The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 50

Gentiles," he WBB reo.dy to sink the Jewiah title and adopt what was nearest to it in the langue.go which we.a more largely used. It was a beautiful concession to the spirit r,f the time. 1 But now we must notice : 1. His birthpkzce. This was Tarsus, "no mean city," RB be told the chief captain (Acts xxi. 39). It seems to have been a place c,f oulture-whe.t we should now call a" university "-which could almost enter the Jista with Athens or Alexandrie.. He enjoyed, too, Roman citizenship through some accident of his birth in thieJproconsular city. How his parents bad secured the priviJec,e we know not, but the son made ample use of it afterwards. 2 2. His pure J~sl. d,;..,mt. As he said to the Pbilippians, he was" an Hebrew of the Hebrews" (iii. 5). Every- thing, therefore, which pure" breeding" implies would be his. The tribe of Benjamin had supplied the first king to Israel, and now it is supplying a more famous " king of men" in the person of this second Saul. His parents doubtless made him a" child of the Law" at the age of twelve, and later on provided for his education in the Jewish capital. 3. His training at the feet of Gamaliel. This meant the broadest culture of the capital, orthodoxy of the most prudential cast, as his master's conduct in the San- hedrin seems to show (Acts v. 38). That Paul was an apt scholar his own testimony proves, not to speak of the testimony of his great career; for be speaks of " profiting in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation" (Gal. i., 14). 4. Bis enthusiasm as a man of action. It would appear that, setting aside the prudence of Gamaliel, he entered with all the ardour of youth into a crusade against the Christians. The Jewish authorities had perceived the vast capabilities of their instrument; and, from the subsidiary post of holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen. be rose per saltum into the position of arch-persecutor, and the leader of the enterprise even unto strange cities. Not only was he, then, an orthodox, self-satisfied Pharisee, but also he became the chief man of action in connection with his party, the man of most abundant promise. II. P AUL's CONVERSION. Damascus was the goal to which he and his accomplices hastened, when lo! be is confronted, not far from the city, with an overpowering light, and hee.rs a voice demanding, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? " On asking the name of this brilliant and overpowering Person, he learns that it is Jesus, the risen and glorified Head of the people Saul is persecuting, who has thus appeared' to confoUDd and to convert him. Now, regarding this conversion let us notice: 1. The Lord's personal dealing with the sinner. The sinner feels himself in the hands of One whom !J,e has wronged in his own Person and in the person of his people. Conviction of sin is just a sense of injury done to an innocent and loving Saviour. Paul imagined that Jesus had passed out of the category of living factors in this world, and now he is confronted by him with the charge of persecution. 2. Paul dies immediately out of all self-confidence. As Adolphe Monod has beautifully said, "Saul is converted from the day, from the hour, from the moment that, recognizing that he is in himself wicked, unworthy, lost, and for ever deprived of all righteousness before God, he substitutes the Name of Jesus Christ for his own in all his hopes of eternal life, and throws himself without reserve at the foot of the cross, as a poor sinner who has no other resource in the world but the blood of the I,e.mb of God." 3 This is what we mean by his death out of self-confidence. He recognizes at once the hollowness of all his previous hopes, and puts Christ into the place once occupied by self. 3. Paul places Mmst:lf under the command of Jesus. He cries out," Lord, whe.t wilt thou have me to do?" Henceforth he is Christ's slave (lloiJ.\os), owned and ordered according to Christ's pleasure. This perfect surrender of self to the will of the Saviour is the practical outcome of conversion. It is a parallel to the surrender of Abraham, when he be= to be a pilgrim with God. Paul ha.s renounced the service of the chief priests and accepted service under the NI\Za.rcno they despised. And: 4. Paul receives from Jmis a new <)(fief!, When he goes blind into Damascus nnd waits, he is nt length told what he is to do. He is to be admitted by baptism into the Christian Church, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, and be apostle unto the Gentil111 (Acts ix. 16-18). His office is chll.D.ged from th,\t of Saul the persecutor to thnt of Pnul the apostle.' And whnt is it to be Wl a1-xistls? 1 or. Godot'e •Commonlniro Bllr l'Epitro I\\IX Ronnuns,' tome i. p. 3-l • Of. Lewin'e 'Lifo and Epistl1'8 or St. Paul,' vol. i. p. 11 ; Cou~·be1\h' I\Dd Howsou's • Lifu onu Bpistlee or St. Paul,' oot11vo odit., vol. i. p. 27, etu. • ' Bormo11B,' troillilmi.o eerie, pp. 2Gl:I, 204. • Cf. l\Iono,.l, ut wpro, p. 20S..  THE EPISTLB OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [cm. L 1-89.