Lessons from Paul's Life (November 23, 2014)

Saul's Background

Acts 21:39:  Saul is from Tarsus in Cilicia.  It's an important city, the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia.  It's a guardian city in Asia Minor, protecting the traffic through the Cilician Gates, which were a small mountain passage on the main road.  The majority of the traffic in and out of Turkey flows through here.  Tarsus is known for textiles.  The entire plain of Tarsus grows plants for the textile industry.   It is a university town.  It has the 3rd largest school of philosophy in the ancient world, behind only Alexandria and Athens.

In 67 BC, all Jews under Roman rule received Roman citizenship.  Saul was born in 5 BC, born into Roman citizenship.  He is a tentmaker, which probably really meant a leatherworker, and he would produce tents and sandals.  He grew up in an urban cosmopolitan Greek city, ethnically Jewish, and socially both Jewish and Greco-Roman.

Acts 22:3:  Saul was educated by Gamaliel.  His family moved 500 miles to Jerusalem so he could be discipled under him.  Not just anybody could study under Gamaliel, so Saul had to have been exceptionally qualified.  Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, who was the leader of one of the two main schools of rabbinical thought at the time.  Hillel was known for being progressive (but not liberal), needing to account for the changing times.  He was known for teaching, "What you do not want others to do to you, don't do to them".  He died when Jesus was 15.  The other school was led by Shammai, who was known for being conservative.  When Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders, it was essentially to ask, "Which school do you line up with?"  If we can think of Jesus as siding with anyone, he sided with Hillel 7 times, and only once with Shammai, and that was on the question of divorce.  Shammai died a couple years before Jesus was born.

Acts 5:34-39:  Gamaliel was known as someone who was open.  He ran the school of Hillel.  He was considered the best of his day.  He was loved by everyone.  He was not judgmental.  He was tolerant.  He would let everyone have their say.  He wrote letters to scattered Jews.  This could be where Saul learned to write his epistles to encourage new believers.  It was a huge loss when Gamaliel died.

Acts 7:59-8:3, 9:1-2:  Saul started out tolerant, like Gamaliel and Hillel.  But he's not operating that way here.  Something has changed that causes him to persecute Christians.  He has moved away from Hillel and towards Shammai, pretty much acting like a zealot.

Galatians 1:13-14:  Saul (in retrospect) says that he was extremely zealous for the traditions of his fathers.

Philippians 3:4b-6:  Saul thinks he is being obedient to God when he is zealously persecuting the church.

This notion of "zeal" comes up a lot here with Paul.  He is identifying with the zealot tradition, which is about a man of God seeing people who are not obeying God, and taking matters into his own hands to correct it, for the honor of God.  Let's look at its origins.

Numbers 25:6-13:  Phineas took it upon himself to kill the Israelite man who was consorting with an Midianite woman in the tabernacle as Israel was beginning to worship the god of the Moabites.  This started the zealot tradition.

I Kings 18:40:  Elijah was another one who acted zealously.  He killed the prophets of Baal after the showdown on Mt. Carmel.

Elijah and Phineas were the models of the zealot tradition during the Maccabean Revolt.  Not least in the first century, these two men were merged together in several traditions, with attributes of each being credited to the other.

This is the sort of thing that is fueling Saul.  Being the great scholar that he was, he knew of the zealot tradition, and in moving from Hillel to Shammai, he started acting it out.  He took matters into his own hands to correct what to him were obvious wrongs, for the honor of God.  And that's when God steps in.

Saul's Calling

Acts 9:3-16:  God calls Saul's name twice, as we've discussed before.  It signifies a divine call at a critical moment.  Nothing will be the same.  "I have a new path for you".  We speak of Saul's conversion, but we need to remember that he already was a devout and zealous follower of God, as best he knew.  He saw the church as a threat to what he understood of God's program.  "Saul, Saul, stop fighting against me.  You don't understand what I'm doing.  It's far bigger than you've imagined.  You need to leave your zealous ways behind.  I have a new calling for you.  You are going to carry my name to the Gentiles.  And you're going to suffer a lot for me".

