Was Paul a True "Convert"? [Part 1]
Rabbi Saul walked the road to Damascus with the energy of a man on a holy mission.
He carried a letter from the high priest authorizing him to hunt and arrest followers of “the Way” – men and women who blasphemously believed Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Jewish Messiah.
Suddenly Saul was blinded by a brilliant flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?”[1]
This moment catalyzed Saul’s transformation into Paul, “a bond-servant of [Messiah] Jesus, called as an apostle.”[2] According to Christian tradition, Acts 9:1-19 portrays Saul’s conversion from Judaism to what is now known as “Christianity.”
But what do we mean by “conversion”? Is this the best word to describe the change that took place in Saul? Did he “convert” to the Way, abandoning Judaic law? Or did he join a new branch of Judaism that accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah?
Let’s look at three different views. It’s going to get a bit technical but please hang with me.
The Lutheran Paul
The traditional view is that Paul left Judaism to become a Christian. In the world of Pauline scholarship, this view called the “Lutheran” reading of Paul, or “the Lutheran Paul.”[3] Simply put, the Lutheran reading sees Paul as having left Judaism because it was legalistic and works-based. In contrast, Christianity offered grace-based salvation through faith in Jesus.
This view sprouted from the writings of Augustine, who emphasized Paul’s rejection of legalism, developed more by Martin Luther (who introduced the doctrine of “justification by faith”), and has dominated Protestant theology for centuries – until New Testament scholars like E.P. Sanders started challenging it in the 1960s.
The New Perspective on Paul
Sanders, James Dunn, N.T. Wright, and others developed what’s known as the “New Perspective on Paul.” New Perspective (NP for short) advocates believe that God lovingly ordained Mosaic Law as a grace-based means of atonement for Israel. By observing the Torah, Israel demonstrated their willing participation in God’s relational covenant.
NP scholars disagree with the Lutheran idea that Paul considered Torah-observance a legalistic religion. According to NP, what Paul actually took issue with was Jewish separatism: maintaining practices like circumcision and purity rituals out of an ethnocentric desire to keep themselves apart from Gentiles.
Paul knew that Jesus’ death and resurrection had opened salvation to the Gentiles. The apostle left Judaism because he recognized that, while there was nothing inherently wrong with Mosaic Law, it was rendered irrelevant by the emergence of Christianity. One thing NP advocates accept from the Lutheran reading is that Paul’s identity in Messiah necessarily replaced his identity as a Jewish man.[4]
Paul within Judaism
A third interpretational approach developed out of the New Perspective. Proponents of what’s known as “Paul within Judaism” say NP has not gone far enough. The Lutheran Paul and the New Perspective both focus on interpreting Paul within the context of the present-day church. In contrast, “Paul within Judaism” advocates want to understand Paul within his first-century context.
What was the first-century context of Christianity? For starters, the earliest disciples of the Way were not cognizant of being “Christians.” They were Jewish men and women who identified as such; Jewish men and women who recognized that their prophesied Messiah had come. As the movement gained traction – and attention – it was seen as another iteration of Judaism, which itself had already splintered into various factions[5] (the Sadducees,[6] the Essenes,[7] and others). Saul himself was a respected Pharisee.[8]
Advocates for Paul within Judaism argue that in his New Testament letters, Paul was not wrestling with whether Torah observance was legalistic or obsolete, or whether Jewish believers in Jesus should continue to be Jewish. Rather, Paul addressed whether Mosaic Law should be binding on Gentile believers. Was it a necessary part of faith in Jesus to adopt Jewish practices and identity?
There’s no doubt that on the road to Damascus, Saul had a transformative encounter with Jesus the Messiah. Whether he subsequently arrived in Damascus as a Christian in the first stages of shedding his Jewish identity, or as a Jewish man who believed in his Messiah, remains a point of disagreement. The Lutheran Paul and the New Perspective advocates agree on the former; Paul within Judaism supports the latter.
In next week’s blog, I will evaluate these perspectives and attempt to answer the question: was Paul a true convert?
Written by Miriam, Life in Messiah Communications Assistant
With what view do you most resonate – or do you hold another view altogether?
Consider reading the account of Paul’s “Road to Damascus” experience in preparation for next week.
Endnotes:
[1] Acts 9:4.
[2] Romans 1:1.
[3] There isn’t space for a detailed description of the “Lutheran Paul” perspective. If you’re interested in learning more, this book by Stephen Westerholm provides a fuller understanding of the Lutheran reading of Paul (and its critics).
[4] For more on the New Perspective on Paul, this article by Ryan Lambert takes a look at the distinctives of this approach.
[5] This article gives more insight into Jewish sects in the Second Temple period.
[6] To quote Britannica.com, “The Sadducees were the party of high priests, aristocratic families, and merchants – the wealthier elements of the population. They came under the influence of Hellenism, tended to have good relations with the Roman rulers of Palestine, and generally represented the conservative view within Judaism.”
[7] Britannica.com describes the Essenes as a sect that “clustered in monastic communities that, generally at least, excluded women. Property was held in common and all details of daily life were regulated by officials.”
[8] According to Britannica.com, the Pharisees “emerged as a party of laymen and scribes…” and their “insistence on the binding force of oral tradition (‘the unwritten Torah’) remains a basic tenet of Jewish theological thought.”