Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break tot test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

Although we live on this earth in the flesh, we are to walk in Christ, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude" (Colossians 2:6-7), so that at the end of this life our names will be written in the book of life. (Philippians 4:3) As we overcome the temptations and the testing of this physical life, our names are not erased from that book, "He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before the Father, and before His angels." (Revelation 3:5).

That brings us to our question, "What was Paul's original name?". God has changed the names of many as they seem to prove themselves concerning the request of the Lord, such as Abram who became Abraham as the Lord promised a covenant through Him (Genesis 17:1-5) and he obeyed the Lord "…and it was reckoned to him as righteousness…" (James 2:21-24) Paul, too, was such a man as Ananias was sent by the Lord to see a man of Tarsus as he said, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name." (Acts 9:13-14). Paul did not disprove the Lord as he did indeed preach and teach before kings as well as the Gentiles and also suffered greatly on behalf of the church on his journeys to visit them as he recounts to the church at Corinth who looks to the Hebrew who boast in their heritage, "Are they servants of Christ? --I speak as if insane-- I the more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers from false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches." (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). But along the first of three journeys, Paul is accompanied by Barnabas who seemed to be, at the time, the leader of the group, as he was named first among the group by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:2). Then they travel off to the island of Cyprus and as far as Paphos where they met two men, Bar-Jesus, a magician, and a proconsul called Sergius Paulus, who is called an intelligent man, who called for the men to hear the word of God.

So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read, "But Elymas the magician (for thus his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him, and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all unrighteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time." And immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord." (Acts 13:8-12).

And so there we have the answer to our question, as Paul's other name was "Saul"! At the Lord's calling his name was changed to Paul as he stepped forward in courage and being filled with the Holy Spirit he spoke the truth with boldness, as we should today to the unbelievers of this world. And from this point, Paul's name leads the group as we read: "Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia but John left them and returned to Jerusalem." (Acts 13:13).

May we too be as courageous as Paul in speaking the truth and carry the name "Christian" to the letter of the word of our Lord so that they as well as we may have our names, as common as they may be upon this earth, written in the book of life (Philippians 4:3). As Paul states, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)