Written by Robert Jones

Acworth, Georgia

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Apostolic Quiz

Andronicus and Junias

Barnabas

James the Just

Matthias

Paul

Jesus the apostle and high priest

Sources

Other Christian History & Theology courses

Introduction

Part One of this study focused on the original 12 apostles chosen by Jesus during his earthly ministry.  Part Two of this study focuses on apostles named in the New Testament outside of the Gospels, including Paul, James (the brother of Jesus), Barnabas, Matthias, Andronicus and Junias. 

This booklet will examine the post-twelve apostles from four primary sources:

1.      The New Testament

2.      Church Tradition – Represented herein primarily from the Ecclesiastical History written by Church Father Eusebius around the time of the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.  Eusebius was the Bishop of Caesarea, and is best known for his list of “Accepted”, “Rejected/Disputed”, and “Impious/Absurd” New Testament-era books. 

3.      Flavius Josephus – from his Jewish Antiquities (written c. 93/94 A.D.)

4.      Apocryphal – Much of the “Christian Apocrypha” is made up of dubious “Acts” of the various apostles.  While these are considered to be of no authority, they do capture some legends about the apostles that are still known today – and they may capture at least some authentic second and third century traditions about the apostles, such as where they preached. 

Interestingly enough, Eusebius in his Church History records some early traditions about the apostles that also show up in the apocryphal "Acts".“ However, regarding the “Acts” themselves (and about apocryphal Gospels), Eusebius states:

“…we have felt compelled to give this catalogue in order that we might be able to know both these works [generally accepted works] and those that are cited by the heretics under the name of the apostles, including, for instance, such books as the Gospels of Peter, of Thomas, of Matthias, or of any others besides them, and the Acts of Andrew and John and the other apostles, which no one belonging to the succession of ecclesiastical writers has deemed worthy of mention in his writings. And further, the character of the style is at variance with apostolic usage, and both the thoughts and the purpose of the things that are related in them are so completely out of accord with true orthodoxy that they clearly show themselves to be the fictions of heretics. Wherefore they are not to be placed even among the rejected writings, but are all of them to be cast aside as absurd and impious.”  (Eusebius, Book 3, Chapter 25)

Apostolic Quiz

1. T/F  Church history records that James, the brother of Jesus, was the first bishop of Jerusalem
2. T/F  Paul was a tentmaker by trade
3. T/F  There is some evidence that there was a female apostle
4. T/F  The Bible states that Silas was an apostle
5. T/F  The New Testament describes the manner of death of Paul of Tarsus
6. T/F  The New Testament never actually refers to Paul as an apostle
7. T/F  Paul, like most of the “original Twelve” apostles, was a Galilean fisherman
8. T/F  Barnabas and Paul parted company after an argument over John Mark
9. T/F  About 25% of the New Testament is made up of Paul’s letters
10. T/F  Barnabas was evidently so large that he was once mistaken for Zeus!
11. T/F  Paul never plied a trade on his missionary journeys, as he felt that his position as “apostle to the Gentiles” meant that the churches he visited should provide him free room and board
12. T/F  Paul and Peter were on opposite sides at the Council of Jerusalem in c. 49 A.D.
13. T/F  Peter made the final decision at the Council of Jerusalem
14. T/F  Barnabas may have written a letter that “almost made the New Testament”
15. T/F  Paul was trained by Rabbi Gamaliel to be a Sadducee

Andronicus and Junias

Andronicus and Junias are mentioned in one verse in Romans, and may have been apostles.  The verse in question is Romans 16:7:

^“7Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” (NIV)

This seemingly innocent passage has generated some controversy over the years for two reasons.  First, does “outstanding among the apostles” mean that they were “outstanding apostles”, or simply that they were well known among the apostles?  If “outstanding apostles” is the correct interpretation, it leads into the second controversy - Junias is the feminine form of a Greek name.  If this is the correct interpretation, then we have a female apostle. 

The Revised Standard Version muddies the waters by stating, “they are men of note among the apostles”.  However, Junias (Iounias)is clearly of the feminine form, as Thayer’s Greek Definitions states:

“1) a Christian woman at Rome, mentioned by Paul as one of his kinsfolk and fellow prisoners

Part of Speech: noun proper feminine”

St. John Chrysostom (c. 345-407), Patriarch of Constantinople, referred to Junias as a female apostle in one of his sermons:

“And indeed to be apostles at all is a great thing. But to be even amongst these of note, just consider what a great encomium this is! But they were of note owing to their works, to their achievements. Oh! how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of the appellation of apostle!” (Homily 31, Homilies of St. John Chrysostom Archbishop of Constantinople on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans)

So, there is some evidence that there was a female post-twelve apostle.

