SAUL OF TARSUS

SAUL OF TARSUS

Acts 9:1-22

 

        The account of Paul is found in the records of his friend Luke, that is, in those preserved for us in the book of the Acts. Much concerning him is also discoverable in his own writings. Moreover, Peter referring to him, called him "our beloved brother Paul," and declared that he was not always easy to understand. That is a comforting admission.

        No writer of the New Testament has unconsciously, or shall I say, unintentionally, yielded up his own personality more completely than has Paul. I have in my possession a small booklet, which I find is now out of print, entitled, "Saint Paul, an Autobiography, transcribed by The Deaconess, a Servant of the Church." I never have been able to discover who this Deaconess was, but she has made a list of Paul's references to himself in his speeches and letters, which selection is most illuminative. Whole volumes have been written concerning this man, and more than once he has been a veritable storm center of theological controversy. I remember how, in my youth, there was a popular cry, Back to Christ, which meant, Back to Christ from Paul. The phrase is not so often heard now, and yet even today a popular novelist undertakes practically to dismiss him.

        In history, however, Paul stands out, a pioneer missionary, fundamental theologian, and an ecclesiastical statesman in these records greater than all the apostles, and standing above any other than has arisen in the history of the Church. In this article, however, we must religiously limit ourselves, excluding the wider facts of his life and service, endeavoring to see him as a man, and observe our Lord's dealings with him.

        We begin with him as Saul of Tarsus. In doing this we consider briefly his national placing, his religious background, his moral outlook and practice, his position, and his general characteristics.

        Racially he was a Hebrew, and at that, a Jew. He spoke of himself as being "A Hebrew of Hebrews," which is not an intensive way of emphasizing the fact that he was a Hebrew merely, but which meant that his father was a Hebrew, and his mother was a Hebrew. He declared that he was of "the tribe of Benjamin," which marked him as belonging to Judah, the Southern Kingdom.

        When, however, we have said that Paul was a Jew, we cannot dismiss him as Voltaire attempted to do by describing him as "that ugly little Jew." He declared, concerning himself: "I am a Jew, of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city."

        On another occasion, referring to the same fact, he said he was "born in Tarsus." Tarsus at that period was the second educational center in the world, from the standpoint of Greek culture, Athens being the first. This man was born there. If a boy is born in Tarsus, and remains there during the early years, the very atmosphere of Tarsus will enter into his mental make-up. Tarsus with its Greek outlook, its Greek thinking, its Greek schools. its Greek atmosphere was where unquestionably he spent the earliest years of his life, probably until he was twelve years of age. Therefore we have in him a man not only a Jew, but also a Greek in his outlook. This fact is evident in the whole of his writings, as they have been preserved for us.

        But there is still another fact that must not be lost sight of. He was a Roman citizen. He had the right to employ that talismanic sentence as it was at the time. Civets Romanum sum. In the account of the Acts we find a moment when he did so to protect himself from subsidiary officers who were troubling him.

        These three elements then merged in the personality of Saul. He was a Jew by blood, a Greek by earliest influence, and a Roman by citizenship.

        Then, as to his religious background, we know that he was a Pharisee, and that he had studied in the School of Gamaliel. That means that in all probability he would have been placed in that School after his barmitzvah, or Jewish confirmation, and so would be sent from Tarsus to Jerusalem. The course in the School of Gamaliel covered eight strenuous years. It was the great Pharisaic School of the time, presided over by Gamaliel, who was the grandson of Hillel. In that School, therefore, he received his religious training.

        His moral outlook and practice at the time we learn from a remarkable sentence from his own pen, written when he was a Christian apostle. Looking back to those years, and looking back in the full light that had come to him in Christ, he said that he was: "As touching the righteousness which is in the law found blameless." This statement clearly means that he had obeyed with meticulous attention all the details of the rabbinical interpretation of the Law as he had learned them in the School of Gamaliel. According to those standards he was upright, straight, moral, or to repeat his own word, "blameless."

        Then we see him, after he had been at the School of Gamaliel, and find him a member of the Sanhedrim. No man occupied that position before he was thirty years of age, and no man gained that position unless his record was satisfactory to the authorities.

        Thus we see a man, a Jew, a Greek, a Roman citizen, trained in the School of the strictest Pharisaism, clean in all moral observance on the side of human inter-relationship, elected to membership of the Sanhedrim, and so having the right to vote therein. In passing we may remind ourselves that the statement made in connection with the death of Stephen, "Saul was consenting unto his death," means far more than that he agreed. It indicates the casting of a vote. We see him directly after this, sent forth as an officer of the Sanhedrim with letters of high priestly authority, to stamp out what he honestly then believed was the Jesus heresy.

