I want to clear up something from yesterday’s post. We said Paul’s gospel had no roots in his Judaistic training. The gospel is rooted in the OT. But the rabbinical training taught justification by works, not by grace. Paul was doing according to his training on the road to Damascus. This leads us to the second way God worked in Paul’s life. First, God set Paul apart from birth. Then …
·
God called Paul by His grace, 1:15. Grace is commonly defined as God’s unmerited
favor, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, and
“mercy I do not deserve.” If grace is
all this, then Paul definitely is a picture of grace. He reminded Timothy of this in 1 Tim.
1:12-17. He was a blasphemer, persecutor
and insolent man. Yet the grace of
our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus.
o
This phrase captures what happened on Damascus
Road (Ac. 9:1-9). Jesus literally
called, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul had been moved by the testimony of
Stephen, as the Holy Spirit was prodding him concerning Jesus. Saul was kicking against the goads. But in an instant, Saul submitted himself: Who
are you Lord? and What do You want me to do?
o We
do not think that the testimony of Paul is unusual. True, people rarely have “Damascus Road
experiences”. But God’s interest in the
believer begins before the foundation of the world, and it involves the call of
God to hear and believe the gospel.
·
God revealed His Son in Paul, 1:16.
o
God’s grace and call, when effectively at work
in the believer, result in this deep, mysterious and very real revelation of
God’s Son. There is a clear illustration
of this in Matt. 16:17, when Peter answered Jesus question, Who do you say
that I am? Peter answered
profoundly: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God! Jesus told Peter that he did not come up with
this on his own; God revealed this truth to him. Paul had the same experience. And so does every believer in Christ.
o Humans
are darkened in their understanding, separated from the life of God (Eph.
4:18). We are at enmity with God (Rom.
5:10), blinded by Satan (2 Cor. 4:3-5).
But at the moment of faith in Christ, the veil is removed (2 Cor. 3:16;
4:6). This is no mere intellectual
experience. It is the opening of the
eyes of one who was spiritually blind, so that it can be said they truly know
Christ. This is the “anointing” John
spoke of in 1 John 2:27. It is the fulfillment of what was promised in the New
Covenant. No more shall every man
teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for
they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says
the LORD (Jer. 31:34).
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