The network of co-workers, teachers, opponents and officials around Paul, from Gamaliel to Nero.
Barnabas went to Tarsus to fetch Saul, taught with him a full year in Antioch, and the two were then set apart by the Spirit at Antioch for the first mission. Barnabas is named first in the list of Antioch leaders and Saul last.
Sources: Scripture
When the Jerusalem disciples feared the newly converted Saul, Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told of his Damascus encounter. The one who later split from Paul over John Mark is the man who first opened Jerusalem to Paul.
Sources: Scripture
Paul writes that Mark is the cousin (anepsios) of Barnabas. Mark's mother Mary hosted a Jerusalem prayer gathering, and Barnabas took Mark along on the first journey and again after the split with Paul. The family tie explains Barnabas's loyalty to Mark.
Sources: Scripture
Paul and Barnabas parted sharply over taking Mark on the second journey. Yet Paul later lists Mark among his co-workers and asks for him as useful for ministry, so the breach over Mark was healed.
Sources: Scripture
After his release from prison, Peter went to the house of Mary, mother of John who was called Mark, where many were praying. Peter closes 1 Peter calling Mark his son, which suggests a long association.
Sources: Scripture
A tradition reported by Eusebius from Papias (citing "the elder") says Mark, as Peter's interpreter, wrote down accurately what Peter taught, though not in order. Modern scholars weigh how far the Gospel of Mark reflects Peter's preaching.
Sources: Eusebius, Church History 3.39 (citing Papias)
Only Mark records a young man wearing a linen cloth who fled naked at Jesus' arrest. Since Mark alone tells it and the incident has no other narrative role, some have suggested it is the author's signature. Nothing in the text says so.
Sources: Scripture
After the council Silas, a leading man among the brothers, was chosen to accompany Paul. The two were beaten and jailed in Philippi and sang in prison, then preached together in Thessalonica and Berea.
Sources: Scripture
Silas is widely identified with the Silvanus of Paul's letters, who joins Paul and Timothy in greeting the Thessalonians and whom Peter names as his scribe. This would tie Peter and Paul through one co-worker.
Sources: Scripture
Paul took Timothy, already well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium, on the second journey, calling him his beloved and faithful child in the Lord and sending him as his representative to several churches.
Sources: Scripture
Paul recalls the sincere faith that lived first in Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Acts says his mother was a Jewish believer and his father a Greek.
Sources: Scripture
Timothy belonged to Lystra, the city where Paul had been stoned and left for dead on the first journey, so he would have known the cost of following Paul.
Sources: Scripture
Titus, a Greek, went up with Paul to Jerusalem uncircumcised. Later he was Paul's troubleshooter with Corinth and the one left in Crete, called Paul's true child in a common faith. Acts never names him.
Sources: Scripture
Paul calls Luke the beloved physician and lists him among his co-workers; in prison near the end Paul says only Luke is with him. Acts switches to "we" at Troas, Philippi, and on the voyage to Rome.
Sources: Scripture
In Colossians 4 Paul names Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus as "of the circumcision" and then lists Epaphras, Luke, and Demas. Many read the second group as Gentiles, making Luke the only non-Jewish NT writer, but the text does not say so directly.
Sources: Scripture
Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth because they shared his trade of tentmaking, and he worked with them. This couple then traveled with him to Ephesus.
Sources: Scripture
Aquila and Priscilla had recently come from Italy because Claudius ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Suetonius mentions an expulsion over disturbances instigated by "Chrestus", which historians usually link to this event and to early Christian-Jewish tension in Rome.
Sources: Scripture · Suetonius, Life of Claudius 25
When Apollos preached in Ephesus knowing only the baptism of John, Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately. Priscilla is named first in several places, which many take as a sign of her prominence.
Sources: Scripture
Paul sends greetings to a church in their house in Rome, and from Ephesus a church meets at their house. They risked their necks for Paul.
Sources: Scripture
Apollos, an eloquent Alexandrian Jew, watered what Paul had planted in Corinth. Paul insists they are co-workers, not rivals, and he urges Apollos to revisit Corinth.
Sources: Scripture
Acts says Apollos was a native of Alexandria, a learned man mighty in the Scriptures, which has made him a popular candidate for the background of Alexandrian-style interpretation in the NT.
Sources: Scripture
Hebrews is anonymous. Luther suggested Apollos, noting the Alexandrian style and scriptural skill. Others propose Barnabas (early North African tradition, Tertullian), Priscilla, or Paul. Origen concluded only God knows who wrote it.
