St. Paul, a member of the Pharisee sect of Judaism, is a descendant of the Tribe of Benjamin tribe. Before being illuminated by God, he was a very enthusiastic Jew. In order to capture Christians, he was illuminated by God on his way to Damascus and became a Christian. Later on, he spent the rest of his life preaching Christianity and was known as an apostle of the Gentiles, ultimately being 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 was taught at the feet of Gamariel... "(Pope 22:2). Paul briefly explained his birth and origin to the Jerusalem crowd who wanted 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 (S. Hieronymus: Deviris Illustribus.51 PL 26.617) May have obtained Roman citizenship during the tenure of Roman Protector Antoni.
In the early AD, Paul was born in this city of mixed ethnic groups. He can be said to be contemporary with Jesus. Paul originally belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Benjamin). Perhaps his parents gave him a Jewish name, Saul, in memory of the king of Saul who came from this tribe, and a Roman name, Paul Paulus, which means "tiny".
Paul's parents were very enthusiastic Jews, belonging 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:l Philippians 3:5-6, 22:5, etc.). According to the teachings of his ancestors, Paul began reciting the Bible at the age of 5 or 6, and at the age of 10, he studied the Mishnah and engaged in learning the craft of weaving curtains (Pope 18:3).

Paul's disciples 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 interact with people in society. In addition to studying in the synagogue school in Tarsus, Paul also seems to have studied in Greek schools, because he is fluent in Greek and powerful in writing. Unless he has received formal Education in Greece, he will never have such accomplishments. The talented Paul saw people from all over the world who belonged to the Roman Empire or did not belong to the Roman Empire at Tarsus Port, saw ceremonies and processions held by pagans in the streets and alleys, and heard the philosophies of various parties, such as those of Stoga, Epicurus, Sinik and other factions, among which Stoga School had great influence in Tarsus at that time. Therefore, Paul's debating method may 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 at the feet of the Canary scribe, which shows the enthusiasm of Paul's parents for their children's education. Paul had a famous teacher named Camariel as his professor, who made great strides in both scripture and morality, with a great momentum of progress (see Gal 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 master Gamariel.

According to the customs of the people of Israel, when a man reaches the age of 18, he must get married, start a family, and start a business. However, Paul, like some famous scriptures, used Moses' "Torah" as his "holy bride"; In this way, he fully dedicated himself to God and remained unmarried for life (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 determination to maintain chastity was not a miracle.
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 friendships with the scribes 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 his naturalization, Paul only judged Jesus with the naked eye, that is, he only judged Jesus based on the opinions of secular people, denying that he was the Messiah expected by the Israeli nation; But Paul's naturalization immediately recognized Jesus as Messiah, 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 preach 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 heavenly intelligence and vast range of activities, he was well aware of the shortcomings and advantages of the Gentiles (Rom. 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 know Latin, he could not only master his own ancient and modern languages - Hebrew and Aramaic, but also fluently speak the most common Greek language in the whole empire at that time. Wherever he went, he could spread the gospel to Jewish expatriates and foreign knowledgeable people.

Studying the 'foreign apostles' seems to reveal some contradictions in him himself. We can use his own words to illustrate this point: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels..." (2 grid 4:7) From the descriptions in grid 2:3, grid 10:l, grid 12:6, and grid 4, it can be inferred that Paul's body was not very healthy, and he often suffered from chronic diseases that often hindered his missionary work. He has sparse hair on his head, his eyebrows connected, hooked, and 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 Gr. 11); Of course, the grace of God can alleviate his pain (2 grid 12), but a strong will often encourages his physical body to obey his missionary ambitions. In this' earthen vessel ', 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 seen that his Wusi possesses intuitive and dialectical abilities; His knowledge of the classics is extensive and profound, he has a strong will, is born with the ability to be a leader, and can 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, he made progress in his studies, far surpassing his peers (Ga 1:14), which was a natural thing; And we can speculate that if he had not been selected as an apostle by Jesus, he would have become a famous "Rabbi" surrounded by his talents and religious enthusiasm, along with his teachers such as Gamariel, Heliel, and Achiba.
Before Paul was selected by Jesus, his and his father's ideals were limited to interpreting the laws of God, which is unquestionable, because "to preserve the words of famous men, to comprehend the mysteries of parables, to understand the true meaning of proverbs, and to savor the mysteries of fables. He went in and out among great men, circling before princes, traveling among nations of nations, and examining the good and evil of men

In the year 34-35 AD, an extraordinary figure named Stephen appeared in the church in Jerusalem. 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 eliminate him and instigated accusations of blasphemy against Moses and God. At that time, in the synagogue of Kirichhia, there was a man named Saul 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, and only when he saw him killed with his own eyes did he feel happy in his heart (Pope 7:60-8l). Later, when Paul talked about his persecution of the Catholic Church, he exclaimed with emotion, "Originally, I personally believed that I should do my 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, that whosoever slays you shall consider it to be a duty of full respect to God" (John 16:2), have been fully fulfilled in Paul. But if we ask carefully, why did Paul attack the church of Christ? It can be said that there are two reasons: firstly, because Paul thought that Jesus was a false Messiah, blaspheming God. II. Paul believed that Jesus' claim to be the "Son of God" was arrogant. Due to these two reasons, Paul crazily sought to eliminate the church of Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Syria (Pope 8:l-3, 9:l-3, Gal, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Ph. 36).

Although Paul learned more about Jesus' Mercianism and his deeds, his demands, and his gospel day by day from the confessions of the captured Christians; However, the confession and torture of Christians not only did not make him suspect that such persecution of the "Catholic Church" (Gal. 1) was unreasonable, but also made him more convinced that persecution of the "Catholic Church" was justified. So, his sudden naturalization is the biggest miracle beyond the miracle of Jesus' resurrection. This main fact has been recorded three times in the Chronicles 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 Gal 1:13-14, 15:8 Gal 4:6 Ph 3:12 Ph 3:7-8 Gal 1:11). Some modern scholars refer to "Paul's naturalization" as "Paul's call". The two things of 'domestication' and 'being called' are inseparable (such as in Ga1). 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 naturalization, Paul truly saw the resurrected Jesus. At that time, he not only understood that Jesus was Messiah, but also that Jesus was the only Son of God: the glory of Jesus is the glory of the Father in heaven. Paul's naturalization is not an ethical repentance, let alone an emotional change of reconciliation with God. He never thought that he was far from God but rather a "revelation" and a new creation. On that day, God revealed his Son to him (Gal. 1), allowing him to have a slight understanding of the noble status of Christ and the mysteries of his wonderful body. This made him not only a Christian, but also a great apostle of Christ and a mentor of the churches throughout history. We don't want to say that the truth he preached later in Evangelism was the demonstration that he saw Jesus in the suburbs of Damascus, which was really the source of Paul's truth, and the first and last main reasons for his activities in the second half of his life and the death of the Lord.