Paul the Apostle was a very reputable leader in Christianity. He spearheaded the establishment of various churches in several towns and helped many people get stronger in their faith. Paul was initially named Saul of Tarsus before his conversion. He was born a Roman citizen to Jew parents and he was was a Pharisee and so was his father. Saul persecuted the followers of Christ for a long time before his salavation, which happened while he was on his way to Damascus.
During the incidence, Paul fell on the ground and saw a vision of Jesus Christ. There was a bright light and he heard a voice asking “why do you persecute me”. Paul had to be led by hand into Damascus because he was blinded for the next three days. He spent the three days fasting and praying until the arrival of Annanias of Damascus. Annanias told Paul that he had been sent by Jesus to restore his eyesight. After his baptism, Paul proclaimed that Jesus is the son of God in the synagogues (MacArthur 65). Many were shocked since he persecuted Christians and was headed to Damascus for the same reason. Paul received the Gospel directly from Christ himself and became an apostle like the twelve.
Paul fled Damascus and started his life as a missionary for the rest of his life. He started in Jerusalem, went to Antioch and journeyed on to several cities, establishing churches and teaching the ways of Jesus. On his journeys, Paul performed many miracles such as casting out demons and healing people. As a leader, he convinced many Jews that the Christian Gentiles do not have to follow Jewish customs. As he was traveling, he wrote letters to the churches he had established to help the people stay strong as Christians (Smith 5). He made three major missionary journeys during his lifetime and left a mark in every city he visited. Is clear that Paul’s first missionary expedition was to Cyprus and Galatia with Barnabas.
Picirili (pp. 108) explains that Paul believed that both the Gentiles, and the Jews were equal in the eyes of God. He believed that the Jews who believed that the Gentiles should follow the Jewish customs were hypocrites. He even got into an argument with Peter over the matter. Because of this belief, Paul spent a lot of time with the Gentiles spreading the teachings of Christ to them. He even invited some of them into the synagogue and almost got persecuted for it. Paul also maintained contact with the Gentiles after he had left for other areas. He did this by writing several letters to them. His policy of equality, morals, and good leadership made him travel to many areas including Rome and Spain.
Because he believed in God’s power and human diligence, Paul stood up for patience and endurance. He had been in bond seven times, went to exile, was martyred, preached in the East/West, and won rewards due to his faith, teachings, and righteousness. Through his leadership in Christianity, the entire world reached its farthest bounds of rectitude. Paul made it clear to the world that Jesus Christ was borne to save the world, reigned before the Earthly rulers, acccended from the world, went to the holy place to stay with God, and founded a notable pattern of patience and endurance.
Paul was a charismatic man, and a good speaker. He usually made very strong introductions for Jesus Christ as he began his sermons in new places. He understood that a good first impression makes the people take more interest in a matter. Good first impressions also create an understanding relationship between the speaker and the audience. Good relations between Paul and his audience makes the crowd relate with the message and thus establish a strong belief in Christ. Paul strived to maintain these relationships with the people he had preached. He did this by revisiting them and staying for a while and by maintaining contact with the people he had already visited through letters. On his mission as a preacher of the gospel, Paul was put under Roman “house arrest” for nearly two years. However, he preached gospel to all visitors, wrote letters to Christians and church gatherings in Colossus, Ephesus, Philippi and to Philemon (Acts28:30-31).
Compared to other others in the New Testament, Paul influenced Christians’ thinking and perception of Jesus Christ. In his declaration to tie up Christianity, Paul stated that “Christ is the end of the law” (Romans 10:4) to mean that Christianity is supreme and biblical teachings are the utmost legislator and arbitrator. In his leadership, Paul lauded Christian churches as the Christ’s body and declared any world operating outside the Church as under sentence/judgement. For instance, Paul’s writings encompassed the most basic reference to the “Lord’s Supper”, a ceremony customarily recorgnized as the Christian communion/Eucharist. In this regard, it is evident that Paul’s mission in the Christian society was to continue the journey of Christ in converting people to righteousness. In his leadership, the themes of predestination present in the Western Christianity hardly come out in Eastern theology. In addition, the Augustine’s introductory work on the gospel, grace, morality, and predestination is derived from Paul, especially in his letters to the Romans.
