PAUL FINDS JESUS TO BE A CREATED BEING

The road to Damascus is a story that virtually all Christians know very well: how Saul, even as he was on his way to persecute the Christians in Damascus, suddenly became a believer himself: and Saul was later to became known as the apostle Paul. But in actual fact, Saul had no choice but to believe - because Jesus Himself came and spoke to him. He was confronted with undeniable proof of the Resurrection. This event is so significant that Bible scholars have called it one of the two great proofs of the validity of the Christian religion - the other proof being the resurrection of Jesus Himself. The Road to Damascus is, without doubt, a very well known story; but there are some aspects that have been overlooked - and they are to do with the reality of the Resurrection.

Before we start to discuss what actually happened that day on the road to Damascus, we must first look into Paul's background: his early life, and his education. So, to set the scene, Paul had been born in the city of Tarsus, but he had been brought up in Jerusalem. He grew up to be a devout Jew. He had studied the Scriptures under the eminent scholar, Gamaliel; and so Paul would have received a thorough education in all the Scriptures. He knew the Law, and he knew the Writings and the Prophets. So given his educational background, we can be sure that Paul would have been familiar with Deuteronomy 6:4 - a scripture which was recited every day by devout Jews like Paul. This was recognised to contain the fundamental truth of all the Scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:4 contains this statement: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!"

In the original Hebrew, "The LORD" is actually the name of God: YHWH. We would pronounce that, today, as Yahweh. So that scripture can be translated: "Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one."

The Jews never pronounced the name of God, because they thought it was too holy; but Paul, being well educated in the Scriptures, would certainly have known that God's name was there in Deuteronomy 6:4. So we may confidently say that Paul knew that Yahweh was one God.

Paul would have been familiar with this scripture, too: Deuteronomy 4:39: "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."

Once again, "The LORD", in the original Hebrew, is the name of God: YHWH. So Paul would also have known that there was no other God but Yahweh. And since Yahweh is the source of life, then Yahweh must have caused all other life to come about.

Paul was well aware of the fundamental truth of the Scriptures; that Yahweh is one God, and there is no other. So, bearing that in mind now we will read the account of what happened that day on the road the to Damascus.

Acts 9:3-5: "As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone arround him from heaven. 4. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' 5. And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?' Then the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting…' "

When Jesus spoke to Paul, he knew that this was not God speaking. That would not have made any sense, because Paul knew that there was one God; His name was Yahweh, the One who causes all other life to come about. But Paul also knew that Jesus, who now spoke to him, had been a man, and had been crucified. It must have given him a terrible shock. Yes, on the road to Damascus, Paul was certainly confronted with undeniable proof of the Resurrection of Jesus. But there had to be only one rational explanation for what was happening: that Jesus must have been raised from the dead: obviously, someone other than God; therefore, a created being.

Now, let us move forward three days, to that part of the story where the disciple Ananias is sent to Paul. By this time, Paul has been without sight for three whole days; he has been led by the hand into the city of Damascus. Ananias is sent to the house where Paul is staying.

Acts 9:17-18: And Ananias went his way and entered the house;and laying his hands on him he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' 18. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptised."

This, also, is very familiar to most Christians. But, here again, there are aspects of the story that have been overlooked. Jesus Himself had this to say about the Holy Spirit: John 16:13: "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…"

The implications are obvious: the Holy Spirit would now guide Paul into all truth. And we should expect to find some evidence of this.

But first, let us see how Paul himself describes the Holy Spirit:

2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

The words "sound mind" in that scripture are a translation of the Greek word sophronismou, from sophronismos. What sophronismos means, literally, is: good judgment; disciplined thought patterns; the ability to come to the correct conclusion.

When Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, these are the qualities that would have been imparted to him. He was now able to look at all the available evidence, in a disciplined manner, and come to the correct conclusion.

And what was his conclusion?

Acts 9:20 says this: "Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." That was Paul's conclusion. He based it on his extensive knowledge of Scripture, and on his own personal experience. And in arriving at this conclusion, he used the disciplined thought and reasoning ability imparted to him by the Holy Spirit. He makes no mention of Jesus being God, because he had no evidence to support that view.

But we could argue that when Paul calls Jesus "the Son of God," that is basically the same as saying "God the Son." In fact, nowhere does the Bible call Jesus "God the Son". Paul could not have meant that he now believed Jesus to be God the Son, because, some years later, Paul wrote this to the Corinthian Church, in 1 Corinthians 8:6: " yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live."

Paul wrote that around the year AD 56. So, some years into his ministry, Paul must have believed that God is one, and that Jesus is a created being, raised from the dead.

So, if Paul did not believe that Jesus is God, then what, to Paul, was the real significance of the Resurrection?

We have already noted that Paul was well educated in the Scriptures. He would have therefore have been very familiar with the account in Genesis of the Garden of Eden: Genesis 2:16-17: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17. but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.' "

Paul would have known, from Scripture, that the wages of sin is death.

But now, by being shown the reality of the Resurrection, he had undeniable proof that the wages of sin could be reversed. He had been shown that death could be overcome.

Paul tells us the significance of that, in 1 Corinthians 15:20: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." In other words, Christ is the firstfruits of those who have died. And here again, Paul is drawing on his knowledge of Scripture. Leviticus 23: 9-11 says this about the firstfruits: "9. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10. 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: "When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf…" ' "

According to this scripture, the firstfruits of the harvest had to be offered to God; but this also reveals the principle that the firstfruits are the guarantee that the rest of the harvest was on its way. Now, the Holy Spirit of truth leads Paul to understand the significance of this scripture: it was just a shadow. The reality is that Jesus, as the firstfruits of the dead, has been offered to God and is the guarantee that the entire harvest is on its way.

As Paul goes on to explain, at 1 Corinthians 15: 21-22:

"For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."