Saint Paul, also called Saul in Hebrew (Acts 7 13), was a leader of the early Christian movement and was instrumental in its spread throughout the Greco Roman world in the years after Christ's death. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia in Anatolia, probably between AD 1 and 10. Thirteen New Testament letters have been attributed to him, many of which show him adjusting Jewish ideas and traditions to new circumstances and measuring Old Testament laws by their relevance to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Among these are the so-called Pastoral Letters, including those to Timothy and Titus. The Book of Acts portrays Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles and the most prominent early Christian leader next to Saint Peter (Saldarini, 1993, online edition).
Paul was born a Jew and trained to be a Pharisee, or a learned and strict observer of religious law. The New Testament records that he actively tried to suppress the early Christian movement through persecution (Gal. 1:13 14) until he was converted to Christianity by a visionary encounter with the risen Jesus while on the road to Damascus about AD 36 (Gal. 1:15 16; Acts 9:1 31; 22; 26). Because of this vision, Paul held that he, too, had met Jesus and was therefore qualified to be called an Apostle (1 Cor. 9:1). In the Bible, "apostle" is a title conferred on one sent with a message. The term is applied primarily to the original Twelve called by Jesus to accompany him during his ministry (Matt. 10:2 4; Mark 3:16 19; Luke 6:13 16). In the Gospels, other followers are called disciples, but the title was gradually extended to others such as Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:14; Rom. 9:1, 11:13). After this, the Twelve were distinguished from all the apostles, as in 1 Corinthians 15:5 7. Most of the Twelve were from the laboring class, with the exception of Matthew, a tax collector. None was from the religious sector of Jewish society, a characteristic that differentiates Paul from the ...