A Look at the Life and Death of
the Apostle Paul
By
Owen Allen
I’d like to talk about the apostle Paul for a few minutes because, like Peter, he’s one of the best-known of all the early Christian disciples. But more than that, Paul is a “giant” in Christian history.
He’s not a giant because he had political power, or military power, or financial power – because he didn’t have any of those things. He’s a giant because he had Spiritual power. And more importantly, he’s a giant because he taught every other Christian he met how to have Spiritual power, too.
So we have two goals for the next few minutes.
a) First: To give you some facts about Paul that you may not know
or may have forgotten.
b) Second: To tell you some things about Spiritual power that
you may not know or may have forgotten.
Let’s start by talking about Paul’s interesting background.
As many people know, Paul was originally known as “Saul of Tarsus.” He was Jewish and was named after Israel’s first king, King Saul. Paul was born in 1 AD, in Tarsus (“TAR’-suss”), a seaport town in southern Turkey.
That’s important, because Turkey was a Roman province, and everybody born there was automatically a Roman citizen. That saved Paul’s life several times, since Roman citizens couldn’t be jailed without due process; and couldn’t be executed without a fair trial. Those laws played a big role in Paul’s life later on.
It was because Paul was a Roman citizen that he later became known by his Roman name: “Paul.” Which means “little” in Latin. And, as we’ll see in a moment, Paul was a short man.
It happened that Paul’s father was a Pharisee.
After graduating from Rabbinical School several years later, Paul was highly educated and had the equivalent of today’s doctorate in theology. He was also fluent in three languages: Latin, Greek, and Aramaic, as well as having a working knowledge of Hebrew. So after graduation, he returned to Tarsus, his hometown, and taught there quietly as a Rabbi until age 31. But then, at age 31, Paul’s life and career changed dramatically.
In 31 AD, while serving peacefully as a Rabbi in his hometown of Tarsus, Paul received the news that a strange new group of people called “Followers of The Way” (later to be renamed “Christians”) had suddenly appeared on the streets Jerusalem. And, as a strict Pharisee, Paul believed them to be blasphemers (“BLAS’-fee-mers”)[2. Blasphemers (“BLAS’-fee-mers”) are people who speak about God in an irreverent, impure, and vulgar way.] because they used God’s name openly in conversation and openly said that Jesus was God’s Son – things that no Pharisee would ever do. So, completely outraged, Paul set sail for Jerusalem to help the Pharisees in the city exterminate the blasphemers.
And it’s here that we find the first mention of Paul in the New Testament. He was present at the stoning death of the first Christian martyr in Jerusalem – the deacon, Steven. Here’s how that happened.
(Read in the Bible: Acts, chapter 7, verse 55, through chapter 8, verse 1.)
Now, the first thing we should notice in this historical record is Steven’s incredible Spirituality. And that kind of Spiritual power was common among the First Century Christians. We need to think about that for a moment. Why did the First Century Christians have that kind of Spiritual power? And why don’t Christians have it today?
The second thing we ought to notice in the record is the word “approval” in the last verse. That’s actually a weak translation. In the original Greek, the verse says that Paul “took pleasure” in the stoning. It “gratified” him. He “liked” it. And it gave him an “appetite” for more.
So Paul soon became the Chief Persecutor of Christians in Jerusalem – arresting, torturing, exiling, or executing as many as he could find. Then, after clearing Jerusalem of all the Christians he could catch, Paul still wasn’t satisfied.
And he got a new idea. Why not form a posse, and go to the city of Damascus in Syria to see how many Christians he could persecute there? Of course, that was a rough trip in those days. There were deep rivers to ford, highway bandits to fight, wild animals that might attack, and other such hardships. But in 33 AD, Paul started out anyway, riding a horse, with a posse to guard him.
And it was there, on the road near the city of Damascus, that Paul’s life changed forever. Here’s what happened.
(Read in the Bible: Acts, chapter 9, verses 3 to 6.)
