Paul

Paul, known before his conversion as Saul of Tarsus, was a first-century Jewish Christian apostle, missionary, and theologian. His letters form a substantial portion of the New Testament and have had an enduring influence on Christian theology. He was born in Tarsus, a prominent Hellenistic city in Cilicia in Asia Minor, to a Jewish family belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Roman citizen by birth. Trained as a Pharisee, he describes himself in his letters as having been extremely zealous for the ancestral traditions and as having persecuted the church of God. The Acts of the Apostles adds that he studied in Jerusalem under Gamaliel and that he was present at the killing of Stephen.

The decisive event of his life was an experience of the risen Jesus while he was on the way to Damascus to arrest Christians, an event narrated three times in Acts and referred to in his own correspondence. After a period in Arabia and a return to Damascus, he later went up to Jerusalem and met Cephas (Peter) and James the Lord's brother. He then worked in Syria and Cilicia and, from Antioch, undertook journeys that took him through Cyprus, southern and western Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia. He established communities in Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, and elsewhere, and he earned his living at least in part by tentmaking or leatherworking. His strategy typically involved preaching first in synagogues and then among Gentiles.

A core of seven letters is generally accepted as written by Paul himself: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. Other letters attributed to him in the New Testament are of disputed or later authorship. These writings deal with concrete problems: divisions and moral issues at Corinth, the insistence by some that Gentile converts be circumcised and observe the Mosaic law, questions about the resurrection and the coming of the Lord, and Paul's own sufferings and imprisonment. Theologically he proclaimed that both Jews and Gentiles are justified by faith in Jesus Christ apart from works of the law, that Christ's death and resurrection are the saving events, and that believers live by the Spirit as members of one body. He opposed requiring circumcision of Gentile converts, a stance that brought him into conflict with some Jewish Christians, as reflected especially in Galatians and in the Jerusalem meeting described in Acts and Galatians.

The New Testament account in Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome after an appeal to Caesar, following arrest in Jerusalem and two years' detention at Caesarea. It does not record his death. Early tradition, already implied in the letter known as 1 Clement at the end of the first century and stated by later writers including Eusebius of Caesarea, holds that he was executed in Rome under Nero, by beheading in accordance with his status as a citizen. Dates in the mid-60s of the first century are commonly given, but the exact year is not certain. Christian tradition locates his tomb on the Via Ostiensis south of Rome, where the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls was later built; a sarcophagus associated with the apostle has been investigated in modern times beneath the high altar. Together with the Apostle Peter he is commemorated on 29 June. The Conversion of Saint Paul is observed on 25 January. He is honored as the Apostle to the Gentiles and as patron of missionaries, theologians, tentmakers, Malta, Greece, and the city of Rome, among other causes and places.