Meet Paul

Ordinarily, I intro only the book we’re reading.  But today, I believe it’s important to introduce a character.  Meet Paul the Apostle.

Chapter 9 of the Book of Acts, is pivotal in Church history and a revelation of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross that no one expected.  They thought that the Gospel was only for the Jews. 

Saul was a devout Jew, trained as a strict Pharisee under Gamaliel (Remember him? The old guy who laid wisdom on the Sanhedrin about how to deal with this Jesus movement?).  But Jesus had different plans. 

Little did Saul or anyone else know that this was the man who would do a complete 180 and ultimately write 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament.  That’s right…almost half of the New Testament is made up of letters that Saul – Paul – wrote to the early churches. 

And it seems a good time to point out that Saul and Paul are the same guy.  Saul was his Hebraic name and Paul was his Greek name.  His name was not changed like God did to Abraham in the Old Testament.   However, I think we can all agree that he did have a change of heart and this is something for us to remember today. 

The power of Jesus changes lives.  The next time we’re praying for our friends and relatives who need Christ, and it seems like the change is never going to happen, we can rely on that Power.