Paul of Arabia

The fact that Paul went to Arabia for three years was not made apparent in Acts, but instead was discussed by Paul himself in Galatians. We don’t know exactly what he did there, but there have been some interesting insights about the culture and times that might give us some speculations into his experience. The first question I have about Paul’s three year journey into Arabia has to do with his family, or lack thereof. It appears that Paul lived in Jerusalem before going into Damascus, but then he just didn’t return to his life. If he had a wife and family, that would have been incredibly difficult them, he disappears and probably their livelihood as well. This begs the question if he was married or not, and it’s kind of like the question of “was Jesus married?” And there are answers to both yes and no, like Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin and all the men had to be married in order to hold a place on the council, but then again, he basically just went to Damascus and never came back, not totally, not to his old life.

The second question is, where did he go in “Arabia” and what does that even mean? On a thread entitled, “Why did Paul go to Arabia?” on the Christian Stack Exchange, one writer comments, “it is possible that Paul was using Arabia simply to mean ‘a land of Arabs’ as opposed to Jewish people, rather than what we now call Arabia/Saudi Arabia/the Arabian Peninsula.” Another article that I read somewhere confirms this, saying that anciently the land known as “Arabia” was mostly Jordan and more specifically Petra. So when we think of Paul going to Arabia, instead of thinking that he took the same path into the wilderness as Lehi and his family, we can understand that he probably stayed a lot closer to home and to a community that we might understand it today.
The third question is, what did he do while he was there? This is where the speculations come in. I had read an article about how Paul went to Arabia to preach the gospel and that’s what he was doing the whole time. I took issue with this because, even though the Savior appearing is a major event, it doesn’t automatically bestow all the knowledge of heaven and earth on a person. Joseph Smith is the perfect example of this principle. He had seen both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and he came away from that encounter enlightened, but minimally so. I had always assumed that supernatural visitation automatically gave someone all the knowledge they would ever need, but Joseph Smith and Alma the younger and older and others have specifically stated that they gained their knowledge of the gospel and testimony of Christ through much fasting and prayer and study of the scriptures.
For Paul to gain the same amount of knowledge and understanding of the gospel, he would need a long period to dedicate to the pursuit of testimony. From an article entitled “The Preparation of Paul” from Ligonier Ministries, we read, “Paul said that when Christ called him, he did not go to Jerusalem to receive instruction from the apostles. Rather, he retired into Arabia for a time and not until three years later did he go to Jerusalem… It has often been remarked that Paul clearly implied that he spent three years being taught by Jesus Himself (Galatians 1:12), either directly or (perhaps more likely) through the study of the Word. Thus, like the other apostles, Paul studied with Christ for three years before beginning his ministry.” I found this insight very interesting.
We know that after Alma the older encountered Abinadi, he went and hid in a cave and studied the prophet’s words and was obviously tutored by the Spirit, so the point that he became a prophet himself. Looking at Alma’s conversion process, at no point did he ever come across a “mentor” type of spiritual leader. He had heard Abinadi speak for a couple of days, had his words, and probably had the scriptures with him, but with that he learned the gospel, he was ordained to the priesthood, and became a prophet powerful and convincing enough to preach the word and baptize hundreds of people. It wasn’t until the Spirit led Alma and his people to Zarahelma to escape enslavement that he encountered another spiritual leader in king Mosiah.
We have seen time and again that the teachings of the Spirit to a humble and yearning heart is enough to turn the world upside down, and while Paul didn’t have the face to face personal contact that most of the other apostles did, but he had the Spirit, which the other ones didn’t and it seems that they were all able to gain the same amount and intensity of knowledge in the same amount of time.
The fourth question is, if Paul and the other apostles learned the gospel from different sources, did it end up being the same gospel, or did Paul just make up something as he went along, basically, what are Paul’s credentials?  The article also points out that “Paul established for the Galatians that he received the Gospel by the same means as the other apostles- directly from Jesus. Fourteen years after his conversion, he had occasion to go to Jerusalem and there he met privately with the leaders, including the apostles Peter and John. He reports to the Galatians that they compared notes and found that there was absolutely no difference between what he had been teaching for eleven years in Antioch and what the apostles had been teaching in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. There never had been a problem, not was there one currently, between Paul’s message and the teaching of the Jerusalem church. The point Paul is making to the Galatians is that there has never been any question about the content of the Gospel. The same Christ taught Peter and Paul, and both men were in complete agreement.”
It would appear that the time spent in Arabia was probably much reflection and learning and spiritual growth for Paul. Even though his preaching in Damascus after his conversion was powerful, I think that the Lord wanted him to deepen his understanding and doctrinal knowledge base. This is an excellent example of how a miracle doesn’t convert. A miracle can only work in the space that is already there, be it an open but misguided heart or an existent testimony. True conversion comes from committed study, prayer, and fasting. True conversion takes work and we have to want it badly enough to try to give away all our sins. True conversion is a life long endeavor and truly our crowning jewel.