|
||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
Commentary on "Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles"
Day 3: Monday, September 26, 2011 - Saul's Conversion
Overview
Today we are looking at the conversion of Saul, a man who we was totally dedicated to the persecution of Christians.
Observations
The word ‘conversion’ means to be changed. When the man, Saul, responded to the voice of Jesus Christ and called him Lord, he was changed from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God. He received the salvation message of the gospel of Jesus Christ which he was soon to eloquently proclaim to all who would listen and believe with their hearts.
The lesson makes some very good points concerning the conversion of Saul. Our commentary will focus on what has not been said or clearly stated because of his conversion. Even though his conversion was far more dramatic than what most of us experience it does parallel how all sinners join the kingdom of God and clearly describes the life all true Christians enjoy in the family of God (the true church, the body of Christ).
Since Paul characterizes his former life as one who was once a ‘Pharisee of Pharisee’s’ we should first take note of what Jesus had to say about the Pharisees as recorded in Matt. 23:1-36 which we will summarize with these two verses:
“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell? This is why I am sending you prophets, sages, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and hound from town to town. (Matt 23:33-34 HCSB)
Those who join the kingdom of God are appointed by God. Saul did not choose to become a Christian. God choose him. Notice what Paul has to say about those who have been ‘appointed to eternal life’:
The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the message of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him. Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: “It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles! For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the message of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed (Acts 13:44-48 HCSB)
Those who receive the ‘new birth’, the birth of their dead spirit they are physically born with, become Christians and are now engaged in a struggle between their spirit which is now alive and their old flesh which they still retain. Paul gives us an account of his own struggle with this dilemma which is to be found in Romans chapters seven and eight.
The solution to this struggle for both Paul and all other Christians is found in this passage:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin. Romans 7:24-25 HCSB)
The positive consequence of having Jesus Christ as our Lord begins with the word ‘therefore’ in the next verse:
Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:1-2 HCSB)
All those who had been appointed to eternal life are declared to have been ‘predestined’ in this passage:
For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30 HCSB)
Romans chapter eight culminates with the great promise that nothing can separate a Christian from the love of God:
For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, ⌊hostile⌋ powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Romans 8:38-39 HCSB)
Summary
- Even though it may have been far more dramatic than what most of us experience’ Paul’s conversion and what followed afterward vividly portrays the Holy Spirit directed life of all Christians. When Saul surrendered to Jesus Christ and recognized him as Lord was the moment of his ‘new birth’. Our birth, both the physical and the spiritual, is the moment when life begins and is not something that happens later on in our life.
- Those that are called by God are appointed, predestined and secure in the kingdom of God. There is nothing to fear because nothing can separate them from the love of God. There is no such thing as a future judgment concerning our salvation that we have any reason to fear.
- All that Paul teaches us, including the great promises found in Galatians or his other epistles was displayed by how he lived his own life the moment he joined the kingdom of God.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised September 19, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 1
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 1
Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 1
Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings
Please Support This Project
