21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; 23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were glorifying God because of me.
During Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem, Barnabas paved the way by vouching for him to the believers. Paul quickly began preaching the gospel there (Acts 9:27-28). His work was mainly among the Greek speaking Jews, those who were ethnically and religiously Jews, but culturally more Greek than Hebrew. Paul having been a child of Roman citizens (and thus himself a Roman citizen) and having been raised in the Roman city of Tarsus with all its Greek culture related easily to the Greek Jews. After only two weeks threats on his life by the unbelieving Greek Jews he was trying to reach prompted the believers (converted Hebrew Jews) to wisely spirit Paul out of Jerusalem for his own safety. From there Paul travelled to “Syria and Cilicia” as our text today reads and spent time in his home city of Tarsus (Acts 9:29-30).
Paul now, as he writes to the Galatians, brings the assessment of his “credentials” to a close with a brief analysis of his exposure in Jerusalem. He had not personally met the churches in Judea (obviously referring to those outside of Jerusalem—His gospel preaching was confined to that city). His reputation, though, had changed (in large part due to Barnabas’ influence as well as Paul’s own actions of preaching the gospel) and news of the change spread throughout Judea: He was a different man! They had known him quite well as the chief antagonist against the church (see Acts 8:1-3). But now, astonishingly, his reputation was growing as the one who was “now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” In the end, the churches of Judea embraced Paul sight unseen and saw his conversion as an amazing act of God. What an affect did this one man had on the early church!
Paul indeed saw his conversion as God’s wonderful example to the believers. He later wrote, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord … though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy … and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant … Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him …” (1 Tim 1:12-16).
Lord, let my life be an example of Your grace so others might glorify You because of me.
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