A number of years ago, I ran across an article that is now probably safely filed away in an extinct cabinet at the university where I no longer teach. Although I can’t get my hands on the original document today, I distinctly remember that it listed the conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus as one of the one hundred most pivotal events in all of human history. In fact, I seem to remember that it was very close to the top and that the life of Jesus wasn’t even included at all. Why would a secular historian make such an evaluation? I think it is because that even though Jesus brought salvation to the human race, it was this radical evangelist/theologian who took that experience and made maximum impact with it. Just think of all the sermons you have heard and try to calculate what percentage of them were based on Paul’s writing versus the sayings of Jesus. I remember one pastor who gave a series of messages on the epistles of Peter; however, there was not one session in which he didn’t mistakenly say, “Paul” when he intended to say “Peter” because he was so accustomed to preaching from Paul’s epistles.
According to his own testimony, Saul (by this time known as Paul) fully preached the gospel from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum in northwest Greece (Romans 15:19) and intended to carry the message as far as Spain – considered at that time to be the end of the earth (Romans 15:24). According to his testimony in Romans 15:21-23, Paul had totally evangelized eastern Europe and western Asia. His reports in Colossians 1:23, Romans 1:8, Romans 15:20, 15:23, and I Thessalonians 1:8 conclude that his gospel message had penetrated the whole world during his lifetime. Remember, this was before mass communication – no radio, television, internet … not even printed books! Plus, this was before any form of speedy transportation – no planes, trains, or automobiles. This determined evangelist had to travel on foot or, if lucky, on horseback. Even when he sailed on ships, the journeys were slow – dependent upon winds and ocean currents and necessitating months-long layovers during seasons of inclement weather.
Church tradition reports that the original twelve apostles of Jesus spread throughout the then-known world – with Andrew becoming a missionary to southern Russia around the Black Sea after ministering in Greece and Asia Minor, Simon Peter doing evangelistic and missionary work among the Jews going as far as Babylon (a code name for Rome), John the Beloved serving as the bishop in Ephesus before being exiled to the penal island of Patmos off Turkey, James the son of Zebedee ministering in Jerusalem and Judea, Philip going to Hieropolis of Phrygia, Matthew being martyred in Ethiopia, Bartholomew serving in Armenia, Thomas laboring in Parthia, Persia, and India and eventually suffering martyrdom in southern India, James the son of Alphaeus preaching in Palestine and Egypt, Jude preaching in Assyria and Persia and dying as a martyr in Persia, Simon the Zealot preaching in Israel, and Nathanael continuing the ministry near Nazareth. However, if we study the history of Christianity in these regions, we generally find that they date their heritage to much later events that are associated with Christians who trace their lineage back to the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Russia, for instance, views the baptism of Prince Vladimir by a Byzantine priest in the eleventh century as their Christian genesis. Although Christianity flourished in the Middle East and North Africa during the early centuries of the Christian era, it was basically eradicated with the rise of Islam. The re-introduction of the faith came through the efforts of ministers and laymen from the Western churches that harken back to Paul’s influence. The story in India is a bit different in that when the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama opened the first Europe-India sea route in 1498, he was surprised to find Christians who traced their heritage to converts who were baptized by Thomas in AD 52. Two years later, eight Franciscan priests, eight chaplains, and a chaplain major arrived and introduced the Catholic faith – the Pauline influence. By 1504, it was reported that there were thirty thousand Christian families in some twenty towns and a great number of villages. Although there is no clarification as to how much of that Christian community predated the advent of the Pauline influence it is clear that the community numbers skyrocketed once the Catholic persuasion entered, swelling the Christian population to more than two hundred thousand within the next seventy-five years compared to the persistent but limited growth of the faith over the previous fourteen and a half centuries.
So who was this man who made such an impact upon the world and infused the church with such powerful DNA? Let’s explore this question through several different avenues: the story of his life, examples the people he impacted, and his own personal confession of what made him the man he was.
Our first introduction to Paul is as Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the early Christians. But it is possible for us to piece together a bit of the history that led up to this chapter in his life. Saul grew up as a freeborn Roman citizen (Acts 22:28) in the city of Tarsus, which he called “no mean city,” indicating that it was far above the average city of his time. (Acts 21:39) It was certainly no average place in that it was a major center of commerce, education, and military power. With the excellent education that his writings demonstrate that Paul possessed and his Roman privilege coupled with the strong ethic his Jewish upbringing afforded him, Paul would have been a success in any field he would have chosen to pursue: business, military, academics, etc. Yet, he chose to abandon any of these lucrative pursuits and give himself to the study of theology at the rabbinic school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), a career that rendered him so little financial security that he had to augment his livelihood by making tents. (Acts 18:3) The biblical records indicate that Saul was bothered by anything that deviated from the theological doctrines he had learned in the synagogue and the rabbinical school; that’s why he was persecuting the church. (Acts 9:2) He was adamant that the Christian movement – which he considered to be a blasphemous perversion of the Jewish faith – be crushed to death before it had a chance to spread its infectious heresy any further. As a personal disciple of Gamaliel – who is recognized even until today as one of the ten greatest rabbis in Jewish history – Saul gained an excellent command of biblical and traditional knowledge and the expertise to expound on these concepts, and it is also likely that he gained influence in the Jewish community through his association with the prominent rabbi and Sanhedrin member. (Acts 5:34)
It was probably this association that afforded him access to the high priest who granted him papers to go to Damascus in his attempt to eliminate the Christian faith before it penetrated this pivotal city. (Acts 9:2) In this request, we gain a great insight into strategic thinking of our subject. Damascus was a terminal and transit point for all the major trade routes of the time – the frankincense route coming out of the Arabian Peninsula, the gold route coming out of Africa, and the silk route coming out of the Far East – all connecting to the Roman highway system that brought these goods to the capital of the world. Saul knew that if this new religion were able to become entrenched in the city of Damascus it would soon spread like a contagious disease along these corridors of commerce until it had infected the entire known world. Thus, he used his influence, connections, and eloquence to gain permission to implement his strategic plan to excise this religious “cancer” before it entered the bloodstream of the society.
