Saul's First Experiences as a Christian
“But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took council to kill him,” etc. — Acts ix. 22-31.
“nnHEN was Saul certain days with the disciples which JL were at Damascus.” After the great change, he did not immediately go either to Jerusalem or to Tarsus, his home. He was not yet ready to begin his mission to the Gentiles. He was, as yet, a novice; and in his own experience he first learned the rule which he afterwards prescribed, to “lay hands suddenly on no man” for ordination to the public ministry of the gospel.
“Straightway,” however, it is added, “he preached Christ in the synagogues” of the city where he happened to reside. As one who had received mercy, he instantly began to make it known; but this is not yet the exercise of his apostolic office. It is the witnessing of a convert, on the method practised by David the king. I should not expect much from a missionary or a minister after he had completed his preparation and been ordained to his office, if he had not in the course of his preparation sought and found opportunities of bearing witness for Christ.
The old proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” was revived with a new meaning and greater power. “All that heard it were amazed,” and well they might. No such contrast had ever occurred in the memory of the people — no such contrast has ever been presented in the history of the Church. Already the conversion of Saul began to be felt as an evidence of Christianity. In this aspect it is a great study, and has been of late years presented with great variety of learning and skill. The more that you examine the facts, the more you are shut up to the conclusion that all suppositions fail except one — that Christ appeared to Saul in the way, and turned the heart of the king like a river of water, so that the whole volume of his life thenceforth flowed in a new channel and to an opposite sea.
If Saul was not true, he must have been either deceived or a deceiver; he must have been either a fanatic believing his own error, or a deep schemer, consciously cheating his contemporaries by an elaborate tissue of falsehoods. If you suppose that he was himself deceived, what fanatic ever exhibited the calmness, constancy, wisdom, and humility of this man, through a long and extremely active life, in contact with all classes of men, with mobs and with statesmen, and profoundly influencing all? To believe that such a life had no other origin and support than the whim of an enthusiast, is intellectually harder than to believe that it sprang from his meeting with the Lord.
If, on the other hand, you suppose him a deceiver, where shall you find a motive? He renounced place, and power, and honour. He attached himself to a small, despised, and persecuted sect: he suffered the loss of all things that he might win Christ for himself, and preach him to others. This supposition is contrary to nature — contrary to universal law. The conversion, and life, and ministry of Paul constitute a strong pillar, raised by the hand of the King in the mid-stream of human life, that mightily helps to make fast a disciple’s faith, when the currents of time threaten to carry it away. He hath done all things well. “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits!”
From the simplest testimony of the new-born to the fact of his regeneration, the word of the convert increased in power until it silenced all his adversaries. “Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.” But the unbelieving Jews, true to their character, raised a persecution against him. They could not, indeed, withstand this witness in argument; but they could kill him. Already he began to suffer what he had formerly inflicted. He saw clearly that this would be his experience to the end of his course, yet he never wavered. He had counted the cost.
Somewhere in the interval between his conversion and his final escape from Damascus the sojourn in Arabia probably took place (Gal. i. 1 7). Arabia, like Asia, is a very indefinite term in ancient geography. It indicates sometimes a larger and sometimes a smaller district of the same region. “Whether Paul retired to the desert which lay close by Damascus, or went into the region of which Petraea was the capital, or penetrated into the Sinaitic peninsula, we cannot ascertain.
Nor are we informed of his occupation there. Probably he did not go thither to preach, like Philip, even to a single seeking soul. The object more probably was retirement, with such inner exercise of spirit as might qualify him better for his subsequent work. Here he was physically as well as spiritually in the track of Moses, and in the track of a greater than Moses. There seems to be some mysterious necessity that one who is commissioned to lead a great exodus, should be trained beforehand in a solitude.
The length of this sojourn in Arabia is also left uncertain. His residence in the city immediately after his conversion, the sojourn in the wilderness, and his subsequent abode in Damascus occupied three years in all. The Jewish authorities had time to recover from their consternation, and now they took courage to resume the offensive. They took counsel to kill him; but he found the means of escape, and returned to Jerusalem.
