Paul

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To write a complete history of Paul in these pages would be impossible. Noted men have spent years in studying his life, and in writing most interesting volumes thereon, many of which may be read with profit.
Of Saul’s parents we only know that they must have been in a position to afford their son all the advantages of his time. He was born at Tarsus — “no mean city” (Acts 21:3939But 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. (Acts 21:39)); he was a Roman freedman, of the tribe of Benjamin (as was his namesake, the first King of Israel), and a strict Pharisee. He was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, the famous master of the day; but according to Jewish custom, he was also taught a trade, and learned to make the camel’s-hair tents, for which the province of Cilicia was famous.
We are introduced to Saul as a “young man” (Acts 7:58, 22:20), at whose feet the cruel murderers of the first martyr, Stephen, deposited their clothes. He gave his voice against the followers of Jesus, although he did it ignorantly (I Tim. 1:13). Saul appears as “a blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious”; and it is worthy of note that the last picture given us of his life shows us Paul, the persecuted one; he changed characters and places. “Paul, the aged,” is in a Roman prison, awaiting his summons to appear before the brutal Nero, having been once already delivered out of the mouth of the lion; he is in chains, he has only Luke with him, and asks for a cloak (winter is approaching) and his books (2 Tim.). What a scene! Who shall fill in the details of all that happened between his first appearance and his last? His own account of his life may give us some slight idea of it (read 2 Cor. 4:7-12; 6:3-10; 11:21-337But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:7‑12)
3Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; 6By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. (2 Corinthians 6:3‑10)
21I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. 22Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. 23Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? 30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. 31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. 32In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: 33And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. (2 Corinthians 11:21‑33)); and who could ever be tired of following the graphic recital of his missionary journeys by his devoted friend and companion Luke?
Paul was not one of the twelve who had companied with Jesus when on earth, though he was none the less an apostle, because when he was converted on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord in glory as really as Peter had seen Him on earth (compare Acts 1:2121Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, (Acts 1:21) and I Cor. 9:1). An apostle evidently is one that must have seen the Lord, though the word is used very occasiolly for disciples (Acts 14:1414Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, (Acts 14:14)). Paul was an apostle of the circumcision or of the Jews. After his own nation had put from them the Word of God, he turned to the Gentiles, for so, said he, hath the Lord commanded (Acts 13). His epistles, many of them written in prison, form a unique collection of letters, for which we shall always have to thank God. No human pen has produced such among any ancient writings. Their chronological order does not concur with their place in the Bible. 1 Thess. was the first written, and 2 Tim. probably the last, while something like twelve years elapsed between them. Most were written to churches or assemblies, others to individuals whom he loved. His warm heart is shown by his many greetings to absent friends.
ML 12/29/1959