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Paul of Tarsus (Saul being his Aramaic name), was a Christian persecutor who believed that it was God’s will to persecute the Christian church but instead became one of its most influential messengers. Coming from a form of agnostic atheism myself, I admire Paul’s change as something I can relate to when it comes to flipping your worldview and understanding truth clearly defined. 

Paul writes in his letters to Corinth, Galatia and Philippi of his conversion (1 Corinthians 15: 9–10; Galatians 1: 12–16, 22–23; Philippians 3: 6–7). 

His pre-christian actions and conversion are also recorded by the physician Luke in his second volume work: Acts (Paul’s Pre-Christian acts — Acts 7:58; 8:1–3; 9:1–19; 22:3–16; 26:9–23.). 

Within 3 years of his conversion the story of his conversion appears to be spreading throughout Judea. He says to the Galatian church 3 years after he was known but not by sight to the believers of this church: “

He who once persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy

Galatians 1:22-23)

This verifies that people either knew or heard about this change. It should be also noted that scholars consider this line in Galatians as an early creedal statement about Paul, you can see in how it sits within the text like a copy and pasted quote. 

So we have Paul’s own testimony in multiple documents, Luke’s record in Acts, and a story that was circulating among Christians in Galatia which likely involved this creedal statement.

His testimony is vital as he is a strong source of enemy testimony. A key persecutor of the Christian faith, becoming one of it’s foremost evangelists ever.

What caused the change in Paul?

Luke reports that Paul firmly believes he had experienced an encounter with the risen Christ. Like the disciples, he also was willing to suffer, even martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. Paul certainly is not someone who would hallucinate the sadness of the death of Jesus, there’s no suggestion of prior acquaintance and even when he sees Jesus he has to ask who he is (He knew It his Lord, but if you don’t know his face, which even the disciples struggled with in his glorified body, then Paul’s probably going to struggle too!). We get into Paul on the road a lot more in opposing theories.

Some may see this is no big deal, people become Christian all the time. But Paul’s conversion is different. People usually convert based on the message from a secondary source, Paul’s conversion was based on what he perceived to be the personal appearance of the risen Jesus. So Paul had primary evidence, whereas we only have secondary. He did not believe based on testimony of someone else, he is the testimony. This is the difference between primary and secondary sources. And even when religious belief is based on primary grounds, no other founder of a major religion is believed to have been raised from the dead, let alone have provided any evidence for such an event. Jesus stands alone in this. 

Paul’s martyrdom

We also know about Paul’s suffering and martyrdom through seven early independent sources: Paul’s open writings; Luke; Clement of Rome’s writings; Ignatius & Polycarp words’; Tertullian’s writings; Dionysius of Corinth & Origen (both preserved through Eusebius). Here’s a few of them.

Clement of Rome (80-150AD) confirmed Paul:

had been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned” (1 Clement 5:5) and “when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance.

1 Clement 5:6

Ignatius (105-115 AD) described Paul as a martyr (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Chapter 12). He also described himself as a “a condemned man” and anticipated his martyrdom in Rome, where he would “become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God” (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans, Chapter 4).

Polycarp (110-140 AD) described the martyrdom of Paul “and the rest of the Apostles” in addition to the martyrdom of “Ignatius and Zosimus and Rufus” along with “others also who came from among yourselves” (Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians 9:1)

Within the New Testament documents, the sufferings of Paul appear on numerous occasions in Acts: Paul is stoned, dragged outside the city and left for dead (14: 19); Paul and Silas are flogged, thrown into prison, and their feet fastened in stocks (16: 19–24); Paul and Silas are hunted by a mob (17: 5); the crowds are stirred up against Paul, forcing him to be escorted out of the city (17: 13–15); the Jews arrest Paul and bring him before a Roman proconsul (18: 12–13); a Jewish crowd seizes Paul, based on false accusations, drags him from the temple, and attempts to kill him, an action stopped by a Roman commander and troops (21: 27–36); more than forty men take an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed Paul, an action again stopped by a Roman commander (23: 12–35). This does not include other persecutions of believers recorded in Acts in which the apostles’ involvement is not specified. In 2 Corinthians 11: 23–28, Paul says that he has been imprisoned on account of the gospel multiple times, beaten so many times that he cannot count them. He has lived often in danger of death, having received thirty-nine lashes five times from the Jews. He has been beaten with rods three times, stoned once, shipwrecked three times, been in danger in every conceivable place, gone sleepless nights, and endured times without food, as well as cold and exposure. No divine attributes here, just meaty details of his past for preaching a message to a world that found it disgusting. scholars appreciate the honesty and lengths Paul goes to to record such details. 

Summary

Paul’s conversion is recorded in his own letters which scholars accept as genuine writings by Paul in most instances. His conversion was widespread, we see in the letter to Galatians of how they knew about Paul before he even arrived there or wrote to them.

Historians see the honesty in Paul’s words, they trust he truly believes certain things, and if he endorses something, then he must believe it to be true (sceptics aren’t saying it is true but that Paul truly believed it to be so)

In an interview with Lee Strobel about his conversion to belief in God, renowned former atheist defender of 60 years Anthony Flew stated in an interview with Lee Strobel “Christianity had… a first rate philosophical intellect in St. Paul, knowing all the relevant languages and knowing all the things about the ancient world and the ancient civilisation”. Paul was a significant towering intellectual in this world, familiar with many traditions from the Greek and Roman world, not a figure of history to be brushed off, even by towering atheists of our time it seems.

Sources on ‘Paul’

• Paul’s conversion — 1 Corinthians 15: 9–10; Galatians 1: 12–16, 22–23; Philippians 3: 6–7.
• Paul’s Pre-Christian acts — Acts 7: 58; 8: 1–3; 9: 1–19; 22: 3–16; 26: 9–23. Luke’s record of Paul’s remarks concerning his pre-Christian actions against the church are found in 22: 1–5; 26: 4–5, 9–11. In 22: 4–5, Paul says that he persecuted the church to the death, arresting men and women, throwing them into prison, and finally bringing them to Jerusalem in order to be punished 
• Known testimony spreading — Galatians 1:22-23
• Enemy testimony — it would be nice to have a letter of him prior to conversion, alas none have survived, if he felt the need to write any prior to his conversion
• Acts 9: 1–19; 22: 3–21; 26: 9–23; 1 Corinthians 9: 1; 15: 8. Some ask why Paul added his name to the list in the creed in 15: 8. Many hold that by adding his name to the list, Paul regards his experience of the risen Jesus to be in some sense on par with the appearances of Jesus to the other apostles.
• Interest of Pauls conversion — The fact that Jews would have considered that Jesus was cursed by God (Gal. 3: 13; cf. Deut. 21: 23) complicates any suggestion that Paul was leaning toward Christianity.
• No other religious leaders resurrecting — Gary R. Habermas, “Resurrection Claims in Non-Christian Religions,” in Religious Studies 25 (1989), 167–77.
• Hero image source information in full
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