Does Paul Contradict Luke in Damascus?

Recently, I’ve been running across websites that claim Luke and Paul disagree concerning the events surrounding Paul’s conversion. Some critics say Paul’s vision was in, not on the road to, Damascus. I don’t know what difference that would make, if it were true, except to undermine the Scriptures’ claim that they are the word of God for us and aren’t contradictory within the text. Nevertheless, little things like these keep jumping out at me as I study the book of Acts and read what others say about it online.

 

The Structure of the Book of Acts ~ Part 2

This is the second in a three part study that shows how I believe Luke constructed his thesis, the Book of Acts. What he did was structure it in three pairs of subject matter or sub-themes. The first pair unveiled the Temple built without hands that was not stationary, but moved about the world, just as the original Tabernacle in the wilderness did (see Stephen’s argument in Acts 7 concerning the international, non-stationary God). Luke’s second pair concerns how the teaching of circumcision affected the Church, once Gentiles began to be received into the predominantly Jewish body of believers. We are in the middle of this study now. The third and final pair of teachings will show that the Gospel and the Church are totally innocuous. Preaching Jesus is not against any political sphere nor will the presence of the Church upset the community at large. We are harmless and our existence is not against any law.

 

“Life Is Queer with its Twists and Turns”

That’s a line from probably my favorite poem “Don’t Quit” written by one of my favorite authors—anonymous! It sort’a, kind’a fits Paul’s life in many ways at various times in his walk with Christ. However, through it all Paul didn’t quit, rather he committed his way to the Lord, and God made all things work together for his, that is, Paul’s own good as he, himself, testifies (Romans 8:28).

 

When Did Paul Confront Peter in Antioch?

Often, when reading about the events that Paul mentions in his letter to the Galatians I am told that Paul’s confrontation in Antioch with Peter occurred after the Jerusalem council. The reasoning behind this is that Paul addresses Peter’s own words that salvation rests not in works but in faith alone. Notice:

 

The Eight Silent Years of Paul

Paul tells us that between the time of his life-changing vision of Jesus in chapter nine of Acts (36 CE) and the council at Jerusalem was fourteen years (50 CE). In Galatians he says he did not immediately go to Jerusalem after he saw Jesus, but did go three years later. However, he did not go to Jerusalem again to discuss theology until fourteen years after his vision of Jesus (Galatians 2:1). So, by the time Paul met with Peter and James the first time, it was three years after his vision (39 CE), and between this time and when he and Barnabas left for Galatia on Paul’s supposed first missionary journey in 47 CE, there are about eight silent years. Technically, since not much is known of Paul’s first three years as a Messianic Jew, we could include his first three years and say there are virtually eleven silent years. However, for the purpose of this blog, I am concerned with the eight.

 

The New Man

Paul concludes his letter to the Galatians by again presenting a final argument from the positions of the party of the circumcision and those who walk in the Spirit. How does one treat someone who has been overcome in a fault? Is he to be excluded, or made to feel he is not measuring up to the standard of what is expected? Of course not, but this is what we do to such a one, if we point to the Law, as our measure of righteousness. That is a conceited method that offers an impossible challenge to one who is already envious of another’s apparently righteous lifestyle (Galatians 5:26). Nevertheless, holding up oneself as a model is a work of self-deception (Galatians 6:3).

 

I Cannot Do What I Want

Paul is writing to people who want to be righteous. He is not speaking to all mankind, some of whom desire nothing better than to do evil all day. He is writing to people searching for the means to be righteous. It is because they wished to be righteous that the Galatians were drawn away from Christ by the party of the circumcision that brought them under the Law. With this as a background, Paul submits his argument concerning two powers—the flesh and the Spirit.

