To say that Jesus changed Paul’s life is a bit of an understatement. When he was a young man, he had been a Pharisee, someone who tried to follow the Law of Moses with the greatest rigor (26:5). He not only rejected Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah, but he actively persecuted believers in Christ, travelling even to foreign cities to hunt them down (26:10-11).

But when Jesus revealed Himself to Paul, Paul didn’t forget everything he had learned about the Old Testament. In fact, Paul came to realize that Jesus was the One Whom the prophets said would come (26:22), and that Jesus was in fact the fulfillment of the greatest hope of all God’s people all the way back to the time of Abraham (26:6). It was precisely because Paul knew the Old Testament so well that he could see how the Scriptures predicted the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Christ (26:23).

But Paul realized something else as well – that even though Jesus fulfilled the Hebrew Scriptures, He wasn’t just a savior for the Jews. No, Jesus specifically told Paul to go to the Gentiles, urging them to turn away from the power of Satan and turn to God, so that they might be forgiven of their sins and accepted into God’s family of faith (26:18). Paul was thus determined to call everyone, both Jews like Agrippa and Gentiles like Festus to turn from darkness and embrace the light of the risen Christ (26:23) – even if such preaching meant he would be arrested and imprisoned (26:29).

So, how about us? Has our knowledge of the Scriptures transformed our priorities and our loyalties? Have we truly turned away from our sin, trusting Christ alone to save us? Are we truly walking in the light of love for God and love for one another, even for those with whom we have little in common? And if not, can we really say we have encountered the same Jesus that Paul saw on the road to Damascus?

Acts 26:1-23 (ESV)

So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:
2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,
3 especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews.
5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.
6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers,
7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!
8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.
11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.
14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,
17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles– to whom I am sending you
18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass:
23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”