Of course, it was on this campaign that he encountered Jesus and was converted to the faith that he was so adamantly persecuting and attempting to eradicate. Acts chapter nine describes the dramatic encounter that has become known as the Damascus Road Experience in which Saul was knocked to the ground and blinded by the brilliant light that emanated from the Risen Christ. Those with him were also impacted by the encounter but did not hear the words that Jesus spoke to His captive that day, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” (Acts 9:4-6) With the help of his companions, the blinded crusader found his way to a home on the main street of the city of Damascus – Straight Street, so named because it was the major thoroughfare running straight through the middle of the city. After three days of fasting and soul searching, Saul’s conversion was completed when the Lord sent a reluctant evangelist to find him. When the Lord spoke to Ananias, he immediately refused with the logical objection that Saul’s only motive for being in Damascus was to arrest Christians – and Ananias could think of a whole lot of better things to do that day than to walk directly into such a trap. The Lord continued to deal with His messenger, telling him that He had already shown Paul a vision of a man by the specific name of Ananias coming to him. With that kind of preannouncement before the Lord even spoke to him about the assignment, Ananias decided that there really wasn’t an alternative. As he agreed to go, the Lord gave Ananias further instructions to bring to the humbled man on Straight Street, “Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16) Through Ananias’ ministry that day, Saul was healed, baptized in water, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
The historical record of Acts doesn’t include the next step in the chronological sequence of our new convert’s life, but we know from Paul’s own writings that it took some time for him to process all that had happened to him. Although it seems from the story in Acts 9:20 that Paul began his proclamations right away, Galatians 1:17 makes it clear that this time of introspection came before he began to preach in Damascus. In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul described his understanding of theology and doctrine as a gift directly from Jesus, not an academic achievement from his books and mentors, “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We can easily see how Saul – who excelled in his knowledge of and belief in the Old Testament truths as they had been conveyed to him through his Jewish heritage, religious traditions, and rabbinic interpretations (Philippians 3:4-6, Acts 22:3, Galatians 1:13-14) – would be totally disoriented and confused when he suddenly encountered the Risen Jesus and discovered that He was indeed the true messiah, not a blasphemous imposter as Saul had supposed from the years he had spent poring over the writings of his Jewish faith. In that dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus, Paul’s spirit cried out an acknowledgement that his head refused to accept. Before his head could reason out the situation, his heart erupted out of his mouth, acclaiming Jesus as Lord. (Acts 9:5-6) Immediately, he found himself in a quandary, trying to reconcile the contradiction between the interpretation he held of Old Testament truths (which he could not abandon because he was still convinced that they were the Word of God) and the supernatural revelation he had just received. The result was, as he described it in Galatians, a gift – a revelation, an impartation, a supernatural insight. It was so powerfully personal to him that he felt confident to refer to it with such personally possessive phrases as “my gospel” (Romans 2:16, 16:25, II Timothy 2:8) and “our gospel” (II Corinthians 4:3, I Thessalonians 1:5, II Thessalonians 2:14). In order to process these conflicting revelations until they became this gospel that was so personally his own, Saul headed into the desert of Arabia for three years. (Galatians 1:17-18) Although there is no record of exactly what happened during this period of isolation, he most certainly spent that time comparing his Old Testament knowledge with the revelation he had just received from Jesus. There must have been long days of study and lengthy seasons of prayer – struggling with every scripture and each tradition – until he was able to attest without any sense of contradiction that the Old Testament is indeed holy, just, and good and that it is a schoolmaster bringing us to the revelation of Christ. (Romans 7:12, Galatians 3:24)
Armed with this clear revelation of the gospel, Saul returned to Damascus and went out to preach – a campaign that made him the target of a death plot by the Jewish leaders in the city. When the scheme became known, the Christians in the city slipped him away to safety by dropping him over the city wall in a basket at night after the gates had been locked and the city had “rolled up the sidewalks” for the night. Escaping to Jerusalem, Saul desired to associate with the believers there but did not find them welcoming since they, like Ananias, feared that his conversion was only a ploy to get inside information that would lead to raids, arrests, trials, and executions. Fortunately, one person believed him and helped him gain acceptance – Barnabas. Before long, Saul created quite a stir in the city by preaching the gospel that he had so vehemently opposed, again resulting in death threats and the need for him to be smuggled out of town. This exit was apparently initiated by a visionary encounter that Paul mentioned during his address to the mob at the temple at the time of his arrest. (Acts 22:17-21) He escaped to Caesarea (the Roman administrative headquarters on the Mediterranean coast) and then to his hometown of Tarsus.