Regarding other aspects of the passage, Paul tells us:

• They are Paul’s relatives
• They spent time in prison with him (assumedly in Rome)
• They were “in Christ” before Paul was

Some commentators view that Andronicus and Junias were a married couple, similar to Priscilla and Aquila.

Barnabas

Barnabas was a “Levite from Cyprus”.  We are told in Acts 4 that his name means “Son of Encouragement”:

^“36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), ³⁷sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”  (NIV, Acts 4:36-37)

Barnabas was an early mentor and sponsor of Paul, introducing him to the apostles in Jerusalem after Paul’s conversion.  Barnabas and Paul spent at least a year in Antioch (Syria), where the term “Christian” was first used.  Later, Barnabas would accompany Paul on his first missionary journey, and seems to have been in charge during at least some parts of the journey.  He must have been a large man, because in Lystra, the people mistook him for Zeus!

Barnabas and Paul were key participants in the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15.  They represented the view that the Gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to be saved.

Later, Barnabas and Paul parted company in a dispute over John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas.  John Mark had “deserted them in Pamphylia” according to Paul, and Paul did not want him to accompany them on his second missionary journey.  It was a “sharp disagreement”, and Paul chose Silas instead of Barnabas to go with him on his second missionary journey.

Barnabas is identified as an apostle in Acts 14:14.

Church tradition

According to Eusebius, Barnabas was “one of the seventy” original disciples of Jesus:

“The names of the apostles of our Savior are known to every one from the Gospels. But there exists no catalogue of the seventy disciples. Barnabas, indeed, is said to have been one of them, of whom the Acts of the apostles makes mention in various places, and especially Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians.”  (Eusebius, Book 1, Chapter 12)

Epistle of Barnabas

Barnabas may have been the author of a book that “almost” made the New Testament.  The Epistle of Barnabas was deemed scripture by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Jerome.  Eusbius branded it "rejected" in his Ecclesiastical History, but not heretical.  It is also possibly written by a follower of Barnabas, perhaps at the end of the first century/beginning of the second. 

A major theme of the Epistle of Barnabas concerns demonstrating that the messianic prophesies in the Old Testament did indeed refer to Jesus.  After the New Testament canon was fixed in the fourth century, the Letter of Barnabas faded into obscurity.

Apocryphal

The Acts of Barnabas: The Journeyings and Martyrdom of St. Barnabas the Apostle, purportedly written by John Mark, describes a missionary journey by Barnabas and Mark after the break with Paul (Acts 15:35-41).  According to this apocryphal Acts, Barnabas used the Gospel of Matthew in his teachings:

“And Barnabas had received documents from Matthew, a book of the word of God, and a narrative of miracles and doctrines. This Barnabas laid upon the sick in each place that we came to, and it immediately made a cure of their sufferings.”

According to this Acts, Barnabas met his fate in Salamis (Cyprus) at the hands of “Barjesus” (assumedly the same Bar-Jesus mentioned in Acts 13:6-12):

“And Barjesus, having arrived after two days, after not a few Jews had been instructed, was enraged, and brought together all the multitude of the Jews…the Jews…took Barnabas by night, and bound him with a rope by the neck; and having dragged him to the hippodrome from the synagogue, and having gone out of the city, standing round him, they burned him with fire, so that even his bones became dust.”

James the Just

James, brother of Jesus, plays almost no role in the earthly ministry of Jesus.  However, after the Ascension of Jesus, James is present at the earliest meetings of the nascent church, and eventually assumes a leadership position in the Jerusalem Church, as can be seen by his seeming “first among equal” role at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15).  He is seemingly identified as an apostle in Galatians 1:19:

“I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.” (NIV, Gal 1:19)

Church tradition says that James, brother of Jesus, wrote the book of James in the New Testament, although the author assignation in James 1:1 is ambiguous.  (One of several places in the New Testament where it is difficult to ascertain which “James” is being referenced! – see also 1 Cor 15:7).

