Meaning of the Name Paul
From the Latin name Paulus, meaning 'small, little'. His Hebrew name Saul means 'asked for, requested'; Acts 13:9 mentions the two together: 'Saul, who is also called Paul.'
Origin
The name Paul is of Latin origin.
Who is Paul in the Bible?
Paul, a Pharisee persecuting the church, met the risen Christ on the Damascus road and became the apostle to the nations. He founded communities across the Mediterranean world, and most of the New Testament letters come from his pen.
The story of Paul in the Bible
Paul enters the story as the church's fiercest opponent: Saul of Tarsus approves the killing of Stephen and drags believers from their homes to prison. On the road to Damascus everything changes: struck to the ground by a light from heaven, he hears a voice asking why he is persecuting him — he has met the risen Jesus. Blind for three days, he regains his sight through Ananias' prayer, is baptized, and begins proclaiming the very name he had persecuted. Acts later calls him by his Roman-world name: Saul, also known as Paul. Starting with his first journey alongside Barnabas, he crisscrosses the Mediterranean, founding communities from Galatia to Philippi, Corinth to Ephesus. He is beaten, stoned, and imprisoned, yet never turns from his calling as apostle to the nations. To the Galatians he writes that God set him apart from his mother's womb and revealed his Son in him, to be preached among the nations. Most of the New Testament letters come from his pen; the story leaves him in Rome, telling the good news to all who come.
Is Paul mentioned in the Quran?
The name Paul does not appear in the Quran; in the Bible he is the apostle to the nations, a central figure of the book of Acts and the author of most of the New Testament letters.
Verses where Paul appears
- Acts 9:1-19 —
But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way,…
- Acts 13:9 —
But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,
- Galatians 1:15-16 —
But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I didn’t immediately confer with…