Paul was the least likely guy to end up where he ended up, a tribute to the power of the Lord.
As a Pharisee of pharisees, he was one of the most highly educated men of his time, He was a zealot for his team, a rising star in Judaism. As such, he was a proud and aggressive operative until his encounter with the Lord. After that, he was a different man.
The early Christians were slow to warm up to him, given his high profile history fighting the church.
The Lord used him to preach to the gentiles, to confront Peter and the Judaizers who were trying to conform Christianity into their image of what a Christian should be. That was the spirit of religion trying to take control of the early movement.
Paul wrote most of the New Testament, challenging forces that came against the early church.
There is a lot to learn from Paul, realizing that what he wrote pertained to the culture of the times, but with universal Spiritual truths that span the decades.
DF
