Why I dug into this Paul question
So, the other day I was scrolling through my feed and saw this huge debate blowing up about whether Paul was actually one of Jesus’s original disciples. People were yelling back and forth, quoting Bible verses like crazy, and honestly? It just confused me more. I mean, I thought I knew the basics, but all the noise… man, I needed to figure this out for myself. Like, seriously sit down and just trace the breadcrumbs from the actual sources.
Starting simple: Picking up the books
My desk was a total disaster zone – coffee stains on notebooks, pens everywhere. I shoved a bunch of junk aside and grabbed two things off my messy bookshelf:
- My trusty old Bible (the one with the cracked spine from falling asleep reading it).
- The historical timeline chart I printed ages ago and clipped to a board.
Figured I’d go straight to the horse’s mouth, you know? Flip through the stories about Jesus and his crew and then see exactly where Paul pops up.
Reading Luke & Matthew like a detective
I started right in the middle, with Luke 6:13. Boom, there’s the list:
- “And when it was day, he called his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles…”
- Then it lists them out: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip… the whole gang. No Paul. Zero mention.
Alright, cool. Cross-checked in Matthew 10:2-4. Same exact crew named. Double confirmed. So the official twelve? Paul wasn’t on that roster. Simple enough.
But then I thought, maybe he was a follower hanging around later? Like, not core twelve, but some kind of disciple, right? Kept reading. Saw Jesus talking to hundreds, even thousands sometimes. But Paul? His name just wasn’t showing up anywhere near Jesus during those years he was walking around teaching. Weird, right?
Paul’s own introduction
This is where it got really clear. I flipped over to Paul’s letters. Specifically, Galatians 1:1. Paul practically shouts it:
“Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ…”
And then he doubles down in Galatians 1:12: “I did not receive it [the gospel] from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
Reading that, I leaned back hard in my chair. Here’s Paul saying straight up: “Nope, no other guys taught me. Didn’t hang out with the Nazareth crew. Jesus himself gave me the message after he was gone.” That’s pretty black and white!
Connecting the story dots
Next, I went back to the Acts of the Apostles. Chapter 7 has Stephen getting stoned. And guess who’s there, totally okay with it? Right, “Saul” (that’s Paul before the name change!). Chapter 9 is the biggie: Paul’s on his way to Damascus to round up more Christians when wham – bright light, Jesus talking to him from heaven, blinding flash. That’s his call story! He gets baptized after that. Way, way after Jesus had already been crucified and risen.
Meanwhile, the original guys? They were back in Jerusalem, probably still sweating bullets from Saul’s attacks. They only meet Paul years later when Barnabas vouches for him. Think about the timeline gap! Jesus was killed around 30-33 AD. Paul got struck by lightning on the Damascus road maybe 34-36 AD? Didn’t meet Peter and James until at least 3 years after that (Galatians 1:18). So yeah, physically, he was never part of the crowd following Jesus in Galilee or Judea.
Wrapping my head around it
So, putting it all together, piece by piece:
- The Lists? No Paul. Just the twelve.
- The Gospel accounts? Paul’s not chilling with Jesus. Like, at all.
- Paul’s own words? Loud and clear: “Not taught by humans, got it directly from the resurrected Jesus.”
- His entrance? Starts as the worst enemy, only encounters Jesus after the ascension.
- Meets the Apostles? Years later. Outsider needing an introduction.
It hit me sitting there surrounded by scribbled notes and empty coffee cups: Paul being a disciple in the simple sense of following Jesus during his lifetime? Doesn’t hold water. Was he a massively important apostle? Absolutely! Changed everything. But a disciple during Jesus’ ministry? Nope. Case closed. Turns out, the answer really is simple when you just follow the trail yourself.