Paul was very welcoming of the Gentiles. He believed that they were left out in the covenant with God at Sinai, but Christ had died for the sins of everyone (Stott, Nystrom, and Stott l78). He met a lot of resistance in trying to make the Gentiles equal to the Jews. Paul constantly preached that people are all equal in the eyes of God and treated the Gentiles the same way he treated the Jews. He invited them to sermons, baptised them, and ate with them. He also talked to other Christian leaders such as Peter and James. He also appointed Gentiles to head churches in places he had left. He only considered a person’s leadership qualities such as their understanding that a leader is there to serve and not be served, their ability to fight for what they believe in despite being under pressure and their ability to work among other qualities.
Paul was unrelenting, an important quality among leaders (Picirilli 167). He visited more than fifty cities and traveled more than twelve thousand miles. Despite all this, he did not complain of fatigue or hardships in any of his known epistles. He was also very courageous. Paul went to the synagogue in Damascus, where he proclaimed that Jesus is the son of God, knowing the dangers that surrounded such a proclamation (Stott, Nystrom, and Stott l8). He was also courageous enough to revisit the perilous cities such as Lyster where his life was endangered. Similarly, Paul was uncompromising when it came to the truth about Christ. He condemned Peter for refusing to share meals with gentiles due to social pressure.
Paul was a humble person with a servant-heart. In fact, when he used to persecute people, he did it wholesomely and when he was converted to Christianity, he served the lord with all his heart and energy. Paul also demonstrated integrity in his undertakings, especially during the gospel mission. He never hesitated to sermonize the gospel despite the looming consequences and persecution threats. Paul was a committed person who was only devoted to serving Christ and teaching God’s holy word in spite of the venue. In fact, he preached in jails, streets, and churches and even wrote letters to communities while he was in jail.
Paul was also unprejudiced as he taught everybody including the Jews and Gentiles regardless of tribe, culture, or race. Similarly, his compassion drove him towards bringing “lost sheep” (sinners) to Christ despite their histories (Smith 2). He believed in forgiveness hence wanted sinners to trust in God for forgiveness. Paul was also spirit-Led as he never believed on his own thoughts and plans but trusted in God for all his missions. In this regard, Paul was a fearless who had a total trust in God despite the situation. He even preached to his enemies despite the martyr threats. In other contexts, it is important to note that Paul was spirit-filled as he listened to his internal beliefs, intuitions, and promptings of the Holy Spirit.
In his leadership as a pioneer Christian, Paul was faithful with a proper perspective concerning life, perseverance, and death (Smith 8). Another leadership prompt that Paul demonstrated is that he was visionary in his undertakings. He desired to die after accomplishing Christ’s mission with no regrets. Equally, Paul was passionate, a shepherd, a shepherd-developer, and a realist who comprehended the authenticity of spiritual warfare. He actually cared about the church and desired for its protection against evil. Due to his fairness, Paul was hardly greedy, diligent, responsible, giving, and prayerful.
Nonetheless, Paul had his weaknesses as all humans do. Being chosen by God to do missionary work did not make him immune from fear, fatigue, injury or even the craving for human approval. However, he found joy in serving the Lord and accepted his weaknesses. Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying that he was content with weaknesses, insults, calamities and persecutions for when he was weak, he was strong (Picirilli 127).
Paul was an a apostle of Jesus Christ appointed by Jesus himself. He was initially a Pharisee who persecuted Christians before his conversion to Christianity. He spreaded the gospel of Christ throughout the world and established several churches. He believed in equality among the Jews and the Gentiles and believed that the Gentiles did not have to follow Jewish’s customs. He converted many Gentiles to Christianity and maintained contact with them through letters. He also revisited most of them to inspire them in the faith of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Despite his weaknesses, he had many strengths such as politeness, courage, charisma, resilience, and good speaker.
Similarly, Paul was passionate person, a shepherd, and a realist who realized the legitimacy of spiritual warfare. Paul was not greedy, but diligent, responsible, and prayerful to keep the mission of Christ. Currently, Paul’s letters are crucial pillars of theology, Christian worship, and pastoral missions in both Catholics and Protestants who hail from the West as well as the Orthodox traditions emerging from the East. Paul’s leadership style in Christianity has deeply influenced Christian ideologies and practices. Numerous disciples and missionaries engaged in Christian faith and spread of the gospel have anchored their faith abd beliefs in Paul’s teachers and recommendation for better Christian life. For instance, Augustine of Hippo, an early Christian theologian/philosopher, developed Paul’s ideology that salvation is anchored on faith other than the “works of the law”. Finally, even Martin Luther’s understanding of Paul’s letters influenced his dogma of sola fide (justification by faith only).
