When and where was Paul set apart to go to the Gentiles?
Paul was set apart way back in Damascus to go to the Gentiles. That setting apart occurred early in his ministry, before the years of trouble, persecution, and perplexity that he later describes, and he knew from it that his work among the Gentiles was not yet finished.
Les teaches that Paul had been set apart way back there in Damascus to go to the Gentile. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul had just gotten up from a sickbed in Philippi, actually thinking his ministry had come to an end and that God for some reason was taking him off the scene, but He didn't. Paul was perplexed because he had been doing so much, yet he knew he hadn't finished the work; Christianity was still in its infancy and was being attacked from every direction imaginable. Even though perplexed, he never gave up. He was persecuted and driven from city to city, but not forsaken, for the Lord had promised him at Corinth to stay, saying He had much people in that city.