Thought I'd add just a few corrections to this summary:
caballero reyes said:
When Paul was thrown to the ground, he was able to give Christ absolutely his whole being. Later he was able to say "it is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me"
He wasn't "thrown to the ground". That's a later legend/novelization from Acts. He had a vision. That's all we know. But the latter is correct. He experienced a total transformation of his personality by ceasing to identify with his former self (his body, his beliefs, his old values, his old identity) and coming to identify with Christ, where the only thing that mattered was "God's will", which is to LIVE righteously, i.e. in service to others.
Paul wrote 13 letters that are part of the New Testament and are addressed to the communities of Gentiles, pagans converted by their preaching.
He wrote 10 letters. 1, 2 Timothy and Titus are later forgeries.
In them he exhorts, guides them in the faith and teaches about ethics and doctrine.
Important to point out that for Paul, ethics and doctrine are inextricably intertwined. "Doctrine" leads to direct practice/application. Practice is rooted in, and justified by "doctrine".
These letters are inspired by the Holy Spirit and are part of the divine revelation. That is, they are the Word of God and through them God himself is made known. Paul is the instrument in this divine communication but at the same time the letters help us to know the human author.
Close enough. Paul identifies with Christ. As such, he "reaches down" to those below his own level, reminding them of what it really means to LIVE life as a Christ-person. And by doing so, he lifts them a bit higher up to his level.
They reflect your personality, your gifts and your intense struggles. Other sources that help us to know the apostle are the Acts of the Apostles written by Saint Luke and certain apocryphal books.
Best to stick just to Paul's 10 letters.
Paul was born of a wealthy Jewish family, from the tribe of Benjamin, in Tarsus of Cilicia (today Turkey). His Semitic name was Saul. We do not know when it began to be called with the Latin name of Pablo. Because Tarsus was a Greek city, it enjoyed Roman citizenship. The date of his birth is estimated around the year 3A.D. It is believed that Jesus was born about 6 or 7 B.C. Then Jesus Christ would be only about 10 years older than St. Paul.
All conjecture and later legend from Acts. Another later legend said Paul was from Galilee. For all we know, that's the truth.
Although raised in a rigorous orthodoxy, while living in his home in Tarsus, he was under the liberal influence of the Hellenists, that is to say of the Greek culture that at that time had penetrated all levels of society in Asia Minor. It was formed in Jewish, Roman and Greek traditions and cultures.
Paul WAS influenced by Greek culture, but then again, most Jews were. Paul was particularly influenced by Stoic philosophy.
Being young, we do not know the age, Saúl went to study in Jerusalem in the famous rabbinic school directed by Gamaliel. In addition to studying the law and the prophets, there he learned a trade as was the custom. Young Saul chose to build tents. It is not known whether he ever saw Jesus before his crucifixion, but he says nothing about it.
Later legend. We only know that he was very well-versed in the scriptures, and worked with his hands making something. He never saw Jesus before his crucifixion, he saw a vision of Christ crucified.
By the year 34 Saul appears as a righteous young Pharisee, fanatically disposed against the Christians. He believed that the new sect was a threat to Judaism so it had to be eliminated and its followers punished. We are told in the Acts of the Apostles that Saul was present approving when St. Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned and killed. It was soon after that Paul experienced the revelation that would transform his life. As he went to the city of Damascus to continue his persecution of Christians and make them deny their faith, Jesus appeared to him and threw him on the floor and asked him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Acts 9: 4. By the supernatural light he was blind. Paul, before the Lord, gave himself totally: - "Lord, what do you want me to do?" Jesus asks for a profound act of humility, since he had to submit to those who persecuted him: - "Go to Ananias and he will tell you." Of his coming to Damascus, followed his conversion, the healing of his blindness by the disciple Ananias and his baptism. Paul avidly accepted the mission of preaching the Gospel of Christ, but like all the saints, he saw his unworthiness and departed from the world for To spend three years in << Arabia >> in meditation and prayer before beginning his apostolate.There was a lot of purification needed.
More Acts fiction. Yes, he persecuted the "church"? But what was the church? It was a Jewish church that excluded Gentiles from full membership. We can say that for sure.
Laura's next book will tell the real story.