Thus, to Paul’s great shock and surprise, he became a Christian himself. He had been the Chief Persecutor of Christians in Israel – but now the tables were turned. Now Paul was the one who was going to be persecuted. But before we talk about Paul’s persecutions later in life, let’s first talk about his calls to service in First Century Christianity.
Paul’s famous “Damascus Road Experience” was the beginning of Paul’s historic servanthood in Christianity. We don’t have time to tell the full story of his Spiritual growth here. But 10 years after his Spiritual experience on the Damascus Road, we find him living in Antioch (“AN’-tea-ock”), Turkey, serving the Christian community there as a teacher and a prophet – when something new happened to him. Here’s what it was.
(Read in the Bible: Acts, chapter 13, verses 1 to 3.)
Notice that this Antioch event was actually Paul’s third call to Christian service from the Holy Spirit. Imagine that. Paul had a triple call to serve the Christian community. He was already a teacher and a prophet. And now he received a third call to be an apostle.[3. The Holy Spirit’s call to be an “apostle” (“uh-PAA’-sul”) is one of six calls to full-time service that Christians can receive. Apostles are delegates, messengers, or ambassadors that the Holy Spirit sends out to spread the Good News of Christianity to non-Christians in other lands and cities.] Because of this, the first reason Paul is a Spiritual “giant” is that he had a triple call to service from the Holy Spirit.
And by the way, while we’re on the subject, it’s important to remember that a call of the Holy Spirit is different from a gift of the Holy Spirit. All Christians don’t have a call to serve the Christian community full-time. But all Christians do have Spiritual gifts, and Paul had many of them.
Thus, the second reason Paul is a Spiritual “giant” is that he had so many Spiritual gifts. The historical record makes that clear. For example, Acts 19:11 says, “God worked many Spiritual powers through Paul.” And we find in the record that some of Paul’s Spiritual gifts included:
º Healings.
º Discerning spirits.
º Miracles.
º Evangelism.
º Resurrection power.
º Visions.
º And many others.
Next, the third reason that Paul is a Spiritual “giant” is that he had so many Spiritual experiences. For example, we saw in Acts 9:3 that Paul was knocked off of his horse on the Damascus Road by a blinding light. That wasn’t a Spiritual call. And that wasn’t a Spiritual gift. That was a Spiritual experience.
We also find in Second Corinthians 12:2 that Paul had a near-death experience and returned unharmed from heaven. In Acts 27:23 angels guided him. In Acts 27:41 he was shipwrecked, but reached land unharmed. In Acts 28:5 a deadly snake bit him and he was unharmed. And the list goes on. These were Spiritual experiences – not Spiritual calls, and not Spiritual gifts.
Finally, the fourth reason that Paul is a Spiritual “giant” is that he had so many Spiritual emotions. Most Bibles refer to these positive supernatural emotions as “the fruit of the Spirit.”[4. The Greek noun, karpos (pronounced “car-PAAS'”), used in verses like Galatians 5:22, is routinely translated as “fruit” in Bibles because the old King James Version of the Bible translated it that way in England in 1611. However, karpos can also be translated as the “effect” or “result” of something. It can refer to what a tree or a plant something “produces.” And here we’re talking about the positive supernatural emotions that the Holy Spirit produces in Christians. Thus, better translations would be the “produce” of the Spirit; or the “product” of the Spirit; or what the Spirit “produces” in Christians.] But in the original Greek, the word translated as “fruit” actually refers to the positive supernatural emotions that the Holy Spirit produces in Christians. And we know what those are. Paul lists them in Galatians 5:22-23. He tells us there that the emotions the Holy Spirit produces in Christians are: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul and the other First Century Christians had these – and Christians today are supposed to have them, too.
Now, we’ve been talking about “Spiritual power” for several minutes. So let’s stop here and – using what we’ve learned – let’s define that term. The word “power” in the New Testament is the Greek noun dunamis (“DO’-nuh-miss”), meaning a supernatural ability or supernatural potential. In other words, as Christians, dunamis means allowing God work through us supernaturally. And as we’ve seen with Paul’s story, God works supernaturally through us in four ways. He works through us with:
º Spiritual calls.
º Spiritual gifts.
º Spiritual experiences.
