Why is Paul of Tarsus important?

Answer 1

Saul, who later changed his name to Paul, was a Jew who had Roman citizenship and tried to stamp out Christianity. On one of his anti-Christian missions, on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul and he was converted. He then changed his name to Paul of Tarsus. In time he became the first Christian missionary, and traveled to Greece and Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and died around AD 62 in Rome, when executed by the Roman authorities for his Christian beliefs by beheading.

Answer 2

A:Acts of the Apostles says that Tarsus is also given in Acts as the home town of Saul, the name of the Apostle Paul before his conversion and his first missionary journey. Thus, Actsrefers to him as Saul of Tarsus. These specific references to Paul are found in Acts only.

In his own epistles, Paul never mentions having been called Saul, or having come from the city of Tarsus. In spite of this, it is certainly possible that he had been called Saul and that he was from Tarsus.

However, we can never be certain whether the anonymous author of Acts of the Apostles, writing several decades after the death of Paul, was mistaken in those attributions. Some of the key passages regarding Saul in Acts of the Apostles have parallels to a Saulus whom Josephus mentions in Antiquities of the Jews, a book the author of Acts is known to have been familiar with. Josephus even talked of a riot in Jerusalem, led by Saulus after the stoning of James. Although this Saulus could have inspired the author of Acts, he could not really have been the same person as Paul. So the references to the name Saul and to Tarsus are also possibly the result of misunderstandings on the part of the author of Acts of the Apostles.

Answer 3

Paul of Tarsus otherwise known as 'Apostle' Paul is the man who started a new religion known today as Christianity.

Paul claimed that (and this event is recorded in Acts 9) Jesus appeared to him and gave a new instruction to Paul to go to the Gentiles. Contrary to the instruction that Jesus gave his true disciples below!

• These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans [Matthew 10:5]

Answer 4

Three reasons:

1) He was an effective missionary who established a network of congregations throughout modern day Turkey and Greece. These were mostly Gentile churches so Paul is important in broadening the base beyond the original Jewish roots.

2) He wrote a series of letters which the church later considered as authoritative. At least seven of his letters became part of the Christian canon (New Testament) and six more carry the weight of his name as authority even though they were probably written by others after his death.

3) His theological ideas expressed in his letters became the bedrock of emerging Christian doctrines.

Answer 5

In Hebrew, Saul, born at Tarsus which was in Cilicia in the beginning of the 1st Century, was a Benjamite trained as a Pharisee in the faith of the Jews and was a tentmaker by trait (Phil. 3:5; Acts 18:3). He studied the Law under the famous Gamaliel at Jerusalem and was a persecutor of the early Christians. He was converted near Damascus (Acts 5:34; 7:58) and was specially commissioned by Jesus to become Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 26:13-20).

Paul travelled a vast area bringing the Good News to these Gentiles in Asia Minor, Greece, some believe France, Spain and Britain, and finally in Rome where he was martyred in the late 60s AD.

Fourteen (14) letters/epistles are attributed to him - the most prolific of authors. Paul amplified the Christian faith. Some of his writings are often misapplied like Romans and Galatians. His deeper works are in Thessalonicans.

Answer 6

Paul of Tarsus, formerly Saul of Tarsus, is given credit for writing much of the Gospel and for helping start churches in the Roman world. He died in Rome by execution.