1 Corinthians 15:8-10. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
The last recorded resurrection appearance of Christ in the New Testament is his appearance to Paul on the Damascus Road. It is unlike any of the other appearances. Where all the others occurred within the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus, Paul’s experience of Jesus was years later. Where we have almost no information about Christ’s appearance to Peter, James, or the five hundred, we have three detailed accounts of his appearance to Paul in the book of Acts. And where the other appearances were to people who knew and loved Jesus, the appearance to Paul was to a man who vehemently hated the very idea of Jesus.
Acts 9 records the story of Paul’s conversion. He was literally blinded by the light of Christ. Jesus appeared to him on the road and spoke to him, “Paul, why are you persecuting ME?” (Jesus clearly identified his followers with himself, his own body). Paul remained blind for three days until Ananias, a disciple of Christ, baptized him (however reluctantly) and the scales fell off his eyes, both literally and spiritually.
From there Paul went off into the wilderness for three years to be taught by Jesus. Paul had to unlearn everything he thought he knew about God, the Law, salvation, Jesus, the Church, and even his own suffering that lay ahead of him. Paul says that in the Arabian wilderness Jesus himself taught him the gospel. Incredible!
Upon returning to Jerusalem, Paul would then meet with and be taught by Peter and James. His Apostleship confirmed, he would now head west to Tarsus. Ten years later, Barnabas will bring Paul back east to the Church in Antioch to help teach the believers there. The church in Antioch, by the Holy Spirit, will then commission Paul and Barnabas as missionaries of the gospel. And the rest is history as they say.
Truly the conversion of Paul to Christ is one of the most incredible and surprising stories in the Bible. It literally changed the course of human history. This man who once went door to door dragging Christians to prison, the man who ordered the stoning of Stephen and watched him die with both hatred and joy in his heart, this man dedicated to destroying the “dangerous” Jesus cult – The Way. From murderer to missionary. Author of scripture. Defender of doctrine. Planter of churches around the Empire.
The conversion of Paul is a portrait for us of the great reversal of God. If God can save Paul, then God can save anyone. If God loves Paul, who hated Jesus, God can love anyone. Even you. Even me.
Paul understood better than anyone that he was saved by grace through faith, not by his own good works. As he says in Philippians, all his goodness prior to Christ was actually garbage in God’s sight.
Think about your own life before Christ. How much of it was garbage? All of it. Think about your own conversion to Christ. How much of it was grace? All of it.
Today, as we focus on Paul, let us focus on the grace of God. The saving and sanctifying grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who would choose a person “too far gone” and spin him around to be used by God to spread the gospel to the Gentiles so that they too might taste and see that the Lord is good.
Not only is God’s great reversal seen in Paul but now in the whole church. The dividing wall of hostility has been broken down and we are all one in Christ. All of human history since Genesis 3 now turned on is head and restored to what it was always intended to be – unity in the love and life of God. As Paul himself says, “In Christ there is not Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free.” Race. Gender. Socio-economics. All these categories are secondary to the one category: in Christ.
To be sure, Paul’s conversion experience is likely very different from yours. Hopefully, your pre-Jesus life was nowhere near as murderous and destructive. And I’m guessing your conversion experience didn’t include blinding light and the audible voice of Jesus. But in many ways, your conversion to Christ is exactly the same as Paul’s. An external expression of Christ came to you by grace, it changed whatever you thought you knew about life, God, and yourself. Like Paul, by faith you saw your sin exposed and you trusted the word of Christ without fully understanding all that that entailed. And also like Paul, the entire trajectory of your life has radically changed (whether you know it or not).
As Paul says about himself, may we all say about ourselves as well…
1 Timothy 1:12-17. 12I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
You: How would you describe yourself before Christ?
You in Christ: How does being in Christ allow you to say these words with Paul – But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life?
Christ in you: How has God’s great reversal been evident in you since you came to Jesus?
Prayer: Father, I too am a chief among sinners who‘s only hope is your mercy and grace. No bright lights or audible voices, but still the same salvation has changed my life. Display your perfect patience in me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 