Meanwhile, something new was happening in the church. Peter was called to preach to a gentile audience, and – contrary to what everyone would have anticipated – the Holy Spirit fell on them! In another unexpected turn of events, Greeks in the Syrian city of Antioch were accepting the gospel. Surveying this unprecedented move of God, Barnabas knew that there was only one man with a clear enough revelation of the universal nature of the gospel to become God’s spokesman to these unconventional converts – Saul. Therefore, he went to Tarsus and convinced Saul to come to Antioch (one of the most important cities in the eastern Mediterranean region – actually rivalling Alexandria, Egypt, as the chief city of the Near East area – because of its geographical, military, and economic position and the fact that it dominated the spice trade, the silk routes, and the Persian Royal Road) where he would live and minister for the following year (Acts 11:26) until the two of them were commissioned to travel to Jerusalem with an offering to help the believers who were suffering due to a famine (Acts 11:27-30).
Upon their return to Antioch, the Lord directed the leadership that Barnabas and Saul had further traveling assignments; so, after fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them out as the church’s first official missionaries. (Acts 13:4) Even though the Holy Spirit’s explicit direction was that Barnabas and Saul be ordained to this work, they also took John Mark (Acts 13:5) although he was not specifically called for the task – a decision that eventually proved to be an issue (Acts 15:36-39). This first journey took these new missionaries through Seleucia (the capital city of previous empires in the region), Cyprus (an island that was of such strategic significance that it was constantly under conquest by the major Mediterranean powers), Salamis (an island with significance as a port for naval and merchant ships), Paphos (the capital city of the region), Perga in Pamphylia (the capital city of the area; from here John Mark parted company and returned to Jerusalem), Antioch in Pisidia (considered to be the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Aegean and Central Anatolian regions), Iconium (capital of Lycaonia), Lystra (a Roman colonial city from which they governed the tribes in the mountains to the west), and Derbe (a city of enough consequence to mint its own coinage). On their return, Barnabas and Saul retraced their steps through Lystra, Iconium, Antioch in Pisidia, Pamphylia, Perga, and Attalia (modern-day Antalya, Turkey’s biggest international sea resort) before sailing back to Antioch. (Acts chapters 13 and 14) This lengthy journey was marked by several characteristic qualities of Paul’s ministry methodology. In Paphos, he confronted a sorcerer who was controlled by a demonic spirit that hindered Paul from ministering to Sergius Paulus who was open to the gospel message. After binding the spirit, Paul was able to help the official believe. (Acts 13:6-12) This episode illustrates two of the basic principles of Paul’s impactful ministry. First, it demonstrated the exercise of spiritual weapons that confront the forces of evil head-on and free the minds of men to hear and understand the gospel. (II Corinthians 10:3-5) Second, it represented his approach that the gospel should be ministered to people in positions of authority as a way to bring its influence into a community from the top down – producing maximum impact. (I Timothy 2:1-2) In Pisidia (Acts 13:14) and Iconium (Acts 14:1), he preached first to the Jews and then to the gentiles when the Jews refused his message – in direct accordance to his proposed evangelistic approach (Romans 1:16). In Lystra, he ministered healing as proof of the validity of his message (Acts 14:8-10) – a strategy that he advocated as the primary approach for introducing the gospel (Romans 15:18-20). As a result of this miraculous healing, the local people wanted to acclaim him a deity, but Paul refused the accolades – an action that opened the door for his opponents to turn the people against him to the extent that they stoned him and left him for dead. It was likely this near-death or out-of-the-body experience that he described in II Corinthians 12:2-4. Again, one of Paul’s life principles surfaces here – the willingness to give his life for the gospel that he preached. (Romans 9:3, II Corinthians 12:15)
When a division occurred in the church over the practice of circumcision, Paul and Barnabas became delegates to the council in Jerusalem that was called to establish an official church policy on the issue. (Acts chapter 15) According to a parallel account in Galatians 2:1-9, Paul took Titus with him as a test case to prove the point that a gentile believer could be a genuine convert without having to submit to the Jewish ritual. When the final verdict was handed down, the ruling was in Paul’s favor – circumcision was not obligatory. However, when we turn the page to chapter sixteen, we find the story of Paul’s selection of Timothy as an understudy. Amazingly, the first thing that Paul did – immediately after his victory in the council of elders and apostles in Jerusalem – was to circumcise Timothy. Why? Because Timothy was destined for leadership in the church. Had he been just a layman, Timothy would have fallen under the auspices of Paul’s teaching in Galatians 5:6, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love,” and Paul would not have required him to submit to the ritual. On the other hand, Paul knew that this young man needed to live by a higher standard so that his message would never be challenged. Paul himself gave up many privileges that he knew were permissible for him under grace in order to maintain an untarnished standard before those with whom he wanted to share the gospel. (I Corinthians 6:12, 8:6-13,10:23) Along with the ruling that circumcision was not necessary, the council did set up some other standards that they felt were necessary in order for the new gentile converts to not be offensive to their more traditional Jewish brethren, “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.” (Acts 15:29) Interestingly, Paul agreed to these conditions but enforced them according to his own terms. In Acts 21:25 he failed to mention the issue of meat sacrificed to idols all together, and in his writings he said that it was a matter of conscience (I Corinthians 8:4-13).
