PAUL’S EARLY LIFE AND HIS CONVERSION

CONTENT

1. Paul’s Nativity and Education (Acts 22:1-5, 26-30)
2. Paul’s Persecution of the Early Church (Acts 7: 57-58; 8: 1-3; 9: 1- 3)
3. Paul’s Conversion (Acts 9: 1 – 19)
4. Attitude of Christians towards Persecutors

Paul’s Nativity and Education (Acts 22:1-5, 26-30)

Paul was a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia in Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey. He was given the Jewish name ‘Saul’. His parents were originally Jewish but later, as foreigners in the Roman Empire, they acquired Roman citizenship. This made Paul to have dual citizenship – Jewish and Roman.

Roman citizenship enabled one to enjoy certain privileges. These included no molestation and flogging when arrested, fair trial and the opportunity to appeal to the Emperor if the trial was not fair. When Paul realized on an occasion, that he was not getting fair trial, he used his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar.

Tarsus, where Paul was born, was famous for its fine schools. But Paul did not attend any of them. He was brought up and educated in Jerusalem to study under Gamaliel, the great teacher.