Apostle Paul Bible Study: His Life, Letters and Lessons for Today

By the end of this study you should be able to:

• Trace Paul's story from Tarsus and Jerusalem to Damascus, Antioch and Rome, using Acts and Philippians.
• Outline the three missionary journeys and the later voyage to Rome, following the order Luke gives.
• Read six key passages from Paul's letters in their original setting rather than as isolated verses.
• Explain how grace, faith and good works fit together, and how love governs spiritual gifts.
• Recognise how partnership, accountability and perseverance shaped Paul's ministry.
• Turn what you learn into one concrete step each week, alone or with a group.

Please keep your own Bible open as you go. Short quotations below are from the New King James Version and are labelled; everything else is a summary, so read each passage for yourself, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11).

Paul describes his own background twice. Speaking to a hostile crowd in Jerusalem, he says he was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, brought up in Jerusalem and trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict teaching of the law (Acts 22:3). Writing to the church in Philippi, he lists his credentials: circumcised on the eighth day, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, so zealous that he persecuted the church (Philippians 3:4–6).

What matters most is what he does with that list. In Philippians 3:7–9 he counts all of it as loss compared with knowing Christ. He no longer wants a righteousness of his own based on the law, but the righteousness that comes from God through faith. He does not despise his heritage, and he still uses his Roman citizenship when it helps (Acts 16:37; Acts 22:25–28). But none of it is the ground of his standing with God: even the most impressive religious record still needs grace.

Saul and Paul: one man, two names

Many people assume God renamed Saul to Paul when he was converted. Acts does not say that. After his conversion in Acts 9 he is still called Saul for several chapters, including when the Holy Spirit sets him apart in Acts 13:2. Then, during the first journey, Luke simply notes:

Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit…

Acts 13:9 (NKJV)

Saul is a Hebrew name, shared with Israel's first king; Paul (Paulus) is a Roman name, and a Jewish Roman citizen could naturally carry both. From this point, as the mission moves further into the Gentile world, Luke uses Paul, and every one of the letters uses it. Acts 13:9 tells us about a name he already had; it does not describe a new identity given at conversion.

Acts 9 opens with Saul still breathing threats against the Lord's disciples and carrying letters from the high priest so that he can arrest believers in Damascus (9:1–2). Near the city a light from heaven flashes around him and he hears a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4, NKJV). To harm the church is to persecute Christ. Saul is led, blind, into Damascus, where he fasts for three days.

Ananias: welcomed by a reluctant disciple

God's next step involves an ordinary believer. Ananias of Damascus (not the high priest of the same name in Acts 23) is told to go to Saul, and he objects honestly: he has heard how much harm this man has done (Acts 9:13–14). The Lord answers that Saul is His chosen instrument to carry His name before Gentiles, kings and the people of Israel, and that he will suffer for that name (9:15–16). Ananias goes, lays his hands on him and greets him as “Brother Saul” (9:17, NKJV). Before Paul preached a sermon, someone risked calling him family.

Barnabas and the church in Antioch

When Saul tries to join the disciples in Jerusalem, they are afraid of him. Barnabas takes him to the apostles and explains how Saul had seen the Lord and preached boldly in Damascus (Acts 9:26–27). Later, believers scattered by persecution begin sharing the gospel with Greeks in Antioch, and many turn to the Lord. The Jerusalem church sends Barnabas, who sees the grace of God, rejoices and then goes to Tarsus to find Saul. The two teach the church together for a whole year, and it is in Antioch that the disciples are first called Christians (Acts 11:19–26).

Paul was formed in community, through someone who vouched for him and then brought him into shared work. Small groups and youth leaders might ask: who among us is new, unsure or carrying a past that makes others wary? Our reflective essay, Seven Undiluted Lessons from the Life of the Apostle Paul, explores how calling is prepared and confirmed in community.

Acts 13:1–3 describes the leaders at Antioch: a varied group of prophets and teachers including Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen and Saul. As they worship the Lord and fast, the Holy Spirit speaks:

Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Acts 13:2 (NKJV)

The church fasts and prays again, lays hands on them and sends them off. The call comes from God, but it is recognised and released by a praying church. At the end of the journey Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch and report everything God has done, including how He opened a door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:26–27). In Acts, calling is personal but never private.

Acts presents Paul's travels as three missionary journeys, followed by a very different journey to Rome as a prisoner. Scholars propose a range of dates; this study follows the order Luke gives rather than precise years. A Bible map will help as you read. If you would like a guided course on this material, lessons 3 and 4 of Acts & the Letters in the Berean Bible Academy cover “The Conversion and Mission of Paul” and “The Missionary Journeys”.