The story of his calling is retold 3 times in other scripture passages, with slightly different emphases for different contexts:

• Acts 22:3-21 defending himself before the Jewish leaders
• Acts 26:9-18 defending himself before King Agrippa (in a Roman context)
• Galatians 1:13-17 defending his gospel to the Galatian church

This Damascus Road experience for Saul follows some of the experiences of the Old Testament prophets, of which he surely would have taken notice:

Ezekiel 1:28 - 2:3:  Ezekiel has his massive vision described earlier in the chapter, and at the end he is surrounded by a brilliant light, he falls facedown, and hears a voice speaking to him, telling him what his mission was, just like Saul did.

Jonah 1:17:  Jonah did not want to preach to the Gentiles.  God had to re-direct him, and he would have experienced 3 days of darkness and no food while inside the fish, just like Saul did.

Saul, the Hebrew scholar, would have had no trouble in recognizing that he was being called by God in the same way these prophets were.  He saw himself very differently after that.  Here's what he has to say of himself, when he is able to look back on it:

Galatians 1:15-16:  He says that God set him apart from his mother's womb, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.  This is just like the calling of some of the other major Old Testament prophets:

Isaiah 49:1, 6:  God called him from his mother's womb to be his servant both to Israel and to the Gentiles.

Jeremiah 1:5:  Before he was formed in the womb and born, God set him apart and appointed him as a prophet to the nations (Gentiles).

So, in retrospect, Saul sees himself as in the company of the prophets of old.  But there's one prophet in particular that he identifies with as he is being redirected.  Let's go back to Elijah.

Saul's Retraining

I Kings 19:1-9:  Elijah freaks out after his great victory and runs for his life.  He travels 40 days to reach Horeb, the mountain of God, which is also known as Mt. Sinai.

I Kings 19:10:  God asks him what he is doing there, and he says, "I have been very zealous for God.  Israel has rejected you, killed your prophets, I'm the only one left and they're after me too.  This is a broken prophet, disillusioned and humiliated.  He wants to resign his commission.  "I'm done".

I Kings 19:11-14:  God is not in the violent wind, earthquake, or file.  It's as though God is telling him to forsake his zealous/violent ways.  "That's not how I am".  He's in the whisper.  But when God asks him again why he is there, Elijah gives the exact same answer.  It's as though he didn't get it.

I Kings 19:15-18:  God tells Elijah that he's got it all wrong.  God has 7000 who have not worshiped Baal, and he tells him to get back to work.  He doesn't affirm that Elijah had done good in killing the prophets of Baal; he doesn't affirm his zeal; he ignores it.  He just says, "Go to Damascus and get back to your calling".

Now, back to Saul, in Damascus, preaching and teaching about Jesus in the synagogues:

Acts 9:22-26:  Saul is growing more and more powerful, proving to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.  But then there's a conspiracy to kill him just like Elijah, and he has to escape for his life. Between verses 25 and 26, it sounds like he escaped directly to Jerusalem, but there's a time gap in there that we don't see.

Galatians 1:17-18:  When he fled from Damascus, he went to Arabia for some period of time, and it was 3 years before he went to Jerusalem for the first time after his "conversion".  Why did he go to Arabia?

Galatians 4:25:  This verse is teaching a different lesson, but it makes the point that Mt. Sinai is in Arabia.  Why do we care?  Recall that Elijah went to Mt. Sinai when he had to escape.  Mt. Sinai is in Arabia.  Saul went to Arabia to escape.  Surely he went to Mt. Sinai like Elijah did.  He needed to be retrained, just like Elijah, and God took him to the desert to do it (like he did and does with so many people).

• He needed to leave the whole zealot thing behind him.  Jesus had ended the zealot tradition when he told Peter, "Put away your sword", but Paul had continued it.  He needed to turn away from Shammai and back toward Hillel.
• He needed to understand that like the other prophets, his mission was to take the gospel to the Gentiles, because he had been preaching only to Jews.

