Topic: Book of Romans
As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. (Acts 8:2 KJV)
Before we would go into the Book of Romans, we must need to understand about the life of Paul. The first time mention of this author is in Acts 8 as his original Hebrew name, Saul (Paul as in Greek). He was born in Jewish nation and came from the tribe of Benjamin as the first king of Israel, Saul the son of Kish. He was born about the time of Christ’s birth in Tarsus (Acts 9:11) and was also a citizen of Roman. As a Jewish leader, he was also a Pharisee, who hated followers of Jesus Christ.
Before his conversion to Christianity, Paul was the one of Pharisees and tried to persecute every believer in Jesus Christ that he can find in the face of earth (Acts 8:1-3). In fact, Saul murdered his future brethren, Stephen by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews (Acts 7:1-8:3). Unfortunately, God did not let Saul kept killing His people.
As we read in Acts 9, Saul was on the way to Damascus to kill more Christians, Jesus showed up to this murder. “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” (Acts 9:3-7 KJV.)
Have you wondered why God didn’t stop Saul until he’d get closer to Damascus to kill Christians? We must first to understand that God didn’t protest to His people to escape from Saul. He wanted to show Saul that there is God who is in charge of this land. The land of Israel was founded by God and He gave it to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants. It was not about protest. God wanted to show Saul who He is and wanted to used him as instrument to bring His lost people into Himself. God also wanted to use Saul to give new dream in his life. Hebrews 11:40 says, “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
There is so much information on Saul’s (or Paul’s) life that we can take to apply into our lives. The first four of the New Testament is on the foundation of Christianity, but when we get into Paul’s life and his writing, we can find the life application to our own life. The whole books of the Bible are our daily living manual book that God gave us. We have choice to use the Bible as just religious textbook or a handbook for our livings for God.
