Paul was a Jew, born during the first years of the common era. His original name was Saul, and he was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia (present day Turkey) and possessed Roman citizenship. According to Jerome (De Viris Illustribus, ch. 5), his family originated from Giscala (Gush Ḥalav) in Galilee. This may explain his adherence to the Pharisaic form of Judaism (Acts 26:5) and his studies in Jerusalem, where, according to Acts 22:3, he was a pupil of Rabban *Gamaliel the Elder; however, neither his Jewish nor his Greek learning was extensive or deep. Initially, he was a fanatical persecutor of the Christians and, according to the account in the New Testament, he was sent to Damascus on the authority of the high priest in order to arrest any Christians that he found there and bring them to Jerusalem for trial; on the way he had a vision of Jesus, and he converted to Christianity and was baptized in Damascus.
That is the standard, accepted introduction to Paul/Saul. Could it be that Paul/Saul had aspirations to be more? Might it be that Paul/Saul conceived of a plan to utilize the new Faith to strengthen his own personal position in the world?
One may consider that Saul/Paul may have been deluded by his schizotypal affliction to actually believe that he had seen Jesus and learned about this new deity directly from his ‘revelations’. Perhaps, Saul/Paul was truly obsessed with the desire to proselytize the new Faith; possessed by the Holy Spirit.
Or one might don more skeptical – almost cynical – glasses and assert that Saul/Paul was running a con-game to promote this new sect of Judaism in order to advance his own interests. He might have used the proclivity of ‘revelations’ amongst people of the time; a time rife with end-time preachers and new sects touting messianic preachers and leaders. (One could point to such figures of the period such as Apollonius of Tyana, the ‘Egyptian’, Simon Magus and perhaps scores of others who were proclaimed by followers as being deific miracle workers.) To tout yet another anointed one as the ‘Son of Heaven’ and savior of the world would certainly have been an easy sell to a demographic already primed with talk of the ‘end-times’ full of wrath, judgement and apocalyptic imagery. One who could offer salvation from such a violent end would find an audience during such a period.
It must be remembered that Saul/Paul never met the man from Galilee; not in the flesh. Saul/Paul’s only contact with Jesus was by way of visions, revelations, hallucinations, in fact. Whereas personal revelation can only be related as hear-say and never proven to be ‘real or anything more than an episodic ‘fugue’ state. It would have been extremely easy for one of an unethical nature to fake such ‘revelations’ as needed to persuade his audience to trust him as a true source of divine inspiration. It would have been quite easy for Saul/Paul to exhibit such ‘mystical-spiritual’ activities as speaking in tongues or practicing divination (e.g. ready animal entrails) which when coupled with revelations from god or other celestial entity might serve to entrance his marks. Consider, too, that people were predisposed to the idea of resurrection from the dead by a messianic figure. Romulus, Hercules and others had additionally ascended into heaven and had transformed into gods.
Perhaps we should discuss what makes up an effective con-game. It’s an old saw that a time–limit must be set on any offer. Salesmen are told to make any offer of discount with a time-limit; Buy Now! 'This offer expires when I leave the room', and so on. Con-games are much like sales-pitches; the difference is that in a con-game, the promised benefits are always just out of reach whereas a salesman must deliver on his promises. With Saul/Paul selling Christianity, the time limit was purportedly set by Jesus; ‘the kingdom of God is at hand’, and ‘Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.’ ‘Truly’, saith the Lord, ‘this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.’ Thus, the all-important time-limit is set; Now (or very soon).
Next, for a good con, there must be ‘the offer you can’t refuse’; in the case of Christianity, that promise is eternal life after death! Talk about a hook for the fishes. (After all, were the apostles not fishers of men?) There is no better con than to promise what everyone wants but which can never, ever be delivered. After the hooked ‘believer’ is dead, there’s little likelihood that they’ll complain, after all. It also helps immensely that ‘eternal life’ was a promise made repeatedly by many sources and internalized as a desire held by many.
There’s the basic con; the setting of a time limit - Act Now!
And the offer of something astounding and desirable; eternal life!
Very simple – the simpler the better. Saul/Paul saw this simple con for which people were willing to undergo harsh treatment and persecution. All it took was for Saul/Paul to feign a direct connection to this purported savior from Galilee. Saul/Paul’s writings are filled with staunch assertions that he was getting all of his teachings directly from the horse’s mouth (even if the horse was a hallucination). Makes no nevermind; Saul/Paul had the real stuff and could even claim that he’d gone to heaven and seen with his own eyes the glory that awaited all ‘true believers’.
To my mind, Saul/Paul was a fraud who fought the rumors of his fraud most of his career by insisting that he had had 'revelations' of G-sus which made him an 'apostle' even though he never had personal contact with the Man from Galilee. He benefited from largesse of newly converted pagans (Gentiles) to the expanded Jewish sect which financed his travel, his assistants and his life-style.
If he was self-deluded and actually 'believed' the tenets of the nascent Christianity and accepted his hallucinations as fact, it only means that he was off his nut.
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