I think we should give credit where credit is due. The common view is that the martyrdrom of St. Stephen led to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. I do not deny that this death prepared the way for the Damascus event. No doubt the vision of a joyous dying saint had an impact that haunted the young Saul. Similarly today, our brothers and sisters in Christ around world turn their persecution--even death--into opportunities to bless and love their torturers. And, like Saul, a percentage of today's persecutors turn to Christ.
But when I worked through Romans chapter 16 this morning I noticed something that I had forgotten and it adds another factor to the contributors to Saul's conversion. 3 times in this chapter Paul mentions "relatives" who were at the time of his writing also believers. But the first pair mentioned he specifically states were followers of Christ before he came to faith.
I see here at least some credit to his relatives who already lived changed lives in Christ. Their example--before the death of Stephen--also prepared the way for Saul. Their testimony, albeit silent, gave witness (martyr) to the power of Christ. Thus, when Stephen died with victory and blessing, his witness (martyr) compounded the effect of Saul's already-believing relatives.
You probably have already thought of this. But it finally occurred to me this morning.
Thanks for reading!
me with my beautiful, wonderful (bw)
Bibles Unbound
About Me
- Glenn
- Oregon
- Currently, I am posting my "musings on Ephesians." This was a 6 1/2 month process of allowing Paul's letter to Ephesus to speak to me about my situations. Some of it gets rather personal. But hopefully it can help you too.
4 comments:
The footnotes I have seem to indicate that the people are equally relatives or compatriots. I would think that means less a familial connection as we understand it as much as a connection to his 'tribe' or, more likely, his home town of Tarsus. Still, it's an interesting to think about how closely he knew these people of The Way prior to his conversion on the road to Damascus.
I've never heard speculation that his witness of Stephen's martyrdom led to his conversion. His career persecuting Christians was well under way by the time he headed to Damascus - and because of that his name was known (fearfully) to the Christians. His zealous commitment to the Jewish faith and order, including his witnessing the stoning of Stephen, is a whole and was unchanged, merely redirected, at his conversion. He loved God and believed that an orthodox practice could not include a view of Jesus as significant. The extent to which he had doubts on this matter (and was influenced by those he knew and persecuted) is unknown. From my own experience, it is frequently only after the 'light-bulb' moment that the prior experiences start to fall in line and be comprehensible. If that was true for Saul, he may well have been fully convinced of his righteousness and the worthiness of his cause right up to the point of being struck off his horse. Then later on, he may have been able to reflect and see the ways in which God had approached him and prepared him to accept his truth in Jesus. Such prevenience is to be expected; for which much thanks should be given.
Cheers!
Good thoughts. Here is my reply:
1. I'm not saying that witnessing Stephen's death "led to his conversion." Rather, it contributed to preparing the way. If it did not prepare the way, why did Luke mention, pointedly, that Saul witnessed the event? And that he approved of it? Apparently, Saul/Paul in his travels with Luke talked about it as a significant event.
2. Whether they are from the same family or not, they were clearly of closer blood relation than the others mentioned. Otherwise, why would he specify them as such? The Greek word is suggenei, which means "common genesis." So that tells me they had some kind of blood connection. Again, I'm not saying the prior conversion of these people led to his conversion. But it contributed to preparing the way.
3. Yes, he was convinced of his "righteousness and worthiness" until the Damascus road event. But that does not take away from the effect made on him by the witness of both his relatives and of Stephen.
4. From the Voice of the Martyrs literature, we have many witnesses of people who once tortured and persecuted believers in the present day. But these persecutors were impressed by the spirit of love and joy they saw in their victims--even while they were being tortured. These converted persecutors were convinced of the rightness of their cause. But the joy and love of their victims haunted them until they finally sought the reason for this joy and themselves came to Christ.
If it happens today that a persecutor can be influenced for Christ (i.e., the way can be prepared) by the example of persecuted believers, it certainly could be true of Saul/Paul as well.
Wouldn't you agree?
Blessings to you,
On the conversion of the tormenters of martyrs: Yes, yes and yes! Throughout the ages, we see countless stories of this, that the faith demonstrated by the persecuted is so visibly powerful that it is followed by a string of conversion by those who witnessed or enforced the pains of torment. A brief review of the martyrology and saints calendars will reveal a multitude of these. I very much appreciate your work in VOM to reminding the church of these faithful witnesses as they tragically win the palm of martyrdom.
For St. Paul, I agree and perhaps discounted the influence of St. Stephen, et al too much. I think, much as you said, they prepared the way - in ways we ultimately won't know until we arrive at the great reward, God willing. Interesting, too, to know the greek background. I'm not advanced enough to have a foundation for Greek study, so thank you.
Regarding Greek: While you have yet to build your Greek foundation, mine is in a terrible state of disrepair. But this word, "suggenei," is an easy one. First, the double "gg" functions as the digraph "ng" would do in English. So the first part of the word is "sun" or "syn" which is one of the prefixes that means together. That leaves the root word: "genei" which gives us words such as "Genesis" (beginnings) and genetics.
But generally, when I want to explore the Greek, I resort either to "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" which has excellent cross-reference codes. Or I go to "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament" (TDNT), which explores the words in all their usages--in the Septuagint, NT, early Christian lit, and extra-biblical writings.
So, given the crumbling foundations of my Greek understanding, I lean heavily on these 2 crutches.
Thank you for all your replies!
Post a Comment