Thank you for bringing up such an interesting topic.
The Apostle Paul was no ordinary man. God chose a perfect steward to safeguard his doctrines, and preach his word. Everyone knows Paul as the one who saw Jesus after his death, and was blinded in his path. He went from being a murderer of Christians, to a Christian himself. There is, however; some interesting information about him that people rarely ponder.
Paul was a first rate scholar. Even secular scholars/historians today will agree with that fact. He was a very intelligent, inquisitive man. Out of everyone from the bible that I can choose to write about specific events, I would choose Paul. He was historically specific, and also used a vocabulary that best conveyed the proper message. Did you know that because of Paul, we can historically prove the Gospel message to just 2-3 years after the death of Christ! After his little incident with Jesus, he traveled to meet with the original Apostles. Guess what, he found James (The half brother of Jesus), and Peter! Now, I don't know this for sure, but I bet you Paul asked them what Jesus had looked like. Merely to insure that he wasn't insane, and saw the true Jesus Christ. After a period of learning/teaching and discussing the Gospel, he set out away from the Apostles. This isn't the end of the story, however.
Paul returned many years later, to find that the original Apostles were still living and preaching in Jerusalem. So what did Paul do? He preached to them. Not because they were lost, but because he wanted to see if the Holy Spirit had properly guided him with the Gospel message. At the end of his teaching, he said "and they added nothing to it." This amazingly means that the Holy Spirit was at work in Paul, verifying his claims about Christ. Furthermore, it proves that the Gospel message he received 2-3 years AFTER the death of Christ was unchanging! The same Gospel message that you read about in his letters!
This information literally changed the secular world in the 90's. People went from "Jesus didn't exist", to "He did exist. He died on the cross, and his tomb was found empty." Coming from secular historians, this is huge! I have even read that a few secular historians will concede that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and made post-death appearances. With more evidence coming forth, can you imagine what people will concede in the next 20 years? Surely, it will expose bias. People will say "He rose from the dead, and appeared to his Apostles. However; we reject his Divinity."
Heck, as believers we knew this all along. We believe in the same Christ that Paul spoke of. The true living Christ!
Blessings.