Accompanied by Silas – a leader from the Jerusalem church who had returned to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas in order to verify the decision of the council – Paul’s second journey took him through the regions of Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:41) to the cities of Derbe and Lystra (Acts 16:1) and onward to the regions of Phrygia (the home of the fabled King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold) and the region of Galatia (a client-state of the Roman empire which served as as an administrative center) as far as Mysia where the Holy Spirit directed them that they should not go into Asia Minor (Acts 16:6). When they came to the seaport city of Troas (this chief port of northwest Asia Minor with a population of close to one hundred thousand prospered greatly in Roman times and became a free and autonomous city), Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man calling for him to come there to help. His immediate response was to board a ship to Neapolis (the major harbor of this region) and onward to Philippi (a city that was significant because of the local gold mines and important trade routes that passed through it) – the first landfall of the gospel on European shores. (Acts 16:9-12) His stay in Philippi was again marked by many of the characteristics of his ministry methodology: he went first to a place where prayers were customarily made (apparently, there was no official synagogue in the city), he then confronted the demonic spirit that held the hearts, minds, and lives of the people in bondage, and finally he put his own life on the line for the gospel when he was arrested and beaten. (Acts 16:13-24) In these stories, we see two more aspects of his ministry methodology. The principle of discipleship was exemplified in the lives of two individuals that Paul met in this city. When Lydia responded to his message by the river side, Paul went to her home and mentored her in the faith (Acts 16:15); he did the same thing for the jailer and his family after they believed (Acts 16:34). In his epistles to the young man Timothy whom he circumcised during this period of time, Paul expressed the significance of this sort of personal discipleship by reminding this protégé of how he had mentored him and challenged him to continue the practice with others who would in turn perpetuate it into future generations. (II Timothy 2:2) The story of Paul and Silas’ miraculous deliverance from the prison showcases another of Paul’s mission strategies – praise. In his letter to the Romans, Paul made an archetypal statement when he talked about dealing with troubles, “glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.” (Romans 5:2-4) From these verses, it is easy to see that this great apostle of the faith didn’t count temptation and troubles as occasions for discouragement. Rather, temptation was an occasion for praising the Lord. Joy and rejoicing were his response when the devil tried to get him down. He knew that he needed strength, and it is likely that he remembered that Nehemiah had said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) When he and Silas were in that prison in Philippi, they proved that joy rather than discouragement was the best response to trouble. They had been beaten, imprisoned, and held in chains; yet, at midnight – when everything was the darkest – they were singing and praising God. Through their praises, an earthquake delivered them from the jail. Not only did their praise physically open the door to the jail, it also opened the door of opportunity for Paul to win the jailer and his family to Christ – a great ministry strategy.
From Philippi, Paul and Silas passed through Amphipolis (a city of military significance dating back as far as the time of Alexander the Great) and Appolonia (home to a renowned school of philosophy) and came to Thessalonica (known as the “co-capital” since it was the region’s second major economic, industrial, commercial, and political center and a major transportation hub with a thriving commercial port) where Paul taught for just three short weeks – again following his typical ministry pattern of approaching the Jews first. (Acts 17:1-9) It was in Thessalonica that Paul and Silas received the accusation that should be understood as their greatest acclaim – that they had turned the world upside down! (Acts 17:6) Talk about maximum impact!! It was also in this city – as we will see later in our study – that Paul did indeed have maximum impact even though the narrative here compares the reception that Paul received in Berea (a city that controlled the water sources for the territory) – the next stop on his evangelistic tour – by saying that the people of Berea “were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11) But before we leave the story of the three-week stay in Thessalonica, we should note one other aspect about Paul’s ministry there. When he was accused of illegal practices and his case was brought before the rulers of the city, the officials let him go – essentially declaring that he had broken no laws. This incident illustrates yet another of the life principles that characterized Paul’s ministry – obedience to the laws of man. In Romans chapter thirteen, Paul went into detail to express the obligation for Christians to respect and obey the legal powers. In this passage, Paul made it explicitly clear that Christians are to live in total respect for and submission to the civil authorities – actually recognizing them as ministers of God – a concept that we will discuss in detail later.
