vessel and his strength was made perfect in weakness.^363 But all the more must we admire the moral
heroism which turned weakness itself into an element of strength, and despite pain and trouble and
persecution carried the gospel salvation triumphantly from Damascus to Rome.§ 31. The Conversion of Paul.
Εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεος ... ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἱνα εὐαγγελίζωμαι αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς
ἔθνεσινGal. 1:15, 16.
The conversion of Paul marks not only a turning-point in his personal history, but also an
important epoch in the history of the apostolic church, and consequently in the history of mankind.
It was the most fruitful event since the miracle of Pentecost, and secured the universal victory of
Christianity.
The transformation of the most dangerous persecutor into the most successful promoter of
Christianity is nothing less than a miracle of divine grace. It rests on the greater miracle of the
resurrection of Christ. Both are inseparably connected; without the resurrection the conversion
would have been impossible, and on the other hand the conversion of such a man and with such
results is one of the strongest proofs of the resurrection.
The bold attack of Stephen—the forerunner of Paul—upon the hard, stiff-necked Judaism
which had crucified the Messiah, provoked a determined and systematic attempt on the part of the
Sanhedrin to crucify Jesus again by destroying his church. In this struggle for life and death Saul
the Pharisee, the bravest and strongest of the rising rabbis, was the willing and accepted leader.
After the martyrdom of Stephen and the dispersion of the congregation of Jerusalem, he
proceeded to Damascus in suit of the fugitive disciples of Jesus, as a commissioner of the Sanhedrin,
a sort of inquisitor-general, with full authority and determination to stamp out the Christian rebellion,
and to bring all the apostates he could find, whether they were men or women, in chains to the holy
city to be condemned by the chief priests.
Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world, known in the days of Abraham, and bursts
upon the traveller like a vision of paradise amidst a burning and barren wilderness of sand; it is
watered by the never-failing rivers Abana and Pharpar (which Naaman of old preferred to all the
waters of Israel), and embosomed in luxuriant gardens of flowers and groves of tropical fruit trees;
hence glorified by Eastern poets as "the Eye of the Desert."
But a far higher vision than this earthly paradise was in store for Saul as he approached the
city. A supernatural light from heaven, brighter than the Syrian sun, suddenly flashed around him
at midday, and Jesus of Nazareth, whom he persecuted in his humble disciples, appeared to him in
his glory as the exalted Messiah, asking him in the Hebrew tongue: "Shaûl, Shaûl, why persecutest
thou Me?^364 It was a question both of rebuke and of love, and it melted his heart. He fell prostrate9:3, 17, 18; Comp. 22:13; 23:3, 5; Gal. 4:15); Ewald and Lightfoot, epilepsy, with illustration from the life of King Alfred
(Mohammed would be even more to the point). Other conjectures of external, or spiritual trials (persecution, carnal temptations,
bad temper, doubt, despondency, blasphemous suggestions of the devil, etc.) are ruled out by a strict exegesis of the two chief
passages in 2 Cor. 12 and Gal. 4, which point to a physical malady. See an Excursus on Paul’s thorn in the flesh in my Commentary
on Gal. 4:13-15 (Pop. Com. vol. III.).(^363) 2 Cor. 4:7; 12:9, 10.
(^364) Acts 9:4, the Hebrew form Σαούλ, Σαούλ, is used instead of the usual GreekΣαῦλος, 9:8, 11, 22, 24, etc.
A.D. 1-100.