St. Paul was an extremely important and influential person in the early development of Christianity. Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus (modern day Turkey), was a tentmaker and a Roman citizen. He took the name “Paul” after he converted to Christianity. Paul lived the first half of his life as a Pharisee. As a Pharisee, he was a member of the Jewish religion that strictly lived by the Law of Moses. In fact, he spent much of his time persecuting people involved in the Christian movement. It was on such a journey on the road to Damascus , to root out Christian communities, that everything changed. On the road to Damascus, with military troops behind him, Paul (Saul) suddenly fell off his horse and to the ground while a bright light …show more content…
His mission was to make Christianity a universal religion. He traveled to Arabia, then back to Damascus and onto Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles, as well as all the way to Rome. Over the course of his life he established at least three churches in Europe and several throughout Asia Minor. He preached that Christians need not be Jewish first in order to become a Christian. That Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. That Jesus’ death and resurrection was an end to having to live under Jewish Law and that there was a New Covenant. Another important contribution of Paul’s to Christianity is that by believing in Jesus, humans are saved from sin. By having faith, unlike traditional Judaism which was living according to Jewish Law, was the justification in understanding our relationship to God. Paul also referred to Jesus as “Christ” (the Greek translation of ‘Messiah’). Paul is credited with not using Christ as a title but rather as a name. Paul commonly referred to Him as “Jesus Christ”. Paul is often referred to as the second founder of the Christian movement due to his crucial role in its development and the conversion of Gentiles to Christianity. He preached Christianity as a universal religion, a religion for all people, and attempted to convert all non-Jews and Jews alike. Most Jews, as we know, did not convert and today Christianity remains largely