I Appeal To Caesar!

P. 4 “He made havoc of.” “… literally, ‘he was ravaging’ — the church. No stronger metaphor could well have been used. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, but in the Septuagint and in classical Greek is applied to the wild boars which uproot a vineyard.” Quoting Farrar, Frank J. Goodwin, A Harmony of the Life of St. Paul, p. 18. Persecution references. The following references were used to construct the eight descriptions of Saul’s persecution: Acts 8:3, 4; 22:4, 5, 19; 26:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13, 22-24; Philippians 3:6; 1 Timothy 1:13. P. 6 Damascus was a beautiful place. “… in fact, the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. About 170 miles north of Jerusalem, it was a great crossroads where travel routes from Asia Minor and Mesopotamia joined before splitting to run across the plateau into Arabia or down the coast to Egypt. Flanked by foothills at the edge of the desert, for centuries the city had been encircled by lush, irrigated flower and vegetable gardens.” Ted Byfield, ed., The Christians, Vol. 1, p. 100. P. 8 Location of Jesus’ appearance. No one knows for sure where the location is, but “Tradition places Paul’s encounter at Kaukab … twelve miles south of the city.” Keener, Vol. 2, p. 1628. P. 8 Did Saul’s companions hear the Voice of Jesus? In Acts 22:9: “Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me.” The Holman Christian Study Bible comments: “The grammar here supports the idea that Paul’s traveling companions may have heard the voice but did not understand it—or at least did not understand it as the voice of the Lord speaking to him. The charge that Paul flagrantly contradicted himself is unnecessarily uncharitable and unlikely given Luke’s concern for precision.” P. 1663, footnote for 22:9. P. 8 The account of Jesus appearing to Saul is f ound in three places: 1) Luke’s account in Acts 9:1-9; 2) Paul’s defense before the Temple crowd in Acts 22:6-16; and 3) Paul’s defense before King Agrippa in Acts 26:12-23. Our presentation seeks to harmonize and combine all three. “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” 1 Corinthians 9:1. And, “… He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also,” 1 Corinthians 15:7-8. P. 9 Paul saw Jesus!