A question to all my Christian friends

I love these words of St. Paul.  It sums up the need for great faith, especially in times like these when we can't find the exact answer we would love to have:

"Last of all, as to one untimely born, he [Jesus] appeared also to me. / For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. / But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." (1 Cor 15:8-10)"

Here is the Pauline Chronology if anyone is interested:

The Traditional (but Inaccurate) Division of Paul's Travels:

People usually talk about "Paul's Three Missionary Journeys" (each beginning/ending in Antioch), followed by "Paul's Voyage to Rome"

1)  Acts 13�14

2)  Acts 15:39�18:22

3)  Acts 18:23�21:16

R) Acts 22�28

For some online maps of this traditional understanding of the three "journeys", see the Good News Christian Ministries, or the Maps Related to the Life of Paul by Nancy Carter; see also the larger list of Ancient World Maps by Dr. Mark Goodacre.

Problems with this schema:

• Paul is not in charge during the first journey; rather, Barnabas is the leader and Paul is his assistant (see Acts 11:31; 13:1-2; 14:12).
• After he and Barnabas go their separate ways, Paul never works alone, but always has a number of assistants (esp. Timothy; see Acts 15:39-40; 16:1-3; and most letter beginnings).
• The so-called second and third "Journeys" are not really circle-trips departing from and returning to Antioch (see Acts 18:18-23); rather, Paul makes a definite break with Barnabas and the Church at Antioch (see Gal 2:11-14; Acts 15:39-40), and only visits Antioch briefly later.

A Better, More Comprehensive Overview:

"Five Main Phases of Paul's Life" The following chronology is based on a combination of evidence from Paul's own letters and from the Acts of the Apostles, since neither gives us a complete picture, and there are some points of tension between them. (See the maps in the back of any good Study Bible; see also my New Testament Geography page for more background on the Roman PROVINCES and Capital Cities).

0) Pre-Christian Phase (ca. 10-35 AD)
1. Paul was a Jew born in Tarsus, the capital of CILICIA (Acts 9:11, 30; 11:25; 21:39), but possibly also lived and received part of his education in Jerusalem, "at the feet of Gamaliel" (Acts 22:3).
2. He was a Hebrew, born of Hebrew parents (Phil 3:5; 2 Cor 11:22), but probably also a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25-29; 23:27)
3. Thus he was bi-lingual (Aramaic/Hebrew and Greek) and bi-cultural (Jewish and Hellenistic Greek), making him an ideal "transition figure" for the spread of early Christianity from its beginnings in Israel to the rest of the Roman empire.
4. He was raised as a Pharisee, and was very zealous for the Jewish Torah & Traditions (Phil 3:5; Acts 23:6-9; 26:5).
5. He begins persecuting the followers of Jesus (Gal 1:13-14; Phil 3:5-6; 1 Cor 15:9; Acts 7:58; 8:1; 9:1-2; 22:3-5; 26:4-12).


1) First Phase of His New Christian Life - in the EAST (ca. 35-49 AD)

1. Jesus "reveals" himself to Paul (traditionally called Paul's "conversion") while Paul is traveling on the road to Damascus in southern SYRIA (Gal 1:11-12, 15-16; 1 Cor 15:8-10; Acts 9:3-30; 22:6-21; 26:12-18 - for these texts, see below).
2. Paul begins preaching around Arabia, Damascus, Syria, and Cilicia, despite some opposition (Gal 1:17-24; 2 Cor 11:23-33).
3. He is the assistant to Barnabas on a first missionary journey; both of them were commissioned by the church of <>Antioch in Northern SYRIA (Acts 13-14).
4. "Council of Jerusalem" (ca. 49 AD; Gal 2:1-10; Acts 15 - note that many scholars think this council was later, ca. 51).


2) Early Independent Missionary Phase - in MACEDONIA & ACHAIA (ca. 50-52 AD)

1. Paul breaks with Barnabas due to the "Incident at Antioch" (contrast Gal 2:11-14 with Acts 15:36-41).
2. He travels with Silas & Timothy through ASIA and crosses over to MACEDONIA, where they establish small Christian churches, esp. in Philippi & Thessalonica, possibly also in Beroea (Acts 16:1-17:15).
3. After getting kicked out of one Macedonian city after another, they go down to ACHAIA; Paul briefly visits Athens, but his preaching is not too successful there (Acts 17:16-34).
4. They move on to <>Corinth, the capital of ACHAIA, and stay there for over 18 months (Acts 18:11, 18); they meet Prisca & Aquila in Corinth soon after Emperor Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome in 49 AD (Acts 18:2).
5. Paul is brought to trial before the Proconsul Gallio (Acts 18:12-17), who was in Achaia only in 51-52 AD.; this fact gives us the only fixed date in the chronology of Paul's life, from which all other dates are calculated backward or forward.
6. Paul & his companions write 1 Thess (and probably 2 Thess) from Corinth (see 1 Thess 3:1-6).


