Before being known as Paul, or Paul of Tarsus, he was called Saul, a name that carried pride: a Roman citizen by birth, a Pharisee trained under the respected teacher Gamaliel, a zealous guardian of the Law. Who has never clung to an identity built through effort, convinced of being right, without imagining it was still going to crumble?
Saul approved of the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and then went from house to house dragging men and women off to prison, simply for believing in Jesus (Acts 8:1-3). He was on the road to Damascus with letters of authorization to continue the hunt when a light struck him to the ground.
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” the voice asked (Acts 9:4). He was blind for three days, unable to eat or drink, until a disciple named Ananias, fearing his own persecutor, prayed for him and Saul received his sight back (Acts 9:1-19).
The persecutor became a preacher. On three missionary journeys, Paul crossed the Mediterranean founding churches, being stoned, shipwrecked, whipped five times by the Jews and three times by the Romans (2 Corinthians 11:24-25). He wrote letters that today form a large part of the New Testament.
He also argued with Barnabas to the point of parting ways (Acts 15:36-39) and publicly confronted Peter for hypocrisy in Antioch (Galatians 2:11-14). He asked three times for God to remove a thorn in the flesh that tormented him, and was told that grace was sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Imprisoned in Rome, he still wrote with hope: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Church tradition records that he died beheaded under Emperor Nero, faithful to the end.
Paul’s life tells us that no past disqualifies anyone from God’s call, and that the same person capable of destroying the church can become the one most used to build it. If grace reached the greatest persecutor, it reaches also whoever reads this story today.