The importance of Paul to the Christian church cannot be over emphasized. Of all the saints, none left a more lasting impression upon the church as we know it than did Paul. Paul carried the message of Jesus out of the confines of Israel. Paul even boasts that he converted Peter, and he did! We would all be still observing the dietary laws of Judaism, going to synagogue, and reading the Talmud were it not for Paul confronting Peter, for Paul took Jesus' message out of the synagogue. How could Peter have ever set up church headquarters in Rome, had not Paul blazed the way there through Asia and Greece?

Paul was born at the wrong place in the wrong time. While Jesus was preaching in Galilee, Paul was studying with the Pharisees in Jerusalem. When Jesus chose his apostles, Paul was not there. Paul was making tents in Tarsus while Jesus chose fishermen in Galilee. When Stephen was stoned, Paul was standing on the wrong side.

This painting is by Pompeo Batoni.

Paul was never to know in this life, the man he chose to devote his life to. Paul never met Jesus. He came close. He lived at the same time, he visited the same places, but their paths never crossed, not until that fateful noon on the road to Damascus.