Prior To Conversion
Paul claimed to be "of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee." But the Bible reveals very little about Paul's family. Paul's "sister's son" is mentioned in Acts 23:16. Acts also quotes Paul indirectly referring to his father by saying he was "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee". Paul refers to his mother in Romans 16:13 as among those at Rome.
Acts identifies Paul as from the Mediterranean city of Tarsus (in present-day south-central Turkey), well known for its intellectual environment.
Although born in Tarsus, Paul was raised in Jerusalem "at the feet of Gamaliel", a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid 1st century AD. Gamaliel once gave some advice to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:34–39, to "refrain" from slaying the disciples of Jesus. This is in great contrast to the rashness of his student Saul, who zealously persecuted the "saints".
Paul confesses that "beyond measure" he persecuted the "church of God" prior to his conversion. (Galatians 1:13–14; Philippians 3:6; Acts 8:1–3) As a young man, he cooperated in the killing of the proto-martyr, Stephen, standing by and guarding the clothes of the witnesses while Stephen was stoned. (Acts 7:58; 8:1; 22:20)
Read more about this topic: Paul The Apostle
Famous quotes containing the words prior to, prior and/or conversion:
“I remember the thought which occurred to me when some ingenious and spiritual foreigners came to America, was, Have you been victimized in being brought hither?—or, prior to that, answer me this, “Are you victimizable?””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The logic of the world is prior to all truth and falsehood.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“The conversion of a savage to Christianity is the conversion of Christianity to savagery.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)