Meet the Apostle Paul—Part Seven
In the last post, we left the Saul/Paul in “Arabia,” possibly at Mt. Sinai (also probably known as Mt. Horeb). There, Paul probably fasted, prayed, through the Hebrew Bible afresh and prayed some more.
Paul realized that many of the traditions he had been taught since age 12 or 13 had missed the mark. The Messiah had come but had not liberated Judea from foreign rule but died a humiliating death. Yet, God had raised Him from the dead and he had ascended to the right hand of God. This meant Jesus was the master of the cosmos.
That the universe’s true King had not been the only shock to Paul. As a longtime resident of Jerusalem he had undoubtedly heard the stories that Jesus had table fellowship with known sinners. He had spent time among the dreaded Samarians and touched those with disease, which should have made Him unclean.
What was Paul to think now about the Mosaic Law? What was Paul to do with this as a man who had been raised that every disciple was to imitate his master?
Perhaps this is when it hit the future Apostle…Abram had been declared to be in right standing before God before he was circumcised AND before the law was given to Moses (Gen 12-15). Abram had simply believed, trusted and obeyed.
It is possible that Paul began to ask questions of his traditions that he had never asked before. For example, why had God instituted circumcision as part of the covenant with Abraham and his offspring in the first place?
Certainly, circumcision wasn’t new. The Egyptians and most of the other Middle Eastern cultures practiced it with the notable exception of the Philistines. Of course, they forced their young men to undergo the procedure at puberty. It was probably a sacrifice to “the gods” for future fertility (obviously not in the short term…ouch!). That obviously wasn’t what the one true God had in mind.
Maybe Paul thought through the texts we call Genesis 15-17. Abraham had been declared to be in the right but then the covenant is renewed in Genesis 17 but with the addition of circumcision. Why? Of course, in between the initial covenant and the renewal was the incident with Hagar…hold the shofar! [1]
It may have been that Paul saw that circumcision was a reminder (a really painful one) that while man had (and is) unfaithful to the covenant, God is faithful. Yet, Abraham was pronounced to be in the right before circumcision and the ultimate sign of human unfaithfulness and God’s true faithfulness was the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
It is feasible that Paul began to question what was the point of circumcision and the law now in the wake of the arrival of the Messiah? What would he find when ventured back into the world of the uncircumcised with the proclamation that the world’s true King had appeared? And, again, what did Jesus mean when He said to persecute the church was to persecute Him?
For all of that, tune in next time.
[1] Ancient Middle Eastern horn…sorry for the bad joke!