Jesus Revealed!
If significance is indicated by repetition, Paul’s conversion experience is a very important event in scripture. The basic details are given three times in the Book of Acts (9:1–9; 22:1–11; 26:9–19), but we are especially thankful for Paul’s discussion of the episode in his epistle to the Galatians (our lesson text). Paul wanted to demonstrate to the church that the authority for his ministry had come directly from the Lord Jesus Christ (as a proof that his authority was greater than that of the Judaizers who were teaching that Christians must observe of the Mosaic Law). In the process Paul affirmed a truth about all genuine conversions: they are brought about by the revelation of Jesus Christ, and are not the result of human effort alone.
Not that we should minimize the responsibility of believers to share the gospel message. It is our “Great Commission” to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Only redeemed men and women have been trusted with this work; an evidence of this is Acts 10, where the devout gentile Cornelius was visited by an angel in answer to his prayer to know God. The heavenly messenger was only allowed to direct him to Simon Peter. The privilege of explaining the plan of salvation is always left to a “Peter”—that is to say, someone who has been saved. As the songwriter declared: “We have a song that the angels can’t sing!”
Interestingly, Paul does not identify the human agent in his conversion in the text of his letter to the Galatian church. But, of course, we may recall that Saul had been in attendance when the deacon Stephen forcefully preached of Jesus at his trial for blaspheme (Acts 7). Perhaps the witness of Stephen did not initially make powerful impression on him, but it may have planted a seed. And there may have been yet other witnesses among those Christians that Saul pursued and arrested: saints who, as Paul led them out of their houses in chains, took the occasion to witness to him of Jesus’ death and resurrection. At the time of Paul’s conversion, he no doubt had heard the plan of salvation many times.
In the end, however, it took a revelation of Jesus Christ—as a light from heaven and an audible voice—to break through Saul’s defenses. The Lord made the testimony of others real by injecting Himself as a prime witness. This happens in every conversion—if not by the spoken words of Christ, then by the convicting power of the Holy Ghost. After the witness of believers, God Himself must intercede to complete the work of transforming grace in the heart of the new convert. Therefore, even the most celebrated evangelist cannot truthfully claim to have brought a single soul to Christ.
It is God Who revealed the Son to our hearts, so He gets all the glory!
Not that we should minimize the responsibility of believers to share the gospel message. It is our “Great Commission” to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Only redeemed men and women have been trusted with this work; an evidence of this is Acts 10, where the devout gentile Cornelius was visited by an angel in answer to his prayer to know God. The heavenly messenger was only allowed to direct him to Simon Peter. The privilege of explaining the plan of salvation is always left to a “Peter”—that is to say, someone who has been saved. As the songwriter declared: “We have a song that the angels can’t sing!”
Interestingly, Paul does not identify the human agent in his conversion in the text of his letter to the Galatian church. But, of course, we may recall that Saul had been in attendance when the deacon Stephen forcefully preached of Jesus at his trial for blaspheme (Acts 7). Perhaps the witness of Stephen did not initially make powerful impression on him, but it may have planted a seed. And there may have been yet other witnesses among those Christians that Saul pursued and arrested: saints who, as Paul led them out of their houses in chains, took the occasion to witness to him of Jesus’ death and resurrection. At the time of Paul’s conversion, he no doubt had heard the plan of salvation many times.
In the end, however, it took a revelation of Jesus Christ—as a light from heaven and an audible voice—to break through Saul’s defenses. The Lord made the testimony of others real by injecting Himself as a prime witness. This happens in every conversion—if not by the spoken words of Christ, then by the convicting power of the Holy Ghost. After the witness of believers, God Himself must intercede to complete the work of transforming grace in the heart of the new convert. Therefore, even the most celebrated evangelist cannot truthfully claim to have brought a single soul to Christ.
It is God Who revealed the Son to our hearts, so He gets all the glory!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hezekiah Ben Israel on
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It is God Who revealed the Son to our hearts, so He gets all the glory! It is the Son who revealed the Father, and it has always been the Son who has dealt with man.
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