Why St. Paul was a Roman Citizen

[Deacon_Joseph]

Does anyone know why St. Paul was a Roman Citizen? Thanks.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Is this the set up for a joke? or a straightforward question?
A straightforward answer: St. Paul describes himself as a Roman citizen “from birth.” (Acts 22:28) I think that means St. Paul’s father was a Roman citizen and when St. Paul was born he inherited his father’s Roman citizenship.

 

[juliamajor]

Paul’s Roman citizenship through his Father may have been individual(just Paul’s family) for something Dad did for the empire or it could be that Tarsus was a town that allowed Roman citizenship for all the inhabitants because of a service rendered to the state by the city.

 

[NotWorthy]

During a revolt within the Roman Empire (a Civil War may be a better term), the citizens of Tarsus actively aided the Roman Emperor’s efforts to squelch the rebellion. Out of gratitude, the emperor made all citizens of Tarsus Roman citizens with all the rights that go with it.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Joseph,

Originally those born in Rome were Roman citizens. Then the privilege was extended to Italy, then to various areas that deserved well from the Empire. You could also buy citizenship. Roman citizenship was not just a decoration. It afforded you the full protection of the law, whereas non-citizens were more or less treated like Bush’s “enemy combattants”.

Verbum

 

[Mark77]

Does anyone know why St. Paul was a Roman Citizen? Thanks.

Deacon Joseph,

Why are you a US citizen? (i am guessing you are, if not why are you a Canadian or Swiss, etc…citizen?)

For the vast majority of us the answer is; “Because i was born in the US”, not because i chose to be a US citizen.

St. Paul was born a Roman citizen, & was a Jew who initially persecuted Christians, but because of no reason other than God wanted him to Witness for His Son, our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, Saul or Paul was chosen to be an Apostle, as we all are.

Because God has given all of us free will, Paul answered the call & chose to suffer for the cause of Truth.

**Will we answer the call?

Mother Mary, Pray for us, so we will be given the Grace to answer the call & be Witnesses for our Lord & Savior Jesus the Christ!!!
**
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark

 

[peary1]

Does anyone know why St. Paul was a Roman Citizen? Thanks.

Paul himself in ACTS says that he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia (Acts 21:39). His FATHER was a Roman citizen (Acts 22:26-28, and 16:37) which automatically makes him a Roman citizen.

 

[NotWorthy]

Deacon Joseph,

Why are you a US citizen? (i am guessing you are, if not why are you a Canadian or Swiss, etc…citizen?)

For the vast majority of us the answer is; “Because i was born in the US”, not because i chose to be a US citizen.

St. Paul was born a Roman citizen, & was a Jew who initially persecuted Christians, but because of no reason other than God wanted him to Witness for His Son, our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, Saul or Paul was chosen to be an Apostle, as we all are.

I think what our good Joseph is asking is what made Saul a Roman Citizen. Simply because someone was in the Roman Empire didn’t make them a Roman citizen.

Tarsus, where Paul was from, happened to enjoy Roman Citizenship because of its loyalty to the Emperor during times of trouble.

 

[NHInsider]

And Paul’s mother was Jewish, since he was also a Jew. A perfect candidate to be God’s apostle to the Gentiles.

 

[Deacon_Joseph]

I think what our good Joseph is asking is what made Saul a Roman Citizen. Simply because someone was in the Roman Empire didn’t make them a Roman citizen.

Tarsus, where Paul was from, happened to enjoy Roman Citizenship because of its loyalty to the Emperor during times of trouble.

Thank you all for the information

 

[Todd_Easton]

Because of the at the end of your post I thought you might be setting us up for a joke along the lines of…
Why was St. Paul a Roman citizen? Answer: Because he went roamin’ from town to town preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

[NotWorthy]

Because of the at the end of your post I thought you might be setting us up for a joke along the lines of…
Why was St. Paul a Roman citizen? Answer: Because he went roamin’ from town to town preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Well, the way the Jews chased him out of towns and he was in such a hurry, he could very well have been Russian… (insert groan here).

 

[phrederik]

i’ve often wondered about this myself, Acts 22:28 (thank you earlier poster) has “…Ah said Paul, but I am a citizen by birth!” A quick search found these 2 articles;

“Roman Citizen in a Greek-influenced Culture
By Thomas Smith…Although nearly all Jews lived and worked within the empire, few had full Roman citizenship. St. Jerome tells us that Paul’s parents were given their citizenship by their employer, a right passed on to Paul…”

“Maria, My field of expertise is Ancient Greek and Roman History, Education/Credentials
I received my Ph.D.from Genova University (Italy)…His family in fact was Jewish and he likely inherited Roman citizenship from one of his ancestors who maybe was deported from the Palestine to Rome and became slave, but later was able to distinguish himself by any skill and was either freed by his master or bought his freedom and thus was given Roman citizenship.”

so these offer 2 possibilities, 1 which could be said comes from tradition and a scholarly view.

peace of Christ!

 

[ChadS]

During a revolt within the Roman Empire (a Civil War may be a better term), the citizens of Tarsus actively aided the Roman Emperor’s efforts to squelch the rebellion. Out of gratitude, the emperor made all citizens of Tarsus Roman citizens with all the rights that go with it.

Do you have any more information about this particular revolt? Just curious.

ChadS

 

[thistle]

Do you have any more information about this particular revolt? Just curious.

ChadS

I found this snippet while googling:

Tarsus in the Roman Empire:

About 104 BC part of Cilicia became a Hem province, and after the Mithridatic Wars, during which Tarsus fell temporarily into the hands of Tigranes of Armenia, Pompey the Great reorganized the eastern portion of the Hem Empire (64-63 BC), and Tarsus became the capital of a new and enlarged province, administered by Hem governors who usually held office for a single year. Thus we find Cicero in command of Cilicia from the summer of 51 BC to the summer of the following year, and though he expressly mentions Tarsus only rarely in his extant letters of this period (e.g. Ad Att. v. 20, 3; Ad Fam. ii. 17, 1), yet there is reason to believe that he resided there during part of his year of office. Julius Caesar passed through the city in 47 BC on his march from Egypt to Pontus, and was enthusiastically received. In his honor the name Tarsus was changed to Juliopolis, but this proved no more lasting than Antioch on the Cydnus had been. Cassius temporarily overawed it and imposed on it a crushing fine, but, after the overthrow of the republican cause at Philippi and the assignment of the East to Antony’s administration, Tarsus received the position of an independent and duty-free state (civitas libera et immunis) and became for some time Antony’s place of residence. This privileged status was confirmed by Augustus after the victory of Actium had made him sole master of the Roman Empire (31 BC). It did not by itself bestow Roman citizenship on the Tarsinas, but doubtless there were many natives of the city to whom Pompey, Caesar, Antony and Augustus granted that honor for themselves and, as a consequence, for their descendants.