After teaching some in Berea, Paul departed ahead of Silas and Timothy, southward into the Achaia region of southern Greece to Athens (one of the oldest and most significant cities in world history). (Acts 17:14-15) While there, Paul was moved by the prevalent idolatry of the city and decided to preach to the intellectuals who gathered on Mars Hill for philosophical discussion and debate. The end result of his elaborate message that is recorded in great detail in Acts chapter seventeen was that a few men and one woman believed. It is quite noticeable that this sermon is distinctly different from all the other sermons of Paul that are recorded in the book of Acts and the messages that are preserved in his epistles – an idea that will be explored further in another section. However, before we leave the discussion of the ministry in Athens, it would be good to mention that Paul was so concerned for the new believers in Thessalonica that he sent Timothy back to check up on them. (I Thessalonians 3:1-7) This act demonstrated another principle that characterized Paul’s ministry ethic – care for the churches. In fact, he actually described that the emotional weight he carried for these new believers was even more taxing than the physical obstacles he endures – including his beatings and his imprisonments. (II Corinthians 11:23-28)
From Athens, Paul traveled the fifty-two miles to Corinth (a major seaport in that it was located on a sort isthmus that allowed merchants to transport their goods overland for a short distance and avoid lengthy and expensive journeys at sea) where he stayed a year and a half. (Acts 18:1, 18:5, 18:11) There, Paul met Aquila and Priscilla who had come from Rome when Claudius Caesar banished all the Jews over an issue concerning “Chrestus,” which we assume to be a misspelling of “Christus,” meaning Christ. After Silas and Timothy rejoined Paul in Corinth, he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonian believers. (I Thessalonians 3:1-2, 3:6) Shortly afterward, he followed up with his second epistle to them. Paul’s ministry in Corinth followed his usual pattern of ministering first to the Jewish community before turning to the gentile population. (Acts 18:5-6) As so often happened in his travels, Paul’s ministry in the city engendered a riot, and he was brought before the deputy on trumped-up charges, which were immediately dismissed because of Paul’s practice of living as a law-abiding citizen unless the law directly contradicted his divine mission. (Acts 18:12-17) One interesting incident that occurred during his stay in Corinth was the vision in which the Lord assured the apostle that no harm would come to him in the city since “I [the Lord] have much people in this city.” (Acts 18:10) The unusual aspect of that statement is that it came at the beginning of Paul’s ministry there before there had been more than a handful of converts. In essence, this was a prophetic statement based on the foreknowledge and predetermined plan of God that there were many souls to be saved in the city. It seems that this revelation was also part of Paul’s mission strategy – he believed that God had actually foreordained people to be part of His family. With that mentality, Paul could be aggressive in his evangelism and discipleship – going after the ones that God had already chosen. (Romans 8:29-31) After establishing a thriving church in this pagan seafront city, Paul left by boat with Aquila and Priscilla to Cenchrea (a harbor city that serviced trade routes into Italy and the rest of Europe) and then across the Aegean Sea to Ephesus (the largest city in the Roman Empire and a port city that was connected to all the major trade routes of the period) where he left the couple. It was in Ephesus that Aquila and Priscilla met Apollos – who later went to Corinth as the second pastor of the congregation there – and taught him the doctrine that they had learned from Paul. (Acts 18:19 and 26) After preaching at the local synagogue in Ephesus, Paul again set sail with intentions of going to Jerusalem for the feast; however, when he came to Caesarea (the Roman capital over Palestine), he briefly greeted the local believers and then traveled on to Antioch where the second journey ended. (Acts 18:18-22)
Paul stayed in Antioch for a while (Acts 18:23) before heading out on his third missionary journey, which began with a visit to Galatia and then Phrygia where he encouraged and strengthened the existing disciples. (Acts 18:23) Again, we can see a very significant element of his ministry strategy – exhortation and edification. (I Corinthians 14:12; Ephesians 2:20-21, 4:12; I Thessalonians 2:11; I Timothy 1:4) About the time that Apollos relocated to Corinth, Paul returned to Ephesus where he established himself for the next three years. (Acts 20:31) One of his first encounters there was with a dozen disciples of John the Baptist who had not heard the completion of the gospel story – the death and resurrection of Jesus and coming of the Holy Spirit. After Paul explained the rest of the story to them, these disciples believed the message, received baptism, and were filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:1-7) Paul then turned his attention to the synagogue where he preached for the next three months with apparently little acceptance. (Acts 19:8) He then began holding daily sessions in the school of Tyrannus – a course that ran for the next two years. (Acts 19:9-10) The end result of his persistent ministry and the work of those who had been trained under his teachings and empowered by the Holy Spirit is that “all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:10) In this ministry in Ephesus, we see another of the hallmarks of Paul’s ministry and message – the significance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. (Romans 8:4, 8:9, 8:13, 8:14, 8:26; Galatians 5:16, 5:22-23) In what would be called “power encounters” today, Paul brought about much change in the spiritual climate in Ephesus, with occult practitioners burning their books and the Temple of Diana – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that drew devotees from all over the then-known world – falling into near bankruptcy. (Acts 19:12-19, 19:23-41) The amazing thing is that Paul didn’t protest these pagan practices; he simply preached the truth so strongly that the devil had to flee when the two forces collided – again, a benchmark of his ministry approach. (Romans 16:20; Ephesians 4:27, 6:11) On a side note, when I visited the city of Ephesus, I waited for the guide to point out the remains of the Temple of Diana. As we neared the end of the tour, he had still not mentioned this massive structure; so, I asked about it. He answered by asking if I remembered going past one particular stone several turns back. When I remarked that I did, he informed me that that was all that was left of the temple that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After pointing out site after site that had to do with Paul’s time in the city, he had not even intended to mention the temple. Now that’s what I call maximum impact!
