Before Paul, born Saul for the first king of Israel, became a Christian, he worked for the Roman Empire. Paul was one of the men that sent to persecute Christians.
When Saul was travelling to Damascus to perform more persecutions, a miraculous thing happened. A great light appeared to him and he heard God’s voice asking “Why do you persecute me?” This light blinded Saul, the only man that heard the message. The other men could see fine and helped him to town. While he was blind, God called a man to go to Saul and touch his shoulder and Saul’s sight was restored. He learned many things and converted to Christianity. Saul vowed to start a new life, change his ways and also his name.
On Paul’s journeys, he visited many places such as Damascus, Athens and Tarsus, preaching the Word of God to Gentiles or people of little faith. When Paul went to preach God’s word in Damascus, he narrowly escaped death. Guards were patrolling the city gate so that Paul couldn’t get away but his friends lowered him over the walls in a basket. Paul learned very early in his ministry what Jesus meant when He told the original apostles that when they were not welcome in a place to shake the dust off their feet and go down the road.
He also wrote many letters to communities, including the Corinthians, Ephesians and Galatians.
The Council of Jerusalem stated that Gentiles were to obey Jewish laws but Paul and others could not accept this law. Some believed that Gentiles could only become Christians after becoming Jews; Paul disagreed. Paul recognized that this was going to make it extremely difficult for Gentiles to follow Christ’s teachings, which he believed to be the essential task in growing the Church.
Church traditions often vary from historical sources so it is difficult to be certain how the apostles died. However sources are reasonably clear that Paul was most likely beheaded under Emperor Nero in the year 67 AD. He could not be crucified like other Christians because he was a Roman citizen.
The symbol I have created for Saint Paul represents his life journey. In the centre we see the cross which represents Christ and how He died for us. Footsteps show Paul walking in the right direction, towards God. The quill pen is for the many epistles Paul wrote. We see the light coming from the cross. This can mean the light of Christ and how it illuminates God as the one and only. It also represents the light that blinded Paul and inspired his conversion.
Below on the left shows the old symbol and on the right is my created symbol.