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Grounded-In-Biblical-Truth |
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The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is recorded in Acts 9:1-18. Outstanding features in this account include his murderous disposition against Christ (v.1, with v.4), his malicious intention to apprehend disciples of Christ (v.2), his marvelous apprehension by Christ (vv.3-5), his consequent submission to the Lordship of Christ (v.6), his warm reception into the brotherhood of Christ (vv.10-17), and his obedient baptism into Christ (v.18).
Note well that in this conversion, one who intended to maliciously apprehend disciples of Christ was instead himself graciously apprehended by Christ and transformed into His disciple. One of Satan's lions was transformed into one of Christ's sheep! He was afterward better known as Paul the apostle (Acts 13:9).
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was the conversion of the worst sinner. This is his own admission in 1 Timothy 1:15: "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Paul acknowledged himself to be the worst of sinners.
The worst sinner is not the most unrighteous sinner. When Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9f identified "the unrighteous [who] will not inherit the kingdom of God," he included fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, and revilers. Saul of Tarsus, the chief of sinners, was none of these (at least, not outwardly).
Rather, the worst sinner is the most self-righteous sinner. The self-righteous sinner is as devoid of true righteousness as is the unrighteous sinner. The major difference between them is that the unrighteous sinner acknowledges his unrighteousness, but the self- righteous sinner denies his unrighteousness. The unrighteous knows he is a sinner, but the self-righteous boasts he is a saint. The unrighteous is ashamed of what he is, but the self-righteous is proud of what he thinks he is. The unrighteous admits his need of God's grace, but the self-righteous declares his sufficiency through his own works and merit. The unrighteous desires to be better, but the self-righteous believes he could not be any better. The unrighteous considers himself the worst of men, but the self-righteous considers himself the best of men.
The unrighteous and the self-righteous are vividly portrayed and contrasted in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). We here learn that there is hope for the salvation of the unrighteous, such as this tax collector, but not for the self-righteous, such as this Pharisee.
Saul of Tarsus was, by his own boast in Philippians 3:1-11, the epitome of a self-righteous sinner prior to his conversion. He boasted, "If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh [or self-righteousness]. I more so" (v.4). In other words, he boasted, "To all who assert that they are righteous in themselves, I say that 'I am holier than thou.'"
The self-righteousness of which Saul of Tarsus boasted in this same passage is the same of which the self-righteous today boast.
1. Saul self-righteously boasted of his covenantal ancestry: "circumcised the eighth day." This meant he was born under the covenant of blessing God had made with Abraham and his descendants, and had therefore received the sign of their covenant, circumcision, eight days after his birth (Genesis 17:9-12). He therefore felt this made him superior to persons who were not born under that covenant. He also felt it made him superior to those persons who came under the blessings of that covenant through proselytism and were therefore circumcised in their adulthood (Exodus 12:48).
The same self-righteous boast is made today by those who glory in their infant baptism, as though they were "baptized the eighth day." They assert that such children are covenantal, in a more sanctified state than those who are not baptized in infancy. They wrongly place more emphasis on their unscriptural infant baptism than on Scriptural believer's baptism.
2. Saul self-righteously boasted of his ethnic background: "of the stock of Israel." This meant he was born into that nation whom God called "a holy people to the LORD your God, ... chosen ... for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the earth" (Deuteronomy 14:2). Saul was therefore a Jew, not a Gentile whom self-righteousness Jews considered "dogs."
The same self-righteous boast is made today by those who glory in their ethnic background. Whereas Jews considered themselves superior to Gentiles, Gentiles considered themselves superior to Jews. Today, self-righteous whites consider themselves superior to blacks, and self-righteous blacks consider themselves superior to whites.
3. Saul self-righteously boasted of his tribal aristocracy: "of the tribe of Benjamin." This meant he was a descendant of Benjamin, one of Jacob's two favorite sons; and of Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife (Genesis 29:30; 35:16-24). This meant also that he was of that tribe who alone joined Judah in the reconstituted Israel following the disruption at the death of Solomon (1 Kings 12:21); and who alone joined Judah in the restored Israel following the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 4:1f).
The same self-righteous boast is made today by those who glory in their supposed denominational aristocracy. These are those who boast that their church and/or denomination is better than any other because it alone has a physical lineage back to the first church, even if it denies the gospel and doctrine embraced by that first church. And these are those who boast that their church alone is the true church because it alone has the Scriptural name "church of Christ."
4. Saul self-righteously boasted of his pious purity: "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." This meant he considered himself "the purest of the pure," the epitome of what the pure should be. The same self-righteous boast is made today by those who glory in being what they consider "a Christian of the Christians," the epitome of what a Christian should be. Such a person would not admit with Paul the apostle of being the chief of sinners.
5. Saul self-righteously boasted of his legal strictness: "concerning the law, a Pharisee." This meant that prior to his conversion, and in his own words, "according to the strictest sect of our [Hebrew] religion I lived a Pharisee" (Acts 26:5).
The same self-righteous boast is made today by those who glory in their legalism. These include professing Christians who strictly adhere to the law of Moses, boasting of their Sabbath-keeping, and calling those Christians who do not antinomians (against the law).
6. Saul self-righteously boasted of his religious fervor: "concerning zeal, persecuting the church." This meant he was more eager to exterminate, not proselytize, those who differed with him in religion (Acts 9:1f).
The same self-righteous boast is made today by professing Christians who would rather see unbelievers burn in hell than turn to Christ. And the same self-righteous boast was made in former times by those professing Christians who mounted Crusades against the heathen and against those Christians who would not conform to their own church.
7. Saul self-righteously boasted of his irreproachable self- righteousness: "concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." This meant he considered himself not only self- righteous, but completely righteous. He boasted that no one could rightly accuse him of breaking any of God's commandments. The same self-righteous boast is made today by professing Christians who boast of "living above sin," and of their own "sinless perfection," and of an "entire sanctification" through their own merits and endeavor.
But in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus there is good news for the self-righteous, the worst of sinners! Saul confessed after his conversion, "But what things were gain to me [i.e. self- righteousness], these I have counted loss for Christ. ... and [I] count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:7-9).
O worst of sinners! Desert you self-righteousness and admit your unrighteousness. Remove your garment of self-righteousness, which is "like filthy rags" in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6). Put on "the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10), the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. Do so through believing the gospel, as Saul did.
Your servant for Jesus' sake.
Address all questions to pastor
Daniel E. Parks (2 Corinthians 4:5) e-mail RedeemerBC@aol.com
Pastor, Redeemer Baptist Church
2801 Cleveland Boulevard, Louisville, KY 40206 / 502.899-9205
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