Changing the Subject
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, Acts 9:5 NASB
Who are you? – Good question, wrong subject. Sha’ul asks the right question but of the wrong person. The question should have been, “Who am I?” Of course, Sha’ul recognized immediately that the person he encountered was a divine figure. The text uses the Greek kyrios, a title of honor, respect and power associated in the first century with rulers, kings and gods. For Sha’ul, a man who believed in only one supreme being, the use of the title does not imply equality with YHVH. It implies a person who is to be regarded as divine in the first century use of the term. But let’s leave all that cultural background aside and pay attention to the question.
Christian commentaries typically suggest that this verse is associated with Saul’s conversion. They imply that this is the point where Saul realizes that Jesus is God and subsequently becomes a Christian. All that theology is anachronistic, of course. Sha’ul doesn’t covert. He doesn’t suddenly become a Trinitarian. He never stops being Jewish. So we can set that diversion aside and ask, “Why would Sha’ul ask this question?” The answer is that he encounters something totally unexpected, but not unimaginable. That is to say, he asks the identity of the person he is encountering. He does not ask about the legitimacy of his current beliefs nor of the encounter itself. The experience is real. His commitment to monotheism is real. The issue is simply who is this person revealed in the vision. The answer given is that this person is the Messiah Yeshua.
But the real question should have been, “Who am I in this encounter with you?” You see, as a result of the answer, Sha’ul did change—radically. He realized that his current direction was wrongheaded. He realized that Yeshua was the Messiah. He realized that Yeshua should be his lord. So after three years of contemplation, he changed the entire direction of his life. He took a different road but he did not become someone divested of his past. All that he was simply became focused in another way. In other words, as a result of his encounter with the Messiah, Sha’ul became the person YHVH had intended him to be from the beginning. The Damascus road was simply the vehicle that allowed Sha’ul the opportunity to decide where to go. The question he asked needed a change of subject before it could be fully answered.
It is the same with us. We encounter the Messiah. We suddenly realize that he is lord (capital L, if you like). That is to say, we recognize that he has authority over our lives and that we owe him our allegiance. The question is not about who he is. He knows, and we know, who he is. The question is about who we are. Are we going to be the people he desires? Are we going to become the servants and friends he sees us becoming? Are we going to pick up the assignment given by YHVH to each of us and do all we can to become what YHVH intended? It’s not, “Who are you?” It’s “Who am I—now that I know who you are?”
Topical Index: who, tis, Acts 9:5, conversion
Blinded by the Light
Yes, Paul (formerly known as Saul or Sha’ul) was not a “converted” Jew, he was a “completed” Jew, a “new creation in Christ.” Very strange, though, how he was chosen to announce the “good news” (the Gospel) to the Gentiles, rather than the Jews.
Just as his Lord, Paul too, was “despised and rejected” by men—men, just like him. Not many wise, not many noble are called, but this one, the man formerly known as Rabbi Sha’ul, God revealed Himself to, interestingly enough, as a “bright Light,”— so brilliant, it temporarily blinded him. [And] “Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me.” And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. And there was a certain disciple [a follower of the Messiah] at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Behold, I am here, LORD.” The very same answer young Samuel was instructed to give, the prayer of presentation— “Here am I,” or “behold, —me.”
I don’t know why, but I am transported, it seems, all the way back to Adam. “Adam, where are you?” Oh, Adam! – why did you not cry out? “Heneni,” – “here am I?” “Just as I am, without one plea,” – [ADONAI], “behold, me,” — forgive me LORD, for I have sinned. O LORD, You are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask, — all who call upon You. (Psalm 86.5)
Paul, later “begged” or beseeched us in strongest terms possible: ~ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God ~ (Romans 12.1,2)
What does God want? He wants us. The “all” of all of us! Our hearts-souls-minds-and strengths! Friend, -we belong to Him! By right of creation and again by right of Calvary. We [too] have been “bought with a price!” That price? The blood of the Lamb. The crucified, buried and resurrected One who came to “seek and to save that which was lost.”
I too, will proclaim with Paul: ~For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, [the Good News of Messiah] for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, —to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it [in this Good News] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Friends, He is risen! Hallelujah! Amen!
Unfortunately, the idea of a “completed” Jew is not only offensive, it is defective. It smacks of Christian “conversion” theology, something not present in the Bible. Furthermore, Paul did not restrict his message to the Gentiles. In fact, he spent nearly all his time in synagogues with Jews and Gentiles, Gentiles who were already familiar with the Jewish way of living. On only one occasion that we have in the record did he direct his thoughts to a completely secular Gentile audience. While I am sure your heart is in the right place, the continued emphasis on the “blood” and the “cross” puts your thinking at odds with everything a Jew would have understood about the Messiah in the first century. Of course, if you insist on reading the text from the perspective of alter Christian re-interpretation, you will end up with the “completed” Jew theology, but please don’t call it biblical. When Paul exclaims that he is not ashamed of the gospel, he is NOT declaring the “gospel” of the Christian church. He is talking about the kingdom go God and the work of the Messiah – and all of that is Jewish!
