The Yale expositor., 1909-04-16
THE CONVERSION
OF SAUL
'undsy School Lesson for April Is, 1903
Specially Arranged for This Paper

Saul. why persecutest thou me?"-Acts
pa
TIMES A. d., according to Hastings
Bible Dictionary. McGiffert places Saul's
conversion in 81 (hardly possible); Ram
say, 80; Thatcher. "a; Kendall, Levin, and
most earlier authorities, 81.
PLACE.-Near Damascus, the capital
OF Sy-la. 140 miles north OF Jerusalem. 1t
Is situated on two beautiful rivers, the
ALBANIA and Pharpar e Kings S:lO.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
We have now completed the rirst
three divisions of our years studies,
the growth of the church % in Jeru-
salem, CD in Samaria, 60 in all
Judea. The rest of the year we shall
be occupied with Paul, who was chief
ly instrumental in extending the
church over the world. Let us first
take general view of this great man.
He was named Saul after the first
king OF the Hebrews. Paul, Roman
name meaning Little" came to him
from his Roman citizenship, and was
probably used from boyhood along
with Saul" 1t first appears at
Cyprus, as he begins his missionary
journeys into the Roman provinces of
Asia Minor, where "Saulos" would
mean ''Waddling," but "Paulus"
would be a familiar and patrician
name. A very natural change.
Paul was born in Tarsus, at the
northeast corner of the Mediterranean.
1t was the chief city of Cilicia, on the
Cydnus, ten miles from the sea. Paul
declared 1t mo mean city" (Acts
21:39). 1t "stood before the world at
the entrance to the greatest province
Of the east as a metropolis. free city
with free harbor, mistress of large
and fertile territory" = Hastings
Bible Dictionary. It's university rivaled
those of Athens and Alexandria. 1t
was governed largely by philosophers.
some of the greatest of whom Paul
probably heard. Tarsus is now "a
wretched town of the Turkish style,
retaining not a trace of its former
splendor. Ramsay.
His parents (whose names are I'M
KNOWN were strict Pharisees, Jews of
pure descent, but Roman citizens.-a
fact implying distinction and wealth
(Phil S5; Acts 1850. Paul's man
ners were those of a citizen of the
world, familiar with the habits of good
society. "-McGiffert When Paul be-
came Christian, he was probably dis
owned and cast off (Phil. $780, he was
poor, and supported himself by tent
making. In Caesarea and Rome he
appeared to possess means and to be
regarded as a man of distinction, so
that it is thought that he had by that
time inherited from his fathers es-
tate.
family abhorred Grecian learning, and
would not send Saul to the University
of Tarsus. though his writings show
that he absorbed much of Greek cul-
ture. When lad of twelve or thir-
teen he was sent to Jerusalem (Acts
1913; $50, where his teacher was
Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel, the last
OF the famous Jerusalem rabbis. The
Jews called Gamaliel "the Beauty of
the Law" and generally revered him.
He seems to have had liberal spirit,
and there is a tradition of his CONVEX
sion to Christianity.
Paul said that his enemies said of
himself e Cor. 1910, that his bodily
was weak, and his speech
He was probably short,
and had some personal defect, such as
limping, or weak eyes. At Lystra,
however, he was compared to the elo-
quent and vigorous god Mercury, and
he certainly had the power of COM
mobs and of winning friends
even among the most hostile.
He was deeply religious, whole
souled, ardent, energetic. persevering,
broad-minded. affectionate, lovable. He
was great in more ways. probably. |
than any other man of human history. |
He was a great traveller, great au-
thor, a great orator, great organizer. |
a great missionary. a great philos- |
opher All of this genius was yielded |
In absolute conservation to Jesus |
Christ. He is the Moses of the New |
Testament, and the two stand supreme
among men. He led the Christian |
church out from the bondage OF mar
row Judaism into world-sympathies
and world-relationships, and so be-
came the human fulfillment of the
highest thought of Christ for men.
Some of the indications that Paul's
eyes never recovered their full vision |
are his failure to recognize the high |
priest when brought before him (Acts
1850. The saying tGal. 4:13-15), that
he Galatians would have plucked out |
their own eyes and given them to
him" The use of an amanuensis when !
he was poor. The signing of his
spistles in large letters" (Gal. GID.
L is probable that this dimness OF
sight was the thorn in the flesh"
against which Paul prayed so fervent-
" q Cor. 12:0. 1t must have been a
terrible handicap to a spirit so eager
Ind active as his.
Conversion means turning" II
IMPLIES turning from something, and
o something else. Paul, as We have
seen, turned Cd from pride (intel-