Damascus Road
QUESTION
Hello brother Dan, I am hoping maybe you can shed some light on Paul's Damascus road experience. We have a hot debate going on as to what all happened to him in Acts 9. Was it regeneration, conversion, or chosen an apostle? What do you think? (Anonymous)
ANSWER
Glad to share my opinion. As to whether or not that constitutes “light” on the matter, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
We have a hot debate going on as to what all happened to him in acts 9. Regeneration, conversion, chosen apostle? What do you think?
This has been a subject of discussion over the years for me as well. Let me consider your list in reverse order.
“Chosen an apostle?”
I would not mark the Damascus Road as the moment that Paul was chosen as an apostle. Clearly this was something in God’s plan that existed long before this event. That said, when people speak of that “choice” they often have reference, not to when the choice was made, but to when the choice was made manifest. If that is what is intended, then I admit that it seems evident that this moment marks the time that God’s choice was explicitly revealed to Paul.
“Conversion?”
I definitely believe there was a “conversion” of Paul that took place on the Damascus Road. He encountered some spiritual truth and he acted in accordance with the instruction that accompanied it. That is indisputably a “conversion.” Where this gets confusing is when “conversion” is improperly conjoined with regeneration. Conversion is one thing. Regeneration is another. While one must be regenerate in order to be sincerely converted, the two things are NOT the same. Regeneration occurs but once. It is an immediate passing from death unto life. Conversions happen time and again in the course of one’s spiritual life. It is the proper motion of the new creature in Christ under spiritual instruction.
“Regeneration?”
While it seems that many regard the Lord’s confrontation of Paul on the Damascus road as the moment of Paul’s regeneration (Acts 9:3-4), I am inclined to disagree with that popular point of view. Jesus says, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” (Acts 9:5) In response to this statement, John Gill says, “that SHOULD Saul GO ON to persecute him and his people… he WOULD FIND himself in the issue greatly hurt by it.” Gill interprets this phrase to mean that the goading and kicking is some future event, as if the Lord said, “It will be difficult for thee to kick against the forthcoming pricks.” This seems contrary to the natural reading of that text. The Lord is speaking of something that Paul is ALREADY experiencing; something that is ALREADY hard for him (“it IS hard”). That indicates that Paul was ALREADY having a crisis of conscience on the matter of Jesus Christ. He was beginning to doubt his practice of persecuting Christians even though he was continuing to do so in spite of these pangs of conscience. If Paul was having sincere convictions prior to the Lord’s confrontation of him on the Damascus road, then he was already regenerate prior to that flash of light. That is what I currently believe. (I’ll ask for a brief cease-fire so that I may don my flame retardant suit for the inevitable torrent of hostility that may arise from this assertion.)
Now, as to precisely WHEN Paul was regenerated prior to the confrontation, I don’t know. I don’t believe Paul was regenerate from the womb as some have suggested (see “after that” - Titus 3:3-4). I’m inclined to believe that it was at some point between the stoning of Stephen and the flash of light on the Damascus Road and that his battles of conscience transpired in that interim. However, I openly admit that this is speculation based on circumstantial evidence and that I cannot make a definitive case for the exact moment of Paul’s regeneration.
I realize that is an unsatisfying answer for those interested in heated debates, although the admission that I do not believe the flash of light on the Damascus road was Paul’s moment of regeneration might be sufficiently controversial to make it interesting. I do not see where believing that Paul was regenerated at some point prior to the flash does any violence to the PB position that God regenerates men immediately at the time of his own choosing. I take comfort in the observation that the bible makes far less of knowing and publishing the exact moment of anyone's regeneration than many professing Christians make of it. The word of God speaks more of the subsequent evidences of regeneration and of encouraging the proper motion of the new creature in discipleship. I believe this is to be our emphasis in ministry, rather than vain, regenerational, navel gazing. Indeed, how much time do we spend questioning whether we have been naturally born or haggling over the exact moment thereof? Isn’t it enough to know we’re alive and that we are to get on about the business of living?
- Elder Daniel Samons