The Great Apostle to the Gentiles

The Great Apostle to the Gentiles

Introduction

The great Apostle to the gentiles is Paul, who is one Christian missionary who has had the greatest influence on Christianity, based on his writings which form the core of the New Testament. Paul is also known as Saint Paul, Apostle Paul and Saul of Tarsus. He has wielded a tremendous amount of influence on Christianity through his epistles, as a result of being a famous Christian apostle, at the time of the Gospel's proliferation in the Roman Empire.

Before his conversion, Paul was called Saul and was known to have persecuted Jesus' early disciples in the vicinity of Jerusalem . However, when Jesus got resurrected and came to Saul in the form of a magnificent light, he became blind and once he had his eyesight back, he began propagating that Jesus Christ is the promised messiah of the Jews and the word of God Almighty. Paul is thus, the perfect example of a great sinner mending his ways after an encounter with God, and living the life which God expects from His servants.

This paper will look at the life of this great Christian missionary, and will shed light on his birth, conversion, apostolic mission, imprisonment and brutal execution.

Discussion

Before his conversion, Paul was known for his strong views against Christianity and for his brutalities against the disciples of Jesus, yet he came across an experience while going to Damascus, which proved to be a life altering one, and one which would have great ramifications for not only Paul as an individual, but also for the Christian belief.

Birth and Early life

As far as Paul the Apostle's birth is concerned, he was born into a Hebrew family, in a tribe called Benjamin, in Tarsus which is a Cilician town of Asia Minor. He descended from a Jewish family, some of whose members were slaves who were later set free by the Romans. Paul had complete Roman citizenship, and was an educated and intelligent man. He was brought up in Jerusalem and was well versed with the culture and ways of paganism, and received education in rabbinical educational institutes, under the watchful eyes of renowned teachers, including Gamaliel, who propagated the people to abstain from killing Jesus' disciples, as opposed to the young Paul, who oppressed and persecuted the saints and the righteous.

Conversion

While on a journey from the city of Jerusalem to Damascus, the firebrand and overzealous Saul experienced something which would change his life forever and would lead to his eventual acceptance of Christianity, a faith which he had loathed prior to this fateful event. As it turns out, it was Jesus in his resurrected form, who appeared in front of Paul, as a bright light due to which Paul became blinded and only after Damascus' Ananias worked on it, was Paul able to see from his eyes again. After experiencing this spiritual awakening, Paul became a Christian, and thus stated his mission of preaching Christianity and the love ...