First mention of Saul, or Paul. The first mention of Paul in the New Testament, is in relationship with the martyrdom of Stephen, when it says: They stoned him (Stephen), and the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul (Acts 7:58). But, how old was this young man? Saul could have been 30 years old. And, although he consented in the martyrdom of Stephen, he will be the one who will continue Stephen's ministry, and later on will suffer equal or greater persecutions than he, including martyrdom.
Saul, persecutor of Christians. We know that Saul was a persecutor of Christians, from Luke in the Acts and from his own letters. Luke says: He (Saul) made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison (Acts 8:3). Luke quotes Paul addressing the crowd, in Jerusalem, and saying: I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women (Acts 22:4).
Paul calls himself persecutor and blasphemer. Paul says in Galatians: You have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it (Galatians 1:13); and with more detail he writes to Timothy: I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent man (1 Timothy 1:13).
The Pharisean-Jew. In order to understand why Paul persecuted Christians we must keep in mind that he belonged to the sect of the Pharisees: They knew from the first that, according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee (Acts 26:5). To be a Pharisee was for him a matter of pride.
The Pharisees at the time of Jesus. Phariseism was a prominent sect of Judaism characterized by its adherence to the law and to religious traditions. Paul says: I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers (Galatians 1:14). Paul thought that perfect faithfulness to God was to be faithful to the traditions.
Righteous Pharisees. To be a Pharisee didn't mean, necessarily, to be wicked, hypocritical or fanatic, as it is proved by the narrative of John regarding Nicodemus, in 3:1-11; or by Luke about Gamaliel in Acts 5:34-39; and even by Paul himself when he affirms that his conduct was inspired simply by zeal for God: according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God (Acts 22:3).
Cause of the hate against Jesus. The opposition of the Pharisees against Jesus was due, mainly, because He called himself the Son of God, because of his non-legalistic interpretation of the law, and because of the love and equality among all that He preached. The Pharisees were unable to tolerate this (Matthew 26:63-65). After the death of Jesus on the cross, their rejection was greater. How could it be possible that a man who died crucified could have been the Messiah? It was written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13); or, as it is read in Corinthians: A Christ crucified to the Jews (is) a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 1:23). Paul's hate against Jesus was understandable.
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As I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? So I answered: Who are You, Lord? And He said: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting (Acts 22:6-8).
"The Way" was unbearable for Paul. For Paul, everything that did not conform to the traditions of his ancestors, was unbearable, and to resist it was zeal for God. That is why he resisted "The Way," —the name given to Jesus' doctrine,— and threatened to death those who followed Him. Luke relates that this way: Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2).
Paul was supported by the elders and the high priest. Paul, in his intent to exterminate the disciples of Jesus, was supported by the elders, as he refers later, saying: The high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring in chains even those who where there to Jerusalem to be punished (Acts 22:5).
The moment that changed the persecutor into a Christian. The time had come in which everything would change for Paul, as he referred to his fellow citizens in Jerusalem: As I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? So I answered: Who are Your, Lord? And He said: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting (Acts 22:6-8).
The new Paul is declared "chosen and witness." Paul became blind after the vision, and had to be led to Damascus by the hand of those who were with him, where Ananias had had a vision. When Ananias saw Paul, he told him: Brother Saul, receive your sight... The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard (Acts 22:13-15)
Did Paul confess his sins? We lack the complete details of everything that happened then, but if in future occasions Paul confessed his sin and recognized that he was, ignorantly in unbelief, a sinner and a persecutor of the Way, we can suppose undoubtedly that he did so then. Writing to Timothy, he says: I was a blasphemer, a persecutor... but I did it ignorantly in unbelief... I am chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:13, 15).
Wash away your sins by baptism. Paul's baptism followed the confession of sins, as was the norm for those who were converted (Acts 2:38). Ananias said to Paul: Why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16).