First journey (Acts 13–14)

With Barnabas, and for a while John Mark, Paul travels through Cyprus and into the region of Galatia: Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. A pattern emerges. He often begins in the synagogue and turns to the Gentiles when his message is rejected (Acts 13:46). In Lystra he is first hailed as a god and then stoned and left for dead (14:8–20). Yet he goes back through the same towns, strengthening the disciples, warning them that the kingdom of God is entered through many hardships, and appointing elders in every church (Acts 14:21–23).

Second journey (Acts 15:36–18:22)

After the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas disagree sharply about taking Mark again, and they part ways (Acts 15:36–41). Paul travels with Silas, and Timothy joins them at Lystra (16:1–3). A vision of a man from Macedonia leads them into Europe (16:9–10): Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth, where Paul stays for a year and six months (Acts 18:11). Berea, which gives this site its name, is where people examined the Scriptures daily to test what they heard (17:11).

Third journey (Acts 18:23–21:17)

Paul revisits Galatia and Phrygia, then spends an extended period in Ephesus, reasoning daily so that the word of the Lord spreads through the province of Asia (Acts 19:8–10). After a riot in the city he passes through Macedonia and Greece and sets out for Jerusalem. On the way he meets the Ephesian elders at Miletus and gives one of the most personal speeches in Acts (Acts 20:17–38), which our biblical leadership Bible study looks at in detail.

The journey to Rome (Acts 27–28)

Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, held for a long period in Caesarea and appeals to Caesar (Acts 25:11). The voyage to Rome, with its storm and shipwreck on Malta, is best seen as a distinct, later journey rather than a fourth missionary tour. Yet Paul still ministers, encouraging the crew and praying for the sick on Malta, and reaches Rome, where Acts ends with him under guard in rented lodgings, welcoming visitors and proclaiming the kingdom of God boldly and without hindrance (Acts 28:30–31).

Thirteen New Testament letters open with Paul's name, from Romans to Philemon, and the church has traditionally received all thirteen as his. Many scholars question whether he wrote some of them, especially Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians and the letters to Timothy and Titus, while others defend his authorship; this study reads them as they present themselves. Paul often wrote with co-senders such as Timothy or Silas (2 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1) and sometimes used a scribe (Romans 16:22). Hebrews is different: it does not name its author, and although it was sometimes linked with Paul, it is best treated as anonymous.

Each letter answered real situations, so before applying a verse, ask who first received it and why.

Romans 3:21–26: grace and faith

Romans 1 to 3 builds a case that Jews and Gentiles alike stand guilty before God. Then comes the turning point: “But now” (NKJV) God's righteousness has been revealed apart from the law, though the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it (Romans 3:21–26). It comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, because there is no distinction:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:23–24 (NKJV)

Paul goes on to say that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through His blood, so that God is both just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (3:25–26). Grace does not mean God overlooks sin; it means He has dealt with it at the cross.

Ephesians 2:8–10: grace and good works

Ephesians 2 begins with people who were dead in trespasses and sins and shows God making them alive with Christ (2:1–5). Then:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV)

Many readers stop there, but Paul continues:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

Good works are not the root of salvation but its fruit. We are not saved by them, yet we are saved for them.

1 Corinthians 12–13: gifts governed by love

The Corinthian church was richly gifted but divided, proud and disorderly in worship. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul insists that there are different gifts but the same Spirit, given for the common good, and that the church is one body whose members need each other (12:4–27). Chapter 13, often read at weddings, was first a correction for a church using its gifts to compete. Without love, tongues, prophecy, knowledge and even sacrificial giving amount to nothing:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

1 Corinthians 13:4 (NKJV)

Gifts are tools for building others up, and love decides how they are used (chapter 14).

Philippians 2:1–11: Christlike humility

Paul writes to Philippi as a prisoner (Philippians 1:12–14), to a church he loves that faces opposition and some internal friction (4:2). He appeals for unity:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Philippians 2:3 (NKJV)

Then he points to Jesus, who did not cling to equality with God but emptied Himself, took the form of a servant and became obedient to death on a cross, and whom God has highly exalted (Philippians 2:5–11). Christlike humility is not low self-esteem; it is using whatever position you have for the good of others.

2 Corinthians 12:7–10: weakness and grace

Some in Corinth were impressed by polished, self-promoting teachers, whom Paul ironically calls “the most eminent apostles” (NKJV, 2 Corinthians 11:5; 12:11). Instead of competing, Paul boasts about his weaknesses. He describes “a thorn in the flesh” (12:7, NKJV), which he never identifies, and says he pleaded with the Lord three times for it to go. The answer was not removal but grace:

My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

Paul does not celebrate pain for its own sake, and this passage does not tell anyone to stay in harm's way. It tells us that weakness does not disqualify us from God's work, and that Christ's power is often most visible where we are least self-sufficient.