3) Mature Missionary Leadership Phase - in ASIA (Minor) (ca. 53-57 AD)

1. Paul travels through Asia, then to Syria (including brief visits to Jerusalem and Antioch), and back again to <>Ephesus, the capital of ASIA (Acts 18:18-19:41).
2. He remains in Ephesus for at least 27 months, probably longer, preaching and strengthening the churches (Acts 19:8, 10, 22); Ephesus becomes his "missionary headquarters" with more and more associates over time.
3. He travels personally and sends & receives messengers and letters back and forth from Ephesus to Macedonia, Corinth, other parts of Asia, etc. (1 Cor 16:5-12; 2 Cor 8-9; Phil 2:19-30; 4:10-20).
4. He and his associates found other Christian communities in and around Asia Minor, e.g. Epaphroditus establishes a church in Colossae (Col 1:7).
5. He encounters opposition from Jews and Gentiles, and is blamed for a riot caused by some silversmiths in Ephesus (since Paul preached against the "idolatry" of worshipping pagan gods; see Acts 19:26); he probably spends some time in prison there.
6. Paul & his companions write 1 Cor, 2 Cor, Phil, Phlm, and probably Gal from Ephesus (see 1Cor 15:32; 16:8; 16:19).


4) Final Missionary Travel Phase - to the WEST (ca. 58-62/64 AD)

1. Paul wants to go West to Rome and Spain, but first to collect & deliver money for poor Christians in Jerusalem (1 Cor 16:1-4; Rom 15:22-32; Acts 19:21); he stays in Corinth three more months (Acts 20:3), and writes Rom from there (Rom 16).
2. Paul and some associates deliver this collection to Jerusalem; soon he is arrested in the Temple (Acts 20-21).
3. Paul is held under arrest for about two years in Caesarea; at his trial he appeals to Caesar and is taken to <>Rome, where he remains under house-arrest for another two years (Acts 22-28); possibly writes Col from prison in Caesarea (or later from Rome).
4. We cannot be sure what happened next, since nothing else is written in Acts: either he was tried, found innocent and released, in which case he might have gone to preach in Spain, as he had planned; or he was tried, found guilty, and executed.
5. Early Christian tradition agrees Paul was executed during the reign of Emperor Nero; but we cannot be sure whether it was at the end of his first Roman imprisonment (62 AD), or after his return from Spain (64 AD), since his death is not recorded in Acts.

X) After Paul's Death - his legacy continues (60's -90's and beyond)

1. Paul's associates continue to preach, gain new converts, build up Christian communities, address problems, write letters, etc.
2. 1 Tim, 2 Tim, Tit, and Eph are probably pseudepigraphic, i.e. letters written by his followers in his name after his death.
3. Ephesus and Colossae remain strong centers of Pauline-style Christianity, possibly led by Timothy and Onesimus, respectively.
4. Someone begins collecting (and editing) Paul's letters (cf. 2Pet 3:15-16); by the end of the first century, about 10 letters are circulating together (not yet 1&2 Tim, Tit), with Ephesians possibly functioning as an introduction or "cover letter."
5. Eventually, thirteen different letters attributed to Paul are recognized as "canonical" (accepted as part of the NT).
6. Other legends of Paul develop and are recorded in non-canonical works, e.g. the "Acts of Paul" and the "Acts of Paul and Thecla"
   

Paul's Own Words:

"For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; / for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. / You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. / I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. / But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased / to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, / nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. / Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; / but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother." (Gal 1:11-19)

"Last of all, as to one untimely born, he [Jesus] appeared also to me. / For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. / But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." (1 Cor 15:8-10)

"This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--/ for surely you have already heard of the commission of God's grace that was given me for you, / and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words." (Eph 3:1-3, probably deutero-Pauline)

It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. / I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. / And I know that such a person--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows-- / was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat." (2Cor 12:1-4, probably referring to himself, but maybe to a different later "revelation")

The Three Accounts in Acts:
 

http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Pauline_Chronology.htm

As you can see, BMZ, in Acts 9:7 there WERE witnesses to Paul's conversion.

God's Peace and Understanding.

Frater BMZ (you are quoted below),

They are; it is; and he had.  Unless, that is, the New Testament writings are just a sort of rather complex (a-hem) �vaticinium ex eventu,� as many a Rationalist, failed seminarian and occasional Muslim has argued.  Standby, here's a little smiley face:

At any rate, the author of St. John�s Gospel (5:39) has Jesus say, to incredulous Jews: �Search the [OT] scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.�  He also then explains why some might fail to find him in that process.

Of course, neither did the Ethiopian eunuch until the Spirit directed St. Philip to him (Acts 8:27-39) to show otherwise.    

I will say that these two verses come immediately to mind as distinct possibilities.  Please be forewarned, though, that I might be unduly influenced by having recently (Christmas Day) listened to the complete version of Handel�s 'Messiah':)

�The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2)�

�I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; (Isaiah 42:6)�

I would suggest that St. Paul, as an admittedly at times to my mind problematic Apostle to the Gentiles, was one of the primary means by which the above two and other prophesies were (at least in one way) realized.  We Gentiles, in considerable part thanks to the evangelizing efforts of St. Paul, have seen a �great light.�

Best regards,

Serv

With all due respect, it seems to me that there are other logical possibilities, Annie, and, though you weren�t talking in this case to me, I think it best if we not pigeon-hole BMZ or anyone else for that matter.  There are, at any rate, different degrees of �understanding� of the New Testament, a fact proved well enough by the mountain of written Commentaries which purport to explain, or at least to explicate it.   

In my opinion, this is nonsense and is little more than a side-swipe at BMZ.  You should be embarrassed for having posted it .      

Please do consider telling that to Brother R. G. Stair, my favorite short-wave radio evangelist.

Serv