It is likely that Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians while living in Ephesus. If this is the case, we can see another of the qualities that made Paul’s ministry so impactful – he always had his converts on his heart and in his prayers. Paul sent Timothy and Erastus ahead into Macedonia, but he stayed in Ephesus (Acts 19:22) where he wrote I Corinthians (I Corinthians 16:8,16:19) without the assistance of Timothy – whom he occasionally mentioned as an associate in other letters (Romans 16:21, II Corinthians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 1:1, II Thessalonians 1:1, Philemon 1:1). Paul foresaw his route of travel for the next four or so years in Acts 19:21-22 – a strategy that agrees with the plans he spelled out to the believers in Corinth. (I Corinthians 16:1, 3, 5, 8-10) He wrote to the Corinthians about having a great and effectual door open for his ministry but that, at the same time, being faced by many adversaries (I Corinthians 16:9) – likely references to his effective ministry that led to the near bankruptcy of the Temple of Diana and the resulting mob violence at the amphitheater (Acts 19:23-41). After rejoining with Timothy (II Corinthians 1:1), Paul wrote a second letter to the Corinthians – possibly at Philippi – and traveled to Troas and Macedonia where he was joined by Titus (II Corinthians 2:12-13, 7:5-6, 7:13; Acts 20:1). At this point, there are two significant characteristics of Paul’s ministry strategy that are obviously apparent – partnership and mentorship. Paul rarely traveled alone – possibly because of the safety factor, but more likely for the effectiveness factor of the synergism from partnership. (Ecclesiastes 4:8-12) The second aspect of his policy of traveling with men like Timothy and Titus was that he was constantly imparting into their lives so that they could absorb his passion, position, and purpose – the same thing that he communicated though letters to those who could not constantly travel with him.
After traveling through Macedonia in northern Greece, Paul arrived in Achaia in southern Greece where he spent the winter (Acts 20:2-3, I Corinthians 16:5-8) and wrote the book of Romans (Romans 15:23-26, I Corinthians 16:1-3). On their return trip to Macedonia (Acts 20:1), Paul and his team spent the Easter season in Philippi (Acts 20:6) and then set sail for Troas, where Paul preached an all-night sermon, resulting in Eutychus’ falling out of the window and Paul’s raising him from the dead (Acts 20:7-12). Paul then traveled into Turkey, stopping in Assos (home of the academy where Aristotle was chief to a group of philosophers and made innovative observations on zoology and biology), Mitylene (capital and port of the island of Lesbos and also the capital of the North Aegean Region), Chios (an island in the Aegean Sea), Samos (an especially rich and powerful city-state that was known for its vineyards and wine production), Trogylium (a stop-over point on the onward journey), and Miletus (once considered the greatest and wealthiest of Greek cities). Since he was unable to return to Ephesus at this time, he requested that the elders of the Ephesian church meet him in Miletus where he gave them what would be his farewell message. (Acts 20:16-38) From here, he sailed to Coos (most noted as the ancient home of Hippocrates the physician), Rhodes (capital of the group of islands in the region), and Patara (one of the principal cities of Lycia, the region’s primary seaport, and a leading city of the Lycian League), and passed Cyprus to reach Tyre (the ancient Phoenician port city and the source of a highly valued purple dye used by royalty in the ancient world) where he and his traveling companions stayed a week before making their way through Ptolemais (capital of the province of Libya Superior or Libya Pentapolis) to Caesarea where they stayed many days (Acts 21:10) and finally ended their third journey in Jerusalem.
