Saint Paul (4 AD -67 AD) was a member of the Pharisee sect of Judaism and a descendant of the Benjamin branch. Before being illuminated by God, he was a very enthusiastic Jewish believer. In order to capture Christians, he was illuminated by God on his way to Damascus and became a Christian. Afterwards, he spent the rest of his life spreading Christianity and was known as an apostle of the Gentiles. He was ultimately beheaded and martyred in Rome.

1、 From birth to persecution of the church
"I am a Jew, born in Tarso in Kirichhia. I grew up in this city - Jerusalem, and... I was taught at the feet of Gamariel..." (Pope 22:2). Paul briefly explained his birth and origin to the Jerusalem crowd who wanted to take action to capture him. He admitted to being Jewish, but was born in the city of Tarsus abroad. It is said that Paul's ancestors migrated from Giscala to Tarsus to live there May have obtained Roman citizenship during the tenure of Roman Protector Antoni.
In the early AD, Paul was born in this ethnically diverse city. He can be said to be contemporaries with Jesus. Paul originally belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, and perhaps his parents gave him a Jewish name in memory of the Saurian king who emerged from this tribe - now translated in Greek as Saul - and a Roman name: Paul Paulus, which means "little.".
Paul's parents were very enthusiastic Jews who belonged to the Pharisees. Therefore, on the 8th day after Paul's birth, he was circumcised, and as he grew up, he immediately taught the laws of Moses and the teachings of his ancestors (Romans 11:1, Philippians 3:5-6, Acts 22:1-5, etc.). According to the teachings of his ancestors, Paul began reciting the Bible at the age of 5 and 6, and at the age of 10, he studied the Mishnah and engaged in learning the craft of weaving curtains (Pope 18:3).
Apostle Paul later often boasted about his craft, just as he often boasted about his Rome (Pope 20:34, 1 Corinthians 4:12, 1 Corinthians 2:9, 2 Corinthians 3:8, etc.), because this craft, like Roman citizenship, greatly helped his missionary career. Firstly, it enabled him to be self-sufficient without relying on others, and secondly, it made it easier for him to have more contact with society. Paul seemed to have attended Greek schools in Tarso, in addition to attending the synagogue school, because his Greek writing was fluent and his brushstrokes were powerful. Unless he had received formal Greek education, he would never have such expertise. The genius Paul met the people of various countries and regions belonging to or not belonging to the Roman Empire in the port of Tarso. In the streets and alleys, he saw the rituals and parades held by pagans, and heard the philosophical theories of various parties, such as those taught by the Stoic, Epicurus, and Sinic schools. Among them, the Stoic school had great influence in the city of Tarso at that time. Therefore, Paul's debating method may also have been influenced to some extent by the Stoic school's debating method.

When Paul was 15 or 16 years old, he went to Jerusalem to study the Bible in front of the Carmelite teachers, which shows the enthusiasm of Paul's parents for their children's education. Paul had a renowned teacher named Camariel as his professor, who made great strides in both scripture and morality. He achieved great success and was able to travel thousands of miles in one day (see Cal 1:14, 22:3-5, 33-40, etc.). He learned the essence of scriptures, the methods of interpreting scriptures, and the teachings of his ancestors from his teacher Gamariel.
According to the customs of the people, when a man reaches the age of 18, he must get married, start a family, and start a business. However, like some famous scriptures, Paul regards the "Torah" of Moses as his "holy bride"; In this way, he fully devoted himself to God and never married (1 Corinthians 7). It turned out that the culture of chastity was extremely prevalent among the Essenes and Gumulan groups at that time, so Paul's unwavering commitment to chastity was not a strange thing.
After graduating from studying the Bible, Paul returned to Tarso; But due to his enthusiasm, it seems that he goes to the Holy City every year for all his interactions with the scriptures and priests in the Holy City. In terms of age and historical background, he may have seen Jesus around 29 or 30 AD, and some modern scholars believe that he actually saw the Lord Jesus based on records such as 9:15 BC and 5 BC; However, before naturalization, Paul only judged Jesus with the naked eye, that is, he only judged Jesus based on the views of secular people, denying that he was the Messiah expected by the Israelite people; But Paul's naturalization immediately recognized Jesus as Mercia, the Savior of humanity, and the Holy Son of God.

Based on the above, we cannot help but admire God's supreme wisdom, as he chose Paul as his "chosen vessel" to spread the gospel to the world's most culturally advanced Greece and Rome (Pope 9). Indeed, Paul's birthplace was influenced by three cultures: Hebrew, Greek, and Roman, and he was also influenced by these three cultures, becoming a versatile and great apostle. Due to Paul's innate intelligence and broad range of activities, he was well aware of the shortcomings and strengths of the Gentiles (Romans 1:3), and knew the attitude of the Gentiles seeking God, as if willing to touch God and find God (Pope 17). Furthermore, with his identity as a Roman citizen, Paul was able to travel freely throughout the entire Roman Empire. Although he did not understand Latin, in addition to being proficient in the ancient and modern languages of his own country - Hebrew and Aramaic - he could also fluently speak the most commonly used Greek language in the empire at that time. Wherever he went, he could preach the gospel to Jewish expatriates and knowledgeable people from other countries.
Studying the "foreign apostles" seems to reveal some contradictions within him. We can use his own words to illustrate this point: "But we have this treasure in earthenware..." (2 Corinthians 4:7) From the accounts of 1 Corinthians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 10:l, 12:6 Ga 4, etc., it can be inferred that Paul's body was not very healthy, and he often suffered from chronic diseases that hindered his missionary work. He has sparse hair on his head, his eyebrows connected in a hooked shape, and is amiable; Sometimes he appears to be a mortal, but sometimes his appearance resembles an angel (Acta Pauliet Theclae III). From this account, it can be concluded that Paul's "earthenware" was "robust and powerful", otherwise he would never have endured countless hardships in his missionary life for 30 years (2 Corinthians 11); Of course, the grace of God can alleviate his pain (2 Corinthians 12), but a strong will often encourages his physical body to obey his ambitious mission. In this "earthenware", there exists a unique soul whose abilities are so strong that some modern scholars love to praise Paul with the famous phrase "The first after the Unique". From his letters, it can be inferred that his Wusi possesses intuitive and dialectical abilities; His knowledge of Confucianism is extensive and profound. He has a strong will and is naturally talented as a leader, able to rule and lead the masses; He has a heart that resembles a loving father, sometimes more like a loving mother (Ga 4:19-20, 1 Corinthians 4:14-15), and in addition, he possesses the noble demeanor of a gentleman and the righteousness of a chivalrous person.

