Many facets of the Apostle Paul

Epistles are the apostolic letters of The Bible. The New Testament has twenty-one epistles which have been divided into two classes: Paul's epistles, totaling fourteen, and the general epistles, three by John, two by Peter, and one each by James and Jude. The epistles provide approximately 38% of the New Testament.

A study of the New Testament exposes us in great part to the influence of the Apostle Paul. As we study the writings of a disciple who is credited with writing fourteen of the twenty-one epistles of the New Testament we do well to have some understanding of the man.

The following is an excerpt from a writing on the apostle Paul which can be found in it's entirety at: http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/paul.html

Paul
Meaning: Small.
Paul, the apostle, was born about the same time as our Lord. His circumcision-name was Saul, and probably the name Paul was also given to him in infancy "for use in the Gentile world," as “Saul” would be his Hebrew home-name

HIS RELATIVES - His father was of the strictest sect of the Jews, a Pharisee, of the tribe of Benjamin, of pure and unmixed Jewish blood (Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5).

We read of his sister and his sister's son (Acts 23:16), and of other relatives (Rom. 16:7, 11,12). There is no indication that Paul was ever married.

HIS EDUCATION AND CAREER - It was decided that… he should go to college and become a rabbi, that is, a minister, a teacher, and a lawyer all in one."
According to Jewish custom, however, he learned a trade before entering on the more direct preparation for the sacred profession. The trade he acquired was the making of tents from goats' hair cloth, a trade which was one of the commonest in Tarsus.

Saul was sent, when about thirteen years of age probably, to the great Jewish school of sacred learning at Jerusalem as a student of the law. Here he became a pupil of the celebrated rabbi Gamaliel, and here he spent many years in an elaborate study of the Scriptures and of the many questions concerning them with which the rabbis exercised themselves.

For some two years after Pentecost, Christianity was quietly spreading its influence in Jerusalem, and this led to much excitement among the Jews and much disputation in their synagogues. Persecution arose against Stephen and the followers of Christ generally, in which Saul of Tarsus took a prominent part. He was at this time probably a member of the great Sanhedrin, and became the active leader in the furious persecution by which the rulers then sought to exterminate Christianity.

He obtained from the chief priest letters authorizing him to proceed to Damascus on his persecuting career. This was a long journey and he steadily went onward, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter.”

When he had reached the last stage of his journey, and was within sight of Damascus, suddenly at mid-day a brilliant light shone round them, and Saul was laid prostrate in terror on the ground, a voice sounding in his ears, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" The risen Savior was there, clothed in the vesture of his glorified humanity. In answer to the anxious inquiry of the stricken persecutor, “Who art thou, Lord?” he said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 9:5; 22:8; 26:15). This was the moment of his conversion.

Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, was a Jew who called himself the "Apostle to the Gentiles". Together with Simon Peter and James the Just, he is among the most notable of early Christian missionaries.
Thirteen epistles in the New Testament are attributed to Paul. According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Paul's influence on Christian thinking arguably has been more significant than any other New Testament author.

http://www.keyway.ca/htm2003/20030627.htm
http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/paul.html

Enjoy your study of the works of the apostle Paul, a man personally converted by Our Lord, a Jew, a scholar, a Roman citizen, a tent maker.

May God forever be a blessing in your life!!!