Who was Paul?

Who was Paul?

We first meet Paul in Acts 7, under his Jewish name of Saul, as a witness to the trial and stoning of Stephen.

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Acts 7: 57, 58)

And Saul approved of their killing him.

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.  (Acts 8: 1-3)

Paul was not an unprincipled thug or a hired mercenary. He sets out his credentials later in Acts, when he explains

‘I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee.

I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.’ (Acts 26: 5, 9)

The scene described in Acts sounds violent and confused, but the reason for the shouts and covered ears is that Stephen’s trial took place in front of the high priest, the guardian of truth and holiness, and the claims Stephen was making about Jesus were blasphemy to them. All those present needed to silence him, so that these terrible words could not be heard.

Paul began his journey to Jesus by looking in completely the opposite direction. He had studied the scriptures under Gamaliel, a leading Pharisee and teacher, and knew that a Messiah would come. But he also knew that to be hung on a tree was a sign of God’s curse, and the idea that a crucified man could be God’s promised one was inconceivable.  He describes the problem in his letter to the church at Corinth:

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Cor 1:23)

What are our stumbling blocks today? What do we have a hard time believing?

What seems foolishness to those around us? Are we prepared to sound foolish, if they ask us about our faith?