Bible Lexicons

Παῦλος, Παύλου, ὁ (a Latin proper name, Paulus), Paul. Two persons of this name are mentioned in the N. T., viz.:

1. Sergius Paulus, a Roman propraetor (proconsul; cf. Σέργιος, and B. D., under the phrase, Sergius Paulus), converted to Christ by the agency of the apostle Paul: Acts 13:7.

2. the apostle Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul (see Σαούλ, Σαῦλος). He was born at Tarsus in Cilicia (Acts 9:11; Acts 21:39; Acts 22:3) of Jewish parents (Philippians 3:5). His father was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6) and a Roman citizen; hence, he himself was a Roman citizen by birth (Acts 22:28; Acts 16:37). He was endowed with remarkable gifts, both moral and intellectual. He learned the trade of a σκηνοποιός (which see). Brought to Jerusalem in early youth, he was thoroughly indoctrinated in the Jewish theology by the Pharisee Gamaliel (Acts 22:3; Acts 5:34). At first he attacked and persecuted the Christians most fiercely; at length, on his way to Damascus, he was suddenly converted to Christ by g miracle, and became an indefatigable and undaunted preacher of Christ; and the founder of many Christian churches. And not only by his unwearied labors did he establish a claim to the undying esteem of the friends of Christianity, but also by the fact, which appears from his immortal Epistles, that he caught perfectly the mind of his heavenly Master and taught most unequivocally that salvation was designed by God for all men who repose a living faith in Jesus Christ, and that bondage to the Mosaic law is wholly incompatible with the spiritual liberty of which Christ is the author. By his zeal and doctrine he drew upon himself the deadly hatred of the Jews, who at Jerusalem in the year 57 (or 58 according to the more common opinion; yet see the chronological table in Meyer (or Lange) on Acts; Farrar, St. Paul, ii. excurs. x.) brought about his imprisonment; and as a captive he was carried first to Caesarea in Palestine, and two years later to Rome, where he suffered martyrdom (in the year 64). For the number of those daily grows smaller who venture to defend the ecclesiastical tradition for which Eusebius is responsible (h. e. 2, 22, 2) (but of which traces seem to be found in Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 5, 7 [ET]; can. Murator. (cf. Westcott, Canon, 5th edition, p. 521f)), according to which Paul, released from this imprisonment, is said to have preached in Spain and Asia Minor; and subsequently, imprisoned a second-time, to have been at length put to death at Rome in the year 67 or 68, while Nero was still emperor. (On this point cf. Meyer on Romans, Introduction, § 1; Harnack on Clement to the Romans, the passage cited; Lightfoot, ibid., p. 49f; Holtzmann, Die Pastoralbriefe, Einl., chapter iv., p. 37ff; references in Heinichen's note on Eusebius, h. e. as above; see Hofmann, Die heilige Schrift Neuen Testaments. 5ter Theil, p. 4ff; Farrar, St. Paul, vol. ii. excurs. viii.; Schaff, History of Apostolic Christianity (1882), p. 331f) Paul is mentioned in the N. T. not only in the Acts and in the Epistles from his pen, but also in 2 Peter 3:15. (For bibliog. references respecting his life and its debatable points see the article Paulus by Woldemar Schmidt in Herzog edition 2 vol. xi., pp. 356-389.)