The Conversion Of Saul To Paul
Author: Rob VandeWeghe

Paul, the great apostle who founded churches throughout Asia
and Europe, whose missionary spirit fills the book of Acts, and
who wrote much of the New Testament was initially a fanatic
Christian killer.

Known originally as Saul of Tarsus, Paul is introduced in the
New Testament at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1), one of seven
Hellenistic deacons, around 34 AD, only about twelve months
after the resurrection.

Next, "Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to
house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison"
(Acts 8:3). Extending the vigorous Jewish persecution of the
young Christian movement, Saul travelled to Damascus with
letters from the high priest to imprison more Christians.
However, on the road to the city he encountered the resurrected
Jesus. A few days later he was baptized and filled with the Holy
Spirit (Acts 9). Paul, in his own words described his dramatic
conversion in letters to churches in Corinth (1 Corinthians
15:9-10), Galatia (Galatians 1:12-23), and Philippi (Philippians
3:6-7).

Initially, Paul's conversion was met with suspicion; even the
apostles were reluctant to meet with him when he returned to
Jerusalem the first time after his conversion: "Then after three
years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and
stayed with him for fifteen days. I saw none of the other
apostles – only James the Lord's brother" (Galatians 1:18-19,
emphasis added). In these days, so soon after the resurrection,
the apostles remained in the Jerusalem area, apparently they
were still not convinced that Paul's conversion was genuine.
Only years later, all apostles felt comfortable with Paul as a
fellow Christian and apostle. This might also be one of the main
reasons that Paul's ministry was mostly in Gentile territory as
far away as possible from his initial anti-Christian, Pharisaic
roots.

Saul/Paul spent the remainder of his life in ministry and
church planting until his death as a martyr in Rome around 66/67
AD.

A dramatic conversion as what happened to Paul is not
necessarily unique. Critics and skeptics will assert that
history shows numerous examples of people that convert from one
set of beliefs to another. What makes Paul's conversion such
strong evidence is its cause. People usually convert to a
particular religion because they have heard the message of that
religion from a secondary source and have believed it. Quite
similar is how Christians today reach out to non-Christians and
share the gospel of Christ. Very contrary to this, Paul's
conversion to Christianity did not include any sharing by any
Christian. It was based completely on his personal encounter
with Jesus. Today, we might believe that Jesus rose from the
dead based on secondary evidence, trusting the testimony of the
disciples and Paul who saw the risen Christ, but for Paul, his
experience came from an unexpected primary source: Jesus
appeared to him personally. His conversion was not based on the
testimony of someone else.


About The Author: Rob VandeWeghe is a skeptic turned Christian
by studying the foundations for Christianity. A comprehensive
overview of the evidences for the Christian faith, as well as
Rob's book `Prepared to Answer' are available at
http://www.windmillministries.org