2 Kings 14: 23-29, 2 Kings 15, Acts 25: 23-27, Acts 26: 1-23, Psalm 104: 1-18
Acts 26: 4-8 (ESV)
“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning
among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known
for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the
strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand
here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to
which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and
day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought
incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”
Verses 4 through 8 from Acts 25 shows Paul’s argument on how
his belief in Jesus Christ was not inconsistent with his Jewish faith. Paul was
raised as a Pharisee, and the Pharisees unlike the Sadducees believed in the resurrection
of the dead and the afterlife. Biblical scholars contend that in Paul’s heart
and mind, Paul believed that he remained a faithful Pharisee who was convinced
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul’s story of his what happened on the road
to Damascus proved to him that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. Paul argued
that he was following what the resurrected Jesus had said to him.
I’ve always loved the story of Paul’s conversion on the road
to Damascus, but I never knew about how he was able to reconcile what happened
to him and his Jewish faith. God had picked the perfect person in Paul to
spread the gospel to the jews and the gentiles, because Paul had reconciled
within himself how his faith in Jesus Christ was not in opposition to his
Jewish faith. Because Paul knew his own mind so well, he was a great evangelizer
and was able to lead so many people to Christ who were also struggling to come
to the terms with the resurrection of Christ.
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