At the end of his career he became involved in Christian apologetics, which combined with his argumentative and caustic tendencies ultimately harmed his reputation among scholars.

The help of his older brother and his maternal uncle, Andrew Mitchell of Alloa, made it possible for him to receive an education at the Gymnasium in Old Aberdeen.

[citation needed] At Smyrna, he met Sir C. W. Wilson, then British consul-general in Anatolia, who advised him on inland areas suitable for exploration, and made two long journeys with him in 1881 and 1882.

[citation needed] Ramsay travelled widely in Asia Minor and rapidly became the recognised authority on all matters relating to the districts associated with St Paul's missionary journeys and on Christianity in the early Roman Empire.

It did not lie then in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely but more recently I found myself often brought in contact with the book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor.

"[14]Regarding the authorship of the Pauline epistles Ramsay also concluded that all thirteen New Testament letters ostensibly written by Paul were in fact authentic.

In the 1960s, W. Ward Gasque listed three significant contributions of his to biblical studies: his conclusion of the reliability and accuracy of Luke-Acts; his identification of the Galatians with the Christians of Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch; and his emphasis on the historical context of the New Testament.

Persuaded by William Robertson Nicoll, he worked as a popular apologist and his writings from that period have been dismissed by scholars for their speculative content.

[8] As well there are articles in learned periodicals, and in the 9th, 10th and 11th editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica,[8] and in the Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, including Achaia, Adramyttium, Antioch in Pisidia, Asia, Asiarch, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Caria, Chios, Churches ( Robbers of), Cilicia, Cnidus, Colossae, Corinth, Cos, Delos, Derbe, Diana, Ephesian, Ephesus, Galatia, Galatia (Region of), Galatians, Halicarnassus, Hierapolis, Iconium, Laodicea, Lasea, Lycaona, Lycia, Lydia, Lystra, Mallus, Miletus, Myndus, Myra, Mysia, Nicopolis, Pamphylia, Patara, Perga, Pergamus, or Pergamum, Phasaelis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Phrygia, Pisidia, Pontus, Rhegium, Rhodes, Samothrace, Sardis, Smyrna, Syracuse, Tarsus, Thracia, Town Clerk, Troas, Tyrannus.