How was Paul converted?
1. Paul
as Persecutor of the Followers of the Way
1.1. Gal 1:13
1.2. 1 Cor 15:9
1.3. 1 Tim 1:12-16
1.4. Acts 22:2b-5
1.5. Acts 26:9-11
2 . The Motive for Paul’s Persecution of the Followers of
the Way
2.1. Jealousy
2.2. Fear of Roman Reprisal
2.3. Apostasy
3 . Paul's Conversion
4 . Accounts of Paul’s Conversion
5 . Paul's Call to Apostleship
1.
Paul as Persecutor of the Followers of the Way
Paul the Pharisee opposed the early followers of the Way (an early designation for believers), and persecuted them even unto death. This is in keeping with the prominent and activist role that Pharisees played in the religious and political life of Jews in Palestine, as Josephus describes. Although it may seem inconsistent with the later description of Paul as "weak" by the Corinthians, Paul was bold enough to lead an attempt to eradicate the Way. Luke describes Paul’s persecution of the church in Acts 7:57-58; 8:1-3; 9:1-2.
7:57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
8:1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
9:1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. |
According to Luke, Paul witnessed and approved of Stephen’s stoning (Acts 8:1) and sought to eradicate the church: he also went house to house dragging men and women out of their houses and putting them in prison (Acts 8:3). More than this, Paul went to Damascus to find followers of the Way and bring them back to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-3; see Acts 22:4; 26:11). Luke also records Paul’s own description of his persecution of the followers of the Way first to the mob at the Temple (Acts 22:4) and then to Agrippa (Acts 26:11); these accounts agree with what Luke described in Acts 8-9.
In his letters, Paul occasionally mentions his role in persecuting the church, usually with remorse.
| For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it |
In his brief biographical description written to authenticate his apostleship to the Galatian churches, Paul explains that he persecuted the church and tried to destroy it.
| For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. |
Paul adds a biographical element to a tradition that he had received and passed on to the Corinthians: that after he appeared to the other apostles, Jesus appeared last of all to him; he then confesses that he is the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church of God.
| I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. |
Paul says that even though he was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man, God showed him mercy because he acted in ignorance. It seems that he classified himself as the worst of sinners because of his persecution of the church.
| I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the High Priest and the Sanhedrin can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. |
In his speech before the crowd in the Temple, Paul says that he "persecuted the followers of this Way to their death," implying that he was somehow involved in the death of the followers of the Way. It seems that once he had them arrested, in some cases they were executed. He also indicates that he extended his persecution beyond Jerusalem, to Damascus.
| I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the holy ones in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority of commissioning of the chief priests. |
In his speech before Herod Agrippa II, Paul explains that he voted that imprisoned believers ("holy ones") should be put to death. He actively sought out followers of the Way in synagogues; his strategy was to force them to blaspheme, which is an offence punishable by death in the Law. How in particular Paul did this is not stated. Likewise, what the legal procedure was in which Paul took part is not clear. Paul extends his activity as far as Damascus.
2. The Motive for Paul’s Persecution of the Followers of the Way
Paul describes himself as exceeding his contemporaries in his "zeal" (zêlôtês) for the traditions of his forefathers (Gal 1:14). This zeal led him to persecute the followers of the Way probably because he perceived them as somehow undermining the traditions of the forefathers. As a persecutor of what he considered to be an aberration from acceptable Judaism Paul stood squarely within in the tradition of Phineas, who resorted to violence in order to the Law (Num 25:11, 13; Ps 106:30; Sir 45:23-24; 1 Macc 2:54; see also Judith 9:2-4; Jub. 30:5-20 on Gen 34). Paul does not explain, however, why in particular he found the followers of the Way to be offensive. In other words, he does not say why he believed that he was doing a service to God by attempting to stamp out the early Christian movement. (Not every Jew in the first century believed that the followers of the Way posed a threat to Judaism and Jewish life.) Likewise, Luke does not provide explicit data by which to answer this question in the Book of Acts (7:57-58; 8:1-3; 9:1-2). There are three possible motives for Paul to have persecuted the church, which should be treated as hypotheses. (It is possible that Paul was motivated by more than one of these reasons.)
Simple jealousy may have motivated Paul and others to persecute the followers of the Way. Before Paul was actively involved in persecuting the church, the Sanhedrin had already debated about how to deal with the movement; it is possible to derive some insight into why Jews in general and Paul in particular opposed the Way. In Acts 5:17, it is said that the Sanhedrin arrested the disciples on account of jealousy (eplesthesan zelou); this explanation of motive, however, is still ambiguous, because we are not told the nature of their jealousy. Presumably, like many established religious body, they resented the claim of this new religious movement that God was active in their midst and had thereby by-passed the religious establishment. The motive of jealousy is compatible with other, more principled motives; the former often serve as a pretense for the latter.
