Paul the Apostle Apostle to the Gentiles

Paul, originally named Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee who persecuted early Christians before his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. He became one of the most influential apostles, undertaking three major missionary journeys across the Roman Empire. He wrote 13 epistles that form a significant portion of the New Testament, establishing churches and developing Christian theology. His letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians remain foundational texts for Christian doctrine.

1. Early Lifec. AD 5

   Birth in Tarsus

   ACT 22:3

2. Persecutorc. AD 33-34

   Persecutes the Church

   ACT 8:1-3

3. Conversionc. AD 34

   Conversion on the Damascus Road

   ACT 9:3-19

4. Preparationc. AD 34-37

   Years in Arabia and Damascus

   GAL 1:17-18

5. First Missionary Journeyc. AD 46-48

   First Missionary Journey

   ACT 13-14

6. Cyprus and the Proconsulc. AD 46

   Sent out from Antioch, Barnabas and Saul sail to Cyprus and proclaim the word in the synagogues of Salamis, then cross the island to Paphos. There the magician Elymas opposes them before the proconsul Sergius Paulus. Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, strikes him blind for a season, and the proconsul believes. From here Luke calls him Paul rather than Saul.

   ACT 13:4-12

7. Jerusalem Councilc. AD 49

   Jerusalem Council

   ACT 15:1-35

8. Philippi, the First Church in Europec. AD 50

   Crossing into Macedonia, Paul meets Lydia, a seller of purple, by the river outside Philippi, and she is baptised with her household. After he frees a slave girl from a spirit of divination, her owners drag him before the magistrates: Paul and Silas are beaten and jailed. At midnight they are singing hymns when an earthquake opens the doors, and the jailer asks what he must do to be saved.

   ACT 16:11-40

9. Thessalonicac. AD 50

   For three sabbaths Paul reasons with them from the Scriptures that the Christ had to suffer and rise. Some believe, with many God-fearing Greeks and not a few leading women. Others gather a mob and drag Jason before the city rulers, crying that these men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

   ACT 17:1-9

10. Athens and the Areopagusc. AD 51

    Waiting in Athens, Paul is provoked by a city full of idols. He disputes in the synagogue and daily in the marketplace until the philosophers bring him to the Areopagus. There he begins from an altar he has seen, inscribed to an unknown god, and declares the God who made the world and does not dwell in temples made with hands. Some mock at the mention of resurrection; Dionysius and Damaris believe.

    ACT 17:16-34

11. Second Missionary Journeyc. AD 49-52

    Second Missionary Journey

    ACT 15:36-18:22

12. Third Missionary Journeyc. AD 53-57

    Third Missionary Journey

    ACT 18:23-21:16

13. Arrest and Trialsc. AD 57

    Arrest in Jerusalem

    ACT 21:17-23:35

14. Imprisonmentc. AD 57-59

    Imprisonment in Caesarea

    ACT 24-26

15. Journey to Romec. AD 59-60

    Voyage to Rome

    ACT 27-28

16. Roman Imprisonmentc. AD 60-62

    First Roman Imprisonment

    PHP 1:12-14

17. Martyrdomc. AD 67

    Martyrdom

    2TI 4:6-8