Editing Paul the Apostle (section)

=== Early ministry ===
[[File:Ananias house.jpg|thumb|upright=1|What is believed to be the house of [[Ananias of Damascus]] in [[Damascus]]]]
[[File:Damascus-Bab Kisan.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Bab Kisan]], believed to be where Paul escaped from persecution in Damascus]]
After his conversion, Paul went to [[Early centers of Christianity#Damascus|Damascus]], where [[Acts 9]] states he was healed of his blindness and [[Baptism|baptized]] by Ananias of Damascus.{{sfn|Hengel|1997|p=43}} Paul says that it was in Damascus that he barely escaped death.<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Corinthians|11:32}}</ref> Paul also says that he then went first to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Galatians|1:17}}</ref>{{sfn|Lake|1911|pp=320–23}} Paul's trip to Arabia is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, although it has been theorized that he traveled to [[Mount Sinai]] for meditations in the desert.{{sfn|Wright|1996|pp=683–92}}{{sfn|Hengel|2002|pp=47–66}} He describes in [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] how three years after his conversion he went to [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem]]. There he met [[James, brother of Jesus|James]] and stayed with [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter]] for 15 days<ref>{{Bibleverse|Galatians|1:13–24}}</ref> starting around 35 or 36 AD.<ref>{{cite book | last =Ehrman | first =Bart | year =2012 | title =Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth | publisher =HarperOne | isbn =9780062206442 |page=144-146}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Longenecker |editor1-first=Bruce |title=The New Cambridge Companion to St. Paul |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108438285 |page=23}}</ref> Paul located Mount Sinai in Arabia in Galatians 4:24–25.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Galatians|4:24–25}}</ref>

Paul asserted that he received the [[Gospel]] not from man, but directly by "the revelation of Jesus Christ".<ref>{{Bibleverse|Galatians|1:11–16}}</ref> He claimed almost total independence from the Jerusalem community{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=517}} (possibly in the [[Cenacle]]), but agreed with it on the nature and content of the gospel.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Galatians|1:22–24}}</ref> He appeared eager to bring material support to Jerusalem from the various growing [[Gentile]] churches that he started. In his writings, Paul used the [[Persecution of Christians in the New Testament#Examples of persecution in the Acts of the Apostles|persecutions]] he endured to avow proximity and union with Jesus and as a validation of his teaching.

Paul's narrative in Galatians states that 14 years after his conversion he went again to Jerusalem.<ref name="Bibleref2|Gal.|2:1–10">{{Bibleverse|Galatians|2:1–10}}</ref> It is not known what happened during this time, but both Acts and Galatians provide some details.{{sfn|Barnett|2005|p=200}}  At the end of this time, [[Barnabas]] went to find Paul and brought him to [[Early centers of Christianity#Antioch|Antioch]].{{sfn|Dunn|2009|p=369}}<ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|11:26}}</ref> The Christian community at Antioch had been established by Hellenised diaspora Jews living in Jerusalem, who played an important role in reaching a Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers."{{sfn|Dunn|2009|p=297}} From Antioch the mission to the Gentiles started, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.{{sfn|Dunn|2009}}

When a famine occurred in [[Judea]], around 45–46,{{sfn|Ogg|1962}} Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Jerusalem to deliver financial support from the Antioch community.{{sfn|Barnett|2005|p=83}} According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative center for Christians following the dispersion of the believers after the death of [[Saint Stephen|Stephen]]. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians".<ref>[[Acts 11:26]]</ref>