A possible motive for Paul’s desire to suppress the early followers of the Way was fear of Roman reprisal. The Sanhedrin was partially composed of Pharisees, one of whom was Gamaliel, Paul's former teacher. He disagrees with the majority opinion on how to deal with the apostles; his advice to the Sanhedrin may give some insight into the nature of the opposition of the Sanhedrin to the Way (Acts 5:35-39), and by extension to Paul’s own opposition. Gamaliel reminds the Sanhedrin that there were other messianic movements in the recent past; the two that he mentions are those associated with Theudas and Judas the Galilean. The use of the messianic movements spawned by Theudas and Judas the Galilean as precedents in dealing with the Way suggests that Gamaliel thinks that the problem caused by the Way for the Jewish authorities is similar to the problem caused by Judas (and Theudas) a few decades earlier. This implies the concern of the Sanhedrin was that the Way might evolve to become an armed rebellion with messianic overtones, which would bring down the wrath of the Romans upon the Jews. With these recent failed messianic movements in view, Gamaliel counsels the Sanhedrin to let the Way takes its course, since, if it is from God it could not be opposed, but, if it has a human origin, it shall fail, like the past messianic movements.
| The Theudas Gamaliel mentions is unknown to us, although most scholars try to connect this Theudas with one mentioned by Josephus (Ant. 20. 97-98), who appeared several years after Judas the Galilean. (Thus, many scholars believe that Luke is guilty of historical error.) This Theudas is called an impostor (goês) by Josephus; he means that he is a messianic impostor, who promised the people that he was a prophet and would part the Jordan and lead the people through it. (It is likely that he was attempting to imitate Joshua's conquest of Canaan, but the “conquest” that he had in mind to carry out was probably eschatological deliverance.) Proof that the Theudas mentioned by Josephus had messianic pretensions is the fact that the procurator, Cuspius Fadus (44-46), sent out the cavalry and killed Theudas, bringing his head back to Jerusalem. Fadus saw Theudas’ messianic pretensions as a threat to the public peace. This Theudas (obviously) could not be the one mentioned by Gamaliel, since he predates Judas the Galilean (6 CE). Likely the Theudas mentioned by Gamaliel was similar in intent to the later Theudas. After the first Theudas, there arose Judas the Galilean, whose activities Josephus describes (War 2. 118, 433; 7. 253; Ant. 18. 4-10, 23-25, 20. 102). Judas led a revolt against Rome c. 6 CE., which was crushed; this revolt had messianic overtones, as did the later Zealot movement of which Judas was said to have been the founder. Judas and the Zealots believed that God would come to the aid of the revolutionaries. |
Paul the Pharisee may have been motivated to persecute the followers of the Way, because he considered them to be Jewish apostates. Evidence for this comes from the narrative of Stephen’s execution, of which Paul approved. (Saul approved of the sentence [Acts 8:1] and even looked after the clothes [the outer garments] of the witnesses, who were the first to throw stones [see Deut 17:7; Lev 24:14].) Because he offended the members of a Diaspora synagogue in Jerusalem (Synagogue of the Freedman), Stephen was dragged before the Sanhedrin and accused by means of "false witnesses." Stephen spoke in his own defense (Acts 7); what he said infuriated the Sanhedrin. As a result, he was stoned; after the stoning, a full-fledged persecution broke out. (Gamaliel's policy of moderation went by the way.) As already indicated, Saul was closely involved in this persecution (see Acts 8:3).
Stephen was accused
of speaking against the Temple and the Law (the two pillars of Judaism)
by false witnesses; he was supposed to have said that Jesus would destroy
the Temple and change the (Mosaic) Law. It is likely, however, that the
accusations of the false witnesses were not total fabrications, but misrepresentations
of what Stephen had really said. Stephen did not speak against the Temple
nor did he say that Jesus would destroy the Temple. But what he probably
did say was that Jesus' atoning death had abrogated the need for atoning
sacrifices, offered in the Temple. In addition, he attacked the assumption
shared by most first-century forms of Judaism, including Pharisaism, that
God dwelt in the Temple, even that God had a permanent dwelling place
on earth: Stephen says so explicitly in his defense before the Sanhedrin
(Acts 7:48-50).
