GOD'S NEW WORLD, DAY 1 (an ambitious apostle)
They say not to tell anyone your plans;
rather, they say, show people your results.
Well, true to form, the apostle Paul did both.[1] Paul was nothing if not ambitious (Rm. 15.20;
cf. Gal. 1.13-14; Phil. 3.4-6). It seems
that even in his previous life as a Pharisee (Ac. 23.6), S/Paul had always been
a self-starter. Not one to follow
precedent or wait for instructions, Paul had always had the tendency to take
the initiative, to chart his own course, to blaze a trail into unmapped
territory. Whether it was hunting down followers
of Jesus in foreign cities (cf. Ac. 9.1-2), or out-pacing his peers in terms of
“zeal” for his Jewish faith (cf. Gal. 1.14), Saul the Pharisee was always out
in front, leading the charge. As Paul
the missionary of Jesus would quickly discover, taking life head-on means
absorbing a lot of hard knocks (cf. 2 Cor. 11-12). It might be easy for us to accuse Paul of
having lacked prudence, wisdom, or even good old common sense. “What a sucker for punishment,” we might say
to ourselves with a smirk as we read the accounts of his many
(mis)adventures. Whatever our opinion of
Paul may be, one thing is clear – Saul of Tarsus was built differently. Once he was convinced of something, there was
no possibility of half-measures – it was always all or nothing, come hell or
(often literally) high water (cf. Ac. 27.1-44; 2 Cor. 11.25).
Whether as a Pharisee or as an apostle of
Jesus, Paul had ever seen himself as a man on a mission – whether striving to
defend the integrity of the Jewish faith “against all enemies, foreign and
domestic” or striving to “proclaim the good news in places where no one had yet
heard the name of Jesus” (cf. Rm. 15.20).
This was because he did not want to “build on someone else’s foundation”
(cf. 1 Cor. 3.10-15). Paul was a true
pioneer, he wanted to be on the cutting edge of the kingdom of God, to push the
frontiers of the gospel to the (literal) “end of the earth” (cf. Ac. 1.8). As Paul concludes his letter to the
Christians of Rome, he informs them that he wants to pay them a visit “on his
way to Spain” (Rm. 15.24, 29). Spain was
quite literally the western edge of the (Roman) world – beyond which lay the
vast unknown of the “Outer Sea”. Paul
tells the Romans that he has “fully proclaimed the good news” in the eastern
end of Rome’s domains (cf. Rm. 15.19), and that it is now time for him to
strike out westward, beginning in the very heart of the empire.
It might sound cliché, but Paul truly
believed himself to be living at the most important moment of world
history. From a Christian perspective,
Paul was indeed part of the generation that witnessed the events which were the
turning point, the “hinge of history” (BC/AD).
This might strike us as odd, seeing as how our culture is so
future-oriented – how can events which occurred in ancient times have any
bearing on our lives today? Shouldn’t we
be looking ahead? Well, no and yes. Those who believe that “the Word of God
became flesh” (cf. Jn. 1.14) two thousand years ago are convinced that the most
significant chapter of the world’s story is indeed behind us. There is of course something to look forward
to – the second advent of Jesus and the consummation of God’s plan of new
creation (cf. Rm. 8.18-25). The fact
remains that whatever hope we may have about the future (and we do indeed have
reason to hope!) is possible only because of what happened in (what we call)
the first century, what Paul called “the ends of the ages” (cf. 1 Cor.
10.11). Paul believed himself to have
been entrusted with a sacred task – to summon all nations to “the obedience of
faith” (cf. Rom. 16.26; 15.15-16), i.e., to trust and obey Jesus of Nazareth,
Israel’s Messiah and the world’s Lord (cf. Rom. 1.1-5). “To live is Christ, and to die is gain”
(Phil. 1.21).
[1] Or did he? We actually don’t
know if Paul ever made it to Spain (see below)… in any case, his prayers (Rom.
15.30-32) weren’t answered in the way he would have wished (cf. Acts chapters
21-28). Paul did indeed get to Rome, but
his journey was anything but “restful” (cf. Rom. 15.32).
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