The whole 22nd chapter of Acts is an amazing story of Saul’s conversion and the reason why the Jews began to hate him. As the foremost enemy of the Christian Faith, he was the most infamous of their persecutors.....their champion.
But he relates to his Jewish brothers what happened to him on the road to Damascus, where he was to round up more Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for public punishment.....a miraculous event that changed the course of his entire life. No one could question Saul’s zeal for his God as he demonstrated with his severe mistreatment of Christ’s followers. The Jews had hoped that the execution of their leader would silence this group, but they just continued to increase in numbers despite the persecution.
God saw that this man’s zeal was misdirected, and chose him, a man so very different to the 12 who were uneducated men, to send him to the Gentiles.....he was quite at home with the Greek philosophers and others due to his education and status as a Pharisee....he was a Roman citizen, which gave him rights that others did not have, and he was used extensively by his Lord Jesus to bring good news to the nations as well as to his Jewish brothers who had not been hoodwinked by the Pharisees, such as the Beroeans.
A faithful Jewish Christian named Ananias’ was instructed to restore sight to the blinded Saul and to give him instructions...
“He said: ‘The God of our forefathers has chosen you to come to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear the voice of his mouth, 15 because you are to be a witness for him to all men of the things you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you delaying? Rise, get baptized, and wash your sins away by your calling on his name.’” (Acts 22:14-16)
So with his baptism, Saul became the apostle Paul, a zealous witness for Jesus, and servant of his God Yahweh in a completely different capacity. He was used by God to pen a great deal of our Christian Scripture, and proved to be a real asset to the Christian Faith, which is why God chose him.
To use his baptism as a model for others is not really accurate. For the majority of the first Christians, baptism was firstly as a symbol of repentance over breaches of God’s law....this was in preparation for the Jews to receive Jesus as Messiah, as John was sent to “prepare the way” for his ministry. Now in a repentant state, they were ready to hear his powerful discourses and if their heart inclined them, they would become his disciples by being baptised again “in Jesus’s name”. John’s baptism was in preparation for what was to come.
Later, Christian baptism did not require John’s baptism.....he was actually executed by Herod before Jesus died.
So, Christian baptism back then, followed hearing the Christian message and being taught about the Christ and then being baptized publicly as a disciple of Jesus, dedicating their life to following Christ’s teachings.
Jesus’ instructions to his disciples shows what took place....
Matt 10:11-15...
“Into whatever city or village you enter, search out who in it is deserving, and stay there until you leave. 12 When you enter the house, greet the household. 13 If the house is deserving, let the peace you wish it come upon it; but if it is not deserving, let the peace from you return upon you. 14 Wherever anyone does not receive you or listen to your words, on going out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I say to you, it will be more endurable for the land of Sodʹom and Go·morʹrah on Judgment Day than for that city.”
The ministry assigned to Christ’s disciples meant visiting people in their homes and imparting the message to them. Those who responded were granted peace, but to those who did not respond, the peace was to return to the messengers, who then “shook the dust off their feet” in symbol of God’s rejection of them....it would be “more endurable for Sodom and Gomorrah” on judgment day, than for those ones.
In Saul’s case, God chose him, he did not choose God....so therefore his conversion is not the norm.
As an apostle, he was not taught by the other apostles, but by the resurrected Jesus himself. Only after that period of education did he join the other apostles in their assigned ministry.
There is always a story behind any quotation of scripture....we have to make sure that we know where it fits in the big picture so that we don’t give people a false impression.
Being “born again” means different things to different people......how can that be?
What does it mean to you?