50 Fun Facts About Apostle Paul Bible

Before his conversion, Paul was known by which Jewish name?

Like King Saul, he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin; Paulus was simply a second, Roman name rather than a post-conversion change.

Paul's home city of Tarsus was the capital of which Roman province?

Tarsus, in today's Mersin Province in Turkey, was a major Mediterranean trading centre with a renowned academy.

To which tribe of Israel did Paul say he belonged?

He called himself 'a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee'.

Under which famous teacher of Jewish law was Paul educated in Jerusalem?

He was sent there young; scholars doubt he was training to become a legal scholar himself.

What trade did Paul practise to support himself, partnering with Priscilla and Aquila?

Unlike Peter and the other apostles, he refused to live off the young churches, hoping it would build his credibility.

According to Acts, Paul was born with which legal status that later let him appeal to Caesar?

Some suggest his ancestors were freed Jewish slaves taken by Pompey in 63 BC, since freed slaves of citizens gained citizenship.

At whose martyrdom was Saul present as a witness, according to Acts?

Stephen, a deacon in Jerusalem, is venerated as Christianity's protomartyr after being stoned for blasphemy.

Paul was on the road to which city when he was blinded by a light from heaven?

He carried a mandate from the High Priest to arrest followers of Jesus and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners.

For how many days was Saul blind before his sight was restored?

He neither ate nor drank during that time and had to be led into the city by the hand.

Who laid hands on Saul to restore his sight and baptized him?

He greeted him as 'Brother Saul' and said the Lord had sent him so Saul could see and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

In Galatians, Paul says that after his conversion he first went to which region?

The trip is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible; some think he went to Mount Sinai to meditate in the desert.

Three years after his conversion, Paul stayed in Jerusalem for 15 days with which apostle?

He also met James, the brother of Jesus, on that visit around 35 or 36 AD.

Which companion went to find Paul and brought him to the church that launched the Gentile mission?

Antioch then became the base for the mission to the Gentiles; it was also where followers of Jesus were first called Christians.

In which city were the followers of Jesus first called 'Christians'?

Antioch, on the Orontes in what is now Antakya, Turkey, became the alternative centre for believers after Stephen's death.

Paul’s partner on the first journey, born Joseph, was a Levite from which island?

Born Joseph, he was nicknamed Barnabas by the apostles and is traditionally held to have been martyred at Salamis on the island.

On the first journey’s island stop, Paul rebuked and blinded which magician?

It is in that Cyprus episode, Acts 13:9, that Saul is first called Paul.

Which young helper left the first missionary journey at Perga and returned to Jerusalem?

The departure later caused a rift; Barnabas, usually identified as Mark's cousin, wanted to take him on the next journey.

The Council of Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, settled what key question?

Peter, James and John, whom Paul called pillars of the church, accepted his mission to the Gentiles there.

In the clash he recounts in Galatians, Paul confronted which apostle over eating with Gentiles?

The dispute was over Peter's reluctance to eat with Gentile Christians; Paul says even Barnabas sided with Peter.

In which city did Paul and Silas meet the young disciple Timothy?

Timothy had a Jewish Christian mother, Eunice, and a Greek father, and later became the first bishop of Ephesus.

Lydia of Thyatira, regarded as the first documented Christian convert in Europe, sold what?

She is also called 'Purpuraria' and 'the Woman of Purple'; Paul met her at Philippi.

What event in Philippi led to the conversion of the jailer holding Paul and Silas?

The prison gates fell open, but the two men stayed put rather than escape.

In Philippi, Paul angered local masters by casting a spirit out of whom?

Her owners were unhappy about losing the income her soothsaying brought in.

Paul's Areopagus sermon was delivered in which city?

He had fled trouble in Thessalonica and Berea and was distressed to find the city full of idols.

At the Areopagus, Paul built his sermon around an altar bearing what inscription?

Among his converts there were a woman named Damaris and Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus council.

Which philosophers did Paul debate in the agora before being taken to the Areopagus?

