of the cross. Externally, Saul fell to the ground. Spiritually, he was prostrated by shame, when he knew whom he had been persecuting. Externally, sounds issued out of heaven. Spiritually, the Crucified said to Saul, with tender remonstrance, "I am Jesus, why persecutest thou me?" Whether audibly to his com- panions, or audibly to the Lord Jesus only, Saul con- fessed himself in the spirit the servant of him whose name he had hated. He gave himself up, without be- ing al)le to see his waj', to the disposal of him whom he now knew to have vindicated his claim over him by the very sacrifice which formerly he had despised. The Pharisee was converted, once for all, into a disciple of Jesus the Crucified.
The only mention in the Epistles of Paul of the out- ward phenomena attending his conversion is that in 1 Cor. XV, 8, " Last of all he was seen of me also." But there is one important passage in which he speaks dis- tinctly of his conversion itself. Dr. Baur (^Pcml. p. 64), with his readiness to find out discrepancies, insists that this passage represents quite a different process from that recorded in the Acts. It is manifestly not a rep- etition of what we have been reading and consider- ing, but it is in the most perfect harmony with it. In the Epistle to the Galatians (i, 15, 16) Paul has these words, " When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to re- veal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen" . . . {aTTOKa\v\\jai tuv v'luv avTov iv t/toi). What words could express more exactly than these the spiritual experience which occurred to Saul on the way to Damascus ? The manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God is clearly the main point in the narrative. This manifestation was brought about through a removal of the veils of prejudice and ignorance which blinded the eyes of Saul to a crucified Deliverer conquering through sacrifice. Whatever part the senses may have played in the transaction, the essence of it in any case must have been Saul's inward vision of a spiritual Lord close to his spirit, from whom he could not escape, whose ev- er}' command he was henceforth to obey in the spirit.
It would be groundless to assume that the new con- victions of that mid-day immediately cleared and settled themselves in Saul's mind. It is sufficient to say that he was then converted, or turned round. For a whUe, no doubt, his inward state was one of awe and expec- tation. He was " led by the hand" spiritually by his Master, as well as bodily bj' his companions. Thus entering Damascus as a servant of the Lord Jesus, he sought the house of one whom he had, perhaps, intend- ed to persecute. Judas may have been known to his guest as a disciple of the Lord. Certainly the fame of Saul's coming had preceded him ; and Ananias, " a de- vout man according to the law," but a believer in Jesus, when directed by the Lord to visit him, wonders at what he is told concerning the notorious persecutor. He obeys, however; and going to Saul in the name of " the Lord Jesus, who had appeared to him in the way," he puts his hands on him that he may receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Thereupon Saul's eyes are immediately purged, and his sight is restored. " The same hour," says Paul (Acts xxii, 13), " I looked up upon him. And he said. The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see the Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard." Every word in this address strikes some chord which we hear sounded again and again in Paul's Epistles, The new convert is not, as it is so common to sa}', converted from Juda- ism to Christianity — the God of the Jeivish fathers chooses him. He is chosen to know God's will. That will is manifested in the Righteous One. Him Saul sees and hears, in order that he may be a witness of him to all men. The eternal will of the God of Abraham ; that will revealed in a righteous Son of God ; the testi- mony concerning him, a Gospel to mankind — these are
PAUL
f92
PAUL
the essentially Taiiline principles which are declared in all the teaching of the apostle, and illustrated in all his actions.
3. iSoJoii?-n in Damascus and Arahia. — After the re- covery of his sight, Saul received the external symbol of the washing away of his sins in baptism. He then broke his three days' fast, and was strengthened — an image, again, of the strengthening of his faint and hun- gering spirit through a participation in the divine life of the Church at Damascus. He was at once received into the fellowship of the disciples, and began without delay the work to which Ananias had designated him ; and to the astonishment of all his hearers he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, declaring him to be the Son of God. This was the natural sequel to his conversion: he was to proclaim Jesus the Crucified, tirst to the Jews as their own Christ, afterwards to the ^vorld as the Son of the living God.