Paul — The Most Unlikely Apostle

The man who held coats at Stephen’s stoning became the greatest missionary in Christian history

Before the Road to Damascus

Saul of Tarsus was everything the early Christians were not. He was a Roman citizen by birth. He was educated by Gamaliel, one of the most respected rabbinical teachers of the first century. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees — trained in the law, zealous for the tradition, certain of his position.

He was also, by his own description, advancing in Judaism beyond his peers — and that advancement expressed itself in persecution of the church. He did not merely disapprove of the Jesus movement. He organized its destruction.

Acts 22:3–4

“I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus… and was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.”

At the stoning of Stephen — the first Christian martyr — Saul held the coats of those who threw the stones. He consented to Stephen's death. He then “made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.” He requested letters from the high priest authorizing him to go to Damascus and arrest Christians there. He was on that mission when everything changed.

The Encounter

On the road to Damascus, at midday, a light brighter than the sun knocked Saul and his companions to the ground. A voice spoke:

Acts 9:4–5

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

The companions heard a sound but saw no one. Saul alone saw the being and heard distinct words. He was left blind. His companions led him into Damascus, where he spent three days without sight, without food, without water — alone with what he had just encountered.

Three Days of Darkness

Three days of blindness — the same span as the Resurrection. The man who had been certain was now in total darkness, physically and epistemically. Everything he had built his identity on — his credentials, his zeal, his certainty that the Jesus movement was a blasphemous deviation — had just been demolished in a blinding moment on a road.

He prayed. He fasted. He waited. Meanwhile, God was speaking to a disciple named Ananias in a vision, telling him to go find Saul of Tarsus — the same Saul who had come to Damascus to arrest people like Ananias. Ananias was understandably reluctant. God told him to go anyway.

This is one of the most humanly honest moments in Acts: a disciple who had every reason to be afraid, being asked to go minister to the man who had just been destroying the church. His obedience was not easy. It was required. That is what Ananias did.

Ananias — “Brother Saul”

Ananias entered the house, put his hands on Saul, and said: “Brother Saul.” Two words that carried the entire weight of forgiveness and inclusion. The man who had been destroying the church was now addressed as a brother. The Holy Ghost came. The scales fell from Saul's eyes. He was baptized.

The name Paul is the Greek form of the Hebrew Saul, and the man who would carry the gospel to the Gentile world operated under both names in different contexts. But the transformation in those three days of darkness was complete. He went from Christianity's most dangerous enemy to its most prolific advocate in a span that the text covers in a few verses and that Paul himself would spend the rest of his life unpacking.

What Changed

Paul was not converted by argument. He was the expert in argument — he had already heard the case for Jesus and dismissed it. He was not converted by social pressure or family influence. He was converted by direct encounter with the risen Christ.

He states this explicitly in Galatians:

Galatians 1:11–12

“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.”

He did not go to Jerusalem after his conversion to be trained by the other apostles. He went to Arabia and then returned to Damascus. Three years later he went to Jerusalem and spent fifteen days with Peter. His gospel came not from institutional transmission but from the same source as every legitimate apostolic testimony: direct revelation from the risen Lord.

Three Missionary Journeys

Paul traveled approximately 10,000 miles on foot and by sea across the Roman world. He established churches in Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia Minor. He preached in synagogues, marketplaces, on Mars Hill before Athenian philosophers, and before governors and kings. He was beaten with rods three times, flogged five times with the thirty-nine lashes, shipwrecked three times, stoned and left for dead once, imprisoned multiple times.

Philippians 4:11–13

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The contentment Paul describes is not passive resignation. It is the settled peace of a man who has made a decision that does not depend on circumstances — and who has tested that decision against every difficult circumstance the ancient world could produce.

His Letters — The Doctrinal Foundation of Christianity

Thirteen letters in the New Testament bear Paul's name. They are not devotional essays — they are doctrinal arguments, pastoral instructions, and theological defenses written to specific congregations facing specific problems. Romans is the most systematic theological statement in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians addresses a church in moral crisis. Galatians is a sharp defense of grace against legalism. Ephesians articulates the nature of the body of Christ. 1 Thessalonians is almost certainly the earliest New Testament document written.

Paul's writing on resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), on grace and works (Romans 3–8, Galatians 2–3), on spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12–14), and on the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40–42) forms the doctrinal backbone that Latter-day Saint theology engages with and expands most directly. Joseph Smith did not invent three degrees of glory. He restored a careful reading of Paul.

“I Have Fought a Good Fight”

Paul's final letter, written from prison before his execution under Nero, contains the most personal and dignified farewell in all of scripture:

2 Timothy 4:6–8

“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Three parallel claims: I fought. I finished. I kept the faith. These are the three things required. Not winning every argument, not achieving institutional success, not receiving honor from men. Fighting the fight. Running the course. Keeping the faith. Paul did all three — beginning from the road to Damascus and ending in a Roman prison.

Why Paul’s Conversion Matters as Evidence

From a purely evidential standpoint, Paul's conversion is one of the most significant facts in early Christian history. He was not a disciple. He was not a sympathizer. He was an educated, zealous persecutor with every social and professional incentive to remain in that role — and nothing to gain from converting except suffering and eventual death.

His stated reason for the change was a specific vision of the risen Christ. He staked his entire life on that claim, and his life's record bears it out: no one who had simply made this up would have willingly endured what Paul endured for it.

Key Scriptures on Paul

Paul's life answers the question that every believer eventually has to face: what will you do when the cost of faithfulness exceeds what you expected to pay? He paid more than almost anyone. He paid it without flinching. That is the testimony — and it comes from the man least likely to have given it.