º Spiritual emotions.
Okay, now it’s time to see what happened to Paul at the end of his life.
Let’s pick up the thread of Paul’s story again. But let’s pick it up where Paul is 58 years of age. This is when he was finally arrested by his enemies. He was arrested by the Sanhedrin (“san-HE’-drin”)[5. The Sanhedrin (“san-HE’-drin”) was the Supreme Court of First Century Israel. It was composed of 70 men plus the high priest, and it met every day in the temple in Jerusalem. It was the final authority in all legal matters in Israel.] in 58 AD, and was held in prison for two years in the seaport city of Caesarea Maritima (“sees-uh-REE’-uh mare-ee-TEA’-mah”), Israel’s capital city at the time. This was Israel’s seat of power and where the Roman governor’s palace and the Jewish king’s palace were located.
While Paul was in prison in Caesarea, he was questioned by two different Roman governors, Felix and Festus, because the governorship changed while Paul was in jail there. Here are coins minted in Israel by these two governors while they were in office.
Also in Caesarea in 59 AD, Paul was interviewed by the Jewish king, Herod Agrippa (“uh-GRIP’-puh”) the Second. And after the interview, Agrippa agreed that Paul was innocent and should be set free. However, since Paul had appealed to the emperor, he couldn’t be set free, and Agrippa agreed to have Paul shipped to Rome.
And by the way – let’s pause here to make an important point. The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it’s true. We know that because so much of it has been verified by scientific research. King Agrippa is a good example of this kind of verification. We know everything about him because of documents and statues in Rome.
in 59 AD.
He was Jewish, but because he was a member of the Herodian (“hair-ROW’-dee-un”) Dynasty, he was born in Rome, lived much of his life there, and died and was buried there (although he lived in Israel for periods of time to serve as king). A statue of Agrippa stands in Rome today. Here it is at the right.
Continuing our story, Paul arrived in Rome in 61 AD under his appeal, and was held in prison there for the next two years. However, his appeal was finally heard by the infamous Emperor, Nero (“NEAR’-row”), and Nero found Paul innocent. So Paul was set free in 63 AD. And, fortunately, he immediately left town to continue his service to the worldwide Christian community. That temporarily saved his life, as we’re about to see.
Because a few months after Paul left town, the first persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire broke out. The persecution was triggered by the historic “Great Fire of Rome.” Here’s what happened.
On the night of July 18, 64 AD, a small accidental fire broke out in a shop in downtown Rome, and quickly spread. Nero, the emperor, was on vacation at the time and had nothing to do with it. The fire burned for six days and six nights, and destroyed half of Rome, leaving 200,000 citizens homeless. Nero came back from vacation and opened emergency shelters and distributed emergency food, but there was little else he could do.
Then, Nero made a big mistake. For several years, he had wanted to build a new palace in Rome to be called “The Golden House.” And so, a few weeks after the fire, he started building his new palace on some of the city’s burned-out lots.
But Nero had political enemies, and they spread the lie that Nero had started the Great Fire of Rome himself to make room for his new palace. So citywide protests broke out. And to protect himself, Nero started a counter-lie: He started the rumor that it was the Christians of Rome who had started the fire.
So in October, 64 AD, Nero’s counter-lie triggered the first Christian persecution in the Roman Empire. Thousands of innocent Christian men, women, and children were rounded up and put to death in the most horrible ways imaginable. And by the way, one of them was the disciple, Peter. He was in Rome teaching in the Christian community at the time, and was crucified upside down near the giant obelisk in the city’s racetrack on October 13, 64 AD. (See “Peter – The Misunderstood Disciple,” for the full story of Peter’s life and death.)
The ghastly persecution of Christians lasted for four years. And strangely enough – despite the obvious danger – Paul, the beloved Christian apostle, prophet, and teacher, returned to Rome in 67 AD. We don’t know why. Maybe he returned to encourage the surviving Christians? Maybe angels told him to return? We simply don’t know. At any rate, Paul did return, and he was soon recognized on the streets and arrested by Nero’s soldiers. It was his final arrest. Below to the right is a picture of some of the chains that bound Paul. They’re on display in Rome, and the display case also contains some of Peter’s chains.
