---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Done, Willard
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 2
number: 5
published: 1899-03
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Done, Willard, "Lives of the Apostles: Paul," *Improvement Era* 2, no. 5 (March 1899): 351–355.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera25unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera25unse
start_page: 351
end_page: 355
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-03)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera25unse
  publication_year: 1899
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1899, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Lives of the Apostles: Paul

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LIVES OF THE APOSTLES.
III.
PAUL.
BY PROFESSOR WILLARD DONE, PRESIDENT OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS'
COLLEGE, SALT LAKE CITY.
In the southern part of Asia Minor was a Roman province
known as Cilicia. The chief city of this province was called Tarsus.
As a centre of culture and learning this city was a rival of Athens
and Alexandria. From the regions round about the youth flocked
to Tarsus to sit under the voices of its numerous teachers and
philosophers. It -had a mixed population, one of the strongest
elements being the Jews, some of those who had left Palestine
and who lived in all the chief cities of the Roman empire. Some
of the Jews who lived at Tarsus were Roman citizens, doubtless on
account of services they had rendered the emperor. To one of
these families was born a son whom the parents named Saul, the
name meaning ''asked for." From this we are led to infer that he
was the oldest son, and that such a gift had been eagerly hoped
for by the parents.
Saul was by birth, therefore, a Jew, and heir to the traditions
of that race, and a free Roman citizen, entitled to all the privileges
and immunities belonging to that condition. A reading of his history shows how the latter fact was of value to him in certain critical circumstances. We also know that Saul was of the sect of
the Pharisees, and educated in all the ideas and prejudices of that

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class. (Acts xxiii: 6; 26: 5.) We are left entirely in the dark
as to the age of Saul. His early life is also unknown to us, except
as it is revealed to us in occasional glimpses throughout his discourses and epistles. From these brief references we learn of his
birthplace, of his being born a Pharisee and a Roman citizen, of his
learning the trade of a tent-maker, and of his being taught at Jerusalem by the great Jewish teacher, Gamaliel. As to the amount of
learning he acquired in Greek philosophy, we are uncertain, as the
quotations and allusions of this character which appear in his
talking and writing, may have been the outgrowth of a profound
or a limited knowledge of this philosophy.
Saul first comes into New Testament history in connection
with the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. This event
occurred about the year 34,A.D. Saul,we would judge from the words
of the historian, took rather more than the part of merely negative consent in this tragedy, for the witnesses laid their cloaks at
his feet while they were engaged in the stoning. After this, Saul
drops out of notice until the account of his conversion is given.
But we know that during the period of one or two years between
the stoning of Stephen and his own conversion, Saul was prominent
in the vast system of persecution which was instituted against the
Christians throughout Palestine and Syria. It was while he was
on the way to Damascus, the chief city of Syria, with a commission from the high priest to arrest all Christians and bring them
bound to Jerusalem, that he was smitten with blindness and converted by the power and the voice of Jesus. (Acts 9: 1-6.)
I am not one of those who believe that during this journey
Paul had gradually become prepared for this conversion by his own
musings on the course he was pursuing. Apparently he was just
as obdurate and determined in his persecution of the Christians
when he approached Damascus, as when he left Jerusalem. As a
devout Jew, he considered that he was doing God's service in thus
persecuting those who openly accused the Jews of having slain
the Son of God. And it required the personal appearance and
announcement of the resurrected Messiah, to show him that his
course was wrong. All his training from youth to manhood had
been such as to convince him of its rightfulness. When the voice
from heaven called to him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

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he had to ask the question, "Who art thou, Lord?" and received the
answer, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks," before he was fully convinced of the
Messiahship of Jesus. But so thoroughly was he converted then
that he never doubted it from that day until he was called to lay
down his life in testimony of it.
Saul was led into the city of Damascus by his attendants and
there, in obedience to the commandment of the Lord, Ananias
came to him and laid hands on him for the restoration of his sight.
Immediately afterward he was baptized. According to his own
statement (Gal. 1 : 17) Saul went from Damascus to Arabia and
spent the next three years there. We do not know his purpose
in going to Arabia, but it may have been to prepare himself by
solitary meditation, study and prayer for the great work required
of him. After his sojourn in Arabia he returned to Damascus, but
he met with such harsh treatment at the hands of the Jews there,
that he barely escaped with his life, by being let down in a basket
from the window of a house built on the wall of the city.
This was the occasion of his first visit to Jerusalem after his
conversion. He was looked upon at Jerusalem with a certain
degree of suspicion on account of the remembrance of his bitter
persecutions of the disciples. Barnabas came to his assistance
and vouched for the sincerity of his conversion. Saul also allayed
the fears of the disciples by publicly preaching the Messiahship of
Jesus, and disputing with the unbelievers, both Jews and Greeks.
This so incensed his enemies in the city that they attempted his
life. The other disciples spirited him away to Csesarea and sent
him thence to Tarsus, his native city, until the anger of his enemies should have abated. This event occurred about the year 38,
A. D.
Not long afterward Barnabas was sent down to Antioch for a
ministerial purpose, and he went over to Tarsus and brought Saul
back to Antioch with him. Here they established their headquarters for a year, preaching and ministering among the people.
At the end of that time Saul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem with
donations which had been given by the saints in Antioch for the
worthy poor in Judea. Returning to Antioch shortly afterward,
they two, with John, surnamed Mark, set out upon their first great

