How many years was it between Paul's conversion and martyrdom?

Answer 1

A:Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33 that soon after his conversion to Christianity, Paul spent 3 years in Damascus, but escaped the city when the governor under Aretas, king of the Nabateans from 9 BCE to 40 CE, had a garrison deployed to arrest him because of his Christian activities. This information at least gives us the latest possible year of Paul's conversion. There is no reason at this stage to assume that the escape should have occurred near the end of the king's reign, a somewhat improbable coincidence, but if it did then Paul's conversion was around the year 36. Prior to his conversion, Paul spent some years persecuting the Christians, so that his reputation had spread through Cilicia and Syria. There must have been a thriving Christian community there long before Paul saw the need to begin his persecution of Christians.

In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul said that after his conversion, he travelled to Arabia, then Damascus (bypassing Jerusalem), Jerusalem, then Syria and Cilicia, and back to Jerusalem. At some stage after the last visit to Jerusalem, he appears to have visited Antioch with Peter. He must have spent 3 years in Damascus, 14 years in Syria and Cilicia, and indeterminate periods in the other centres. Therefore, his conversion would have been at least 18 to 20 years before he wrote Galations. Conservative Christians believe that Galatians was written around 48 CE, which means that Paul's conversion would have taken place about 28 CE or sooner. To maintain traditional chronologies for the crucifixion of Jesus, the date of authorship of Galatians has to be moved far into the future.

In Galatians 2:10, "Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do," Paul seems to be passing on and supporting a request by the Jerusalem brethren to send relief to the Judeans. 1Corinthians 16:1-4 refers to the support of the Galatians for a collection to assist the poor of Judea, and asks very directly that the Corinthians contribute as well. The Corinthians may have needed some prompting, since the request was repeated at some length in 2 Corinthians. There is no suggestion that the collection was an ongoing tithe, in fact there is a sense of some urgency and a recognition that the congregations would face difficulty in meeting what was demanded of them. So, Paul invested considerable effort and goodwill in solving a specific problem for the Jerusalem brethren. He mentioned the collection in Romans, listing only Macedonia and Achaia as contributing, to the obvious exclusion of the Galatians, as well as other churches with which he must have been in contact. A reasonable inference is that Judea faced an economic crisis, and that the crisis affected all of the world in which Paul worked. Such a crisis was the famine that occurred between 44 and 48 CE, which would mean that Galatians, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians were written during the period 44 to 48, with Romans during the same 4 year period, or soon afterwards. If this is correct, Paul's conversion took place around the mid-twenties, he was already persecuting the Christians by the early twenties, and there were Christian communities in Cilicia and Syria before 20 CE.

These analyses all point to a surprisingly early conversion for Paul and require a major reassessment of just when Jesus died. Until such time, we can not truthfully say how much time elapsed from the crucifixion until the time of Paul's conversion.

Answer 2

It should be noted that Paul himself, in Galatians, mentions that he returned to Jerusalem again 14 years after his conversion, but there is no further information on the events of these years. We also know that, following this final visit to Jerusalem, Paul was held prisoner for two years, until his case was reopened in AD 59. After this, he used his position as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar, and he was then escorted to Rome in AD 60, where he awaited trial for another two years. This would mean a minimum of 16 years (and an unknown maximum) for the time between Paul's conversion and his martyrdom - if indeed he was martyred.

Answer 3

Soon after his conversion to Christianity, Paul spent three years in Damascus, but escaped the city when the governor under Aretas, king of the Nabateans from 9 BCE to 40 CE, had a garrison deployed to arrest him because of his Christian activities. Based on this information we can say Paul's conversion was no later than the year 36, and probably some years earlier. However, we do not have a date for his martyrdom, nor any actual evidence that he was martyred at all. A tradition that Paul had been martyred developed in the second century CE, but this is entirely unsupported by any facts.

Although we can say the latest year in which Paul became a Christian, we have no information on when or even whether he was martyred.

Answer 4

It is believed that there was approximately 30 years between Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, which occurred around 33-36 AD, and his martyrdom in Rome around 64-67 AD.

Answer 5

1 1/2 years

Answer 6

14 years