 

Stand Fast in Liberty

Paul begins the fifth chapter of his epistle with the idea that it is Jesus who has made us free from sin, and we should stand firm in that freedom and not seek freedom from sin by any other means. Jesus told us that the truth will make us free (Galatians 5:1; John 8:32). However, he later proclaimed that he is not only the Truth but also our Way and our Life, and no one is able to come to the Father except through him, i.e. Jesus (John 14:6). This is what Paul has been trying to get across to the Galatians. It is Christ alone who sets us free from sin (John 8:36), and if it is he who frees us from sin, then our righteousness also comes by Jesus (Romans 6:18). 

 

Until Christ Is Outwardly Expressed in You

Paul is painfully aware of the greater effectiveness of one’s presence, but he must deal with the problem at Galatia through a letter, until he is free to return to them (Galatians 4:20). The Galatian letter, as I said in a previous blog, was written just after the Jerusalem council. Paul and Barnabas were busy undoing the work of the “men from James” at Antioch, Cilicia and Syria—areas where Paul labored in the name of Christ. It wasn’t until after this work was done that Paul was able to return to the Galatian churches.

 

Have I, Your Friend, Become Your Enemy?

At this point in Galatians, I believe Paul comes to a heart-to-heart part of his message. He expresses his personal sadness over how the Galatians have acted. He began by recalling how they had treated him while he was with them during his first missionary journey. Paul had been attacked, but not by them. He was attacked by his own countrymen—the Jews of the Diaspora who lived in the cities of Galatia. At one point Paul was left for dead. He was stoned, and, though Luke is not clear on the matter in Acts 14:19-20, Paul was probably dead. Yet, whether dead or near death, God performed a miracle, and Paul rose up as though unharmed. Nevertheless, according to his letter to the Galatians, he recalled his wounds and how they affected his preaching the Gospel to them.

 

Be as I Am For I Am as You Are

I had to pause as I came to chapter four in Galatians, because it said something to me that I had not seriously considered before. In fact, in several earlier blogs I had written differently, believing the Jews practiced circumcision and purity rituals throughout the Empire. However, I may have been wrong, and, if I am wrong, it would explain a few private questions I have had about these very things.

 

The Promised Seed is Christ.

In Galatians 3:16 Paul offers an odd argument on the face. He claims that the promise of God was to Abraham and his seed. Paul argues that, since seed is in the singular and not seeds, plural, the Scripture refers to Christ and not the Jews in general. The problem is, however, this is the only place in the Bible where the word seeds is used in the plural in reference to man. Everywhere else it is used in the singular to indicate all that would come after a person, whether Abraham, Isaac or Jacob or even David—in every occurrence seed is in the singular, but nearly always refers to all who would come after them as their descendants. Therefore, we must ask: is this a real distinction, or is Paul really being picky, arguing on a technicality that has little, if any, support?

 

Who are the Children of Abraham?

The Jews, by virtue of their being the physical descendants of Abraham are his children in the natural sense. However, the Scriptures speak of a sense in which Abraham’s natural descendents are not necessarily his children, unless they act as he acted. Paul makes this argument in Galatians, chapter three, by concluding that all people, whether Jew or Gentile, are children of Abraham only if they believe God. In other words, since Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness, only the righteous or those who believe God are Abraham’s children in the spiritual sense.

 

How Can One Become Righteous?

Paul argues in Galatians 2 & 3 that righteousness cannot come through good works. One is made righteous by God; one cannot become righteous through what one does. We are by nature sinners and the Law cannot change that. The Law is like a medical doctor in that it cannot give life, but it can preserve life from deteriorating at too rapid a rate.

 

In Christ There Is Neither Jew nor Gentile

Reading over Galatians 2:11-21 I had to pause and think for awhile about what might have occurred. Some things seem clear, but others are not so readily apparent. For example, were the Jews eating food that wasn’t kosher? It is evident that they were not abiding by some of their traditions, otherwise how could the presence of the “men from James” affect their behavior? The “men from James” used the subtle power of persuasion through their own separation from the others (cp. Galatians 4:17) to cause the Jews to retreat from what they had been doing, namely, eating freely with their Gentile Christian brethren.