In Acts, Luke calls him Saul for the first 13 chapters, then calls him Paul for the rest of the book, so some people have assumed that there was a name change.
Look at the following references in Acts:. So what is going on? Why the name switch? Roman citizens usually had full Roman names. Even those who were not ethnically Roman were granted Roman names if they received citizenship. For Romans, the third name, called the cognomen, was the one most commonly used.
The other two were used formally, like on birth certificates or other legal documents. Having different names for different cultures was a somewhat common practice. And several examples can be found in non-biblical accounts from the time, such as Josephus. I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. Download Share. Question: Why did God change Saul's name to Paul? It is a meek humble name, in its' meaning, which are traits God likes.
Paul, himself, never uses the name Saul, which occurs in reference to him only in Acts of the Apostles. Acts first refers to 'Saul' as Paul in verse , which follows immediately after mention of Sergius Paulus, described as the deputy proconsul of the country. It is possible that Saul was already known as Paul, and the author of Acts chose this encounter as an opportune point at which to introduce the name Paul.
Another possibility suggested by the conjunction of Acts and is that Saul chose to adopt the name Paul in honour of the proconsul:. Acts ,9: 7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. Rex Wyler refers in The Jesus Sayings , page 43, to Josephus' mention of a Saul who violently persecutes Jewish peasants, hobnobs with powerful men in Judea, appears related to Herodian rulers, and participates in scenes parallelled in Acts.
Wyler reports that the parallels suggest to some scholars that this could either be the Paul of Acts , or perhaps the model from which later writers devised certain scenes. The Saul or Saulus that Josephus describes was active in the mid to late 60s, which is actually too late to have been Paul himself, but possible as a model for the portrayal of Saul in Acts of the Apostles. A careful reader of Acts can see Saul portrayed as totally disreputable, in contrast to the saintly Paul who replaces him in the narrative.
On this analysis, it is possible that Paul never used the name Saul, but that the author of Acts of the Apostles used this name in order to provide a graphic contrast between the early 'Saul' and the later 'Paul', knowing that the name Saul could be associated by many of his contemporaries with another infamous Saul described by Josephus. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.
Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How was Saul changed to Paul?
Ask Question. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Here, Saul is on his first apostolic journey. It is not merely a historical event, but a communication of doctrine, doctrine that Sergius Paul saw and believed verse What was the doctrine this miracle conveyed? Some etymology will now further explain the matter. We the Church the Body of Christ are not the continuation of the Old Testament community as they teach.
We are not an extension of the nation Israel.
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