When Stephen dared to say in public that the days of the Jewish religion and its Temple were finished, Paul and his fellow Pharisees knew that the time had come for action. [Stephen did not say this. He ministered under the program that still involved the Temple and Law. That was no rescinded until Paul’s ministry later. Stephen proclaimed Jesus as the long awaited but rejected Christ of Israel.] No longer was it enough to regard these followers of “the Way”, as they called themselves as amiable cranks. They posed a dangerous threat to the Jewish religious system. Saul of Tarsus first appears in the biblical record as a witness to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr to the cause of Christ – even ‘consenting’ to his death (Acts 7:58); 9:1. Paul was more than just a coat – minder. He was a crafty man and an influential Pharisee. When he saw the Christians were beginning to move out of Jerusalem to other places, he realized that, far from having solved the problem, the way the Jews were persecuting Stephen and the others was only helping the Christian cause to spread to other parts of the Roman Empire. …show more content…
As he drew near that city, a light brighter than the noonday sun suddenly engulfed him. A voice inquired; “Saul, Saul, why do you continue to persecute me?” Saul responded: “who are you lord?” The voice was identified as Jesus of Nazareth! The stunned persecutor was instructed to enter Damascus where he would be informed as to what he “must do.” Blinded as a consequence of this miraculous vision in which Christ actually appeared to him (acts 9:17; I Corinthians 15:8), Saul was led into the
From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "This man is calling for Elijah." At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.
Ruden, Sarah. Paul among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time. New York: Pantheon, 2010. Print.
Paul, also known as Saul, was an apostle of God who wrote the book of Ephesians and was sent to set up churches for Him. He changed his name from Saul to Paul because he wanted to start his life over, follow God, and live for Him. He wanted to start over because he was known as a man who persecuted Christians. Saul did not even notice he was doing wrong until he started to reach Damascus and a voice yelled from the Heavens saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul answered back, “Who are you, Lord?” then the Lord answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But, rise and enter the city, and you will be told what to do.” For three days Saul was made blind by Jesus and did not eat or drink. Then, Ananias walked into where Saul was staying and restored his sight, something like scales fell off his eyes and he could see. After being in Damascus with the disciples he proclaimed that Jesus is the one true God. Then, he fled to Jerusalem where he joined the disciples with the help of Barnabas, changed his name to Paul and became a missionary to Christ. He set out on three missionary journeys where on his third, he was put under house arrest in Rome for two years where he wrote the book of Ephesians. After his release, he left, went to Spain, and was eventually persecuted and martyred by Nero.
Background: The history of Saul is thought to have ended at the battle at Mount Gilboa, but summarized as follows: after falling in battle the evil spirit that God set upon him became his Beast, in horror and shame he pulled himself from the wall Beth-shan and fled into the night. History would have you believe that his body had been burned. Convinced that he had fully fallen out out of God’s grace, he turned to prayer and a path of redemption. He had hoped that meditation, prayer along with other abnegation techniques could quell the Beast, however nothing could for long.
The book of 1 Samuel, a part of the Old Testament, sparks the dawn of the United Kingdom of Israel by telling of its first king, Saul. Samuel is one of the first talked about pre-literary prophets in the bible perhaps because he anointed the first king of the United Kingdom. He is a prophet by definition because he possessed the ability to converse with the almighty Yahweh. Samuel and Saul are key players to the rise of the kingdom but Saul runs into trouble and disobeys God, which leads him to his own inevitable demise.
According to Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas, "The conversion of Saul of Tarsus must surely rank among one of the most significant events, not just in church history but also–certainly that–but in world history." Saul persecuted Christians and was an eyewitn...
As stated above, Saul undergoes the three steps of ratification for a king; he is anointed, proclaimed, and acclaimed. Soon thereafter, Saul commits three offenses against God and his kingship goes into decline. God presi...
"In proclaiming his Christian message Paul stressed that the Jewish nation had been rejected by God, and the new Covenant had superseded the old," said David Cohn-Sherbok, in his book The Crucified Jew. "In these ways the New Testament laid the foundations for later Christian hostility to the Jewish nation…and served as the basis for the early Church’s vilification of the Jews." (Cohn-Sherbok)
Virtually all scholars accept the Apostle Paul as the author of Philemon. Paul, who was formally called Saul prior to his work as an Apostle, was born in the city of Tarsus, the Capital of ancient Cilicia. Tarsus was declared a free city by Rome, thus making Paul a Roman citizen. He was Jewish by blood from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul studied under the teaching and influence of the rabbi Gamaliel and became a Pharisee. As a Pharisee, Paul possessed a rigid adherence to the letter of the law and strongly opposed and fought against Christianity. Paul was converted to Christianity by Jesus on a persecution journey to Damascus in AD 33. After his conversion, Paul became a missionary to the Gentile world. He is believed to have written at least thirteen books of the New Testament before his death in AD 67-68.
them but they did not recognize him. At the village Jesus stopped and ate with
Isaiah lived during the time of Saul and David’s. Isaiah was a prophet, politician, and poet. He spoke of believing in any other god, other than the one and only would bring destruction. It is only throu...
He then came out destitute to vision meaning he cannot see the abyss he has created. The person who can see this is the Prophet, Teiresias, who happens to be blind, which makes this ironic.
Angered by his futile efforts to stop the spread of Christianity, Paul prepared a trip to Damascus, where he had heard many Christians were hiding. Not only were they hiding, they were also preaching Christ in the synagogues there. So, accompanied by a troop of armed temple guards, Paul rode out of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus, which was about one hundred and fifty miles away. As they neared the outer edge of the city, a shaft of light much brighter than the noonday sun suddenly fell upon the little company. The group fell to the ground trying to protect their eyes from the blinding light. A voice from heaven spoke to Paul. "Paul, Paul, why persecutest thou me?" Then Paul asked, "Who art thou, Lord?" The voice replied, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." Then Paul asked what he should do. Jesus answered "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Paul's first missionary journey was to the island of Cyprus. Salamis was there first destination on the island. During his stay in Salamis Paul and Barnabas preached in the Jewish synagogues, while John also ministered with them. The next stop Paul and Barnabas made was Paphos at the almost opposite end of Cyprus. While in Paphos they found a Governor called Sergius Paulus who wanted to hear their teachings. However, the Governor had sorcerer, Elymas, in his company, who did not want him to hear the word of God. Paul being filled with the Holy Ghost admonished Elymas and said, "O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season" (Acts 13:10-11). Elymas being struck blind astonished the Governor and he believed the word of the Lord that apostles had spoken to him. After leaving Paphos John returned to Jerusalem.
As time went on I grew to be a man of firm convictions and fiery temperament. I always acted on my beliefs. Thus, when I was confronted with what I understood to be a heresy to Judaism, I worked with all my might to quell it. This heresy would one day come to be known as Christianity and at that time I, referred to then as Saul of Tarsus, was among the foremost of its persecutors.