        These details help us to see the man, and how unusual and remarkable a personality he was. Necessarily we look at him now in his relationship with Christ, and yet in doing so we may discover his characteristics. He may be described then first as honest. As a matter of fact he was as honest when persecuting the Christians as when prosecuting the enterprise of Christ.

        Again it is self-evident that he was intense. He could do nothing by halves. The Lord could never say to Paul, I will spew thee out of My mouth, because thou art neither cold nor hot. In his great autobiographical passage in Philippians, already referred to, he spoke of himself as "persecuting the Church," and later in the same passage, he said: "One thing I do . . . I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

        Mark those two words, "persecuting," "I press." The verb in the Greek is the same. It marks intensity of life and action.

        It is equally clear that he was a dominating personality. He was capable of anger and of biting sarcasm. These things are perhaps pre-eminently manifest in his Galatian letter, in which he referred to certain authorities in Jerusalem who he saw were putting the whole Church in danger, and said, "who were reputed to be pillars." It is impossible to read that description without catching its satirical note. Moreover he revealed himself as he told of the attitude he took up towards Peter.

        He is also clearly revealed as a man of sensitive disposition, a man of great heart, and tremendous emotion. When we get such a combination in a man of honesty, intensity, dominating power, sensitiveness, we certainly have a great personality; and this is the man at whom we are looking, and attempting to see the method of our Lord's dealings with him, the question arising, what can Christ do for such a man?

        As we approach the account we must keep in mind that we are still observing the great Physician Whom we watched in the days of His flesh, handling men personally with such marvelous ability. He is still doing the same work, dealing with men through the members of His mystical Body, the Church, by the Holy Spirit. We see Him, however, in this case, dealing at certain points with this man directly. We follow the line, then, by observing these two personal appearances to Paul, one on the Damascus road, when He arrested him, and one much later, in a dark and desolate hour, when Paul was in prison. Saul saw Jesus on the Damascus road. Paul saw Jesus when he was imprisoned. We also watch our Lord dealing with him immediately through Stephen and through Ananias.

        We first of all see our Lord dealing with him immediately, that is, through another, through Stephen. The account of his conversion is told three times in the book of the Acts, once by Luke, as historian, and twice in addresses, which Paul himself gave. In considering Luke's account of it, it is necessary that we remind ourselves of what had happened immediately before. We have the account of Stephen. Saul was a member of the Sanhedrim on the occasion of the trial of Stephen. He saw the face of Stephen as it appeared to those who were watching as "the face of an angel." Moreover, he listened to Stephen's defense, that defense which is recorded for us in the seventh chapter, a defense, not of himself, but of his Lord as Messiah. Tracing the whole course of Hebrew history, he argued for the Messiahship of Jesus. Having thus seen the face of Stephen and heard his defense, Saul voted for his death. Being a member of the Sanhedrim he could not cast stones at Stephen personally, but he was so much to the front that he guarded the garments of the stone-throwers. As he did so, he watched, and he heard Stephen pray for the forgiveness of the men who were stoning him.

        Without the slightest hesitation I declare that what Saul saw in Stephen, and heard from his lips that day, had challenged his deepest convictions, and compelled a reconsideration of his whole position. The thing evidently began to prod him, and yet he continued in his opposition. That opposition was fierce as is revealed in the words used soon, he was "breathing threatening and slaughter." It may be objected that that does not seem to suggest that he was being provoked by a demand for reconsideration, and yet how often it occurs that when a conviction is clamoring for consideration, attempts are made to drown the voice by increased opposition. That is exactly what Saul did. Determined to silence these voices, he sought the position of authority from the high priest, and pained it in the form of letters to the synagogues, providing that if he found any that were of the Way, he might summon them to appear before a tribunal in Jerusalem. Thus he became the public prosecutor of the Christian religion. As we watch him starting on the Damascus road we know what he was doing was not easy. He had looked at the face of Stephen. He had heard from his lips the history of his own people, and the claim that his hope of the Messiah had been fulfilled in Jesus. He had seen Stephen die, and heard him declare that in his dying he saw Jesus. He had heard him pray for the men who killed him.

        It was while he was thus travelling that, to use his own great word, he was apprehended by Christ Jesus. The word suggests an arrest laid upon liberty, and capture. Suddenly a light above the brightness of the noonday sun shone round about him, and he heard a voice calling him by name, and making a strange appeal: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the goad."

        In that word we have a clear revelation of Saul's state of mind A prod was pricking him, piercing him, a goad that demanded a reconsideration of the Nazarene teaching in the light of Stephen's witness and death. The very intensity of his passion at the moment was carrying him along. He was not having an easy time: he was kicking against a goad.

        Immediately, Saul, not Knowing who it was that spoke to him, but recognizing that whoever it may have been, he knew his condition of mind, said, "Who art thou, Lord?" In the implication of that word "Lord," he recognized the superiority of the One Who spoke, Whomsoever that One might be.