At Jerusalem, Saul sought the society of the disciples of Jesus; but they feared a plot, and kept out of his way. No wonder that they feared him. The flock had suffered by the wolf, and they could not easily believe that the creature’s nature had been completely changed. Here Barnabas appears in his proper character as a son of consolation. Knowing the history of the case, he took the convert under his protection and obtained for him a welcome into the bosom of the Church. Again the convert preached with power, and again the power of his preaching excited the enmity of the Jews. When his life was a second time exposed to danger the brethren withdrew him to the sea-coast at Csesarea, and thence sent him to Tarsus that he might be beyond the reach of his persevering persecutors.
Then had the Churches rest. At first they were troubled by Saul persecuting, and next they were troubled by Saul being persecuted; but now that the greatest enemy had been subdued, and the most obnoxious Christian sent into Asia, there was a lull in the storm, and the Christians obtained an opportunity of consolidating their infant society. They used their opportunity well; for “they were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” When they obtained relief from external persecution, they became spiritually prosperous. They grew in numbers and in grace. We are accustomed to think that a time of suffering is the most likely to be a time of reviving, either in the private experience of a Christian, or the public experience of the Church. This may be true in point of fact; but it would be a great mistake to suppose that a state of suffering is in its own nature better fitted to edify the body of Christ than a state of peace. Severe trouble tends to crush the spirit; and when deliverance comes, there is liberty if there be a will to run in the way of the Lord’s commandments. The time of health and prosperity is a better time for growth in grace than a time of adversity, if it were rightly improved. Nothing nore distinctly marks the spirit of adoption than to cleave closely to the Lord in the height of health: it is the sign of a carnal mind to occupy itself with the earth till a time of sickness, and then begin to cry, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Nothing is said here about the profession of those primitive Christians: the only thing mentioned is their walk; and it is described by two features. They walked “in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” Both sides are given. All solid things have two sides. The engine and train cannot run on one rail; a man cannot walk on one foot; two are required to balance each other. The new life
230 The Chiwch in the House.
must also be sustained on two that are in some sense opposite to each other. Such was the Christian experience that issued from the empty grave of Jesus; “they departed from the sepulchre with fear and great joy.” Such precisely was the life of the disciples in J udea when they obtained a breathing time after persecution. “This child is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel.” They were bowed down, and then raised up. Their hearts were first broken, and then healed. They feared greatly before the Lord because of sin, and then the Holy Ghost comforted them by showing them the things of Christ.
We have now passed in review the first section of Saul’s new life. In that man’s history the law of the Lord, that there are diversities of operation, was most conspicuously exhibited. The choice and call of the twelve did not complete the Saviour’s scheme for the beginning of the gospel. For the purpose of introducing his kingdom to the Jews he adopted one method; for the purpose of spreading it among the nations he adopted another.
In this respect especially did the call of Saul differ from that of the twelve, that he was a man of learning, and they were not. The Lord had need at one time of the simplicity and even the ignorance of the apostles, that the excellency of the power might be seen to be of God; at another time he had need of all the culture that the age possessed, that Greek might meet Greek on equal terms in the conflict.
Tor other purposes Saul had laboured in the fires at Tarsus and at Jerusalem to acquire all the learning of the schools. For purposes of his own ambition and sectarian zeal he had amassed the treasures; but as soon as he had acquired his wealth, the Mighty One met and subdued him, and employed his wealth in building up what he had intended to destroy. The Egyptians had accumulated great riches, which they intended to employ in grinding the Israel of God; but Israel went out free, and spoiled the Egyptians in the outgoing.
Thus had Saul collected his treasures, that he might use them in wasting the Church of Christ; but he and his possessions were taken and pressed into the service of the new King. Again were the treasures of Egypt rifled to enrich the sanctuary of God.
In this extraordinary way was an educated ministry in the first instance obtained; but afterwards the supply was provided by direct human means. Only once did Israel obtain a supply by spoiling Egypt; afterwards, when they were settled in Canaan, they obtained their wealth in a normal way, — by merchandise, or agriculture, or mining in the mountains. It is thus that resources wrested from the enemy enriched the ministry at the outset of the gospel; but for ordinary times we must ply ordinary methods. We have no right to expect a qualified ministry without our own far-seeing and painstaking effort. Hence the Churches, although they know that the Head sent Paul, as it were, a gift from heaven, are content to train up their ministers as Timothy was trained, first at the feet of godly parents, and then under the instruction of more experienced teachers.