A Year in Luke/ActsНамуна

Acts 9 starts with a famous and significant event: the risen Jesus meeting Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul, or as he will become known, Paul, coming to see Jesus as Israel’s resurrected Messiah is going to have huge implications for the non-Jewish world as he will begin to become known as the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 11:13).

We must be cautious when we think of Paul as being converted from one religion to another. When Saul met Jesus on the Damascus road, it was an eye-opening moment that brought all of his hopes into reality. He definitely repented, turning completely around in the direction he was heading, but he saw this as becoming a more faithful observer of the Torah.

“Saul belonged to a movement which was determined precisely to bring Judean practice out of the formality of the Temple and into the home, the family, the street, into the heart and mind.” (Wright, p51, The Challenge of Acts)