(See Mekilta Pisha
42-50 for an early rabbinic [and probably Pharisaic] rejection of Stephen’s
“liberal” position.) Thus, his views on the Temple would also commit
him to the position that the Mosaic law is not eternal, at least the part
of the Mosaic law that concerned the Temple. Such an extreme position
would be intolerable to any type of Palestinian Jew. This is probably
what made Stephen so offensive to Paul and other Jews. Paul and other
Jews probably considered Stephen to be a Jewish apostate and to be representative
of at least a significant portion of the followers of the Way. This may
have been a reason for Paul to persecute all the followers of the Way.
The fact that the apostles were not scattered after Stephen's death is something of an anomaly in Luke’s account, indicating, probably, that he has not given his readers all the information necessary to reconstruct the event in its entirety (Acts 8:1). The disciples were allowed to stay in the Jerusalem apparently because they did not agree with Stephen, or at least were perceived not to agree with him. Although they were not pleased with the apostle's preaching, the Sanhedrin and other prominent Jews of the upper classes did not persecute them. This gives evidence that there was a conservative wing of the church associated with Palestinian Jews (Hebraioi) and a more progressive wing associated with Hellenistic Jews (Hellenistoi), to which Stephen belonged. Saul the Pharisee will later adopt views similar the Hellenistoi.
T. Donaldson explains Paul's persecution of the early Christian movement in sociological terms (Paul and the Gentiles. Remapping the Apostle's Convictional World [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997] chap. 11). According to him, Paul saw Christ and Torah as antithetical ways of defining the community destined for eschatological salvation; Christ and Torah "represent mutually exclusive ways of defining membership in the people of God--Christ and Torah as rival boundary markers for the community of the righteous" (284-85). In the early Christian movement, Christ displaces the Torah because acceptance of Christ and membership in the community that acknowledges him as Lord displaces the Torah as defining the people of God: Christ became a "rival boundary marker for the people of God" (292). Paul interpreted the claims about Christ as a threat to "the social cohesion of the larger Jewish community" (287). He was particularly vexed by the claims of the early Christian movement because he himself was involved in proselytizing among gentiles seeking to lead them to full acceptance of and obedience to the Law (see the example of Izates in Ant. 20.34-48). This is supposed to be the meaning of Paul's statment in Gal 5:11: "If I am still advocating circumcision." (Paul continued to hold the same view after his conversion—resulting from his vision of the risen Christ—except now he accepted the view that Christ defined the community of salvation and not the Torah.) There were two aspects to Paul's disapproval and denunciation of the early Christian movement. First, it wrongly included within itself as righteous (i..e, acceptable to God) those whom the Torah would exclude. Donaldson seems to mean Jewish sinners ("those lax about Torah obedience" [297]) and maybe some uncircumcised gentiles. He writes, "This, in my opinion, pinpoints part of Paul's problem with the Christian movement: the Christian community included in its fellowship those whom the Torah would declare to be unrighteous; therefore the Torah was not necessary" (291). Second, the early Christian movement wrongly required all Jews, even the obedient and zealous, those whom the Torah would declare as righteous, to believe in Jesus; this meant that the Torah was not sufficient as a means to determine the people of God, the community of salvation (291).
Donaldson's hypothesis about Paul's reason for persecuting the early church has two weaknesses. First, it is improbable that the Jewish church included within itself Jews for whom obedience to the Law was not required. If so, then what distinguished Christian Jews from other Jews was simply their acceptance of Jesus as the Christ. In this case, they would have not have been any more of a threat to the social cohesion of the larger Jewish community than any other messianic movement. If the Torah is supposed to define the Jewish community and not eschatological or messianic beliefs, then the early Jewish Christians should not have been a threat. Second, it is not clear how the exclusive claims of the early Christian movement would differ essentially from those of other Jewish groups, who were not persecuted by other Jews. The Pharisees defined the community of salvation as those who accepted the tradition of the fathers. Likewise, the Essenes defined it as as those Jews who accepted the salvation-historical claims of the Teacher of Righeousness and the community's stricter halakic views. Thus, on Donaldson's hypothesis, it is difficult to explain why Paul the Pharisee would take offence at the early Jewish Christians alone. |
Paul asked the
High Priest and the chief priests for letters to the synagogues in Damascus
that would give him the authority to arrest the followers of the Way and
bring them back to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1).
That there were many Jews (and therefore several synagogues in Damascus)
can be inferred from the fact that Josephus says that in 66 CE many Jews
were massacred there (War 2. 560-61). Non-Jewish residents of
the city are said to have killed 10,500 Jews (War 7. 368 has
a figure of 18,000). Those whom Paul was pursuing were probably those
who had fled to Damascus after the persecution broke out (Acts 8:1). (Two
centuries previously, religious refugees who called themselves the men
of the new covenant fled to "Damascus" in order to escape persecution;
this is probably coincidental [Damascus Document] and assumes
that "Damascus" should be interpreted literally.) Evidence
that the Romans supported the authority of the High Priest and the Sanhedrin,
giving them the right of extradition, is found in 1 Macc 15:15-21. In
138 BCE, the Romans on account of the treaty of friendship with the Jews
instructed Ptolemy Euergetes II and other heads of states in the area
to hand over to Simon any Palestinians who had fled to other lands to
avoid prosecution. Josephus records that Julius Caesar confirmed
Hyrcanus II in all the existing privileges of the position of High Priest
(Ant. 14. 194), including, presumably, this one.
