Session 3

Saul the ChristianIn my mind I can see Saul entering the synagogue on the

first Sabbath after his conversion. Nothing outward has changed. He still wears his blue trimmed robe (the only clothes he brought).

He would have been greeted warmly by the elders and rulers of the synagogue.

He would probably have been given the honor of reading from the Torah. He read the lectionary passage, each inflection

correct and returned the scroll.

Imagine the shock of everyone when he stood up and proclaimed Jesus Christ the Son of God!

Saul the ChristianSometime later, (many days) Saul became the target of death threats from the Jews. The city gates would have been heavily guarded and therefore, he had to be lowered bodily down the wall is a basket.

Acts 9:25 - But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

2 Corinthians 11:32-33 - In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

Saul the ChristianSometime later, (many days) Saul became the target of death threats from the Jews. The city gates would have been heavily guarded and therefore, he had to be lowered bodily down the wall is a basket.

As Paul quietly made his way to the road trying to avoid the guards, he could not help but feel that his humiliation was complete.

The once proud and mighty leader of the crusade was now a fugitive himself.

The irony is complete. The once high and mighty representative of the high priest himself makes his exit in a basket, helped by the very people he came to persecute.

Saul in Arabia and BeyondSaul escaped into Arabia.

Galatians 1:15-18 - But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.

Saul in Arabia and BeyondThe most likely place for him to have gone was in the Nabatean Kingdom.

Saul went here to learn. Preaching was probably incidental to his primary purpose.

Weeks turned into months, turned into years. The winter storms;The spring when the desert was scented with flowersThe furnace of summer.

Saul in Arabia and BeyondThe most likely place for him to have gone was in the Nabatean Kingdom.

Saul went here to learn. Preaching was probably incidental to his primary purpose.

We don’t know how long Saul spent in either Arabia or Damascus.

Galatians 1:17-18 - … I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.

We believe that approximately three years transpired between his conversion and his journey to Jerusalem to meet with Peter.

Back to JerusalemActs 9:26-27 - When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

Back to JerusalemActs 9:26-27 - When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

I wonder why?

Back to JerusalemActs 9:26-27 - When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

We first met Barnabas (AKA Joseph) in Acts 4

Acts 4:36-37 - Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

Barnabas was truly an encourager to Paul.

Back to JerusalemActs 9:26-27 - When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

This is the beginning of a long, long relationship.

Five years later (+/-) Barnabas will travel to Tarsus and convince Saul to travel with him to Syrian Antioch (Acts 11).

They worked together for two years teaching and preaching and ministering not only to the flock in Antioch but also bringing famine relief to the church in Jerusalem.

Back to JerusalemActs 9:26-27 - When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

This is the beginning of a long, long relationship.

Barnabas was Saul’s companion on his first mission trip (Acts 13-14).

Barnabas accompanied Saul (now called Paul) to Jerusalem for the big pow-wow (Acts 15).

Paul and Barnabas have a falling out over John Mark and Barnabas (with John Mark) returns to Cyprus.

Back to JerusalemOn the strength of Barnabas’ recommendation, Peter agrees to meet with Saul.

Galatians 1:17-18 - … I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.

You couldn’t have hand-picked a most dissimilar pair. Saul was from a privileged background, highly educated, and mentally sharp. Peter, on the other hand, was a blustery fisherman, literate as most Jewish boys would have been, but lacking in formal education.

Where Saul had persecuted Christ, Peter had denied him.

What was common to both was that the Risen Lord had transformed both men.

Back to JerusalemSaul spent the next two weeks with Peter.

Saul knew the Scriptures (what we now call the Old Testament) but he didn’t know the words and deeds of Jesus.

That the early church possessed a vast treasure of the words and actions is reflected in the closing words of John’s gospel:

John 21:25 - Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Back to JerusalemSaul spent the next two weeks with Peter.

Paul and Peter spent hours in the cool of his home, on the Mt. of Olives, or in the temple courts. All the while Peter related the words and deeds of Jesus in the very places they happened.