And then he returned to Damascus, just like God told Elijah to go back to Damascus and get back to work.  When he ultimately did go to Jerusalem, he was introduced to the Christians there, and he debated with the Grecian Jews, who threatened to kill him, so the brothers took him to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.



The first missionary journey


Acts 13:2:  Saul is now in Antioch, with Barnabas.  We'll see in a moment how he got there.  But while there, the Holy Spirit says to set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work he had for them. 

Why Barnabas?

He is a respected leader in the church.  He is a mentor to Saul; they have a long-standing relationship.

Acts 4:36-37:  Barnabas sold a field and gave the money to the apostles for the needs of the brothers.  He was well recognized among the believers.

Acts 9:27:  Barnabas was Saul's advocate to the church leaders when he finally got to Jerusalem.

Acts 11:19-21:  When the persecution broke out, the church was scattered as far away as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.  The church started in Antioch among the Jews, but then some men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and started preaching among the Gentiles.  So the Antioch church is catching fire, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles (Greeks).

Acts 11:22-24:  Barnabas is sent there to watch over and encourage the growing church.  He is a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

Acts 11:25-26:  Barnabas is a Levite.  He's at home among the Jews in his church, but among the Greeks in the church, and in the Greco-Roman world of Antioch, he is out of his league.  He goes to get Saul, who is at home in this world, to help him lead the church.

Now think about Saul in this church.  The persecuted Jewish Christians were scattered here.  Saul had set out to destroy them.  Now Barnabas introduces Saul as their pastor.  They had been uprooted from their homes, their land, their families (the most grievous losses a Jew can suffer) because of him.  Saul is pastoring a community he is responsible for displacing.  He would have had to lean on Barnabas a lot that year.  Barnabas would have been a shepherd to him, helping him face his past.  Saul would have had to learn a lot about grace, and about receiving grace.

Their ministry was powerful and effective.  A great number of people were brought to the Lord.  The disciples were first called Christians here.  After a year, Barnabas and Saul delivered a love gift from the church in Antioch to the church at Jerusalem, based on the prophet Agabus predicting a severe famine through the whole Roman world.  After delivering the gift, they returned to Antioch, bringing John Mark with them, where they were when God said to separate them for the work he had for them (Acts 13:2).

Why Mark?

Mark has good credentials.  He's closely connected to the Apostles.  He was an eye-witness of Jesus.

Colossians 4:10:  Mark is Barnabas' cousin.

Acts 12:12:  Peter's first place to go out of prison is to Mark's mom's home.  Mark is connected to Peter, who is the head of the disciples.

I Peter 5:13:  "My son, Mark"

Mark 14:51-52:  This is a self-reference, to Mark as the author of the gospel.  He was an eye-witness of Jesus.

Why Cyprus?

"Okay, God has called us to a work.  What is it?  Where do we go?"  The Text doesn't say how they knew.  We can put together a plausible story from what we read and know through history, and it gives us a clue about how God leads us. 

Acts 13:4-5:  They go to Cyprus.  Mark goes with them.  Why do they go here?  We have a clue in the passage we read earlier:

Acts 4:36-37:  Barnabas is from Cyprus.  "Let's go visit my family".

Acts 13:6-12:  Barnabas and Saul head to Paphos on the far side of the island.  Sergius Paulus is the proconsul, and he becomes a believer.  And somewhere in here, Saul becomes known as Paul.

Acts 13:13:  They sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, and Mark left them to return to Jerusalem:

• He was "way too Jewish" to tolerate the pagan Greco-Roman world of the Gentiles.
• He is closely connected with Peter, who still struggles with the Gentile issue (remember Paul had to reprimand Peter at some point after Peter supposedly had figured this out).
• Paul was devastated.  (Remember Paul and Barnabas didn't take the second missionary journey together because they were so sharply divided over Mark), an he wouldn't have anything to do with Mark for a long time.
• He lost an eye-witness of Jesus
• Paul is perhaps still struggling with grace himself, still trying to move back to Hillel from Shammai, as it were
• Eventually Paul and Mark were reconciled, but it took years.
• Maybe they weren't supposed to bring him; after all the Holy Spirit had said to separate Saul and Barnabas for the work to which he had called them.

