Saul – Good Heart
Wrong Head
Lesson 46
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This study has focused
on Bible characters whose experiences
have significant end time parallels,
and the life of the apostle Paul is
no exception. To summarize the life
of Saul before his conversion into a
single sound bite, I would say,
“good heart, wrong head.”
If I were sum up the life of Saul
after conversion, I would say,
“Whole heart, right head.”
The story of Saul’s
transformation has dimensions that
every Christian should consider
because a complete paradigm shift is
no small thing.
As a Child
Bible students know
few facts about Saul’s
childhood. Most scholars believe that
he was born about A.D.12 in the
coastal city of Tarsus. Tarsus was
near the northeast corner of the
Mediterranean Sea at a location about
250 miles southeast of where Ankara,
Turkey is today. Saul belonged to the
tribe of Benjamin, a tribe well known
for its fierce and zealous devotion.
(Genesis 49:27, Judges 20:15,16)
Saul’s parents many have named
him after the first king of Israel,
who was also a descendant from the
tribe of Benjamin. Because Pompey
made Tarsus the capital of the Roman
Province of Cilicia in 67 B.C., Saul
came into this world having two
identities: He was a Jew by
nationality, and he was also a Roman
citizen. This unique combination
ultimately enabled Paul to travel and
speak for god in places and languages
that few people could have done at
that time. As a city, Tarsus was
noted for its advanced schools,
including a respected school in stoic
philosophy. The pride of Tarsus was
its academic prowess and this son of
Tarsus was no embarrassment.
As a young man, Saul
decided to serve God as a rabbi. His
passion for learning was as great as
his ability to absorb and comprehend.
As a lad, Saul probably traveled to
Jerusalem with his father for the
appointed feasts. It must have been
an awe-inspiring treat for young Saul
to see the grandeur of the temple and
the fascinating services the priest
conducted. Perhaps it was these
events that inspired Saul to dedicate
Himself to God’s service. Saul
was not a Levite, so he could not
become a priest, however, he could do
the next best thing and become a
member of the Pharisee party.
After completing
studies in Tarsus, he was accepted
into the school taught by the
Pharisees scholars in Jerusalem.
There, he studied under the famous
teacher, Gamaliel. (Acts 22:3) I
believe Saul was about 18 when he
arrived in Jerusalem, shortly after
Jesus ascended to Heaven in A.D. 30.
Saul was deeply passionate about his
religion and being accustomed to a
life of self-denial, he paid careful
attention to right doing. Saul was
totally committed to becoming a
Pharisee. He was a zealot in every
detail; energetic, intense and
ideological. He was an exemplary
student, and because he was
intellectually superior, his teachers
were confident this young man would
have a bright future within their
ranks. It has been said, “love
is blind.” If this is so, then
Saul’s love for his religion led
him to be totally convinced of the
inerrancy of the Pharisaical
doctrines and the righteousness of
his ways. Years later he
wrote,”…If anyone else
thinks he has reasons to put
confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the
people of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in
regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for
zeal, persecuting the church; as for
legalistic righteousness,
faultless.” (Philippians 3:4-6)
Religious Parties
In Saul’s day,
Israel consisted of several religious
sects (or denominations) much like
Protestantism today. Tensions between
various sects were openly hostile and
militant toward each other at times.
Constant friction made it difficult
for Rome to govern Jerusalem. Because
Jerusalem was a city of relatives having
competing views about God, it was a
contentious place in which to live.
No doubt this caustic environment was
one reason why John the Baptist
conducted his meetings in the desert.
When Saul arrived in
Jerusalem for advanced schooling, tow
religious parties dominated the
scene. As you might expect, these two
parties represented the liberals and
the conservatives. The Pharisee
party, to which Saul had pledged
himself, was known for its pious
commitment to righteousness through
austerity and rigor. As
conservatives, they were zealous for
righteous living and were quick to
condemn anyone who violated their
rules of righteousness. (Mark 2) They
believed righteousness was of utmost
importance because they thought
unrighteous people could not receive
eternal life. Therefore, the
Pharisees were constantly codifying
righteousness by defining rules for
every aspect of life. For example,
when it came to Sabbath observance,
the Pharisees had codified more than
400 rules for proper Sabbath
observance. The Pharisees were
convinced that life in the hereafter
was only possible through rigorous
obedience to God’s laws.
