Video bible answer to "why was He called Saul and Paul?"

“Why is his name Saul and Paul?”

That is a great question. While some people have supposed that God changed His name like He did with some people in the Old Testament like Abram to Abraham and Jacob to Israel, that is not what happened to Paul who is also called Saul.

It is much more simple than that. Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul was Greek name which was a common koine Greek name. So the Jews would have called Him Saul while the the Gentiles would have called Him Paul.

There was not necessarily a name shift at his conversion because he is called Saul 11 times after He came to Christ. In Acts 13 the Holy Spirit refers to Him as Saul when setting Him and Barnabas apart for a mission trip.

So a one scripture answer to the question that is simple is Acts 13:9

Acts 13:9 ESV

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

So Saul was also called Paul depending on who was addressing him and in what context.

Let me illustrate: On spring break I went with a group to Panama where the prominent language in Spanish. One person is the group was named Matthew. But in Spanish his name is Mateo. So some people called Him Mateo instead of Matthew. While Paul is not a Greek translation of Saul, He went by Paul to the Greeks as something they knew. Also Paul was a Jew but grew up in Tarsus which was prominently Gentile.

Kind of like Broderick (our Broderick) is called Rico in Honduras.

There are many people in the Bible and that you know that have two names or are called two different things.

For example, Simon is also called Peter, Barnabas was also called Joseph and there was another Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus. (Acts 1:23)