Following Paul (I)
As Christians, we naturally love the Apostle Paul. God positioned him to be an exemplary follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Great Apostle, as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones loved to call him, was a unique instrument in the plan of God, to establish the Gospel of His Son, in the early churches. Like each personality found in the Bible, Paul has some things to teach us, as we get to know him on the pages of Holy Scripture.
Ironically, we learn about this man of God through self-disclosure, born primarily by so much resistance to his apostolic ministry. In other words, we have a debt of gratitude to those who opposed Paul because he was forced to present himself, repeatedly, in his correspondence with the churches.
Born to a Jewish family in a Greek city meant there was a degree of bridging cultures, from the beginning. Saul of Tarsus was a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. Tarsus was one of the leading cities of Greek culture in a Roman political world. It is located in modern day Turkey, near the border with Lebanon and Syria to the east. It was geographically positioned inland from the Mediterranean Sea on the Berdan (Lat. Cydnus) River.
Saul’s family were Romans, which would serve him later in life. As a Roman citizen, he possessed certain legal rights that gave him certain privileges. Citizenship was not granted to everyone, so it served almost like having a privileged position in a caste system, where everyone knew his place.
From the nurture of his Jewish home, Saul was sent to Jerusalem for education at the age of thirteen, which was when the Jews considered adulthood began. Saul’s teacher was Gamaliel, who was one of the two leaders of education in Jerusalem at the time. The other was the school run by Hallel.
Saul’s education and experience would have been profound. He would have been proficient in multiple languages: Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. His training and exposure positioned him well to serve in ambassador-type roles, which is where we find him in Acts 9.
As an adult, around A.D. 35, Saul was working for the Jewish Sanhedrin, which was a the supreme court for the Jewish people, at Jerusalem. As interpreters and judges of the Jewish laws and customs, the high court had its law enforcement team. Saul was appointed to that group and for that task.
Following the death of Jesus of Nazareth, a sect of Judaism surfaced at Jerusalem and spread throughout the Jewish diaspora (Jews scattered through the Roman Empire). These followers of, “The Way,” later called “Christians,” at Antioch of Syria, were growing in number and had some contestable claims. They preached a message called, “The Gospel,” which promoted the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-anticipated Messiah or Christ (anointed one) of Holy Scripture.
The very Sanhedrin that Saul worked for was the court that had insisted on Jesus’ death, which they succeeded in securing from their Roman overlords. Jesus had been crucified on a Roman cross at Golgotha (the place of the skull) outside the city gates of Jerusalem.
The Sanhedrin was primarily comprised of two competing political groups. A total of 72 judges came from the Sadducees or Pharisees. They made decisions as a tribunal for the Jewish people.
The Sadducees were smaller in number, but they controlled the Temple and the priesthood. Thus, their interests were in Jerusalem. They had made peace with the Roman governor and his occupying government, so it was in their best interest to retain the status quo. Their peace with the Romans required them to suppress any groups or ideologies that would undermine Rome. This included the Christians.
The other group was the Pharisees (holy ones), and Saul was a Pharisee. This group thrived during this era, promoting themselves as those who were diligent students of Torah, the Law of Moses, being the Law of God. Whereas the Sadducees only adhered to Torah, the Pharisees also believed the history books, wisdom literature, and writings of the prophets belonged in the Bible. Lawbreakers were policed and criminalized by the Sanhedrin. Saul was a perfect fit.
Our takeaway from this article is the developing theme of God’s perfect preparation for Saul of Tarsus to become the Apostle Paul, a slave of Christ and steward of the mysteries of the Gospel. In my next article, “Following Paul (2),” we will travel with Paul through some of the chapters in Acts, and we will learn of his conversion, the unknown periods of his early ministry, and his three missionary journeys through Turkey and Greece.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 10, 2021