Paul had many innate talents, and among his fellow countrymen, his learning progressed day by day, far surpassing his peers (Ga 1:14), which was a very natural thing; And we can speculate that if he had not been selected as an apostle by Jesus, he would have surrounded his talents and religious fervor to become a famous "rabbi", on par with his teachers Gamariel, Heliel, Achiba, and other scribes.
Before being selected by Jesus, Paul and his father's ideals were limited to explaining the laws of God, which was beyond doubt, because "he preserved the speech of famous people, understood the mysteries of metaphors, understood the true meaning of proverbs, and played with the mysteries of fables. He went in and out among great men, circling before kings; he traveled through the nations of nations, examining the good and evil of humanity." (Deut 39:11-5)

In the years 34-35 AD, an extraordinary figure named Stephen emerged in the Jerusalem Church. Luke recorded, "Stephen is full of grace and virtue, showing great miracles and signs among the people." (Pope 6). Due to Stephen's enthusiastic preaching, the number of believers increased day by day, and even many priests believed in the Church of Christ. In addition, those who had built a synagogue in the Holy Capital, including Kelenai, Alexander, Kirichhia, and the people of Asia, who were unable to resist the wisdom of Stephen, wanted to get rid of him and instigated people to accuse him of blasphemy against Moses and God. At that time, there was a man named Saul in the synagogue of Corinthia who hated Stephen the most because he firmly believed that the only way to uphold the authority of God was to eliminate Christianity. He realized that he had all the enthusiasm of Phinehas and Elias, and he strongly agreed to kill Stephen. He wanted to see Stephen killed with his own eyes before feeling happy in his heart (Pope 7:60-8l). Later, when Paul talked about his persecution of the Catholic Church, he exclaimed with emotion, "I myself used to believe that we should do our best to oppose the name of Jesus the Nazarene" (Pope 26:9, also see 1 Corinthians 1:1-3). Indeed, the words of the Lord Jesus, "And the time will come, and whoever kills you will consider it a duty to fully respect God" (John 16:2), have been fully fulfilled in Paul. But if asked carefully, why did Paul attack the Church of Christ? It can be said that there are two reasons: first, because Paul believed that Jesus was a false Mercian who blasphemed God. II. Paul believed that Jesus claiming to be the "Son of God" was arrogant. Due to these two reasons, Paul went crazy in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and Syria, striving to eliminate the Church of Christ (Pope 8:l-3, 9:l-3, Gal, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Ph. 36, 1 Corinthians 1:l-3).

Although Paul gained a deeper understanding of Jesus' Mercianism and his deeds, his demands, and his gospel from the confessions of the captured Christians day by day; But the confession and torture of Christians not only did not make him suspect that persecuting the "Catholic Church" in this way was unreasonable, but also made him more convinced that persecuting the "Catholic Church" was justified. So, his sudden naturalization is the greatest miracle beyond the miracle of Jesus' resurrection. This main fact has been recorded three times in the Annals of the Apostles, and Paul has mentioned it at least 7 times in his own letters (Acts 9:1:20, 22:3-21, 26:9-20 Ga 1:13-14 1 Corinthians 9:l, 15:8 2 Corinthians 4:6 Philippians 3:12 Ephesians 3:7-8 1 Corinthians 1:1l). Some modern scholars refer to "Paul's naturalization" as "Paul's call.". The two things of "naturalization" and "being called" are inseparable (such as Jia 1). Paul attributed his calling and naturalization entirely to the mercy of God, and regarding his naturalization, he believed it to be a true transcendence. On the day of his conversion, Paul truly saw the resurrected Jesus. At that time, he not only understood that Jesus was Merciah, but also that Jesus was the only son of God: the glory of Jesus is the glory of the Father. Paul's naturalization is not an ethical repentance, let alone an emotional change of reconciliation with God. He never thought that he had moved away from God, but rather a revelation and a new creation. On that day, God revealed his Holy Son to him (Ga. 1), allowing him to have a slight understanding of the noble status of Christ and the mysteries of his wonderful body, making him not only a Christian, but also a great apostle of Christ and a mentor of the Church throughout history. We do not want to say that the teachings he preached later on were actually the manifestation of Jesus he saw in the suburbs of Damascus, which is the source of Paul's teachings and the main reason for his later life activities, which were the first and last fatal to the Lord.