Truly Radical
The Journey from Saul to Paul.
When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. -Acts 7:54-58
The quote above is a rather inauspicious beginning to the Biblical biography of the Apostle Paul. With the zeal common to young people everywhere, he seeks to excel in life. Using his given name, Saul, he shows himself to be a competitive, type-A personality. He is going to do everything he can to get as far as he possibly can in the institutional religion of his day. He witnessed his religious leader peers violently killing the unarmed Stephen, and he saw the path forward. As it says in Acts 8:1: And Saul approved of their killing him. In a radicalization all too common across the ideological spectrum, he chose the radical assertion of power as his profession of faith.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. -Acts 8:1-3
Saul was successful. He made his name far and wide and word spread among the early Jesus-followers. One such follower of Christ, a man named Ananias, testified to their fear in a prayer to the Lord:
“Lord…I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” -Acts 9:13-14
It isn’t just the author of Acts who reports the young Saul’s radical violence. The more mature man himself, radicalized and matured by love, recounts how he once wielded power, inflicting suffering on those who did not share his beliefs.
For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. -Galatians 1:13-14
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. -Philippians 3:4-6
Yet this radicalized man was radically changed by an encounter as he traveled to persecute Christians in Damascus.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. -Act 9:1-9
This was the moment when God called Ananias to offer hospitality and healing to a newly radicalized Saul. God responded to the concern of Ananias’ prayers by making it clear that Saul himself would suffer because of his misguided actions.
…Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’ -Acts 9:15-16
Saul’s new life was not your run-of-the-mill political radicalism. He transformed so completely that his name changed from Saul to Paul. His entire resume (began in Philippians 3:4-6) has a completely different set of life goals.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. -Phil. 3:7-1
The new man, Paul, lived by a completely different vision. After years of pursuing not the common radicalization of his youth but a truly radical agenda in his maturity, Paul testified that God’s word to Ananias was true.
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
-2 Corinthians 11:24-27
This new way of life, however, taught Paul something deeper, something truly radical. Suffering, for a follower of Christ, isn’t simply the result of past bad actions - a kind of karma in common parlance. Like everything else in the Christian life, suffering is redeemed. When followers of Jesus experience suffering, it is put to a means to an end. Our pain in this life is no longer meaningless. It now has the potential to deepen our relationship with Christ. This puts the radical Christian light years beyond any radicalization that wields power to make things go our way. Listen to the beauty of this approach to suffering:
Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. -Romans 8:17-18
The experience of suffering is not something to fear. Though painful, it will lead us to comfort and a deeper ability to comfort others.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. -2 Corinthians 1:3-7
The world regularly breeds radicals like Saul; radicals trained to wield power over those who do not think like them. This wide path, followed by so many people who think themselves virtuous and courageous, does not make good happen.
The true radical makes the shift from Saul to Paul. Our relationship with Christ redeems everything in life, including the suffering we experience. Our radical transformation with Jesus shapes us into people willing to sacrifice for others, whether or not they share our beliefs. We become the strongest and best human beings, and our lives make good happen.
This is the narrow path that leads to life. If we seek it, we will find it.