Home / Overview
HOw did Paul Evangelise?
Paul is the most prolific author in the New Testament and arguably the single most influential figure in early Christian history after Jesus himself. This site explores how he evangelised — but to understand his methods, it helps to first understand who he was.
His contribution to the New Testament canon
Thirteen of the New Testament’s 27 books are attributed to Paul — nearly half the entire canon by book count, and a substantial portion by content. His letters shaped core Christian doctrine: justification by faith (Romans), the nature of the church as Christ’s body (Ephesians, Corinthians), the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), and the person of Christ (Colossians, Philippians). Much of what Christians believe theologically traces directly back to Paul’s writing, making him not just an evangelist but the movement’s primary early theologian.
His upbringing
Paul (originally Saul) was born in Tarsus, a significant city in the Roman province of Cilicia, and held Roman citizenship from birth (Acts 22:28) — a rare and valuable status that later protected him legally and gave him access Roman roads and courts wouldn’t otherwise offer. He was raised a Pharisee, trained in Jerusalem “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3), one of the most respected rabbis of the era, and describes himself as advancing in Judaism “beyond many of my own age” (Galatians 1:14). This combination — Jewish religious rigor, Roman citizenship, and likely fluency in Greek — uniquely equipped him to move between Jewish and Gentile worlds later in ministry.
His call to apostleship
Paul’s entry into the faith is one of the most dramatic conversion accounts in Scripture. He wasn’t a follower of Jesus — he was an active persecutor of the church, present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) and “breathing out murderous threats” against believers (Acts 9:1). On the road to Damascus, intending to arrest Christians there, he was confronted by a blinding light and the voice of the risen Jesus (Acts 9:3-6), leaving him blind for three days until a disciple named Ananias restored his sight. From persecutor to apostle almost overnight, Paul’s own transformation became part of his testimony and message wherever he preached (Acts 26:9-18; Galatians 1:23).
His significance in reaching the Gentiles
Perhaps Paul’s greatest historical significance is that he took the gospel decisively beyond Judaism. The early church wrestled with whether Gentile converts needed to follow Jewish law — a question settled largely through Paul’s advocacy at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) and argued forcefully in Galatians. He describes himself as specifically entrusted with “the gospel to the uncircumcised,” just as Peter was to the circumcised (Galatians 2:7-8). Without Paul’s insistence that Gentiles could come to Christ as Gentiles — without becoming culturally Jewish first — Christianity may have remained a sect within Judaism rather than the global faith it became.
Explore the sections above to see his method in action, read summaries of his key sermons, and see how his letters continued the work of evangelism long after he left a city.
