Paul's Early Years

Paul became such an outstanding apostle and missionary, we often skim over his early years, but these helped form him into a man God could send to take His messages and truths to the Gentile world. He grew up in Tarsus, one of the main trading centers on the Mediterranean Sea. His father was a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin and also a Roman citizen. The son may have been named for the first king of Israel. Saul was his Hebrew name, but as a Roman citizen, he was also known as Paul.

Growing up in a Jewish community and strict Jewish home, Saul would have begun learning scripture early, as little more than a toddler. Normally, a Jewish child would begin reading scripture around age five, but Saul was more precocious than most. He started studying under a rabbi at the synagogue when he was six. As Beth Moore aptly explained in To Live Is Christ, "Being a Hebrew was not just a religion; Judaism wasn't even just a way of life. Being Hebrew defined who you were, how you thought, and what you felt."

When Saul turned thirteen, he left for Jerusalem to study under the famed teacher, Gamaliel, who was the grandson of the great teacher, Hillel. Saul took to his studies with a passion and excelled. He quickly moved through the levels, and many thought his zeal and commitment set him in a likely position to become the high priest and certainly an important leader.  He saw the followers of Jesus as enemies of the Jews and heretics who were trying to mislead the people and pull them away from God, and he attacked them with fervor for this reason.

His experience of meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus changed all this. When he was shown the truth of who Jesus is, he became as zealous for Christ as he had been in destroying His followers. He knew the Scriptures thoroughly, and he could use it to point to Christ and show people the truth of the Word. He was the most scholarly of all the apostles, but he had a practical side, too, and he could be content in whatever state he found himself. He developed a deep, abiding faith, and led others to do the same. Oh, would that the world had more Christians like Paul today.

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