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| Paul, formerly called Saul.
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Chapter V.
Paul,2355
| 2355 Died 67?, probably after 64 at least. | formerly called Saul, an apostle outside
the number of the twelve apostles, was of the tribe of Benjamin and the
town of Giscalis2356
| 2356 Giscalis, supposed thus to have
originated at Giscalis and to have gone from there to Tarsus, but this
is not generally accepted. | in Judea. When
this was taken by the Romans he removed with his parents to Tarsus in
Cilicia. Sent by them to Jerusalem to study law he was educated by
Gamaliel a most learned man whom Luke mentions. But after he had been
present at the death of the martyr Stephen and had received letters
from the high priest of the temple for the persecution of those who
believed in Christ, he proceeded to Damascus, where constrained to
faith by a revelation, as it is written in the Acts of the apostles, he
was transformed from a persecutor into an elect vessel. As Sergius
Paulus Proconsul of Cyprus was the first to believe on his preaching,
he took his name from him because he had subdued him to faith in
Christ, and having been joined by Barnabas, after traversing many
cities, he returned to Jerusalem and was ordained apostle to the
Gentiles by Peter, James and John. And because a full account of his
life is given in the Acts of the Apostles, I only say this, that the
twenty-fifth year after our Lord’s passion, that is the second of
Nero, at the time when Festus Procurator of Judea succeeded Felix, he
was sent bound to Rome, and remaining for two years in free custody,
disputed daily with the Jews concerning the advent of
Christ. It ought to be said that at the first defence, the power of
Nero having not yet been confirmed, nor his wickedness broken forth to
such a degree as the histories relate concerning him, Paul was
dismissed by Nero, that the gospel of Christ might be preached also in
the West. As he himself writes in the second epistle to Timothy, at the
time when he was about to be put to death dictating his epistle as he
did while in chains; “At my first defence no one took my part,
but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. But the Lord
stood by2357
| 2357 The Lord stood by all mss. and eds; God. Her. | me and strengthened me; that
through me the message might be fully proclaimed and that all the
Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the
lion”2358
—clearly indicating Nero as
lion on account of his cruelty. And directly following he says
“The Lord delivered me from the mouth of the lion” and
again shortly “The Lord delivered me2359
| 2359 from the mouth of the lion, and again shortly “The Lord
delivered me”(substantially) A H 25
30 31 a e etc.; omit T. Her. There are slight variations; God H
21 Bamb Bern. Norimb.; I was delivered Val. Cypr. Tam. Par 1512
etc. | from every evil work and saved me unto
his heavenly kingdom,”2360
for indeed he
felt within himself that his martyrdom was near at hand, for in the
same epistle he announced “for I am already being offered and the
time of my departure is at hand.”2361
He then, in the fourteenth year of Nero
on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ’s
sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the twenty-seventh year after
our Lord’s passion. He wrote nine epistles to seven churches:
To the Romans one, To the Corinthians two, To the
Galatians one, To the Ephesians one, To the
Philippians one, To the Colossians one, To the
Thessalonians two; and besides these to his disciples, To
Timothy two, To Titus one, To Philemon one. The
epistle which is called the Epistle to the Hebrews is not
considered his, on account of its difference from the others in style
and language, but it is reckoned, either according to Tertullian to be
the work of Barnabas, or according to others, to be by Luke the
Evangelist or Clement afterwards bishop of the church at Rome, who,
they say, arranged and adorned the ideas of Paul in his own language,
though to be sure, since Paul was writing to Hebrews and was in
disrepute among them he may have omitted his name from the salutation
on this account. He being a Hebrew wrote Hebrew, that is his own tongue
and most fluently while the things which were eloquently written in
Hebrew were more eloquently turned into Greek2362
| 2362 intoH 31 a e. and many others;
in A T 25 30. | and this is the reason why it seems to
differ from other epistles of Paul. Some read one also to2363
| 2363 also to A H T 25 30 a e Norimb, Bamb.;
also 3l; omit, Her. who seems to have omitted on some evidence
possibly Bern. | the Laodiceans but it is rejected by
everyone.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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