On his way to Damascus to carry out his intentions, a most ironic thing happened to Paul: he encountered the risen Christ. There is no evidence that Paul knew the historical Jesus, but he could have. At any rate, Paul met the risen Christ while on his way to persecute the followers of the Way. When dealing with Paul's conversion, a historian must decide whether Paul really did encounter the risen Christ or not. Often, historians avoid this question, claiming that it is beyond the purview of the historian; many, while saying this, nonetheless interpret Paul's conversion experience in psychologizing ways. (For example, it has been said that Paul had a bad conscience and began to identify with his victims, or that Paul had a repressed ambivalence towards the Torah, and projected this ambivalence on the early Christians, because they had a solution to the very problem with which he was struggling. Then the tension broke, as Paul suddenly realized the correctness of the early Christian understanding of the Law.) But both Paul and Luke assume the risen Christ actually appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. This would certainly explain Paul’s sudden “about-face,” from persecutor of the church to apostle to the gentiles.
A.
Segal seeks to understand Paul as a Jewish mystic, who more than
once encounters the representation of God (which in Jewish mysticism
could be human or angelic), i.e., the “Glory” (Kavod) of
God, whom he interprets as the risen Christ under the influence
of a Christian community (see 2 Cor 12; see also Acts 16:9-10; 18:9-10;
22:17-18, even though Segal is skeptical about Luke’s historical
accuracy) (Paul the Convert [New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1990] chap. 2). According to Segal, Paul identifies his mystical
experiences as his conversion, even though it was not momentous,
as Luke would have us believe, but took place over a period of time.
Paul’s mysticism led not only to visions of the risen Christ but
a mystical identification with him and a (gradual) transformation
into a being like the risen Christ. This then led him to the
conclusion that all other means of gaining eternal life were ineffectual: only
faith—identification with the risen Christ—begins the process of
transformation, which will culminate in the resurrection of the
body. The parallel to this experience of transformation is justification
(being declared righteous). |
4.
Accounts of Paul’s Conversion
There are four accounts of Paul’s conversion: Gal 1:15-17 (from Paul himself); Acts 9:1-19 (Luke relating Paul's experience); Acts 22:2b-16 (Luke relating Paul's telling of his conversion to the crowd in Jerusalem); Acts 26:9-18 (Luke relating Paul's telling of his conversion to Agrippa). There are also allusions to Paul's conversion in Gal 1:11-12; 1 Cor 9:1; 15:8.)
| Gal
1:15-17 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me in order that I may preach him among the gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
|
Acts
9:1-19 Meanwhile,
Saul was still breathing out threats against the Lord’s disciples.
He went to the High Priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues
in Damascus, in order that, if he found anyone there who belonged
to the Way, he may take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared
Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around
him. He fell to the ground, and heard a voice say to him, “Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul
asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” He replied.
“Now get up, and go to into the city, and you will be told what
you must do.” The men traveling with Paul stood there speechless;
they heard the sound, but did not see anyone. Saul got up from
the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So
they led him by the hand to Damascus. For three days he was blind,
and did not eat or drink anything. In Damascus there was a disciple
named Ananias….Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.
Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus,
who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent
me in order that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he
could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking
some food, he regained his strength.
|
Acts
22:2b-16 Then Paul said: “:...I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the High Priest and the Sanhedrin can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flash around me. I fell to the ground, and heard a voice say to me, `Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?’ `Who are you, lord?’ I asked. 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. 'What shall I do, lord?’ I asked. 'Get up,” the Lord said, 'and go to into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the Law and a highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me, and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that moment I was able to see him. Then he said to me, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.