Sources: Tertullian, On Modesty 20 · Origen, in Eusebius, Church History 6.25 · Martin Luther
Paul calls Philemon a beloved fellow worker who owes him his own self, refreshes the hearts of the saints, and hosts a church in his house. Paul hopes to visit him soon.
Sources: Scripture
Paul sends back Onesimus, once useless but now useful, asking Philemon to receive him no longer as a slave but as a beloved brother. Colossians 4:9 calls Onesimus one of you, placing him in Colossae.
Sources: Scripture
Colossians is carried by Tychicus together with Onesimus. Many infer the short letter to Philemon travelled on the same trip, since it concerns a man from the same city.
Sources: Scripture
Tychicus is a beloved brother, faithful minister and fellow servant, who travels with Paul from Corinth toward Asia and is later sent to Ephesus and possibly Crete.
Sources: Scripture
Paul commends Phoebe, a servant (diakonos) of the church at Cenchreae, and a prostatis (patron) of many including Paul. Since Romans ends with her commendation, she is often thought to have carried the letter to Rome.
Sources: Scripture
Paul says the Colossians learned the gospel from Epaphras, their beloved fellow servant, who is also one of them. He now shares Paul's imprisonment and prays hard for them.
Sources: Scripture
Paul says he was brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to strict ancestral law. The same Gamaliel counseled restraint toward the apostles in the council.
Sources: Scripture
The witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, who approved of Stephen's killing. Paul later confesses standing by and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.
Sources: Scripture
Stephen disputed with members of the synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia. Tarsus is in Cilicia, so some think Saul took part. Acts does not name him until the stoning.
Sources: Scripture
Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, is sent by the Lord to lay hands on the blinded Saul. Paul later describes him as a devout man of the law with a good reputation among Jews there.
Sources: Scripture
On Cyprus the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, summoned Barnabas and Saul and believed when he saw Elymas struck blind. This is the first Roman official recorded as a convert.
Sources: Scripture
Luke first uses "Paul" right after the encounter with Sergius Paulus and thereafter calls Saul only Paul. Jerome suggested he took the name from this convert. A Roman cognomen was likely carried from birth.
Sources: Jerome, Commentary on Philemon (preface)
Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and heard Paul speak of faith in Christ. When Paul discussed righteousness, self-control, and judgment, Felix grew afraid and sent him away. Felix also hoped for a bribe.
Sources: Scripture
After two years under Felix, Paul appealed to Caesar before Festus. King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea and heard him in a formal audience, and Agrippa said Paul might have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar.
Sources: Scripture
Paul calls himself a citizen of no mean city, Tarsus in Cilicia, though he was brought up in Jerusalem. Barnabas later fetched him from Tarsus.
Sources: Scripture
Paul calls Andronicus, Junia, Herodion, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater his syngeneis. The word can mean blood relatives or fellow Jews. Whether Jason is Paul's host at Thessalonica is uncertain.
Sources: Scripture
Paul greets Andronicus and Junia as prominent "among the apostles" and as having been in Christ before him. Whether Junia was a woman and whether "among" means "counted as apostles" or "esteemed by apostles" is argued.
Sources: Scripture
Demas appears with Luke among Paul's greetings and as a fellow worker, yet in Paul's last letter he has deserted Paul, in love with the present world. Luke alone remains.
Sources: Scripture
Aristarchus of Thessalonica was seized in the Ephesian riot, travelled with Paul in the collection party, and sailed with him toward Rome. Paul calls him a fellow prisoner.
Sources: Scripture
Paul sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia. A man named Erastus, the city treasurer, sends greetings from Corinth in Romans. Paul notes that Erastus stayed at Corinth.
Sources: Scripture
Acts lists the Antioch leaders: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. The list mixes a Cypriot Levite, a man from Cyrene, and one raised alongside Herod's court circle.
Sources: Scripture
Luke addresses his Gospel and Acts to Theophilus, "most excellent" as used of Roman officials. Was he a real patron, a symbolic "lover of God", or a high-ranking official, and was he Christian already?
Sources: Scripture
Drafted with AI assistance from the biblical text and named historical sources, and labelled by how firmly each link is supported. Family links also draw on STEPBible’s TIPNR data (CC BY 4.0). Where tradition or hypothesis is involved, read the cited verses and judge for yourself.