Paul the Jew, or the Christian?

      Paul as we know called himself a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee as to the law (Phil. 3:5). Paul was a Pharisee. According to Thayer a Pharisee believed among other things that there was a coming Messiah, resurrection of the dead and separation from the world of sin. Not that the Pharisees of the NT days were persons to follow. In fact just the opposite is true,  Jesus was often rebuking them. And indeed we see that Christ rebuked Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9.5). He was going to Damascus out of his zeal for God (Phil 3:6, NET). Jesus appeared to Paul out of the blue at noon. Some feel this meeting with the Lord was Paul's call to his ministry, not his conversion. In Pamela Eisenbaum’s book on this matter entitled "Paul Was Not A Christian:The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle" argues for this very point.

      I was recently reading a blog from a guy who was a Catholic, we will call him Raul.  He and friends were discussing the question of Paul's conversion. This was in reference to Raul's background. He was Catholic and people were constantly asking him when he converted to Christianity! How rude. But I wonder if it is a similar question for Paul. Did Paul get asks "when did he convert to Christianity?" Did Paul experience a conversion to Christianity?

      Even though I don't agree with everything Pamela E. says, I do think we have placed on Paul a more modern description of what happened to him. Think about it.  The term applied to the early believers was done so in Corinth. The term is only mentioned three times and the sources were outside the movement. For many years the Romans and those outside of the believers thought the movement was an extension of Judaism. Almost all of the New Testament writers were Jewish. Jesus was a Jew. Pilot put on his cross "king of the Jews". Jesus himself told the woman at the well that "salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22).  

Another interesting snap shot into how the early church thought about themselves is found in Acts 6. Here is listed the seven original "deacons" who were going to serve the tables of the widows. The last server named was Nicholas.  Luke says of him "a convert to Judaism". What I thought these were Christians? Yes they are by todays terminology. Then they were "completed" Jews. The Messiah had come and they were living with a community of believers in Jesus as the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. It is this group that Paul belonged to.  Pamela Eisenbaum ask could not Paul be continuing simply on a new path serving God. May be this was Paul's calling. 

         It is common in Christian circles for a minister to have a special moment when he experienced God's call to service. As a youth and son of a Baptist preacher I have heard many young and old ministers alike tell their stories of how they were "called" into the ministry. They already were serving God when the call came. They were just directed into the "perfect" will of God.  Paul uses this terminology in his salutation to the Corinthian church, Pau:loß klhto;ß a˙povstoloß Cristou: =Ihsou: dia˝ qelhvmatoß qeou: -  Paul called an apostle of Jesus Christ through (or by) the will of God.

            When did he receive this call? It was on the Damascus road.  Christ told him he was going to have a ministry to the Gentiles. But what of his Jewish brothers? Are they lost?  After all the insinuation is that Jews were lost and need to be converted. In Romans chapter eleven we find that Paul addresses this question. Read it and see what you think.