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December /04/ 05
Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to
test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:
While Saul, who was later called Paul, was on the road to Damascus to bring back the saints to be jailed because of their faith in Jesus as the Christ, his life took a severe turn as he saw the light of the Lord who told him to go into Damascus to see a man named Ananias who would tell him what he must do. And so he was obedient to the the Lord and when he was on his hands and knees before Ananias three days later, Ananias asks him, "And now why do you delay? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name." (Acts 22:16). Paul said that he has done all things in good conscious (Acts 23:1), even as he tried to do harm to those of the sect of the Nazarenes (Acts 26:9-11), and even now as he arose and was baptized, being obedient to the Lord's beckoning call.
That brings us to our question, "Who taught
Paul the truth?". After Paul turned in obedience to the truth, he
expected the Jews that knew his past and were still clinging to the
Law of Moses, that they would listen to him and also turn to the
truth of the word for life, "And it cam about when I returned to
Jerusalem and was praying to the temple, that I fell into a trance,
and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem
quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' And I
said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after
another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in Thee. And
when the blood of thy witness Stephen was being shed, I was also
standing by approving, and watching out for the cloaks of those who
were slaying Him.'"
(Acts 22:17-20).
But to find the answer to our question, we turn to
the book of Galatians. Some at that time might have concluded that
Paul was taught the truth by the Apostles, but he sets that record
straight, "For you have heard of my former manner of life in
Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure,
and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many
of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely
zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when He who had set me
apart, even from my mother's womb, called me through His grace, was
pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did
I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went
away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years
later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and
stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the
apostles except James, the Lord's brother. (Now in what I am writhing
to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) Then I went
into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by
sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they
kept hearing, 'He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith
which he once tried to destroy.' And they were glorifying God because
of me."
(Galatians 1:13-24).
So, it was not the apostles that taught Paul the truth and he spent three years in Arabia to work with the Christians there. To find who taught him the truth we read earlier in that same chapter, "For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached to me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through revelation of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:11-12).
So there we have the answer to our question as it was Jesus that taught Paul the word of truth!
Let us rekindle the word of truth for life in obedience as Paul did and Peter reminds us, "Therefore I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me." (2 Peter 1:12-14).
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This is Bible Break and have a good day.