Saint Paul to this day is claimed to be the great apostle who spread Christianity. At first his profession was as a murderer and persecutor of Jesus Christ's disciples but later declared himself a follower of Jesus.
The main reference for information regarding Saint Paul's life story is in the New Testament in the Acts of the Apostles section as well as a collection of letters he himself wrote to various church congregations, although the information is not complete.
Saint Paul's life while following the teachings of the Torah
Reporting from the Wikipedia page, there is no definite history of exactly when Saint Paul was born. However, if you read Acts of the Apostles 7:58, you will find the fact that Saint Paul was still young when Deacon Stephen was made a martyr (32-34 AD).
Based on this information, experts estimate that Paul was born in Tarsus between the years 6-10 and lived at the same time as Jesus. He was raised in the city of Jerusalem, and as a young man followed the teachings of the Pharisaic sect, namely a hardline Jewish denomination.
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The Pharisee sect was ordained as enforcers of the Torah law, therefore its adherents were known to be quite conscientious because they believed that God loves those who obey the law and punishes those who disobey.
In a track record based on the Bible, Saint Paul actually had dual citizenship, namely Roman and Greek (read Acts of the Apostles 22:28). Roman citizenship was obtained by purchasing it from the Jewish Supreme Court.
Regardless of his nationality, when he was still young, Saint Paul also participated in the Torah law education taught by Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts of the Apostles 22:3).
Paul's character was known to be very temperamental, but on the other hand, he had a clear brain so he could easily digest the laws of the Torah during his education.
At that time, the teachings of Jesus had developed, and as a result there were differences of opinion among Jews themselves between those who confirmed Jesus' teachings and those who did not.
Saint Paul saw this teaching as quite dangerous and a threat to the Jewish faith. As a result, from then on Paul began a guerrilla campaign chasing the Jewish followers of Jesus, persecuting them and even killing them.
Paul repented and became a follower of the messiah
In the 9th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, it is told how Saint Paul, in his efforts to hunt down Jesus' followers to the land of Damascus accompanied by his fellow Jews, in the middle of the journey suddenly saw a bright light come down from the sky.
The bright light claimed that it was Jesus who he had been looking for all this time and as a result of seeing this light, Saint Paul became blind for three days.
This event was the reason why Saint Paul turned his thinking 180 degrees and claimed to be a follower of Jesus. Of course, when they arrived in the city of Damascus, the followers of Jesus' teachings were surprised by the change in Saint Paul's attitude, no longer looking
as well as giving punishment to Jewish Christian followers but instead making testimonies of their Christian faith.
Due to this change in attitude, Saint Paul became a target for his Jewish friends to kill, supported by top officials of King Aretas IV. This assassination attempt failed miserably and thanks to the help of his fellow believers, Paul managed to escape from the city of Damascus at night (read 2 Corinthians 11:32)
When he arrived back in the city of Jerusalem from his flight, Paul began to intensively preach the teachings of Jesus from Nazareth. But the funny thing is, Paul's own meeting with Jesus was only for a short time on the initial journey to Damascus, so how did he know the true teachings of Jesus and then taught them again.
It is clear that the contents of Paul's sermon contradict the teachings of the Torah which are believed by the Jews of Jerusalem, so now it is his turn to be hunted down by his own friends and he runs away again and lives in his hometown of Tarsus.
In his hometown of Tarsus, his good friend Barnabas then invited him to go to Antioch, Syria (42-45). For the first time, in Antioch, Saint Paul founded the Antioch congregation and called his congregation Christian.
The death of saint paul
Saint Paul being killed by King Nero is actually just a guess, because Christian sources such as the New Testament Bible made by Paul have no record at all regarding how Paul's death occurred.
It is suspected by biblical scholars that in the last period of Paul's life, he changed his name to John. This choice was made considering that his name had been tarnished among the Jewish community by being labeled as a traitor.
he only clue in the Bible concerns the death of James in Acts 12:2. It is said that Herod killed him by cutting off his head.
Quoting from the page alkitab.sabda.org, St. Paul was imprisoned twice in the city of Rome. When he was first arrested, he was confined for 2 years under house arrest and during that period of imprisonment he wrote several letters to his congregation at Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
Freed from his imprisonment, later in 63 AD after being free, Saint Paul went to a number of places such as Jerusalem, Macedonia, and ended up in Spain. (Romans 15:24-28).
In 64 AD, the city of Rome experienced an extraordinary fire disaster. King Nero who was ruling at that time accused that the fire was the work of Christians.
As a result, Saint Paul was arrested for the second time in 67 AD. Well, the story about Paul finds its way here. There is no longer a source that can be trusted biblically for what happened after Paul was arrested a second time by King Nero.
Historical traces reveal that during this second period of bodily confinement, Saint Paul still managed to write a letter to Timothy and it was claimed to be his last letter.
The next part, Paul's life story becomes dark and difficult to trace based on official Christian historical records.
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