|
Acts 26:9-18 I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority of commissioning of the chief priests. About noon, O King, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Is it hard for you to kick against the goads?’ Then I asked, `Who are you, lord?’ ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the gentiles. I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
|
| It is interesting that when he writes of his conversion and call to apostleship, Paul uses biblical allusions (L. Cerfaux, Le chrétien dans la théologie paulinienne (LD 33; Paris: Cerf, 1962) 72-77). He speaks of himself as set apart (aphorizein) (Gal 1:15); this verb is used in LXX to describe the setting apart of something as holy to the Lord (Exod 13:12 [A]; 19:23; 29:26; see also Lev 20:25-26). Paul evidently sees his calling as a a type of consecration. He also describes himself as set apart "from my mother's womb" (ek koilias metros mou) (Gal 1:15); the same phrase occurs in LXX Isa 49:1, in which the Servant describes himself as called to his salvation-historical role from before his birth: "From my mother's womb he [Yahweh] called my name" (ek koilias metros mou ekalesen to onoma mou). It is clear that Paul understands his own calling to apostleship to be parallel to the calling of the Servant; Paul sees his salvation-historical role as being Servant-like (Cerfaux, Le chrétien dans la théologie paulinienne, 77-81). In addition, Jeremiah's call to being a prophet is described as having occurred before his birth (Jer 1:5): "Before I formed you in the womb (LXX en koilia) I knew you; before you came forth from your mother (LXX ek metras) I consecrated you: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Paul no doubt is implicitly comparing his call to being an apostle to Jeremiah's call. (Possibly, another allusion to the prophet Jeremiah occurs in 1 Cor 9:16-17 = Jer 20:9.)
The phrase "to kick against the goads" was a common metaphorical usage in Greek denoting the difficulty of human beings' opposing the gods (see Euripides Bacchannals 794-95; Aeschylus, Prometheus, 324-25). But, of course, the risen Christ spoke to Paul in Aramaic, so the phrase is either a non-literal translation of the Aramaic using a Greek idiom or the Aramaic equivalent of the phrase was being used in Aramaic circles, having originated in Greek circles or arising independently of the same use in Greek. |
Paul sees the
revelation that he received as simultaneous with his call to become an
apostle. (On Paul's claim to apostleship, see Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; 9:1-2;
2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Thess 2:7; 1 Tim 1:1; 2:7; 2 Tim
1:1.) In particular, Paul saw himself as the apostle to the gentiles (Rom
11:13; Gal 1:16; 2:2, 7; 2 Tim 1:11; see also Rom 15:16, 18; Eph 3:1,
8).
In addition, Luke has Paul report that the risen Christ informs
him that "I will rescue you from your own people and from the gentiles.
I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me"
(Acts 26:17-18). Jesus’ twelve disciples are sometimes called apostles
in the gospels (Mark 13:14 = Matt 10:2 = Luke 6:13; Mark 6:30 = Luke 9:10;
Luke 17:5; 22:15; 24:10). When the apostles were choosing a replacement
for Judas, Peter states, “Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the
men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out
among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken
up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection"
(Acts 1:21-22). The implication is that only someone who could
serve as a witness to Jesus could be an apostle (see Acts 4:33). (In
fact, in the Book of Acts, Luke uses the term "apostle" of such
men and never of Paul.) Apparently, the definition of an apostle was expanded
at some point to include men who were not eyewitnesses of Jesus' ministry,
so that Paul could be included as an apostle (see also James [Gal
1:19; 1 Cor 15:7]; Barnabas [Acts 14:4, 14; 1 Cor 9:5-6] and Andronicus
and Junias [Rom 16:7] and even the "super-apostles" in Corinth
[2 Cor 11:5; 12:11).
Paul insists that
the risen Christ revealed himself to him, as to the other apostles before
him; this experience was, for him, a warrant for his claim to have apostolic
authority equal to that of the original apostles and James, the brother
of Jesus (Gal 1:15-17; 1 Cor 15:7-8). He sees his call to apostleship
as independent of human authority (see Gal 2:6).
As apostle to
the gentiles, Paul describes his role in priestly terms (Rom 15:15-16).
He writes that he is "Christ Jesus' minister to the gentiles"
(leitourgos Christou Iesou eis ta ethnê) (The nouns leitorgos,
leitourgia and the verb leitourgein are used of priestly
service in LXX). As a minister Paul serves the gospel of God as a priest
(hierougounta to euaggelion tou theou), and the purpose of his
"priestly" service is to bring an acceptable offering consisting
of gentiles (hê prosphora tôn ethnôn) (see Rom
12:1-2, in which Paul instructs his readers to make themselves a "spiritual
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is their reasonable worship").
Gentiles are metaphorically a sacrificial offering that has been set apart
for God; the Holy Spirit sanctifies them and thereby makes them acceptable
as an offering (see also 1 Cor 9:13-14; Phil 4:18). Paul also refers to
himself as serving as an ambassador (presbeuein), a "mediateur
entre Dieu et les païens, officiellement delégué pour
leur offrir la paix au nom de Dieu" (2 Cor 5:20; Eph 6:19-20).