They met his ideas with confusion and wonder and took him to the city's high court to explain himself.

In which city did Paul first meet the couple Priscilla and Aquila?

The pair are named seven times in the New Testament, always together; Paul says they 'risked their necks' for him.

Which Roman proconsul, mentioned in Acts, helps historians date Paul’s second journey?

The Gallio Inscription at Delphi pins his term to about 51 to 52 AD.

Why did Paul have his hair cut off at Cenchreae in 52 AD?

The village near Corinth was also home to Phoebe, the deacon who carried the letter to the Romans.

Paul stayed almost three years in which city, an important centre of early Christianity?

He probably worked there as a tentmaker and wrote four letters to the Corinthians during the stay.

Riots in honour of which goddess, stirred up by a silversmith, drove Paul out of a city?

A silversmith stirred up the crowd against his preaching, which threatened the trade in shrines.

Paul's Galatian readers were being pressed to adopt which practice that he argued was unnecessary?

He reframed the role of the Mosaic Law in light of Christ; Papyrus 46, the earliest near-complete copy, dates to about AD 200.

How many New Testament books have traditionally been attributed to Paul?

That count includes Hebrews; only 13 letters actually bear his name, and seven are undisputed by scholars.

How many of Paul's letters are almost universally accepted by scholars as authentic?

They are Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon.

Which is the longest of the thirteen Pauline epistles?

It was probably written in Corinth at the house of Gaius between late 55 and early 57, and transcribed by Tertius.

Who was the scribe, or amanuensis, who wrote down Paul’s longest letter?

Sosthenes is thought to have played the same role for 1 Corinthians.

Which deacon from Cenchreae is named as the messenger who carried Paul’s longest letter?

Paul also calls her a benefactor; Chloe was a prominent member of the church in Corinth.

Paul's shortest surviving letter, only 335 Greek words, is addressed to whom?

It pleads for the runaway slave Onesimus to be received 'not as a slave but as a beloved brother'.

What was the name of the escaped slave on whose behalf Paul wrote his shortest letter?

He had become a Christian through Paul, who offered to repay any debt he owed.

Paul's companion Titus is traditionally said to have become bishop of which island?

A Gentile convert, he appointed elders in every city there and died in old age at Gortyna.

Paul wrote of a 'thorn in the flesh' given to keep him humble. Which letter contains it?

He calls it 'the messenger of Satan to buffet me'; its nature has never been identified.

After his arrest in Jerusalem, Paul was held for two years in Caesarea under which governor?

A new governor, Porcius Festus, eventually replaced him; tradition puts the cell near Caesarea's Crusader cathedral ruins.

When Festus proposed sending him back to Jerusalem for trial, what did Paul do?

He exercised his right as a Roman citizen, which is why he ended up sailing for Rome.

On his voyage to Rome, Paul was shipwrecked on which island, ancient Melita?

The islanders showed 'unusual kindness'; Paul is the island's patron saint and the shipwreck is marked on 10 February.

The ship carrying Paul toward Rome ran into a storm after leaving Fair Havens on which island?

The 'typhoon wind' Euraquilo, a north-easter, appears by name on a Roman wind-rose found in North Africa.

How long did Paul spend under house arrest in Rome, according to the end of Acts?

He preached from his rented home while awaiting trial; Acts never mentions his death.

Under which emperor is Paul traditionally said to have been beheaded?

Eusebius places it in the Neronian persecution, dated to 64 or 67 AD; Peter was said to have been crucified at the same time.

The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls stands on which ancient Roman road?

Paul was buried at the second mile on the estate of a Christian woman named Lucina; Constantine founded the first basilica there.

What inscription appeared on the marble sarcophagus found under the basilica in 2002?

Vatican archaeologists declared it Paul's tomb in 2006; radiocarbon dating in 2009 put the bone fragments in the 1st or 2nd century.

On what date is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul observed in the Western church?

New metropolitan archbishops receive the pallium from the pope that day; 25 January marks Paul's conversion instead.