Paul

Class by Laurel Lawrence

Next to Jesus Christ, Paul is one of the most influential Christians in the history of the world. This is mostly because of his extensive travels and dedicated missionary work.

Gentiles, as the word is used in the New Testament are non-Israelites. Jesus only taught to the Israelites with 2 exceptions. Why was He so exclusive? Because of His promise in pre-mortality.

Elected means selected.

The apostles and other Church leaders were scattered by persecution. The blessing from this was that they became a light to the world. The Gospel was preached to the “gentiles: beginning about 10 years AD when Peter received a vision (Acts 10) Paul was specifically called to preach to the Gentiles.

Saul was a Hebrew name – Paul is a Roman name. He used the name Saul in the synagogues and the name Paul when teaching in the streets.

Saul was from Turkey in the city of Tarsus. It was the center of the Roman empire. He was very educated. His education was a huge blessing because he took the Gospel to all of the Roman empire., He was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He was probably named after King Saul, who was also of the tribe of Benjamin.

The Jews were not Roman citizens; they were captives everywhere except in Tarsus. Mark Antony granted the Jews in Tarsus Roman citizenship because they were so educated and advanced. This special birthplace was arranged by the Lord so Paul had freedom to travel all over and have the rights and freedom. (Acts 22)

Paul was the same age as Jesus but probably never met Jesus until his vision. He lived in Tarsus while Jesus was in Bethlehem. In all their travels, they never overlapped cities. Paul’s father was a tentmaker, so Paul learned that trade and always supported himself while being a missionary. He had at least 1 sister. His family was a strict, religious, orthodox Jew and proud of it.

The 2 parts of the Sanhedrin:

Pharisees were conservatives who strictly lived the law of Moses, believed in the afterlife, and miracles.

Sadducees were liberals, worldly, did not believe in angels, the afterlife, or resurrection – that’s why they were sad-u-cee!

Paul’s family were Pharisees. 

He was 6 years old when he was sent to the Synagogue to learn scriptures

At 13 he became a son of the law and had Priesthood responsibilities.

At 15 he was sent to Jerusalem, which was 350 miles from Tarsus to learn the law. It mentions that his sister was there. (His life was saved by his nephew)

He learned from Gamaliel, a great teacher of the time, famous and respected Jewish teacher.

At 18 he was fit for the bride chamber (ready to marry) It was a strong moral tradition to marry and have children.

He heard stories about Jesus. In those times people called Christianity “The Way” and believed Jesus was a blasphemer. After the death of Jesus, Paul moved to Jerusalem to be a member of the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish Senate. From that we know that:

1.       He had to be married

2.       He had to be at least 30

3.       He had to have at least 1 child

4.       He was a leader

Steven was brought to the Sanhedrin and accused of blaspheme (Acts 7). The council voted to stone Steven to death. Paul held the coats of those stoning. Right before the stoning Paul saw the heavens open and Steven happy to die. He felt his conscience pricked, but continued persecuting because he felt he was doing right.

He went all over to catch and punish Christians. When he was sent to Syria and Damascus to find Christians who had escaped and on the way had his vision. (Acts 97) He asked the Lord, “What shall I do?” He was left blind and was led to Ananias, who had been instructed to go to him by an angel.

Ananias told him to go get baptized, which he did. Then he was suddenly on the receiving end of all the persecution, especially since he had changed sides.

He became a friend of Barnabas – nobody else wanted anything to do with him. He was a very tall, big man. He took Paul to meet Peter and James (the brother of Jesus). He stayed with them 15 days to learn from them.

This is a picture of the son and his companion of one of the sisters (on his mission) who attends the class. It kind of looks like what we can imagine Paul and Barnabas looked like:

When he tried to preach in Jerusalem, the Jews tried to kill him. He escaped and went back to Tarsus. After 4 years, Barnabas went and asked him to be his junior companion to go teach.

After they healed a man who had been bitten by a snake, the people thought they were Greek Gods Zeus and Mercury because Barnabas was huge and Paul was about 5 feet tall with a whining voice until he raised his voice, then he sounded like the roar of a lion (according to Joseph Smith).

Paul was a great teacher and great testifier. He served many missions – turkey (Asia Minor), Greece, Italy and the whole Roman Empire. He served 17 missions. Whenever he entered a city he would go first to the synagogues to let the House of Israel have the first opportunity. Then he would go to  the Gentiles.

Paul was persecuted: he was beaten with 39 stripes multiple times and with rods, then left for dead. He was imprisoned for years.

Joseph Smith felt he had a lot in common with Paul.

Paul always said he had a ‘thorn in his flesh’ but doesn’t mention what it was. It was never taken from him. He taught the law of compensation – for what we suffer we are blessed with character strength and said, “I have learned to be content”.

In his epistles, he was answering questions that had been sent to him. That’s why so many times we don’t know what he is talking about because we don’t have the questions. This is why he is misinterpreted frequently by other churches.

Paul was a member of the 12 apostles, replacing one of the original who had been killed. So were Barnabas and Mathias.

Nero, at 64 AD was a very sinful man. He was openly married to another man. In Romans 1:26-27 Paul preached against homosexuality and was beheaded. The Romans couldn’t crucify him because he was a Roman citizen. He said, “I have fought a good fight.

Both Paul and Joseph Smith were persecuted for saying they had a vision. Both gave several accounts of their vision and were not ashamed. He taught, “As in Adam all die”, and “Charity never faileth”

See the free app of 8 Bible videos on Paul

See the story of a doctor who did abortions until he saw a video called The Silent Scream and then became an advocate against abortion.

See “I saw the light” – about Paul