Sunday, September 17, 2006
Saul of Tarsus, Paulus, Paul, Saint
Hi,
The great turncoat, not because from Saul to Paul !
In days of old, soldiers literally turn their coats inside out and join the enemy. A turncoat is thus a person who changes to the opposite party or reverses beliefs, principles or loyalty. In the Bible there is one very great turncoat. He is Saul of Tarsus.
Saul was born a Jew in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, thus also of Roman citizenship. He was a Pharisee, nurtured by his teacher, Rabbi Gamaliel, a highly respected member of the Sanhedrin.
After the death and ascension of Jesus, his apostles and disciples were persecuted by the Jews. And when St. Stephen, the first martyr, was being stoned to death, Saul kept watch over the clothes of the attackers. Saul also laid waste the church and committed men and women to prison. Later he obtained a commission from the high priest to go to Damascus to arrest other members of the Way.
As he approached Damascus, a lightning struck him blind and he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
Saul answered, "Who are you, Lord ?"
The voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Then they led the blinded Saul into Damascus.
In Damascus a man named Ananias was instructed by the Lord in a vision to look for one Saul to cure his sight, while Saul was similarly given a vision of Ananias coming to heal him. Ananias was afraid, knowing of Saul's evil mission. But the Lord said to him, "Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name."
For three days Saul was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank but prayed. Ananias went and laid his hands on him, saying, "Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came has sent me, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength. He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, and then began to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God in the synagogues.
All who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who in Jerusalem ravaged those who call upon this name, and came here expressly to take them back in chains to the chief priests?" But Saul grew all the stronger and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Then the Jews conspired to kill him, and they kept watch on the gates day and night to do so. But their plot became known to Saul, and his disciples took him one night and let him down through an opening in the wall, and lowered him in a basket out of the city.
Saul's name means asked of Yahweh; in Roman it is Paulus, or simply it is Paul.
Paul thereafter carried out the work Jesus set for him. He travelled widely, preached and suffered.
On his first missionary journey Paul and Barnabus visited the island of Cypress, then Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, all in Asia Minor, and established churches at Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
After the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem, Paul, accompanied by Silas and later also by Timothy and Luke, made his second missionary journey, first revisiting the churches previously established by him in Asia Minor, and then passing through Galatia. At Troas a vision of a Macedonian was had by Paul, which impressed him as a call from God to evangelize in Macedonia. He accordingly sailed for Europe, and preached the Gospel in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, and Corinth. Then he returned to Antioch by way of Ephesus and Jerusalem.
On his third missionary journey, Paul visited nearly the same regions as on the second trip, but made Ephesus, where he remained nearly three years, the center of his missionary activity. He laid plans also for another missionary journey, intending to leave Jerusalem for Rome and Spain. But persecutions by the Jews hindered him from accomplishing his purpose. After two years of imprisonment at Caesarea he finally reached Rome, where he was kept another two years in chains.
When Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment, he traveled to Spain, later to the East again, and then back to Rome, where he was imprisoned a second time.
Paul was beheaded in the year 67. His tomb and shrine are at the Roman basilica of St. Paul's Without the Walls .
Have a nice day
Ronald
The great turncoat, not because from Saul to Paul !
In days of old, soldiers literally turn their coats inside out and join the enemy. A turncoat is thus a person who changes to the opposite party or reverses beliefs, principles or loyalty. In the Bible there is one very great turncoat. He is Saul of Tarsus.
Saul was born a Jew in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, thus also of Roman citizenship. He was a Pharisee, nurtured by his teacher, Rabbi Gamaliel, a highly respected member of the Sanhedrin.
After the death and ascension of Jesus, his apostles and disciples were persecuted by the Jews. And when St. Stephen, the first martyr, was being stoned to death, Saul kept watch over the clothes of the attackers. Saul also laid waste the church and committed men and women to prison. Later he obtained a commission from the high priest to go to Damascus to arrest other members of the Way.
As he approached Damascus, a lightning struck him blind and he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
Saul answered, "Who are you, Lord ?"
The voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Then they led the blinded Saul into Damascus.
In Damascus a man named Ananias was instructed by the Lord in a vision to look for one Saul to cure his sight, while Saul was similarly given a vision of Ananias coming to heal him. Ananias was afraid, knowing of Saul's evil mission. But the Lord said to him, "Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name."
For three days Saul was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank but prayed. Ananias went and laid his hands on him, saying, "Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came has sent me, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength. He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, and then began to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God in the synagogues.
All who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who in Jerusalem ravaged those who call upon this name, and came here expressly to take them back in chains to the chief priests?" But Saul grew all the stronger and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Then the Jews conspired to kill him, and they kept watch on the gates day and night to do so. But their plot became known to Saul, and his disciples took him one night and let him down through an opening in the wall, and lowered him in a basket out of the city.
Saul's name means asked of Yahweh; in Roman it is Paulus, or simply it is Paul.
Paul thereafter carried out the work Jesus set for him. He travelled widely, preached and suffered.
On his first missionary journey Paul and Barnabus visited the island of Cypress, then Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, all in Asia Minor, and established churches at Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
After the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem, Paul, accompanied by Silas and later also by Timothy and Luke, made his second missionary journey, first revisiting the churches previously established by him in Asia Minor, and then passing through Galatia. At Troas a vision of a Macedonian was had by Paul, which impressed him as a call from God to evangelize in Macedonia. He accordingly sailed for Europe, and preached the Gospel in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, and Corinth. Then he returned to Antioch by way of Ephesus and Jerusalem.
On his third missionary journey, Paul visited nearly the same regions as on the second trip, but made Ephesus, where he remained nearly three years, the center of his missionary activity. He laid plans also for another missionary journey, intending to leave Jerusalem for Rome and Spain. But persecutions by the Jews hindered him from accomplishing his purpose. After two years of imprisonment at Caesarea he finally reached Rome, where he was kept another two years in chains.
When Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment, he traveled to Spain, later to the East again, and then back to Rome, where he was imprisoned a second time.
Paul was beheaded in the year 67. His tomb and shrine are at the Roman basilica of St. Paul's Without the Walls .
Have a nice day
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 6:34 PM 