Church Tradition

James is mentioned by Josephus in his massive work Jewish Antiquities.  We are told that James was sentenced by the Sanhedrin to be stoned:

"But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned:" (Jewish Antiquities, 20.9.1)

Eusebius is quite verbose regarding James, and adds details such as:

• He was surnamed “the Just” on account of his virtue

• He was the first bishop of Jerusalem

• He was “thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple” and clubbed to death, because the Sanhedrin was frustrated by the escape of Paul to Rome
• Eusebius argues that James was the “son of Joseph” (but not necessarily the son of Mary)
• Quoting Hegesippus, it appears that James was a Nazorite from birth
• The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian was a direct result of the murder of the righteous James.  Assuming that the siege happened soon after the death of James, his death would have been c. 66 A.D.

“Then James, whom the ancients surnamed the Just on account of the excellence of his virtue, is recorded to have been the first to be made bishop of the church of Jerusalem. This James was called the brother of the Lord because he was known as a son of Joseph, and Joseph was supposed to be the father of Christ, because the Virgin, being betrothed to him, “was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came together,” as the account of the holy Gospels shows. But Clement in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes writes thus: “For they say that Peter and James and John after the ascension of our Savior, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem.” But the same writer, in the seventh book of the same work, relates also the following things concerning him: “The Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one. But there were two Jameses: one called the Just, who was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and was beaten to death with a club by a fuller, and another who was beheaded.” Paul also makes mention of the same James the Just, where he writes, “Other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.” (Eusebius, Book 2, Chapter 1)

“BUT after Paul, in consequence of his appeal to Caesar, had been sent to Rome by Festus, the Jews, being frustrated in their hope of entrapping him by the snares which they had laid for him, turned against James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the episcopal seat at Jerusalem had been entrusted by the apostles. The following daring measures were undertaken by them against him. Leading him into their midst they demanded of him that he should renounce faith in Christ in the presence of all the people.

But, contrary to the opinion of all, with a clear voice, and with greater boldness than they had anticipated, he spoke out before the whole multitude and confessed that our Savior and Lord Jesus is the Son of God. But they were unable to bear longer the testimony of the man who, on account of the excellence of ascetic virtue and of piety which he exhibited in his life, was esteemed by all as the most just of men, and consequently they slew him. Opportunity for this deed of violence was furnished by the prevailing anarchy, which was caused by the fact that Festus had died just at this time in Judea, and that the province was thus without a governor and head.

The manner of James’ death has been already indicated by the above-quoted words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club. But Hegesippus, who lived immediately after the apostles, gives the most accurate account in the fifth book of his Memoirs. He writes as follows: “James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the Church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called the Just by all from the time of our Savior to the present day; for there were many that bore the name of James. He was holy from his mother’s womb; and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath. He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people. Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek, Bulwark of the people’ and ‘Justice,’ in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him….

So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just.’ And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned and knelt down and said, ‘I entreat thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, the son of the Rechabites, who are mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet, cried out, saying, ‘Cease, what do ye? The just one prayeth for you. And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.”

These things are related at length by Hegesippus, who is in agreement with Clement. James was so admirable a man and so celebrated among all for his justice, that the more sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them immediately after his martyrdom for no other reason than their daring act against him”. (Eusebius, Book 2, Chapter 23)

Matthias

Matthias is the most elusive of all the apostles, as his name is mentioned only twice in the New Testament.  Matthias was chosen by the Apostles to replace Judas Iscariot, after the death of Judas in the Field of Blood.  Matthias was chosen partly by election, and partly by chance:

“So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.  Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs."  Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.” (NIV, Acts 1:23-26)

About all we can say for sure about Matthias is that he was one of the disciples of Jesus from the beginning (probably one of the ‘Seventy”), according to the criteria for apostleship set forth by Peter:

“Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."” (NIV, Acts 1:21-22)

Church tradition

According to Hippolytus, Matthias preached in Jerusalem, and died there:

“And Matthias, who was one of the seventy, was numbered along with the eleven apostles, and preached in Jerusalem, and fell asleep and was buried there.”

Eusebius, in his Church History, numbers Matthias among the Seventy:

“Matthias, also, who was numbered with the apostles in the place of Judas, and the one who was honored by being made a candidate with him, are like-wise said to have been deemed worthy of the same calling with the seventy.” (Eusebius, Book 1, Chapter 12)

Eusebius, in a discussion regarding the Nicolaitans, records a tradition that Matthias was especially strong at combating the desires of the flesh:

“But they say that Matthias also taught in the same manner that we ought to fight against and abuse the flesh, and not give way to it for the sake of pleasure, but strengthen the soul by faith and knowledge.”  (Eusebius, Book 3, Chapter 29)

Intriguingly, Eusebius lists Matthias as one of the 15 bishops of Jerusalem:

