Right next to Jesus himself, the apostle Paul was almost certainly the most important person in the history of early Christianity. Nearly half of the New Testament books claim to be written by him. He was probably the most important missionary in the early Church. It has to be noted that after Jesus’ death, Christianity was made of a handful of people from rural areas of Galilee. By the beginning of the second century, religion had grown into an interconnected network of believing communities scattered throughout major urban areas of the empire. Paul was a leading figure in this Christian mission. These were all major elements in early Christian history, but the real and crucial importance of Paul’s life lies somewhere else. And to that, I’ll return later. Needless to say, Paul’s life has been a source of inspiration for thousands of books and articles so it’s practically impossible to give a full survey here. As with so many things in life, Paul’s story begins in a loss.
Based on the available sources at hand, we can say a few things about his background. Paul himself tells us that he was a Jew born to Jewish parents and that he was zealous for the Law, adhering strictly to the traditions endorsed by the Pharisees. The Book of Acts (written after his life) claims that he was from the Greek city of Tarsus in Cilicia (southeastern part of Asia Minor) and that he was educated in Jerusalem under the renowned rabbi Gamaliel. Paul doesn’t say anything specific about his educational background, but we can deduce from his style of writing that he was much better educated than most people of his day. Furthermore, it is obvious that he had some formal training in rhetoric. Also, his native tongue was almost without question Greek, and he gives no indication at all of knowing Aramaic, the most popular language in Palestine. This is in accordance with the tradition that puts Paul in Tarsus – a place outside of Palestine. As a Pharisee, Paul’s religion would have been focused on the Law of God: the Torah of Moses – the greatest gift God gave the Jewish people! The one aspect of his life as a Pharisee that Paul emphasized more than once was his persecution of Jesus’ followers. Far from devoting himself to the Gospel, he was aiming at the destruction of the First Church. Why was Paul so opposed to Jesus’ followers? Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell us, but we can make some educated guesses. I think that the main reason for his persecution was the devotion and worship that first Christians gave to Jesus after he died. As many of you know, one of the central features of Judaism is his strict monotheism and Jesus was known back then as a guy who was shamefully killed in a most humiliating way. For most faithful Jews of that time, to believe that this man was the Messiah resurrected and exalted by God was an affront to God himself. Yes, it is true that some Jews expected the coming of Messiah, but the Messiah was always imagined either as a great military leader or an inspired priest who would rule God’s people through his authoritative interpretation of God’s Law or a cosmic judge who would come to destroy the forces of evil. Nothing like Jesus who was crucified. Paul, who was well versed in the Scriptures (The Old Testament), recognized what this meant for Jesus’ standing before God. The Torah is clear: “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree”. So, Paul was eager to wipe off this new and dangerous sect that worshiped a criminal killed by the Roman state.
But then something unimaginable happened: Paul converted. It is difficult for historians to evaluate what actually happened to make Paul “turn around” – the literal meaning of the word conversion. Two sources we have (The Acts of Apostles and Paul’s own epistles) tell us that the conversion happened as a direct intervention of God. It all happened on a road to a city called Damascus – probably a few years after Jesus died. The most important thing to observe about Paul’s conversion is that he traces it back to an encounter with the resurrected Jesus. When Paul experienced this revelation from God in which resurrected Jesus appeared to him, he became convinced that he was wrong to persecute Christians and that he actually has to preach the good news of Christ to gentiles. Of course, as a historian, I can’t tell you whether resurrected Jesus really appeared to Paul, but this encounter (as he interpreted it) changed everything. There is no doubt that Paul really believed that he saw Jesus’ glorified body raised from the dead. This experience formed the core of his theological views.
And the crucial view was the one regarding the question of participation and Judaism. Was it important to keep all of the Jewish laws in order to become a follower of Christ? As many of you know already, Judaism was a religion inherently connected to the nation of Jews. For the faithful Jews, one can enter a Judaic religion only if he first becomes a full member of the Jewish people. That of course meant that male candidates had to undergo a process of circumcision and that every candidate (male or female) had to oblige to the Jewish laws (kosher food, Sabbath observance, etc.). As Christianity started to spread outside of the Jewish land – attracting the Gentiles, a natural question emerged: Do these pagan converts need to become a part of Jewish people in order to worship and follow Christ? Discussion and polemics broke out that eventually culminated at the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem (cc. 50 AD). More than anyone else that we know about from the earliest years of Christianity, Paul emphasized that faith in Jesus as the messiah who died for sins and was raised from the dead was not to be restricted to those who were Jews. The salvation brought by Christ was available to everyone, Jew or Gentiles, on an equal basis. As he states in one of his epistles: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. It is one of the most famous quotes in the history of Christianity – used against slavery, social inequality, misogyny, and all sorts of social problems in the last 1500 years. But in the 1st century AD, this notion proved to be revolutionary. It separated religion from the shackles of ethnos and changed the concept of what it means to belong to a religion. Today it is quite common to be a Christian regardless of one’s nationality or social status. However, in Paul’s time, the situation was very different. In the end, Paul’s view won and Christianity opened itself to a world in a way no religion before did. Without this development, Christianity would probably stay a minor (and unacceptable) sect in Judaism, and the world that we know would be quite different. So, this idea of universalism that Paul cherished so much changed everything. One man, and one idea. Paul was eventually arrested, and killed by the Romans in 64 AD. But, as a quote from one (dear to me) movie states: You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea.