Paul’s Conversion and Calling
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What does Paul’s conversion on the Damascus road actually mean?
What we're saying when we say that Paul was converted on the Damascus road is there came a moment on that day and in that place when confronted by Jesus Christ, confronted with a sense of his sin, he turned from his sin to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith.
There are a number of ways that the Apostle Paul is unique among God's people. He authored many books in the Bible, he performed miracles, and he even had a vision of the glories of heaven. And yet, just like every other Christian, Paul was a sinner who was converted by God's grace and called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm glad to have you with us for another Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm your weekend host, Josh Mann, and we're going to be continuing our study with Dr. Guy Waters in his series, The Life and Theology of Paul. This is such a helpful series from Dr. Waters that introduces key concepts in Paul's writing, concepts like justification, sin, and growth in the Christian life.
For your donation today, you can get digital access to all 12 messages. You'll also receive the companion e-book and a digital study guide. You can give online today at renewingyourmind.org. Now, here's Guy Waters on the conversion and the calling of the Apostle Paul.
In this lecture, we're going to look at what happened to Saul of Tarsus outside Damascus. We've seen that Paul's whole life up to that point was a grand preparation for the man that God would make him by grace. And now we want to see how grace burst into the life of Saul of Tarsus. Now, for Paul himself, Damascus Road was the decisive moment in his life. He reflects on it in no fewer than three places in his letters. He looks back on it to the Galatians in chapter one. He looks back on it to the Philippians in chapter three. And then at the very end of his life, in 1 Timothy chapter one, he thinks back on the Damascus Road with Timothy. And in each case, the theme is the same. What happened to Paul was the undeserved mercy of God to a sinner.
And Paul never tired of rehearsing that theme. Now for Luke as well, as he tells the story of the early church, the Damascus road was a watershed experience in the life of the church. One way we see that is that he tells the story of Paul's conversion on three occasions. There is the account itself in chapter 9, and then in chapters 22 and 26, Paul himself before Roman officials in 26 and before the Jews in 22, tells what happened to him on the Damascus road. There are only a few things that Luke recounts three times, and each of them is important to Luke. And so this is Luke's way of saying this is a watershed moment in the advance of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Now, scholars in the last 50 years have seriously questioned whether Paul was actually converted on the Damascus road.
How does the scholar debate whether Paul was truly converted or only called?
Strange as that may sound to our ears, they don't question that Paul was called on the Damascus road, that he received a summons, a commission to testify, to be a witness to Jesus Christ. But they question whether he was converted from one way of living to another way of living. And they have especially accused Protestants of trying to thread Paul through the eye of the Augustinian and Lutheran needle. And the argument goes something like this. Both Augustine and Luther were men of very sensitive consciences, and they bore the burden of guilt. And both men came to the apostle Paul, and in reading the letters of Paul, they found release from that guilt. But these scholars say this is really more a reflection on the introspective consciences of these men than on the writings of Paul himself.
And so the charge is you're just imposing religious sensibilities of an Augustine or a Luther on to Paul. There's no apparent religious conversion in his letters or in the account of the Damascus Road in Acts. And this argument has persuaded a number of people. To be sure, Paul's call is clear. And the word convert or converted does not show up in these chapters. But in reply, we need to know two things to start.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does Paul’s conversion on the Damascus road actually mean?
0:00–4:00
2
How does the scholar debate whether Paul was truly converted or only called?
4:00–7:34
3
What are the two key elements—call and conversion—that Paul’s story reveals?
7:34–10:20
4
How did the supernatural light and voice on the road signal Paul’s new birth?
10:20–13:15
5
What role does Ananias play in confirming Paul’s sight and baptism?
13:15–16:24
6
How does Paul’s commission to the Gentiles mirror Jesus’ own work of opening eyes?
16:24–19:57
7
What lessons does Paul’s conversion teach about salvation by grace alone?
19:57–22:58
8
How can modern believers apply Paul’s calling and service to their own lives?
22:58–26:13