Many middle-aged pastors like me will remember reading F. F. Bruce’s “Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free” at some point during college or seminary. Both the cover art (detail of Raphael, “St. Paul Preaching at Athens”) and the title of Bruce’s famous volume are echoed in Frank Thielman’s new book “Paul: Apostle of Grace” (Eerdmans, 2025).
The comparison is also explicit in the many endorsements that have warmly lauded Thielman’s book as a successor to F. F. Bruce’s work. The comparison is apt.
Much like Bruce’s classic, Thielman’s book is an impressive historical work that sets Paul’s life, ministry, and letters in context. It deserves to be read and consulted regularly by pastors, seminary students, and others interested in understanding Paul better. Yet–at over 300 pages, with six maps, three detailed and important appendices, plus copious endnotes–the book is challenging to summarize.
Thielman’s Approach to Paul
First, it is important to embrace this book for what it is, and Thielman states his objective early in the book: “If this book helps to clarify for the reader what made Paul tick, it will have accomplished its purpose” (xi).
Thielman has sought to set reconstruct the historical and biographical puzzle of Paul’s life. This is not a work of Pauline eschatology like that of Geerhardus Vos. It is not a New Testament biblical theology that takes detailed account of Paul’s use of the Old Testament like that of G. K. Beale. Nor is it a Pauline theology or an exploration of the structure of Paul’s thought along the lines of those offered by Herman Ridderbos or Richard Gaffin.
What Thielman does, and these other works largely do not, is to wrestle with questions of Pauline chronology, motivation, and the historical context(s) of his mission and letters. The works of Paul Barnett on the Apostle Paul come closest to Thielman’s approach.
Stylistically, Thielman writes a very readable historical synthesis. And in terms of method, he is to be commended for taking all of the canonical sources seriously. In “Appendix 1: The Evidence for Paul” (337-52), Thielman defends his use of Acts for understanding Paul. He also articulates his reasons for taking all 13 letters attributed to Paul as authentic. As a result, the historical Paul that emerges is more robust and integrated than many other well-written biographies by scholars such as N. T. Wright and John Barclay, who tend to downplay or ignore 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, the pastoral epistles, and much of Acts.
What the reader can expect from Thielman is a comprehensive, chronological narrative of Paul from his early days in Tarsus, to his conversion on the Damascus road, through his missionary journeys, and right up to his imprisonment and death.
Thielman pays meticulous attention to textual and geographical detail. He specifies journey routes, calculates distances and travel times, and notes cultural and archaeological details of the cities Paul visited. This results in a richly woven context for understanding the practical pressures and cultural realities within which Paul ministered. Sometimes Pauline theology can become abstracted from the world in which it emerged and by which it was shaped.
Thielman’s clarity and scholarship reinforces the historical nature of our Christian faith, the development of the early church, and Paul’s proactive and responsive ministry. The presentation also offers a panoramic reminder that Paul took the gospel to “the Gentiles” in many different local settings, settings which are relevant for understanding both Acts and the Pauline epistles.
Paul’s ministry and mission
The book provides no chart with an absolute or detailed Pauline chronology; nor does Thielman list the order in which Thielman thinks Paul wrote his letters. Nevertheless, much of his views on these questions can be pieced together from various chapters. Thielman thinks it probable that Paul was born “between AD 5 and 10” (2) and died in Rome “prior to the outbreak of Nero’s more widespread persecution … in AD 64” (370). Paul’s epistles were likely written in the following order and from the places indicated:
- Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians from Corinth (145-46)
- 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (181-83)
- 1 Timothy and 2 Corinthians from Macedonia (199, 210-14)
- Romans from Corinth (223)
- Titus from Malta (280-81)
- Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Timothy from prison in Rome (358-62)
As this list suggests, Thielman takes the somewhat unconventional view that Paul wrote almost all his “prison epistles” (with the exception of Titus) during a single Roman imprisonment that fits nicely with the end of the Acts narrative. He comes to this view after interacting in detail with other proposals (especially in “Appendix 2: The Historical Setting of Paul’s Imprisonment Letters,” 353-62).
A few examples from various chapters will give a sense of the flavor of Thielman’s retelling of Paul’s life and the kinds of insights to be found in his treatment of the New Testament texts.
In Chapter 4 (“Return to Jerusalem”), Paul’s teaching and his understanding of Jesus shows many points of agreement with 1 Peter (and the Petrine tradition in Mark’s Gospel). Both Paul and Peter emphasize the death of Jesus on the cross in terms of substitutionary atonement. Both draw on Isaiah 53 to unpack the significance of that death. Pointing to Galatians 1:18, Thielman thinks this significant “agreement probably began with Paul’s fifteen-day stay with Peter in Jerusalem” (49). Here and elsewhere, Thielman helpfully shows that Paul’s gospel and his testimony about Jesus is of the same cloth as that of the rest of the New Testament witnesses.