“The first, then, was James, the so-called brother of the Lord; the second, Symeon; the third, Justus; the fourth, Zacchaeus; the fifth, Tobias; the sixth, Benjamin; the seventh, John; the eighth, Matthias; the ninth, Philip; the tenth, Seneca; the eleventh, Justus; the twelfth, Levi; the thirteenth, Ephres; the fourteenth, Joseph; and finally the fifteenth, Judas. These are the bishops of Jerusalem that lived between the age of the apostles and the time referred to, all of them belonging to the circumcision. (Eusebius, Book 4, Chapter 4)

Apocryphal

Matthias appears in the apocryphal Acts Of Andrew And Matthias In The City Of The Man-Eaters.  In this tale, he is chosen by lot for the dubious honor of being a missionary among a group of cannibals:

“About that time all the apostles had come together to the same place, and shared among themselves the countries, casting lots, in order that each might go away into the part that had fallen to him. By lot, then, it fell to Matthias to set out to the country of the man-eaters. And the men of that city used neither to eat bread nor drink wine; but they ate the flesh of men, and drank their blood. Every man, therefore, who came into their city they laid hold of, and digging they thrust out his eyes, and gave him a drug to drink, prepared by sorcery and magic; and from drinking the drug his heart was altered and his mind deranged.”

Matthias is captured and tortured by the cannibals, but receives a revelation from Jesus that the Apostle Andrew will rescue him in 27 days.  Right on time, a reluctant Andrew rescues Matthias, and Matthias is miraculously transported into the presence of Peter:

“And there were in all two hundred and seventy men and forty-nine women whom Andrew released from the prison. And the men went as the blessed Andrew said to them; and he made Matthias go along with his disciples out of the eastern gate of the city. And Andrew commanded a cloud, and the cloud took up Matthias and the disciples of Andrew; and the cloud set them down on the mountain where Peter was teaching, and they remained beside him.”

Other traditions place Matthias in Ethiopia.

Paul

The greatest evangelist and theologian of the early church was Paul of Tarsus.  Paul was a Hellenized Jew, growing up in a town in Cilicia (Acts 22:3 – Cilicia is in modern day Turkey).  The Bible is silent on the year of his birth – various Bible scholars view that it was sometime in the 0-10 A.D. time frame.

Paul received his training under the pre-eminent Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), and viewed himself as a “Hebrew of Hebrews”:

“…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee…” (NIV, Phil 3:3)

Paul’s given Hebrew name, Saul, may have been after King Saul, also from the tribe of Benjamin.

It was probably because of the confluence of Greek, Roman and Hebrew influences that Paul experienced in the cosmopolitan city of Tarsus that made Paul such an effective evangelist in his lifetime charge – to bring the hope of Christ to the Gentiles.  This charge is referred many times in the New Testament.

“…the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” (NIV, Romans 15:15)

“I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.” (NIV, Rom 11:13-14)

However, Paul’s earliest relationship with Christians was in the role of a persecutor, and perhaps, even a hit man for the Sanhedrin.  When Stephen is stoned to death, we are told, “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” (NIV, Acts 8:1)  Two verses later, we’re told, “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” (NIV, Acts 9:3)

The journey of Paul from being a great persecutor of Christians to being their most staunch evangelist and supporter happened one day on the road to Damascus, Syria, where Paul had been sent by the Jerusalem high priests to persecute the nascent Christian congregation there.  The story of Paul’s conversion is considered so important that it is repeated no less than three times in Acts! (Acts 9, 22, 26)  It is probably the single most important event in the history of the early Christian Church, ranking with the conversion of Constantine in terms of its long-term consequences.

“On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’  “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” (NIV, Acts 26:12-18)

After this amazing conversion experience, Paul is ready to spread the word of Jesus throughout the world.  However, knowing his reputation as a persecutor of Christians, the apostles in Jerusalem are slow to accept Paul as a convert.   It takes the sponsorship of Barnabas (Acts 9:26-27) to eventually ameliorate the concerns of the apostles, although Paul remains the “odd man out” vis-à-vis the rest of the apostles throughout the rest of his ministry (see “Character and Characteristics” section.)

The stage is set for Paul’s missionary journeys.

The missionary journeys

Missionary journeys of Paul (Classic Maps, Ages Software)

The three missionary journeys of Paul (which combined, were over 6,000 miles in length!) effectively spread the word of Christianity throughout the Greco-Roman world. 