This visit to Jerusalem was to be a major turning point in Paul’s life in that it would result in his arrest and eventual execution; however, these difficulties were not something that came to Paul unexpectedly. At numerous points during his journey toward the city, concerned believers warned him of impending danger. (Acts 20:23) At one point, the prophet Agabus physically tied the apostle up to demonstrate his destiny (Acts 21:10-12); however, Paul refused to be dissuaded by any of their pleadings because he knew from the Holy Spirit that what was ahead was part of God’s plan for his life and ministry (Acts 20:22, 21:13-14). In fact, from day one of his Christian experience, Paul had been aware that his destiny included such sufferings. (Acts 9:16) Upon his arrival in the city, Paul met with James, the head elder in Jerusalem, who asked him to demonstrate that he had not forsaken the Jewish faith even though he was so outspoken about the liberty that gentiles had outside the regulations of the Jewish religion. Four Jewish Christian converts were to end a period of purification by participating in a Jewish ritual in the temple, and James felt that it would reaffirm Paul’s validity among the Jewish background believers if he were to join them. (Acts 21:18-24) When Paul went into the temple, some Jews from Turkey saw him there and raised a clamor, yelling out that he was guilty of bringing a gentile into the court of the Jews. (Acts 21:27-29) The resulting riot was broken up by Roman soldiers who rushed from the Antonio Fortress and arrested Paul. (Acts 21:30-34) Amazing the Romans by the fact that he spoke Greek fluently, Paul requested permission to defend himself before the infuriated mob. When permission was given, he stopped partway up the stairs leading from the temple plaza to the Roman fortress and addressed the crowd in Hebrew (Acts 21:35-22:21) by simply sharing his testimony – a pattern that was characteristic of his defense speeches. When Paul mentioned his mission to the gentiles, such an uproar ensued that the soldiers dragged him into the fortress and would have beaten him except he appealed to his rights as a Roman citizen. This appeal led to the decision that Paul be transferred to the Sanhedrin for a hearing since there were obviously no legitimate charges that could be brought against him in a Roman court. (Acts 22:22-30) Knowing that the Sanhedrin was comprised of both Pharisees and Sadducees, Paul leveraged his position as a Pharisee to cause such internal distention between the two parties that the Romans had to intervene by pulling him out of the court and placing him under protective custody – the only thing they could do since he was a Roman citizen. When an assassination plot was uncovered, the Romans assigned a force of two officers, two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to escort Paul to the imperial headquarters at Caesarea – the first step to the fulfillment of a prophecy that the Lord had spoken to Paul during his Jerusalem incarceration, that he was to bear witness in Rome. (Acts 23:1-24)
During the following two years as Paul was held in prison in Caesarea, he had occasion to present his case before two Roman procurators (Felix and Festus) and the Jewish king Agrippa who would have released him except that Paul had exercised his right as a Roman citizen for his case to be heard as high up the chain of appeals as the emperor himself. (Acts 24:1-26:32) Paul was then taken as a prisoner under charge of a Roman centurion on commercial vessels on which civilians such as Luke and Aristarchus (Acts 27:1-2) could also book passage. The fateful journey was marked by a catastrophic storm in which the ship was destroyed – a situation what required the centurion to execute his prisoners on the spot rather than run the risk of their escape. However, because of Paul’s favor with his captor and the fact that an angel had promised Paul that there would be no loss of life, the centurion defied protocol and spared the lives of his charges. (Acts 27:1-44) Finding themselves marooned on Melita (a small island south of Sicily) the castaways began to gather wood to build a fire to warm themselves. In what seemed to everyone who witnessed it be an act of divine judgment, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake that was hiding in the drift wood that he collected – having escaped death at sea, judgment still loomed on the land. However, when Paul was unaffected by the strike of the venomous serpent, everyone immediately assumed that Paul must be a deity – the second time he has given this accolade. (Acts 28:1-6) The miracle opened the door for Paul to minster to the Roman official in charge of the island and to initiate a revival on the island where the survivors of the shipwreck spent the winter waiting for the opportunity to further their journey with the return of good weather the following spring. (Acts 28:7-11) The journey to Rome took them though Syracuse, Rhegium, and Puteoli where Paul was permitted to spend a week with some local believers. (Acts 28:12-14) Apparently, someone from here sent word ahead to Rome that Paul was being brought to the city, resulting in a company of believers coming to the Appii Forum to meet him and escort him onward to the city. (Acts 28:15) Once in Rome, Paul called the Jewish leaders together to explain the events surrounding his arrest and the actual lack of a case against him. Finding no consensus among the Jewish leaders, Paul remained in house arrest in the city for the following two years with seemingly unlimited freedom to teach and preach. (Acts 28:16-31) During this time he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Although there is no definitive proof of what happened to Paul after the open-ended close of the book of Acts, many Bible scholars assume that he was released from prison and had further missionary travels. If so, it was during this period that he wrote the epistles of Titus, I Timothy, and II Timothy. It is even likely that Paul may have fulfilled his desire to travel as far as Spain. (Romans 15:24, 15:28)
As we have taken this step-by-step journey through the life of Paul, we are aware that there are still missing chapters. In II Corinthians chapter eleven, Paul described many of the obstacles he endured during this journey: abundant labors, stripes too many to count, frequent imprisonments, repeated life-threatening situations, being beaten with whips to the Jewish legal limit times, being beaten with rods three times, three shipwrecks other than the one recorded in Acts chapter twenty-seven, suffering hypothermia from a night and a day treading water, being without food or water, and shivering in the cold without adequate clothing – all events that we are not sure where they fit into the storyline. In I Corinthians 15:32, he records having fought with wild beasts in Ephesus. This may be a symbolic reference to the amphitheater episode of Acts chapter nineteen, or it may be referring to a literal struggle against wild beasts – if so, here is another segment of the story that seems to remain untold.