Chapter 7 (“Advancement and Opposition in Southern Galatia”) is one of several places where Thielman draws out the many intricate connections between Luke’s portrayal of Paul in Acts and Paul’s own testimony in his letters. The summary of Paul’s synagogue sermon in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:29-37) resonates with many of Paul’s theological emphases elsewhere in his letters: Christ’s resurrection from the dead, justification by faith, and the forgiveness of sins (Galatians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Romans 4:1-8, 25).
Likewise, Luke’s account of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra (Acts 14:8-23) “meshes well with the hints in Paul’s letters of what he preached to gentiles who were utterly unfamiliar with Judaism.” As an example, Thielman points to the shared phrasing (“turn from vain things/idols … to a living God”) in Acts 14:15 and 1 Thessalonians 1:9. Though these are only examples a lucid picture emerges of a Paul who was a missionary-pastor faithfully, thoughtfully, and creatively contextualizing the gospel as he moved through the Roman provinces of the Mediterranean world.
In Chapter 12 (“An Urgent Letter from Corinth to Christians in Galatia”), Thielman sketches a plausible picture of the circumstances that elicited Paul’s letter to the Galatians and the logic of his response. He notes that many scholars, from William Wrede to Douglas Campbell, have misconstrued what Paul’s “gospel” is in Galatians.
The structure of these so-called “apocalyptic” re-readings from the time of Wrede run something like this: “Paul’s real gospel did not center on a biblically based understanding of transgression, atoning sacrifice, and justification but began with the idea that all humanity lay under the cosmic influence of sin, and the dominion of sin led to death for everyone. The divine Christ redeemed humanity from this cosmic power and its consequences by his own assumption of human flesh, his death, and his resurrection. Paul’s gospel was simply that people should believe these truths and be baptized into the new community of people who believed them” (151).
Thielman thinks these interpretations are “not persuasive from a historical perspective” (152). Instead, he thinks that the gospel that transformed Paul himself (Gal 1:11-12) and that he preached in the Jerusalem Council (2:1-2) is defined most clearly in texts like Galatians 2:15-16 as “justification through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law” (152). This is a good example of the many contemporary debates in Pauline theology that Thielman is aware of and touches on even though they are not his primary focus throughout the book.
Chapter 26 (“Paul Finishes the Race”) describes in detail the scenario of Roman imprisonment from which Paul penned 2 Timothy. This chapter is engaging and refreshing, first because Thielman ably defends Pauline authorship of 2 Timothy. Then he summarizes the epistle’s argument (328-31), but he also draws on Acts, Paul’s letters, and later extra-canonical sources to reconstruct what Paul’s last days may well have been like as he awaited death in Rome (332-35).
Thielman further elaborates on evidence and traditions related to Paul’s death in “Appendix 3: The Place, Manner, and Time of Paul’s Death” (363-70). Here and throughout the book, one has the sense that Paul, while faithful, is not the hero of his own story. Rather, the real protagonist of Paul’s story is the One who raises his people from the dead and who keeps them “in the fray” for the sake of the gospel work until death serves as an entrance into God’s own presence (335).
Paul’s theology
While there are indeed theological insights that emerge in the book, Thielman’s book is not a work of Pauline theology. In fact, the first half of the subtitle (“Apostle”) receives much more treatment than the second (“of Grace”). The fact that there is no standalone entry in the “Index of Subjects” on “grace” (nor for “law,” “faith,” “gospel,” “resurrection,” “new creation,” “justification,” “sanctification,” or other Pauline theological topics) is indicative of the book’s focus.
To be clear, these topics do appear throughout the book and are listed as subtopics under other headings in “Index of Subjects.” But the reader wanting to consider the theology of Paul’s letters or to engage deeply with debates on these topics will need to consult other classic and contemporary treatments of Pauline theology, perhaps even Thielman’s other books. This is not a criticism of the book per se. But it is surprising how frequently “grace” (for example) appeared–in the subtitle, various chapter subheadings, even in the main text–yet how little grace and other critical Pauline concepts were exegetically probed and conceptually synthesized.
Conclusion
In sum, Thielman’s “Paul” is an ambitious achievement. The fact that there are a myriad of small matters on which to debate or issues that might have been treated further is simply testimony to the breadth of scope and depth of detail in the book. Thielman has produced a valuable work of Pauline biography that deserves to be read and revisited by pastors, seminarians, and interested laypeople. Its value lies in its clarity, its comprehensive engagement with the historical data, and its capacity to prompt readers to re-examine their understanding of Paul’s life and ministry in light of the biblical text and other evidence.
As Thielman assembles the pieces of the puzzle, the figure of Paul emerges clearly and compellingly. But we are reminded also of the gracious power of God, his saving righteousness in Christ, and, yes, his grace even to sinners such as Paul.
Bradley Bitner serves as associate professor of New Testament at Westminster Seminary California.