Paul followed a general pattern when he’d go into a new town.  First, he’d preach at the local Jewish synagogue – often to attract Gentile “God-fearers”, who believed in the God of Abraham, but hadn’t accepted the rigors of Mosaic Law.  Next, he would often try to create small churches in the homes of new followers (Lydia and her household, for example, are baptized in Lydia’s home).  Then in some instances, he would preach in more public arenas (Mars Hill in Athens, for example).

The following tables summarize the geography and key points of Paul’s missionary journeys.

The Library at Ephesus (Photo courtesy Jan & Ted Lauer)

The Acropolis of Athens – Paul debated with Greek philosophers on nearby Mars Hill (Photo courtesy Jan & Ted Lauer)

After the completion of Paul’s three missionary journeys, the next four years of Paul’s life would be spent primarily in jail.  First, Paul spent two years in jail in Caesarea under the control of Roman procurators Felix and Festus.  Later, he would spend two years in a Roman jail, and write some of his most famous letters, including Colossians and Ephesians.

Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, where he was accused by  “some Jews from the province of Asia” of defiling the temple by bringing Greeks (Gentiles) into it.  While he briefly appeared before the Sanhedrin (where he skillfully separated the Pharisees and Sadducees by bringing up the doctrine of resurrection of the dead), Paul used his Roman citizenship to claim Roman protection.  He was tried before Felix, and seemed to successfully refute the charge of defiling the Temple.  However, he would remain in a Roman jail in Caesarea for two years, assumedly as a sop from Felix to the Sanhedrin.

The new pro-curator, Festus, was ready to try the case again, but Paul balked when Festus wanted him to return to Jerusalem for the trial.  Paul invoked his right as a Roman citizen to have his case heard by the emperor in Rome.  During the long voyage to Rome, Paul would suffer a shipwreck off the coast of Crete.

When Paul arrived in Rome (c. 61 A.D.), according to Acts he interacted with a group of Jews who apparently had heard of Christians, but were not Christians themselves:

“But we want to hear what your [Paul’s] views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.” (NIV, Acts 28:18)

Thus, one could theorize that it was Paul, not Peter, who was the first apostle to reach Rome, and establish the subsequent church.

The account of Paul’s travel to Rome ends rather abruptly in Acts (in fact, some scholars believe that Acts was written as Paul’s defense before the emperor):

“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” (NIV, Acts 28:30-31)

So, was Paul tried before Nero and acquitted?  Or is this when he met his death?  We can only surmise, based on brief references in some of Paul’s letters (see, for example, Philemon 1:22), and later church tradition.  Most scholars believed that Paul was released from house arrest in Rome in c. 62 A.D., and that he may have made a fourth missionary journey, which may have gone as far as Spain (Rom 15:24, 28).  Church tradition says that Nero executed Paul in Rome c. 67 A.D. (see “Church Tradition” section below).  However, the New Testament is silent on the death of this great apostle.

Relationship of Peter with Paul

The New Testament records that Peter and Paul, the two greatest apostles of the Early Church, did have some interaction with each other.  Galatians 1:18, for example, records that Paul stayed with Peter in Jerusalem for a period of 15 days.  Peter supported Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.  This is further supported in Galatians 2:7-10, when Peter (a “pillar”) is depicted as supporting Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles.

There were some disagreements between the two.  In Galatians, 2:11-14 Paul describes an argument that he had with Peter in Antioch. 

In 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter describes that Paul’s letters are “hard to understand”, but ascribes to them the same authority as the Jewish Scriptures:

“Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.  He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (NIV, 2 Pet 3:15-16; emphasis added)

Character and characteristics

How does one describe Paul?  Some words we might use would be dogged, indefatigable, brave, self-effacing, defensive, logical, persuasive, self-sufficient and (somewhat surprisingly) – humorous.  We’ll examine some of these strains below.

Dogged, indefatigable, brave

As Paul’s description below of his own trials and tribulations as a missionary indicate, he faced remarkable obstacles to his ministry – and yet, he preached throughout the Roman world for three decades!    Nothing could stop him, except death at the hands of Nero.  Even being thrown in jail didn’t stop him – he just used the time to convert his jailers, or to write great theological letters to the churches that he’d started. 

“I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (NIV, 2 Cor 11:23-29)

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”.  (NIV, 2 Cor 4:8-10)

Self-effacing

Paul - in keeping with his basic theological message that no one is worthy of salvation, and can only be saved through the Grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ – was the first to admit that he himself was a wretched sinner.  No “holier than though” expressions from Paul!

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”  (NIV, Rom 7:21-25)

Paul even admits in his letters that he has a partic