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 21:39); 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; 11:21-33); 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 1:21 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 14:14). 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