Protos

Who was Paul in the Bible?

Apostle, in the New Testament era

Paul, also known as Saul, was one of the most influential figures in early Christianity. Paul appears in 156 verses across 15 books of the Bible.

St Paul in prison
St Paul in prison · Gustave Doré, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What does the Bible say about Paul?

Paul, also known as Saul, was one of the most influential figures in early Christianity. He was born in Tarsus as a Roman citizen and trained as a Pharisee under Gamaliel. Initially a persecutor of the church, Paul had a dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus, where the risen Jesus appeared to him. After this, he became a zealous preacher of the gospel, undertaking several missionary journeys throughout the Mediterranean world. Paul played a key role in spreading Christianity among the Gentiles and in articulating its theological foundations. He wrote many of the epistles in the New Testament, providing guidance and instruction to the early churches. Paul faced numerous challenges, including opposition from Jewish leaders, internal disputes among believers, and physical hardships. He was eventually arrested and taken to Rome, where tradition holds that he was martyred during the reign of Nero. Paul's life and teachings had a profound impact on the development of Christian thought and practice.

Definition text: STEPBible · Tyndale House Cambridge. Licensed CC BY 4.0. Lightly edited for length and formatting.

Compiled by Protos: the verse list on this page. Where one name belongs to more than one person or place, each of them gets a separate entry.

Where does Paul appear in the Bible?

Paul is referenced in 156 verses across 15 books. Every passage below is about this one, not just every verse the word turns up in.

Showing the first 24 of 156.

Open all 156 references in Protos

What else appears in these passages?

These turn up in the same passages as Paul.

Common questions

How many times does the Bible mention Paul?

Paul appears in 156 verses across 15 books, most often in Acts, which accounts for 127 of them.

Which books of the Bible mention Paul?

Acts, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, Philemon, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, and 7 more.

Where can I read every verse about Paul?

This page lists 24 of them. Protos carries all 156, and opens this entry on the verse you are reading rather than in a separate tab.

Read it in context

Read Acts with Paul explained on the verse.

Tap any name, place, or word you do not recognize and the background opens on the verse you are reading. No second tab, no search, no losing your place.

The Protos reader open on Genesis 1 with the How to Read Genesis background sheet raised over it
"People don't give up on the Bible for lack of discipline. They give up because they don't understand what they read. So they skim past it and jump straight to what it means for them, before they have listened to what God is saying through the words, the story, and the voice of the writer. It happens so often that theology has a name for it: eisegesis."
Fabio Jonathan ArifinFabio JonathanFounder of Protos · Portland Bible College graduate

Protos is the answer to that. Every explanation you read was written by a scholar and published in a reference work, credited right on the page.

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