Why Antioch?

Acts 13:14:  They left Perga and went to Pisidian Antioch.  This is a different Antioch (not Syrian Antioch where they were sent from).  It is the Antioch near or toward Pisidia.  It is the leading city of Phrygia.  (There were 16 cities named Antioch).

• It is a major city.  Tarsus and Pisidian Antioch were the major guardian cities of the road through the interior of Asia Minor
• Caesar Augustus is the one who builds up Antioch in 25 BC
• He spreads it out over 7 hills like Rome
• It has the Roman administrative system
• It is divided up exactly like Rome
• It has 7 wards (vici) each named after a Roman district
• The Roman 5th and 7th Legions were stationed here; a strong allegiance to Rome
• A thoroughly Roman colony
• Sergius Paulus is from Pisidian Antioch
• In 1877, the Sergius Paulus stone was found near Paphos, bearing his name and title of Procounsul.  It is now in the museum in Antioch.
• He was Paul's first recorded convert on this journey
• Paul takes his name.  Paul is Paulus in Greek.  Saul is going to need a Greek name to minister to the Gentiles.
• No doubt Sergius Paulus said something like, "You want to go to Rome?  Antioch is just like Rome, and I've got connections there.  Let me give you a letter of introduction."

Paul takes the lead over Barnabas

Acts 13:15-16:  Paul takes the lead in speaking.

• He speaks over his elder.  You would never do that.  But Barnabas has recognized he was out of his league in this Greco-Roman city and gave the floor to Paul.  He recognized that this was Paul's turf.
• Paul gives a sermon in the form of the 1st century classical Greek rhetoric, using an argument style architected by Aristotle.  Paul can speak the language/culture here.  No doubt it would have been representative of his sermons in all of the cities he's going to go to, but this is the first time it is given, so that's why it is recorded here.  He is thinking on his feet, and he is brilliant.  Barnabas must have been blown away by Paul's eloquence.

1. Acts 13:16:  Resortium (introduction)
2. Acts 13:17-25:  Narratio (background/context)
3. Acts 13:26:  Propositio (proposition or thesis)
4. Acts 13:27-37:  Probatio (evidence) He quotes Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, and Psalm 16:10
5. Acts 13:38-41:  Peratio (closing argument)

Acts 13:42:  What is different here?  It now says "Paul and Barnabas", whereas up to this point, it has been the other way around.  Paul is now pre-eminent.  Barnabas has been shepherding and mentoring Paul, but now sees that he has been gifted by God and recognizes him as the leader.  There are only two places after this where Barnabas is mentioned first.

Acts 13:43-48:  The whole city gathered to hear them the next week.  The Jews became jealous, and they rejected Paul's message and heaped abuse on him. Paul always made a point to give the message to the Jews first, but when they reject it, he moves on to the Gentiles, according to God's call on him.  The Gentiles receive the message gladly, because they now see there's a place for them, whereas there wasn't under Judaism.

Acts 13:49-52:  It's time to move on.  The Jews expel them from the city, so they shake the dust from their feet like Jesus instructed his disciples, and they head to Iconium, the next city down the road.

Acts 14:1-7:  They just get started, and its the same problem here with the Jews, to they have to move on.

Acts 14:8-13:  They heal the lame man, and immediately the crowd thinks the gods have come down in human form.  Barnabas is Zeus, and Paul is Hermes.  Why would they think that, and why those two in particular?

• There's a story by Ovid, called Metamorphoses.  It's the story of a Lyconian city in Phrygia where Zeus and Hermes come unrecognized to a village and the people are not hospitable, except for an older couple named Philemon and Baucis.  She recognizes that they are gods. They don't have much, but they give them all they have.  Zeus and Hermes ensure their wine does not run out.  They say they are going to destroy the town for lack of hospitality, and take Philemon and Baucis with them up a mountain.  At some point they are allowed to turn around and they see that a flood has destroyed the town, but that their house has been turned into a magnificent temple.  They grant them a wish, to be the guardians of the temple.  Ovid lived 43BC to 17 or 18 AD, so it is relatively fresh in the people's minds, so they don't want to make that mistake again.
• Barnabas was call Zeus because he was older, and Zeus was the king of the gods.  Paul was called Hermes "because he was the chief speaker", and Hermes (or Mercury) was the messenger god and eloquent.
• This is one of the places where Barnabas was mentioned first.  Why?  Because Zeus was the king of the gods.

