Least Of The Apostles

THE LEAST OF THE APOSTLES (ACTS 9:1-9)

Do you have zeal for religious, political and social causes? Here are some quotes on zeal:

Let a good man do good deeds with the same zeal that the evil man does bad ones. Jewish Proverb

Zeal without knowledge is fire without light. Thomas Fuller.

Nothing spoils human nature more than false zeal. The good nature of a heathen is more God-like than the furious zeal of a Christian.

There is a holy, mistaken zeal in politics, as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves. Junius

Let us not become so intense in our zeal to do good by winning arguments or by our pure intention in disputing doctrine that we go beyond good sense and manners. James E. Faust

The disgrace of the church in the twentieth century is that more zeal is evident among Communists and cultists than among Christians. William MacDonald, True Discipleship

One of the most important persons in the Bible is Saul, later known as Paul. Paul was a Pharisee, a persecutor and a pioneer. He wrote 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament and traveled over 10,000 miles to dozens of cities proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Further, he was the greatest writer of the New Testament, the greatest missionary in the Bible and the greatest enemy of the church, but the least of the apostles (1 Cor 15:9).

What is your passion and purpose in life? How do you know if your motivation or zeal is honorable or dishonorable, pure or impure, upright or unrighteous, in God’s eyes? Why is God’s salvation and sanctification not exclusive to saints but extended to sinners, likable and unlikable people as well?

Free the Monster

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was a Supreme Court Justice who was very respected, very intelligent, but a little bit absent-minded. Holmes was on a train one day, when the railroad ticket-checker began walking down the car, checking tickets. As the ticket-checker approached, he watched Holmes search his wallet, unable to find his ticket. Frustrated, Holmes then checked each of his pockets. Still no ticket. Holmes was more and more agitated with himself as he went through his briefcase, still unable to find his ticket.

The ticket-checker had finally made his way to Holmes’ seat. “Justice Holmes,” he said, laughing, “I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are. There’s no need to show me your ticket.”

“No, sir, that’s not the problem,” said Justice Holmes. “The problem is that I can’t remember where I’m going.”

https://www.workforce.com/news/oliver-wendell-holmess-train-and-your-companys-direction

Saul had the wrong pursuit, purpose and plan in his zeal. The three previous occurrences of Saul’s name in the book of Acts was violent and bloody, from the “stoning” (Acts 7:58) and death of Stephen (Acts 8:3) to the “destruction” of the church (Acts 8:3). Into chapter 9 Paul continued with breathing out “murderous threats” (“threat” and “murder” in Greek) against the Lord’s disciples (v 1).

The participle “breathing out” (em-pneo), with the added preposition “en,” occurs for the first time in the Bible even while the shorter version “breath/blow” (pneo) occurs several times before. Saul was breathing, blowing and beaming threats against the church and believers. Murderous threats is “threat and slaughter” (both singular) in Greek, with the noun “slaughter” translated as murder (Matt 15:19), slaughter (Acts 9:1) and slain (Heb 11:37). He was harassing disciples, hunting and hurting them for retribution, recreation and religion.

The first main verb, however, of the chapter is not “breathing out” or “went” (both participles), but “ask/desire” from the high priest letters to the synagogues of Damascus. Letters and synagogues are plural – Saul’s targets were all Jews in all the synagogues, men or women, starting from the central and chief city, Jerusalem. This Pharisee from Tarsus hated Christians so much that he would travel from Jerusalem to Damascus, a distance of around 150 miles (double the distance of Hong Kong to Guangzhou) or two weeks by foot, way out of town, region and country, crossing Israel’s borders into capital of Syria today. He had this cross-border treaty to bring them tied like a hog to Jerusalem.

Saul’s most ambitious project to date was to obtain official sanction, seal and support in letter form as allowance, authorization and appointment for him to enchain, execute and exterminate Christians. The noun “letter” make its late debut in the Bible. Saul was the hunter, hound and henchman of God whose purpose and pleasure was not only to detain believers but to drag hem (Acts 9:14, 21) by hand, feet or both, with ropes or chains! Unfortunately, unlike other versions, NIV dropped the verb “bind.” Binding them makes things and more painful, personal and paralyzing. The victims have little to no freedom, flexibility or feasibility of movement.