Their winning argument was:
“Would God grant eternal life to
a sinner who chose to live in
ignorance and defiance to His
laws?” Because Israel had a long
history of apostasy, the Pharisees
“reasoned” that using a
heavy legalistic doctrine would
“help” the Jews prevent
apostasy from occurring again.
(Matthew 23) It is ironic that the
greatest fear of the Pharisees was
apostasy.
The religion of the
Pharisees required conformity to
rules rather than purity of heart.
(Matthew 3:7-10) To them, a zeal for
conformity was the evidence of a
“new heart” mentioned in
Ezekiel. (Ezekiel 18:31; Jeremiah
31:33) Pharisees loved religion; it
was their God. They believed that if
a “righteous person”
happened to have any
“unknown” sin in his life,
the righteousness of Abraham, their
father, covered any deficit. (Genesis
15:6; Luke 3:8) Perhaps Saul was
attracted to the Pharisees because
like him, they were dogmatic and
their thirst for advanced education
was insatiable. (John 5:39,40; 2
Timothy 3:7) The Pharisees
considered the Old Testament, plus
the writings and traditions of the
rabbis to be the “Word of
God.” Therefore, the Pharisees
staunchly defended the traditions and
orthodoxy of Judaism more
aggressively than any other party in
Israel.
The other leading
party of the time, the Sadducees, was
also legalistic and politically
powerful, but in a different way than
the Pharisees. The Sadducees did not
believe in a hereafter. Consequently,
they were self-indulgent and focused
on obtaining wealth, pleasure, status
and comfort. Even more, they
rejected all but the first five books
of the Old Testament. The Sadducees
were legalistic pragmatists. For
example, they saw nothing wrong with
hiring Gentiles to work for them on
Sabbath, as long as none of the
Gentiles lived within their gates.
(Exodus 20:10) The Sadducees despised
the austere lifestyle of the
Pharisees and they constantly argued
with them over theological
differences. Overall, it seemed that
the Sadducees held control of Israel
politically, while the Pharisees held
control over the people religiously.
A.D. 30 Christianity
Begins to Grow
Before we examine
Saul’s conversion on the road to
Damascus, we need to highlight
developments that happened in
Jerusalem while Saul was attending
school. After the apostles
baptized 3,000 believers into the
kingdom of God on that great day of
Pentecost in A.D. 30, the Christian
movement in Jerusalem began to expand
rapidly. Over the next four
years, various disciples of Jesus
were publicly humiliated and punished
for promoting what was considered an
inflammatory religion that was highly
critical of Jewish leaders and the
teachings of Judaism. As is so often
the case, the more Jewish leaders
persecuted the disciples of Jesus,
the more popular they became!
The Bible says, “The
apostles performed many miraculous
signs and wonders among the people.
And all the believers used to meet
together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
[In the temple
complex].” (Acts 5:12, insertion
mine) Proselytizing in the temple and
healing the sick on the streets
produced a large number of converts.
As Christianity grew in popularity in
Jerusalem, the Sadducees became
highly agitated. Their political
support was eroding. The Pharisees
were also alarmed because people
called them the enemies of God. The
Christian movement was different than
anything Jewish leaders had ever seen
before. The disciples of Jesus were
performing genuine miracles
daily, just like Jesus had done!
People who had suffered from lifelong
illness were being healed, right
before the eyes of people who were
intimately acquainted with their
illness. These wonderful and joyous
manifestations of divine power were
the talk of the town and crowds
flocked to hear and see what the
disciples of Jesus were doing and
saying.
“…People
brought the sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and mats so that at
least Peter’s shadow might fall
on some of them as he passed by.
Crowds gathered also from the towns
around Jerusalem, bringing their sick
and those tormented by evil spirits,
and all of them were healed.”
(Acts 5:15,16) Boldly, Peter and the
disciples spoke and performed
miracles and Jewish authorities could
not rebuff them. Christians were
teaching salvation through belief in
Jesus Christ. They were preaching to
the Jewish people that Jesus was
man’s High Priest and the temple
rituals were no longer necessary. The
Christians exclaimed that Pharisees
and Sadducees had slain the Lamb of
God! Over the course of time, the
Pharisees and the Sadducees held
several meetings to discuss proposals
that would shut down the growth of
Christianity. Christian
doctrine and influence was
threatening the survival of Judaism
and something had to be done.
The Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was
Israel’s highest court. The 71
members of the Sanhedrin came from
all religious parties according to
election and/or bribery. The Romans
granted the Jews (and other similar
tribal nations) a limited amount of
civil power to deal with their own
people. As far as the Romans were
concerned, tribal nations were
allowed to impose their cultural laws
as long as they stayed within the
higher laws of Rome. Granting this
type of authority freed the Romans
from the onerous chore of passing
judgment on meaningless and
disputable matters like religion.
However, there was one law above all
others that Rome imposed on all
tribal nations. The Romans made it
clear that tribal nations did not
have the power to punish any
Roman citizen. Every Roman citizen
had the right to appeal to Caesar.
You may recall that
after Peter denied being a follower
of Jesus in Pilate’s judgment
hall early Friday morning before the
crucifixion, Peter’s remorse and
broken spirit allowed him to have a
“born again” conversion
that weekend. (John 21:15-19) The
Lord restored Peter’s
credibility among the disciples by
empowering him with enormous Holy
Spirit power. Thus, it was Peter who
boldly led the way at Pentecost when
3,000 souls were baptized. Later on,
God used Peter again in a powerful
way when the Holy Spirit revealed to
him a deception of Ananias and
Sapphira. Their sudden death had a
profound impact on the early church.
(Acts 5) For all his faults and
weaknesses, Peter had certain
qualities the Lord could use, but
only after Peter was
converted. Peter became bold in
God’s grace and strength, no
longer depending on his arms of
flesh. Peter was a “black and
white” kind of guy, leaving no
gray areas in his mind. He did not
mince words about the atrocities of
Jewish leaders, especially when
telling the Jews about the murder of
Jesus. Peter’s boldness had a
price for which he was arrested and
imprisoned, but an angel miraculously
freed him from the chains of his
captors during the night. A few days
later, Peter rallied the apostles and
they went out on the streets of
Jerusalem again. No human can thwart
this kind of determination and power.
When the Sanhedrin
heard that Peter was out of prison
and that he and the apostles were
healing the sick on the streets of
Jerusalem again, they
immediately sent a captain and
soldiers for him. Notice what the
bible says, “At that, the
captain went with his officers and
brought the apostles. They did not
use force, because they feared that
the people would stone them. Having
brought the apostles, they made them
appear before the Sanhedrin to be
questioned by the high priest.
‘We gave you strict orders not
to teach in this name,’ he said.
‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem
with your teaching and are determined
to make us guilty of this man’s
blood.’ Peter and the other
apostles replied [in
never-to-be-forgotten-words]
‘We must obey God rather than
men! The God of our fathers raised
Jesus from the dead – whom you
have killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him to his own right hand
as Prince and Savior that he might
give repentance and forgiveness of
sins to Israel. We are witnesses of
these things, and so is the Holy
Spirit, whom God has given to those
who obey him.’ When they heard
this, they [members of the
Sanhedrin] were furious and wanted
to put them to death.” (Acts
5:26-33, insertion mine)
The Bible record
continues: “But a Pharisee
named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law,
who was honored by all the people,
stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered
that the men be put outside for a
while. Then he addressed them:
‘Men of Israel, consider
carefully what you intend to do to
these men. Some time ago Theudas
appeared, claiming to be somebody,
and about four hundred men rallied to
him. He was killed, all his followers
were dispersed, and it came to
nothing. After him, Judas the
Galilean appeared in the days of the
census and led a band of people in a
revolt. He too was killed, and all
his followers were scattered.
Therefore, in the present case I
advise you: Leave these men alone!
Let them go! For if their purpose or
activity is of human origin, it will
fail. But if it from God, you will
not be able to stop these men; you
will only find yourself fighting
against God.’” (Acts
5:34-39)
The wisdom of Gamaliel
is legendary for good reason. No
wonder Saul wanted to sit at his
feet. The words and influence of
Gamaliel during the meeting brings up
a very important point. Consider
this: For centuries, Christians have
viewed the Pharisees with a certain
amount of contempt. This contempt
rises from the New Testament.
Christians believe that Jesus is
“God in the flesh.” They
find the Pharisees and the Sadducees
to be so blinded by their religious
dogma that they cannot even see that
Jesus is the Messiah. Consequently, a
certain amount of contempt has been
held down through the centuries for
those who participated in
Christ’s death. But is this
Christian contempt for the Jews
appropriately placed? Consider this:
Confrontation
Jesus came to Earth at
God’s appointed time. His birth
was not a random event. The timing of
Jesus’ birth and ministry on
Earth was predetermined to
that Jesus could challenge the finest
religious system that man
could produce. (Galatians 4:4) God
wanted to demonstrate the reaction
and behavior of the world’s best
religious system when confronted with
truth. In other words, the contest
between Jesus and the Pharisees is a
parallel of Jesus versus any
religious system! This is an end
time parallel that everyone should
consider. Some of the Pharisees, like
Gamaliel, were sincere and devout.
The Jewish people respected them
because they were dedicated to
selfless sacrifice for the service of
God. The Pharisee party was horribly
misguided, but Gamaliel was not an
evil man. He was a spiritual man, a
good man in a religious system that
commingled the doctrines of men with
the truth of God. (Mark 7:7) As a
Pharisee, Gamaliel had a “good
heart” but a “wrong
head” when it came to
understanding the fulfillment of
Scripture. His comments prove that he
wondered in his heart if Jesus might
be the Messiah.
A Christian cannot
appreciate the contest between Jesus
and the Pharisees until he/she also
discovers that he/she actually
suffers from the same problems that
afflicted the Pharisees. A blind man
cannot see. A blind man cannot see
what he should see unless, (a) there
is someone to open his eyes, and (b)
he is willing to open his eyes. When
people are blinded by the certainty
of their own religious dogma, they
cannot see or understand their own
blindness! This is a problem that
every human being must wrestle with.
The Pharisees were convinced they
were right and everyone else was
wrong. Jesus came into their world
and spoke truth. The result was a
deadly confrontation. Here is a
profound thought: Our ability to
understand truth is proportional to
our willingness to consider truth. We
cannot mature in an understanding of
truth unless we are willing to submit
to what we have learned. We cannot
enjoy the freedom and the joy of
truth until we come to a place in
life where we decide to follow truth
– no matter what it is, or what
it costs.
The Pharisee Test
There are some
pharisaical ways in every human
being. Here is a short test that
demonstrates this. The Pharisees
hated Jesus for three reasons: First,
Jesus did not show reverence for the
ideas they respected. Jesus insulted
their piety, their culture, their
ideas about salvation and their
overall view of God. (If Jesus came
into your church and did this
to you, how would you react?)
Second, Jesus embarrassed the
Pharisees by condemning them with
their own words. Jesus caused people
to have less respect for the
Pharisees with each episode of
embarrassment. Jesus continually
demonstrated how the religion of the
Pharisees was driven by vanity. (If
Jesus embarrassed your church leaders
every time they made a religious
statement, how would you feel?)
Third, Jesus performed miracles every
day to back up His outrageous claims.
Since the Pharisees could not perform
miracles, Jesus’ actions further
humiliated the Pharisees in the eyes
of the people by proving they were
spiritually devoid of God’s
power. (What would your church
leaders do with a miracle working
person in their midst who taught a
strange and different doctrine?) To
be confronted with God and His truth
is not a causal experience. During
the Great Tribulation, the
confronting presence of truth will
push every person into either defiant
rebellion or complete submission.
There will be no middle ground. Jesus
told His disciples, “For
whoever is not against us is for
us.” (Mark 9:40)
“The Way”
This bold new
Christian belief system threatened
the culture and traditional way of
the Jews, so the Pharisees and
Sadducees united against a common
enemy called “The Way.” The
Christian movement was initially
called “The Way” because
Jesus said, “…I am the
way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except
through me.” (John 14:6,
italics mine) As time passed, members
of “The Way” became known
as “Christians.” (Acts
11:26)
During the first four
years of Christian growth in
Jerusalem, Saul was a graduate
student in the school of the
Pharisees. As tensions mounted
between Jews and Christians, young
Saul, a zealous ideologue, came to
despise Christians because their
actions were tearing down the very
institution to which he had dedicated
his life. By the end of A.D. 33, the
Sanhedrin was forced to ignore
Gamaliel’s words. The Sanhedrin
finally concluded that the death
penalty must be administered to all
dissidents belonging to “The
Way” or chaos would ultimately
bring the wrath of Rome down upon
Jerusalem.
Note: The
Romans required tribal nations to
keep peace in their cities. If a
civil disturbance required the
presence and services of the Roman
army, the Romans would destroy the
entire city. Total destruction was
Rome’s way. This action
prevented many problems from
reappearing in the future. Of course,
loot from the city was used to pay
Rome’s mercenary soldiers.
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