        Then came the answer: "I am Jesus, Whom thou persecutest."

        It is impossible to realize what that meant except as we remember who this man Saul was, and what he was doing at the time. The shattering declaration was now made to him that the One Who now arrested him was the very One Who had been put to death, and yet the One Whose followers claimed had risen from the dead. In that moment of discovery the whole superstructure of the man's religious convictions lay in ruin about him. With remarkable immediateness he said "What shall I do, Lord?" He had already addressed the One Who had spoken to him as Lord, but now knew Who He was. Now that the amazing revelation had come to him, in a moment Saul handed in his resignation to all the past, and put himself under the authority of Jesus. As I once heard that remarkable preacher of a previous generation, T. de Witt Talmage say, "He went over at once, horse, foot, and dragoons into the army of the Lord." The crisis of conviction had come, and he immediately obeyed. There came a moment when talking to Agrippa he said: "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision."

        Thirty years after he wrote: "What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ," and in that same passage he brought the experience which commenced in that surrender up to date as he said: "Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."

        Having thus made his great surrender we learn from what Paul himself said after, that he was at once told that he was appointed to special service.

        The first command laid upon him was that he was to enter the city of Damascus and wait. Now our Lord is seen dealing with him through Ananias. Concerning him the Lord said to Ananias, "Behold, he prayeth." The human element in the account is very valuable, for we find Ananias evidently somewhat perturbed, and telling his Lord who this man really was. The Lord then declared to Ananias concerning Saul, "He is a chosen vessel unto Me."

        Then we see Christ acting through His servant as Ananias went to him, and his first words of greeting were a revelation, "Brother Saul." Then we are told that scales fell from the eyes of Saul, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Moreover he took food, and was strengthened.

        Here occurs something of great interest in the narrative. In that chapter nine, verse nineteen reads: "And he took food and was strengthened." "And he was certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus."

        The revisers have divided the verse, making the second part begin a new paragraph, and in so doing, they were drawing attention to the fact that there was a gap between, "He took food and was strengthened," and "And he was certain days with the disciples." Now as a matter of fact in that gap there were at least two whole years. We learn this from the letter to the Galatians. He went away after his apprehension to the loneliness of Arabia, probably under the very shadow of Sinai. It is, I think, easy to imagine what those two years of reconsideration meant to him. After them he came back to Damascus, and the opposition which followed him throughout life began.

        Finally, we have the glimpse of our Lord's second personal appearance to him. The account of the intervening years is told, and in the Acts 23 we find Paul in the midst of hostility, which was brutal and determined. He was rescued from the mob by Romans. We can follow him into the prison, and be conscious of the weariness that fell upon him. Looking out upon the circumstances, it must have appeared as though everything was drawing to an end.

        Then "the night following," that is, following the day of turmoil and arrest, Lo, in the prison a radiance, a glory, and the Presence. The Lord stood by him. He heard a voice, and the voice was uttering words which His first disciples had often heard fall from the lips of the Lord. "Be of good courage." This charge was followed by the clear declaration: "As thou hast testified concerning Me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome."

        In other words, our Lord told him in the hour which naturally was one of dejection, when it seemed that everything was closing in upon him, that his program was in the hands of his Master. All around seemed to be against Paul. It looked as though he would never leave Jerusalem alive. He was assured by his Lord that he would come to Rome, and bear witness there. That is the end of that particular account, but it is impossible to escape from the conviction that with that vision and voice, all depression passed from the soul of Paul, and he lay down and rested.

        Many years ago someone wrote to me and said, "If I had Paul's experience I would yield Paul's obedience." I replied then, and still would reply to anyone who takes up that position, by saying that we have far more than Paul ever had. The one thing that brought full and overwhelming conviction to him was the fact that Jesus was alive Who had been dead. That is what he meant when in one of his letters he said He was: "declared the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead."

        That is what happened in the case of Saul on the Damascus road. It was the risen Christ that brought him conviction.

        Now the whole Christian age is the full and final demonstration of the fact of that resurrection. It remains central to Christianity, and the Christian Church in itself is proof of what Paul saw was no mirage of the desert, and no hallucination of a lonely road. A would-be clever writer of some years ago, said what happened in the experience of Paul was that in a thunderstorm he had an attack of epilepsy. If it were possible to persuade me of the truth of so stupid a declaration, I should immediately give myself up to prayer that God would send us thunderstorms and epilepsy. The utmost evidence, therefore, is the resurrection, and the words of Paul himself have tremendous significance: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and , shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

        That is exactly what happened to Paul. He confessed Jesus as Lord, because he believed in his heart that God had raised Him from the dead.