Following Paul (II)
From the day of Pentecost (A.D. 33), Christianity was spreading in all directions. The Good News went from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and then to the utter most part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
In A.D. 35, it had been reported that Christians were appearing in the Jewish community at Damascus. The Sanhedrin (Jewish supreme court) sent Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin and former student of Gamaliel’s school at Jerusalem, to Damascus. His mission was to arrest the Christians and have them tried and incarcerated. Sometimes, vigilante mobs were whipped into a frenzy and took justice into their own hands, stoning the Christian believers to death, as in the case of the first recorded martyr, Stephen (Acts 7).
It was on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus that Saul’s life was radically transformed. The persecutor of Christians became one of them. Saul’s testimony is recorded in the New Testament by Luke (Acts 9), as told by Paul himself (Acts 26). We learn from his account that he was not seeking Christ, nor did he make the decision to follow Him. Christ called to this Pharisee of the Pharisees and revealed Himself to the traveler, who was temporarily blinded by the encounter. The King of glory, our Lord Jesus Christ would continue to reveal more truth about God and salvation to Saul, whose Christian name was now Paul. The Holy Spirit would inspire some of his epistles to become holy Scripture.
Paul saw the resurrected Christ and received apostolic stewardship from the Lord. He would become the apostle to the Gentiles, when it was recognized by the church that the Holy Spirit was being given to Jews and Gentiles alike (Acts 15). Paul spent some time at Damascus, where his reputation was feared by the churches, then revered, as he began to preach Christ boldly, having been baptized by the Holy Spirit, and filled with power and wisdom from God.
After an assassination attempt was ordered on his life, he escaped the city and traveled south into Arabia, where he lived and learned for the next three years. Next, a visit to Jerusalem allowed Paul the opportunity to meet some of the leaders of the church there. For the next fourteen years, we have a void of knowledge about his life and ministry. It is reasonable to believe he returned to Tarsus in Asia Minor, where he was later summoned from the church at Antioch of Syria (Acts 13).
Paul and Barnabas were led by the Holy Spirit and sent by the church at Antioch, to take the Gospel to central Asia Minor (modern Turkey), where they preached in the synagogues of the Jews and planted churches, as the Lord would add His elect to local groups of believers. Just as the apostle Peter had experienced the Gentile inclusion into the church of Jesus Christ, so did Paul and Barnabas.
Trouble for the early church came from the Romans, the Jews, and from a group of Jews, who claimed to have trusted Christ Jesus as Lord, but they were insisting that the Gentile converts to Christianity must become Jews, and keep the Law of Moses, including the rite of circumcision.
Almost all of Paul’s letters warn against the Judaisers and their insistent legalism. We owe a debt of gratitude to heretics and cults throughout the history of Christianity because they have provided the impetus for clarifying true Christian doctrine.
The Judaisers in various locations spurred the apostle Paul to write against their doctrine of demons and elucidate the doctrines of grace. The churches had questions, and Paul had the answers. His letters are for our blessing, as they have been, and will be for the church, until Christ comes again.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 10, 2021