Paul was thrown into a death row cell and awaited his end, where he wrote his final letter.[6. The letter known as “Second Timothy” is thought to be Paul’s final letter. It’s emotional, and in chapter 4, verses 6 to 8, Paul says that he has “finished the race,” and that now a “crown of righteousness” is “in store” for him. He was beheaded soon afterwards.] Below to the left and right are pictures of the door in that cell, and of the cell itself. Ironically, Paul was held in the same cell that had held Peter three years earlier.
And so, Paul’s amazing life of Christian service came to an end. Since he had been arrested on the streets by soldiers during a time of intense Christian persecution, this time Emperor Nero ignored Paul’s obvious innocence and sentenced him to death.
However, as we know, Paul was legally a Roman citizen from the empire’s foreign province of Turkey. So he couldn’t be tortured, crucified, or subjected to a shameful death like the other Christians in the city of Rome. Under Roman law, Paul could only be executed by beheading.
So, on the morning of June 29, in 67 AD, Paul was marched by a troop of soldiers out to the Third Milestone on the Ostian (“OH’-stee-un”) Highway outside Rome, and beheaded there with a sword. Today, a monastery stands on the site where Paul was beheaded. Following is a picture of the place where Paul was executed. The tall white monument near the center of the picture is the spot where he was beheaded.
Now, at the time of Paul’s execution, there was a private family cemetery near the site. It belonged to a wealthy, well-connected Christian woman named, Lucina (“loo-CHEE’-nuh”). Her husband was apparently highly placed in the government, so Lucina wasn’t subject to persecution like the other Christians in the city of Rome.
Lucina had made arrangements to take possession of Paul’s body after his execution. And she did. Then she buried Paul in her family’s cemetery, where his grave was cared for by the family, and where it became a site for pilgrims to visit for centuries.
Where is Paul’s grave today? Under Roman law in those days, a grave couldn’t be moved or a body disturbed in any way. So today, Paul’s body is still exactly where it was in June of 67 AD. It’s still in the grave in Lucina’s family cemetery.
However, to protect it, in the Fourth Century the Emperor Constantine of Rome bought Lucina’s cemetery. He placed a heavy marble slab over Paul’s body as special protection, and then he built a large church building (a “basilica”) over the slab, with the altar right over Paul’s grave. And that’s where Paul’s body is to this day.
Also, below is a model of the marble slab the Emperor Constantine placed over Paul’s grave. It bears the Latin inscription: “Paul, Apostle, Martyr.” Notice the holes in the slab where pilgrims dropped coins and poured wine into Paul’s grave during the Middle Ages.
Finally, what did Paul look like? We know that he was a small man. We know he was 67 when he died. We know he had been horribly mistreated for many years, with beatings, jailings, ship wrecks, snake bites, and so forth. So, what did he look like at the end of his life?
Only one image of him is known to exist. It’s priceless, and is kept in a vault guarded by two armed guards in Rome. Below is what Paul, the Christian teacher, prophet, and apostle, looked like in his final years. Notice the ghastly scars from his many beatings, and that it seems as if his right eye has been put out.
To close – what message does Paul’s life have for us today? What principles did he teach that apply to us as Christians today? The message of Paul’s life is that the Spiritual calls, gifts, experiences, and emotions of the early Christian lifestyle are still for us today. Paul said that they’re the normal Christian life. He said that he had them himself, and that he wanted every other Christian to have them, too. That includes us today.
As we’ve said, all Christians don’t have a Spiritual call on their lives to full-time Christian service (as either an apostle, deacon, elder, evangelist, prophet, teacher, or some combination). But, all Christians are supposed to have:
º Spiritual gifts in their daily lives.
º Spiritual experiences in their daily lives.
º Spiritual emotions in their daily lives.
That’s the message of Paul’s life. That’s the normal Christian life. That’s how Christians are different from non-Christians. So let’s pray that all of us begin immediately to express these supernatural traits in our own lives, and that our loved ones start to express them, too.
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