The Incredible Jesus

Before we go any further into the individual components of the New Testament, it may be helpful to learn a little bit about the man who is (either directly or indirectly) behind most of it: Paul. It is true that I tend to take a bit of a cynical tone towards his actual knowledge of the Nazarene, it can not be denied that he is the singular most impactful human of all time…..with the possible exception of Eric Idle and Monty Python.

Paul was born with the name of Saul. Traditionally, he is said to be from Tarsus; which is today located in Turkïye (Turkey now wants to be referred as Turkïye btw.) There is reason to believe that his family is originally from Gish in the Galilee and were expelled following the Judas of Galilee uprising of 4-6 BCE. According to him, he is a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Phillipians 3:5); that is, of the tribe of Benjamin and of the Pharisee flavor. Being born in Tarsus grants baby Saul his Roman citizenship.

Read more: Part 1.5: The Man Behind (most of) the New Testament; Paul.

Based on the amount of sporting references used later in his life in his epistles, one could infer that he either endulged in sports as a youth or was an avid afficionado. For education, he claims to have “studied at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3); one of the most popular teachers of the Law in those times. Gamaliel resided in Jerusalem so it can be gathered that his family relocated to Jerusalem fairly early in his childhood in time to start his education.

For his teenage years, I am sure they were filled with awkward angst and the belief that he knew everything better than the adults. I am basing this on the fact that he was a teenage boy (enough said.) As an adult, he was a leather worker producing mainly tents. (Acts 18:1-4). Given that the main customers of said wares would have been the occupying Roman army, it is no mystery as to how he became so hellenised. This shouldn’t be very surprising however as he was a Roman citizen by right of birth in Tarsus.

He is keen to present a Curriculum Vitae that would show him to be an expert in Jewish law. This becomes necessary later as he is forced to defend “his” gospel to the Jewish authorities. Seeing as he was a “super-Jew”, (being of the tribe of Benjamin and having sat at the feet of Gamaliel……don’t you know?) he took part in the Pharisaic duty of interpreting and applying the Torah on the jewish population in the various cities. Numerous verses outline his role in rooting out members of the fledgling Jesus movement and binding them to the chief priests in Jerusalem for them to be imprisoned or executed. (Acts 29:9-11, Acts 9:1-2 etc). In fact, this was his duty as he set out on his fateful journey to Damascus.

At about 150 miles from Jerusalem, the journey to Damascus in those days was not a short one. Today it is an impossible journey to make as it lies in Syria, a country that denies entrance to Israelis or anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport. In the soon-to-be-Paul’s day however, it was yet another town in the Roman empire under the rule of Herod Philip (probably). Realistically speaking, Saul was setting out on a journey of 1.5 – 2 weeks…..maybe less if he walked fast and all his stuff was in carry-on; his Jansport backpack.

Often, we modern folk tend to think the trip on “the road to Damascus” being an afternoon walk taken during the course of the work day. It was not. It was a trek. At least two weeks worth of provisions would have had to have been carried with him. While there were certainly small towns along the way, he would not have carried very much money with him due to the threat of robbers along the way.

It was along this road that his conversion apparition; his vision of Jesus occurred. A blinding flash overcame him and he fell to the ground as a voice asked him “why do you persecute me?” The voice identified itself as Jesus and beckoned him continue into the city. Paul was unable to see and had to be led the rest of the way by the hand. (Acts 9:1-9)

Given that there were two weeks for this to happen and that the apparition was not seen by anyone other than Paul himself, I personally wonder if Paul did not have an epileptic episode of some sort. Many like to picture the event happening with a hooded man joining them as they were walking only to then reveal himself. It doesnt appear as though this was the case as Paul himself describes only a flash of light visible to him alone. (Acts 9:3-4). He later states that all of his visions of Jesus were similar visions( 2 Corinthians 12:1). Dr. James Tabor writes extensively about this in a piece examining the nature of Paul’s belief in resurrection of Jesus; Spiritually or Bodlily. This can be found here.

Paul also describes having a “thorn in his side” in the form of chronic physical issue that ailes him. Just about every condition known to man has been suggested but given the report of receiving the Word through these incapacitating visions, my money is on epilepsy.

Whatever the source, the incident on the way to Damascus changed him even down to his very name. Once Saul became Paul, he took for himself the authority of Jesus and used it to spread what he called “his gospel” throughout the empire. He took this authority very seriously even to the point of opposing the very disciples with whom Jesus spend his ministry and last years of his life with. Down to his core, he feels he was called to this role while he was gestating in Mamma Saul’s womb. (Galatians 1:15) He brings his natural tenacity, competitiveness, sharp tongue and even at times arrogance to his adventurous evangelism as he believes it is his earthly purpose.

Allow me to mention that neither Paul or Saul ever met Jesus while he was on alive on earth. I am not sure if I have mentioned that before in any of the other posts.

This is a good place to stop in our brief overview of the personality of Paul. The rest of his exploits will be explored along with the study of his works and interactions with the Jerusalem church leaders. Stay tuned for part 2!