Paul's life and work, from his letters


From Paul's letters alone, leaving aside the information provided by Acts, we learn of his Jewish background (Galatians 1:13-14, Philippians 3:5-6) and the revelation which was given to him by God of his Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12, 15-16), after which Paul became apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:8). From the openings of his lee we can list the names of the widely separated places in Asia Minor Greece which he visited in his missionary work. There are references in his letters to visits to Jerusalem and Antioch. In his letter to the Christians in Rome, which he had not yet visited when he wrote the letter, he speaks not only of his hopes that he will reach Rome but will go even further west, to Spain. Romans 15:22-26 refers to Spain and Jerusalem at opposite ends of the Mediterranean Sea and the Roman Empire indicating Paul's acceptance of endless travel in the service of the Gospel. A passage such as 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 supports what we have already seen in the same letter, in 11 :23-29, that Paul was totally committed to the task which he had accepted, of taking the Good News to every he could reach, regardless of the hardships he experienced. Although it is convenient to speak of Paul's three main missionary journeys, this is really an artificial division of what was a lifelong journey backward and forwards across large areas of the Roman empire. If you had Paul, say, in Ephesus, and asked him whether he was undertaking second or third journey, he might have been very puzzled by the question; he was prepared to travel continually until the end of his life, to spread the Good News. He travelled 'light', supporting himself wherever he happened to be staying, accepting whatever conditions he found in place (1 Corinthians 4: 11-12). He put into practice the teaching which Jesus had given to the disciples when he first sent them out to pre (Mark 6: 7-11).