By Thomas Smith
Sep 1, 2008
After reviewing his own impressive personal history and credentials with the Philippians, Paul concluded, “Whatever [advantage] I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ...[indeed] I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as [rubbish]” (Phil. 3:7-8). For St. Paul, the incomparable worth of “knowing Christ Jesus” put all his earthly accomplishments and pedigrees into perspective.
Yet, we cannot hope to understand St. Paul without first exploring both his B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (after Damascus) personal timeline. St. Paul’s complex personality is at the center of three overlapping “worlds,” shaped by his unique experiences and upbringing. Paul was Jewish (from the tribe of Benjamin and a member of the Pharisee movement), a Roman citizen raised in a Hellenized (Greek) culture, and a disciple of his Resurrected Rabbi, Jesus. Within his trinity of identity, the last of these “worlds” (his full embrace of Christ on the Damascus Road-Acts 9), would simultaneously eclipse and illuminate the other two - his Jewish roots and Greco-Roman milieu.
In preparation for the next three posts exploring these three “worlds” of St. Paul, I would invite you to read Matthew 23, Acts 8:1-4; 9:1-43; 11:20-30; 12:25; 13:1-52.