From Pharisee to Apostle

Paul was thoroughly educated at the feet of Gamaliel. There he learned the law—how it should be applied with the appropriate punishment for every offense. His mind had been trained in the very thought patterns that Jesus rebuked and reprimanded so powerfully, time after time, when he warned against “Phariseeism.” And then the day came when Jesus was revealed to him on the way to Damascus. With all his knowledge and understanding, he still had to ask: “Who are You, Lord?” In all his zeal and fervency, he had not come to know Him—the Master! From that day he began on a brand new course, a completely new time! The life he had lived to that point had no value compared to the content and the life Christ portrayed for his inner eye by revelation. Regarding this he wrote to the Philippians: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and 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; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffer­ings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:8-11.

“Just that I may know Him!” That was what gripped Paul! In all his Pharisaical zeal, he hadn’t come to know Him—but now it was possible! Now there was a new and living way to the life and glory of Jesus. “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” Col. 1:28-29.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul also confronts his past, and tells how God prepared him to become such a valuable instrument of the Lord. “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Gal. 1:11-12. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from mymother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.” Gal. 1:15-18.

“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was com­pelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been com­mitted to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” Gal. 2:1-9.

Why so much time away from Jerusalem? No doubt God had plans for Paul. He was a chosen vessel to preach the gos­pel to the Gentiles, but first he had to be cleansed from all the old leaven. Everything he had learned at the feet of Gamaliel had to be unlearned. The old thought patterns had to be put off. He had to forsake all his old ways of thinking and all his hard-earned knowledge. Now the Spirit would teach Paul. He was going to get first-hand knowledge of the Master. He defi­nitely needed that time in quietness under the Holy Spirit’s intense instruction. This was to prepare him to preach the gospel as he should, without being tainted by the sound of old Gamaliel’s accent! Jesus was able to work with him so thor­oughly that Paul could keep the church from falling into the legalism that was so strong that it compelled even Peter and Barnabas to act hypocritically. Paul did this—he who had pre­viously been such a zealous and enthusiastic Pharisee! Oh, how we owe him our thanks for standing firm and fighting for the truth of the gospel! What future would we Gentiles have had if he hadn’t been faithful to the truth in love and fought from the very beginning so the gospel could continue to be the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes?

In our time too, God raised up a man—Johan O. Smith. Outwardly speaking, his activity was very lowly and modest. On board a Navy ship—in the middle of an ungodly world—he sought God with all his heart. God revealed Himself, and the Holy Spirit once again revealed truths that seem to have lain fallow since the days of the apostles. The revelations concern­ing Christ manifested in the flesh and the church as the body of Christ became extremely powerful keys for personal salva­tion, fellowship and edification in a vibrant church life. In one of his letters, this spiritual giant wrote the following:

“It is very dangerous to assert as facts things which one has neither seen nor heard in the Spirit. Right from the begin­ning, God has taught me to be very cautious and never to teach anything to others which the Lord has not revealed to me by His Spirit. For that reason, I have had the great joy of seeing that all I have taught has stood the test of time. None of it has had to be altered. May God teach us faithfulness, so we never let our authority extend to things we have not seen.”

Clearly, not everyone has practiced this faithfulness. Their “truths” have often not even survived their tenth birthday be­cause in many cases it was all a mixture of religious under­standing with worldly wisdom or legalistic Christianity. Varia­tions of the doctrine of Gamaliel had not yet been exhausted. Thus, their preaching did not have the same liberating help that it should have or could have had. On the contrary, it often led people into bondage to the law and human command­ments, making life heavy. People were not led to God, who was their exceeding joy, and to His altar.