2 Timothy 2:2: mentoring

In a letter that presents Paul as imprisoned and expecting death (2 Timothy 4:6–8), he urges Timothy:

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV)

Four generations appear in one verse: Paul, Timothy, faithful people and others also. Paul had been sponsored by Barnabas; now he invests in Timothy and asks Timothy to do the same. For pastors and youth leaders the question is not only “Who am I teaching?” but “Who am I preparing to teach others?” Our Bible study on biblical leadership develops this pattern of equipping others.

Partnership

Paul rarely worked alone. Romans 16 greets more than two dozen people by name, including Phoebe, Priscilla and Aquila, and others he calls fellow workers. He thanks the Philippians for their partnership in the gospel from the first day (Philippians 1:3–5) and for the gifts that supported his work (4:15–18). Partnership includes prayer, practical giving, hospitality and shared risk.

Faithful perseverance

Paul's life is sometimes used to promise that faith always brings comfort or wealth. His own list of beatings, shipwrecks, danger, hunger and sleepless nights says otherwise (2 Corinthians 11:23–28). When he writes that he can do all things through Christ, the context is learning contentment both in need and in plenty (Philippians 4:11–13). His life illustrates God's faithfulness, not a promise of prosperity.

Accountability and community

Paul placed his ministry within relationships of accountability. He and Barnabas reported to the church that sent them (Acts 14:26–27). He took the question of Gentile believers to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15:2). When carrying money for poor believers, he arranged for trusted companions to travel with the gift, aiming to do what is honourable not only before the Lord but also before people (2 Corinthians 8:18–21). He even confronted Peter openly when Peter's conduct contradicted the gospel (Galatians 2:11–14).

Use these with a small group, a youth group, a mentoring partner or on your own with a notebook.

1. Paul counted his impressive record as loss compared with knowing Christ (Philippians 3:7–9). What achievements or labels are you tempted to lean on?
2. Ananias was afraid and said so (Acts 9:13–14). What does his honest conversation with the Lord teach about obedience?
3. Barnabas risked his reputation for Saul. What would it look like for your church or group to do that for someone today?
4. Why do you think the call in Acts 13:2 came to a worshipping, fasting church rather than to Saul alone?
5. Paul went back to towns where he had been attacked in order to strengthen new believers (Acts 14:21–23). What does that reveal about his priorities?
6. How would you explain the relationship between grace, faith and good works in Ephesians 2:8–10 to a friend in two sentences?
7. Which gift in your church most needs to be governed by the love described in 1 Corinthians 13, and what would that look like?
8. Paul's thorn was not removed. How can 2 Corinthians 12:9 help someone who is still waiting for change, without making light of their pain?

Read the passages during the week and use the study prompts and discussion questions when you meet. Youth leaders may prefer one passage per session, working through the Observe questions in pairs.

1. Week 1

   Formation and conversion

   Read: Acts 22:3–16, Philippians 3:4–14, Acts 9:1–31

   This week: Write down what you once relied on and what you now count as gain in Christ. Thank someone who helped you into faith.

2. Week 2

   Sent and travelling

   Read: Acts 11:19–30, Acts 13–14, Acts 15:36–18:22

   This week: Trace the journeys on a map. Pray by name for one missionary or church plant, and ask how you could practically help.

3. Week 3

   The letters in context

   Read: Romans 3:21–26, Ephesians 2:1–10, 1 Corinthians 12–13, Philippians 2:1–11

   This week: Choose one situation this week in which you will serve someone without public credit.

4. Week 4

   Weakness, mentoring and finishing well

   Read: Acts 18:23–21:17, 2 Corinthians 12:1–10, 2 Timothy 2:1–7, Acts 27–28

   This week: Arrange a conversation with someone you can encourage, and ask someone more mature in faith to do the same for you.

• Seven Undiluted Lessons from the Life of the Apostle PaulA reflective essay on Paul's sincerity, calling, weakness and faithfulness.Open
• Acts & the Letters (Berean Bible Academy)A free, self-paced course, including lessons on Paul's conversion, his journeys and his letters.Open
• Biblical Leadership: A Bible Study on Leading Like JesusServant leadership through Jesus, Moses, Nehemiah, Paul and Peter.Open
• Leadership & Ministry (Berean Bible Academy)Character, calling, teamwork and finishing well, in a free course.Open