Apostle

One of the unlikeliest of miracles in the New Testament is the transformation of Saul of Tarsus into the Apostle Paul. Nothing about it makes sense. Take everything we know about Saul, and it’s just not humanly possible that that guy ends up being Paul.

Saul is a zealous Jewish pharisee. He’s wicked smart. A seriously brilliant thinker. Saul sees his life’s work as doing everything possible to help Israel regain her former glory. If being perfectly law-abiding would bring God’s blessing, then he would just have to be perfect (and strong-arm everyone else into being perfect, too). If there was an upstart Messiah-movement threatening his calling and worldview, then he’d be more than happy to lock them up or kill them. He was a devoted law-keeping Jew and had given his life to his religion. But Saul didn’t count on actually meeting God.

It doesn’t make sense for that…