Since everything that Paul did was an outward manifestation of the internal mission that was birthed in him on the road to Damascus, our journey through the apostle’s life has helped us isolate a number of the things that caused his life to be one of maximum impact:
- Picking strategic cities for his ministry
- Exercising of spiritual weapons to confront the forces of evil head-on and free the minds of men to hear and understand the gospel
- Ministering the gospel to people in positions of authority as a way of bringing its influence into a community from the top down
- Preaching to the Jews first as a way of starting with the religious community that already has some awareness of the scripture
- Being willing to put his own life on the line for the gospel
- Demonstrating the gospel with healings and signs and wonders
- Praising in the midst of trouble as the way to open doors of deliverance
- Obeying the civil authorities
- Caring for the churches
- Mentoring disciples
- Being filled with Holy Spirit
- Partnering with other believers
- Following God’s directions – even if they lead into danger
Most of the items on this list are actually self-explanatory from the context in which they appeared; however, I’d like to pull out just a few of the points for a little further review.
The first item on our list is that he strategically focused his ministry in significant cities. Even a cursory review of the notions made after the mention of all the cities Paul visited shows us that he never targeted the boondocks or backwater communities – not because the people there didn’t need his gospel, but because he was determined to make maximum impact. Having grown up in Tarsus, which we know was “no mean city,” and Jerusalem, the physical capital of the Jews and spiritual capital of the whole world – Paul was familiar with the significance of power centers. These political, cultural, business, educational, and religious centers of a nation attract the brightest minds, most adventurous spirits, and forward-thinking individuals who will launch out from these power bases to do business, spread ideas, and develop culture through their entire sphere of influence – including all the boondocks and backwater communities. Certainly it was because of this understanding that he understood the necessity of keeping the gospel from reaching Damascus. He knew that it would be impossible to squelch the movement once infected the bloodstream of the empire through the trade routes that interconnected in Damascus. Paul’s conversion radically changed his theology – but not his methodology. Now, rather than taking the nip-it-in-the-bud approach, he saw the flip side of the coin – pollinate the power centers of the community so that they can then cross-pollinate and proliferate the gospel with maximum impact! Of course, the ultimate goal of this strategy was to infuse the gospel into Rome – the ultimate power base of the world – and from there to spread the seed of the gospel as far as Spain – the ultimate reachable limit of the world at that time. Significantly, even though Paul was not the first one to reach Rome with the gospel, he did give the church there an epistle in which he gave his finest expose of the gospel so that as they cross-pollinated the world they would do so with his DNA. Thus, he was able to make maximum impact – even before he personally set foot in the city!
One of the items on this list that might seem a bit foreign to us was Paul’s insistence on living according the laws of the land – even though the government might be hostile to the gospel. In fact, he even defined the government officials as ministers of God. (Romans 13:4) When Paul was arrested and threatened with beating, he took advantage of every right and privilege he had as a Roman citizen. (Acts 22:25) When there was a conspiracy against his life, Paul used his status under the Roman legal system for his protection. (Acts 23:17) When he realized that extradition to Jerusalem would seal his doom, the apostle exercised his legal right of appeal to ensure that he not fall into the deathtrap set for him by the Jewish officials. (Acts 25:11) So, we see that Paul did not see himself as an enemy of the state or the state as his adversary. In fact, even when the government had imprisoned him and was ready to execute him, Paul seemed to say that even their act of killing him would be a fulfillment of God’s will and, therefore, a blessing to him. (Philippians 1:21) He even served as a divine advisor to the government on at least one occasion (Acts 27:9-10); even though they refused his advice, they soon discovered that his instructions were beneficial and crucial to their very lives (Acts 27:21-44). Because Paul held no malice against the Roman government even though they were oppressing and persecuting believers, he was able to receive benefits from the government and give his blessing to it.
Another aspect of Paul’s methodology was his constant concern for the churches. In fact, Paul was consumed with his love for the churches. Reading the introductions to his letters gives us a glimpse into his never-ending concern for the saints. To the Corinthians, he wrote, “I thank my God always on your behalf.” To the Philippians, he said, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” He addressed the Colossians, “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” His greeting to the Thessalonian church read, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.” Timothy he addressed as “my own son in the faith” and “my dearly beloved son” and went on to say, “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.” Titus also received the loving salutation of “mine own son after the common faith.” In writing to Philemon, Paul also addressed Apphia whom he called “beloved” and then wrote, “I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers.” From these opening lines, we are able to get a glimpse inside the heart of the great Christian leader. His converts were never out of his heart and mind. No matter how many miles and how many years separated them, these loved ones were always in Paul’s prayers. But it is in his greeting to the church at Rome that we are able to really see what is in the heart of this great minister of God. These believers he addressed as “beloved” even though he did not personally know them. They were part of the Body of Christ, so he loved them intently – even without a direct relationship. Paul had a heart of unceasing love and concern for the Body of Christ, whether personal friend or total stranger. In II Corinthians chapter eleven, Paul graphically illustrated how heavily the burden of love for the church weighed upon his heart. Here, he described the physical difficulties he endured for the gospel’s sake: beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, long journeys, plots against his life, attacks of wild beasts, assaults by robbers, hunger, exposure, and being stoned to the point of death. Yet he concluded this list with, “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” (verse 28) Here he seems to say that the inner burden he carried for the churches exceeded the physical burdens that had been hurled upon him externally.
This is the life of a man who can – and did – make maximum impact!