Back to JerusalemSaul spent the next two weeks with Peter.

Paul and Peter spent hours in the cool of his home, on the Mt. of Olives, or in the temple courts. All the while Peter related the words and deeds of Jesus in the very places they happened.

Saul was not a man content to just sit and learn:

Acts 9:28 - So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

Back to JerusalemSaul spent the next two weeks with Peter.

Saul didn’t limit himself to those places where he had no compromising past. He went directly to the synagogues of the Hellenistic Jews, his old haunts, and took up where Stephen left off.

He argued and debated but it seems that every where he went strife and dissention seemed to follow him like a bad penny:

Acts 9:29 - He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.

Once again, Paul is forced to flee for his life.

Acts 9:30 - When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

The Hidden YearsSaul spends the next five years in and around his hometown of Tarsus.

Sadly, we cannot piece together this portion of his life from Scripture. There is some fragmentary evidence but whatever we say must be qualified with “maybe,” “possibly,” and “perhaps.”

Most probably he returned home. Tensions with his family would have run high since his once promising career now lay in shreds.

Saul most likely ceased dressing as a Pharisee and discontinued the daily ritual that once occupied so much of his life.

The fundamental moral law so carefully enshrined in Scripture continued to bind him but not the Mosaic injunctions.

The Hidden YearsHere Saul learned what God meant when he told Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16)

The Hidden YearsHere Saul learned what God meant when he told Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16)

2 Corinthians 11:23-25 - Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea …

The Hidden YearsHere Saul learned what God meant when he told Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16)

2 Corinthians 11:23-25 - Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea …

The Hidden Years2 Corinthians 11:23-25 - Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea …

These whippings would almost have to have been administered during Saul’s stay in Tarsus since the beating with rods was a Roman punishment.

Such punishments could and were handed out by local synagogues to their members for the purpose of reigning in wayward persons.

The Hidden YearsScourging was regarded as the correction of a brother, purging his offense that he might resume a place in the family of the synagogue. Pollack, John. The Apostle: A Life of Paul. P. 55.

Why Paul would have been whipped is anyone’s guess. Given his mission to minister to the Gentiles, it is entirely conceivable that he was found eating or conversing with a Gentile in the Gentile’s home or something similar.

Regardless of the violation, Paul would have most certainly have been cared for at home as his family would still have had a moral responsibility for him regardless of his transgressions.

What we do know is that Paul endured to the end. He tasted the agony which he inflicted on others and also the sharing of his pain in Christ Jesus.

The Hidden YearsIf in fact Saul was scourged five times in Tarsus, it is very likely that after the fifth whipping, he would have been excommunicated from the synagogue.

This probably would have been the last straw for his family as well.

And so the Cilician stage of Saul’s ministry closes with our hero expelled and disinherited, reduced to apostolic poverty.

Romans 8:18 - I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

The Hidden YearsWhat then of Saul?

Some have suggested that he wandered off into the hills in the surrounding area.

We don’t know when he left Tarsus. We don’t know the circumstances surrounding his departure.

The Hidden YearsMeanwhile, back at the ranch …

The believers who left Jerusalem during the persecution following Stephen’s execution settled in Syria and other places.

Apparently they developed quite a following in Antioch of Syria.

The Hidden YearsActs 11:19-21 - Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

The church in Jerusalem was both pleased and perhaps a bit skeptical. Peter had just related his experience of the dream (Acts 10)

The Hidden YearsSo they sent Barnabas to Antioch (Syria) to check it out.

Barnabas liked what he saw and started thinking, “Who do I know that is called to be an evangelist to the Gentiles but who also could move comfortably in Jewish circles?”

The Hidden YearsAnd then it hit him ….

Saul of Tarsus!

The Hidden YearsSo, Barnabas packs up his gear and heads to Tarsus looking for Saul.

Acts 11:25-26 - Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Saul and Barnabas re-establish that friendship that served Saul so well five years ago. They labor together for an

entire year, winning the hearts and minds of many.