Acts 14:19-20:  The Jews come from Antioch and Iconium, and turn the crowd against them.  It's amazing that they came all that way, and amazing that they can change the crowd's mind so easily.  Paul gets up after being stoned and left for dead; time to move on to another city.

Acts 14:21-26:  Here it seems that if God had a specific destination for them, they have finally arrived, because they won a large number of disciples and were able to establish the church without interference from the Jews.  There was a church here for hundreds of years.

Paul and Barnabas could easily have continued eastward to Antioch.  It was a straight shot on the Roman road, through the Cilician Gates to Tarsus, then on to Antioch, about 150 miles altogether.  But they don't.  Instead they go back to revisit all of the churches and strengthen the believers, no doubt at great risk to their lives.  They travel back about 300 miles walking to Attalia, preaching the word in Perga on the way.  Then they sail out through the port of Attalia and back to Antioch about 325 miles to report of their work.  In chapter 15 they go on to Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Council where the decision was made that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to become Christians.  And verse 12 there is the other place where Barnabas is mentioned first.  This is sensible since he's back where he is more well-known than Paul.

Lessons from Paul's life

1. Grace -- Paul struggled with it. We struggle with it.  It's hard to receive, and hard to give.  But we need to do this well.  Jesus said the mark of his people would be their love for each other, and grace has to be related to that.
2. Halakh or peripateo, your walk is your life, your life is your walk.  Paul's missionary journey is a good metaphor for our lives.  We need to be ministering wherever we go.
3. God doesn't give you a map.  You don't get much to go on.  Just the next step.  It's about the journey, not the destination.
1. Dr. Bourgond calls it "flashlight theology".  You have to move to the edge of what you can see, to be able to see beyond it.
2. This is about determining God's will for your life.  God usually calls us to a form or a role in ministry, not usually to a specific place.
1. If God has called you to teach, learn how to teach, and let him take you to where you are going to serve
2. It's likely that there are many good choices.  Pick one.
3. Try something and let God steer you.  Go until God says, "no"; don't wait for him to say, "go".
4. Give God something to work with, as our teachers would say.
3. It's a life of faith following leads.  That's how Paul did it.
4. Commitment to your calling
1. Paul and Barnabas went back into harm's way to strengthen the believers and appoint leaders.  Paul always wanted to present every man perfect in Christ.
2. Acts 9:16:  Paul knows that suffering is in his path.
3. Acts 14:22:   "We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God".
4. II Timothy 3:10-12:  Paul speaks of the sufferings he endured in Antioch, Lystra, and Iconium.  We all will suffer for our commitment.
5. Commitment to the long-term journey.  Be patient with what God is up to.  It's okay to not have all the answers.  Maybe we don't understand all of the steps along the way.  Maybe its going to take some time.  Just keep going.
6. We no doubt have heard it said, "The safest place to be is in the center of God's will".  More likely, that's the most dangerous place to be.  Just because the journey is hard doesn't mean you're not on the right path.  Everywhere Paul went there was danger, but it's true that danger comes to Paul because he is dangerous.  Satan can leave you alone if you're not dangerous.
5. Paul always had companions with him.  He did this in community.  You can't do this as a lone ranger.  Discernment is best done in community, with your mentors engaged with you in a decision -- hear the voice of God through them.
1. Now wanting to accept help is a matter of pride -- you don't want to show weakness.
2. Best to get help -- God's strength is made perfect in weakness.
3. Who am I journeying with?
4. What is my motivation?
5. Is my pride getting in the way?
6. Hazak, hazak, venit hezek -- Be strong, be strong, together we are strong.
7. If we all make it, then I make it.