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missionary journey. They first crossed over to Cyprus, and traveled through that island preaching the Gospel and doing manymighty
works. It was here that Saul was first called Paul by the historian
Luke. This may have been a softened form of the name Saul, or
his Roman name, Saul being his Jewish one, or it may have been a
surname applied to him on account of his short stature (Paulus,
"little"). At any rate, he is best known to us by this title.
From Cyprus they went to the southern coast of Asia Minor,
traveling through those regions, preaching, exhorting, performing
miracles, and suffering persecution; Paul being worshiped as a
god in Lystra, and afterward stoned almost to death in the same
city. During this journey, for some unknown cause, John Mark
left them and went to Jerusalem. Returning through the regions
where they had established churches, Paul and Barnabas confirmed
them, and then sailed directly from Asia Minor to Antioch in Syria,
where their headquarters were. Here they reported their missionary labors, and dwelt with the Saints for some time.
About the year 53 A.D. Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem,
the occasion of their visit being the dispute which had arisen
regarding the circumcision of converted gentiles. Happily for
the peace of the church this question was decided wisely, and then
Paul and Barnabas, with Silas and Judas Barsabas, returned to
Antioch. Here they remained for a time and preached the word
of the Lord concerning circumcision. Paul then suggested to
Barnabas that they visit the cities where they had previously
established branches of the church, and they made preparations for
the journey. A contention arose between them as to their companions, Barnabas desiring John Mark, his nephew, and Paul being
of opinion that on account of his having deserted them previously,
he was unworthy of the sacred responsibility. The dispute ended
by Barnabas choosing Mark, and Paul Silas, and separating never
to meet again.
Paul and Silas traveled through the regions of Asia Minor
where churches had been established, finding Timothy at Lystra
and taking him as a companion. Passing through the western
portion of Asia Minor they crossed the Hellespont into Macedonia,
this being, so far as we know, the first introduction of the Gospel
into Europe. At Philippi, the first city of importance visited by

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them in Macedonia, occurred the well-known incidents of the conversion of Lydia, the healing of the Greek divining girl and the
conversion of the jailor and his family. Here the Roman citizenship of Paul stood him in good stead, and secured for him and
Silas an honorable release from the prison and escort from the
city. Thessalonica and Berea were next visited, and some success
was met with; but the continued enmity and opposition of the Jews
forced Paul to precede the other two brethren to Athens. Here,
on the Areopagus or Mars hill, he preached his famous sermon
which was brought out by his seeing an altar inscribed, "To the
Unknown God." Corinth, "the eye of Greece," was next visited
by him, and here he gained so large a following that he remained
a year and a half. Thence he crossed the Aegean sea to Ephesus,
and went from there to Jerusalem, afterward returning to Antioch.
This completed his second missionary journey.
After a stay in Antioch, he commenced his third missionary
journey passing through Galatia, Phrygia and other portions of
Asia Minor, to Ephesus. Here he found certain disciples who
claimed to have been baptized by a disciple of John the Baptist;
but as they had not heard of the Holy Ghost, Paul doubted the
validity of their claim and baptized them anew, conferring upon
them the Holy Ghost. Great miracles were performed by Paul at
Ephesus and a number of important events occurred there, some
of the most prominent being the disgrace of the seven Jews who
attempted without authority to cast out an evil spirit, and the
uproar caused by the silversmiths under Demetrius. The patron
goddess of Ephesus was Diana, and a great temple was erected
there in her honor. The silversmiths gained great profit from the
manufacture and sale of small silver shrines, supposed to be miniature copies of this temple. But as Paul was converting so many
of these worshipers of Diana, the silversmiths saw that their
''craft was in danger;" therefore they raised a commotion which
was quelled by the good sense of the town clerk.
From Ephesus, after he had stayed there two years, Paul
passed through Macedonia into Greece and back to Asia Minor,
visiting the churches in those cities, for the last time. In this
town he was accompanied by a number of the brethren, including
Luke, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles.