Ephesus (ca CE); he writes 1 Corinthians (ca CE) Paul makes a (second?) tour of Macedonia and Greece (Acts 19:1, 10, 22); he writes various parts of 2 Corinthians (and Galatians?) Paul makes a third and final visit to Corinth; he writes Romans and plans to revisit Jerusalem and then to stop by Rome en route to Spain (Rom. 15:23- 29)

Paul makes a third visit to Jerusalem, where he is arrested and then imprisoned at Caesarea Under armed guard, Paul is transported to Rome, where he remains under hous arrest for two years (60-62 CE—Acts 27-28) Paul is executed in Rome under Nero (ca CE)

Paul’s Letters Considered genuine by almost everybody: 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2 Corinthians Galatians Romans Philemon Philippians Considered genuine by many: 2 Thessalonians Colossians Considered “pseudonymous” by most: Ephesians 1 & 2 Timothy Titus