Skip, I want to take some responsibility here for at least some of the corrupted re-direction that the church has been so very guilty of over the millennia: there are many pagan influences regarding blood that need to be cleared up, no doubt, and it is confusing enough that I would like to ask if it would be possible to do an in-depth study of all the relevant verses about the meaning and the use of blood in the Bible; both correctly and corruptly? But also in that spirit of responsibility, I would like to ask, if you are going to crack Carl’s knuckles on this one (and that is between you and him, of course) how you read verses like 1John 1:7, which states “… the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” Now, that may be the blood from before the foundation of the world, but still. There it is.
Thank you for any enlightenment or engagement.
heading for the airplane. Back to you after 20 hours of flight
~ So you also are [only] complete through your union with Messiah, who is the head over every ruler and authority ~ (Colossians 2.10)
And again, “if any man (Jew or Gentile) be *in Christ*, he (or she) is a new creation. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one *in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3.28)
Yes, this message, the message of the tslav, was very “offensive” in Paul’s time also. So much so, he was stoned, beaten with rods, etc. But after his encounter with Christ, his life was radically and dramatically “changed.” So, if we wish to say “converted,” or “converted” or “changed,” – what really counts in the end is “a changed life.”
The Open Invitation
Who is included in “whosoever will?” ~ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, [the Good News of Messiah] for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone [and to each one] who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile ~ No one is excluded, “whosoever will, may come.”
“If” (no, “since”) ALL have sinned, (Romans 3.23) do “ALL” stand in need of a Savior? Why did Messiah announce to Nicodemus (undoubtedly a stellar model citizen and a ruler of the Jews) – ‘you must be born from Above?”
Does the message of the cross of the Chosen One offend you? ~ May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, – but a new creation ~(Galatians 6.14)
Have we forgotten Paul’s passionate prayer? ~ Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved ~ (Romans 10.1)
Again, whose very Name is – “Salvation?” -“a Savior, [One] who is Christ the LORD.” (Luke 2.11)
What is a jews perspective about blood, the cross & the Messiah & how have we christianized this ???????
Thanks skip!!
huge question. Lots of material and background. I will try to compile some sources. You can START with Cross Word Puzzles from my web site. But it’s only a start.
Selah.
Carl, you musical you, that was a rousing, triumphant round! I think you might have hit every note! I always strain my ears to hear the music I know you are writing to.
I am going to try to walk the Damascus Way again today, and may my steps attempt to be the noble ones, full of the purpose of who I was truly made to be; and may I stay there!
When the religious of the day came to John the Baptist and demanded, “Tell us who YOU are!” John did not answer by telling them who he was and give a description of himself. He doesn’t say, “I am the last of the prophets” or “I am Elijah!” He answers first by telling them who he is not! “I am not the Messiah!” Because before you can ever truly know who you are, God must get you alone in the desert, and strip you of everything they are NOT.
By the time he does get to answering who he is, he is simply “a voice…..” No prestigious title, to accolades….just “a voice”. Anyone who has ever been taken into the wilderness by God and/or the circumstances of life, know exactly what I am talking about! When you have been away from people, friends, family and you begin to “unlearn” who you thought you were, who everyone told you that you were! And YHWH strips it all off and you are simply “a voice”.
I do not believe that God stripped Paul of his Jewishness! He stripped him of everything that would keep Paul from fulfilling His call as a light to the nations, which by the way is VERY Jewish!
Wow- woven in these words are the struggles of the battle between self & God the turmoil of a narcissist —who by the way thrive most in a conversation when they can “change the subject ….
Laurita, I have a bit of time, (Hallelujah), so I’ll try and tackle the (offensive?) issue of blood.
~ This is the New Covenant in My blood ~ (Luke 22.20)
Blood is Life. ~ The life of the flesh (any color, or “religious person” or atheist) is in the blood. Blood is not a bad thing, it is critical to life. I know this, (up close and personal) for I am now prescribed a daily blood thinner, and must be extra cautious as I move about. I am no longer able to give blood to someone who needs it, and I am restricted in my diet also, for our food affects our blood. Blood is vital to life and life is a good thing!
Prophet-Priest-King
All of the above! ~ But when Christ [the Messiah] appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; – and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.…
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, HOW MUCH MORE will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?…
~ For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance..~ (Hebrews 9.15)
I cannot recommend too highly this excellent and well-crafted work: The Blood Covenant by H. Clay Trumbull
https://archive.org/details/bloodcovenantapr027440mbp
The covenant, the covenant of friendship made between Jonathan and David was a blood covenant.David remembered his friend Jonathan and to honor the covenant he had made, he inquired: “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness (chesed – lovingkindess) for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Samuel 9.1) Mephibosheth was the beneficiery of this blood covenant, this covenant of friendship between David and Jonathan, and ate continuously at the King’s table. He “fared well,” indeed!
““Who am I in this encounter with you?”” -Tell me what I ought to be doing, what function are you directing me to, what are you revealing to me? This was what Shaul meant; what a change from our normal reading and understanding.
Open NOW our eyes, ABBA, and hearts to know who we are by You, to the purpose/s You have intended in our lives that nothing we do may be in vain. Amein!