Paul begins "his race." This was the beginning of the long race of Paul, as he calls it (Philipians 3:14; Acts 20:24; 2 Timothy 4:7). The foundation was already settled: he had found Jesus, he had surrendered unconditionally to Him; now he had to adjust his mind and his life to this new reality.
Paul begins giving us example. From this moment we can watch Paul, —his life and deeds,— as a model that Christians of all times can and should imitate.
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Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith (Phillipians 3:9)..
Paul confronts a radical change in his life. Paul has surrendered to Jesus in his will, but he needs that his mind, and his own way of thinking and doing, are surrendered also; that is going to take time and it will be a change with magnitude almost impossible to imagine.
Seclusion in Arabia to talk with the Lord. The first step is to choose a favorable surrounding, Arabia, to pray and to talk with the Lord, in order that He might make all the necessary changes for him to become the Christian and the apostle that Jesus wants from him. He relates this when he says: When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go to Jerusalem... but I went to Arabia (Galatians 1:15-17).
Aware of God's love and life in Christ. We do not have information about this process of transformation operating in Paul while he was in Arabia, but when we read his letters, we can see how his mind was evolving. Writing to Ephesians he says: We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:3-5).
"I count them as rubbish." Paul uses strong sentences to describe the change effected in him, like these: What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. But indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith (Philippians 3:7-9). But the last words, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ are, perhaps, the most important ones. Let us see.
Liberation from legalism. The most radical change that Paul needed (as do many Christians, today), was to accept that the righteousness of God is not attained through good works, —as he and the Pharisees had thought,— but it was a free gift of God, that we can obtain through faith in Jesus Christ only.
There is no contradiction between the gospel and the prophets. His fellow citizens, the Jews, can take him as apostate and heretic, but he will prove that the acceptance of the gospel does not imply repudiation of the prophets, but rather their correct understanding. Before Felix, the governor of Caesarea, he can say: I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and the in the prophets (Acts 24:14). Paul has not abandoned the prophets, but he understands now the promises they made, as he says to Romans: Separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:1-2).
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Christ is the end of the law (Romans 10:4).
Internal struggle of Paul. One of the most intense struggles of Paul during his retreat must have been the liberation from the Pharisean legalism, to find that the law was subordinate to Christ; but he made it. We do not have the details of the way these changes were taking place in his mind, but from the letters he wrote later, we have a very clear idea how his mind was evolving.
The encounter with the gospel. Paul has met face to face with Jesus Christ, and has thoroughly surrendered to Him, but he has to go through a process to assimilate into his life the whole reality of the gospel: that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and through faith in His blood we have redemption.
There is no righteousness but through faith in Jesus Christ. Reading the letters of Paul we can see his change from Jewish to Christian. The law can not make righteous; rather, it makes sinners: I would have known sin except through the law (Romans 7:7); and, the law entered that the offense might abound (Romans 5:20). How could he then obtain the righteousness he had longed for? Writing to Galatians he says: We who are Jews by nature... knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified (Galatians 2:15, 16). Once Paul has found his own righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ he is equipped to be his apostle and to announce it to the nations.
He says to the Jews: "Christ is the end of the law." Writing to his brothers in Rome, he says: I speak to those who know the law (Romans 7:1). And, with words that do not need explanation, he adds: I bear them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:2-4). He will elaborate later about this subject saying that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).
There is no time to turn back. One thing is clear now: he won't be able to turn back to the traditions he already left behind. If I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor (Galatians 2:18). And I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16); on the contrary, I am proud of it!
Paul, defender of the gospel. Paul's ministry is characterized by being a strong and vigorous defender of the gospel, against Judaisers requiring that Christians be circumcised and observe Jewish traditions. I am appointed for the defense of the gospel... Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice (Philippians 1:17, 18).
The gospel is my own mission. This is the way Paul feels about himself: I am for the service of the gospel, and I know that the glorious gospel of the blessed God was committed to my trust (1 Timothy 1:11). It does not matter how many persecutions he has to suffer; he was not sent to please men but God: We have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel... not as pleasing men, but God (1 Tessalonians 2:4).
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