The Story of the Apostle Paul

Other than Jesus Himself, there is no person more significant in the spread of Christianity than the Apostle Paul. Surprisingly, he wasn’t even among the twelve whom Jesus selected to carry on the kingdom work after His ascension to heaven. In fact, Saul of Tarsus was in the business of persecuting and arresting followers of Jesus whom he believed were heretics, guilty of promoting a false Messiah. But that all changed when Saul, later taking the name Paul, had a personal encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. His Damascus road experience resulted in a complete reversal of Saul’s opinion about Jesus. After several days in Damascus, Saul began visiting synagogues where he astonished listeners by boldly proclaiming that Jesus is “the Son of God.” When challenged by skeptics and detractors, Saul appealed to the prophetic Scriptures to prove that Jesus was Israel’s promised Messiah. Confident that he had been chosen to proclaim the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus, Paul devoted the rest of his life to presenting Jesus to Jews and non-Jews alike. Traveling thousands of miles on land and sea, Paul carried the message of Jesus’ salvation and messiahship throughout the first century Roman world. Although most people think of Paul as a Jew who “converted” and became a “Christian,” he never identified himself as such. Saul of Tarsus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, and never turned away from his Jewish heritage. Like any observant Jew, he honored the Sabbath, worshiped at the Jerusalem temple and practiced Jewish traditions. He lived and served God as the Jewish Apostle Paul. In this book we will explore the life, travels and teachings of the “Saul” who became “Paul,” apostle to the nations. The first half of the book will focus on the places Paul went and what he did. The second half of the book will consider what Paul taught and preached. This book is the fruit of my own inquiry and research during my forty-year career as a Bible professor at Western Seminary. You are invited to join me on this study adventure. Scripture will be our guide as we follow together in the footsteps of Paul.