Acts 9:4 “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

In Acts 9 we read about the great and sudden shift of “Saul the disciple slanderer and killer” to “Saul the disciple”. These two are so different in passion, that everybody was very suspicious and not sure what to make of this. The Jews who loved this “Yeshua-followers-persecuting-Saul”, suddenly hated him for standing up for Yeshua and His disciples. The followers of Yeshua thought this is a new tactic to be able to execute them. Saul was suddenly in a hot spot, Jerusalem. And therefor, for his own safety, the Apostles decided to send Saul to Tarsus, his hometown, which is located in modern-day Turkey. Later, a different group of apostles, specifically Barnabas, brought Saul to Antioch, and together they were sent on missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire to places like Syria, Cyprus, and Asia Minor.

Saul or Paul?
We read in Acts 13:9 “But Saul, also known as Paul“. Saul was not given a new name; he had both a Jewish/Hebrew name (Saul) and a Roman/Latin name (Paul) from birth, which was a common practice at the time. The change from “Saul” to “Paul” in the Acts of the Apostles reflects the shift in his ministry from ministering to Jews to primarily ministering to Gentiles in the Roman world. It was a strategic choice to use his Roman name for easier communication and relatability with a Gentile audience. The Greek name is Saulos G4569 – saulos or G4549 – saoul, meaning “desired“, which is used in the first half of Acts. But from Chapter 13 we read the shift to the Latin name Paul or Paulos G3972 – paulos, meaning “small or little”. The greek name Saulos is a translation of the Hebrew name Saul H7586 – šā’ûl, also meaning “desired”. The root Hebrew word is Sa’al H7592 – šā’al, which means to ask or require from. The first King, before David, was King Saul, and he also had quite a reputation. What is also interesting, is the name Saul in the Hebrew letters (without the vowels, called nikkudot – the dots and dashes), are the exact same word Sheol H7585 – šᵊ’ôl, which is called the underworld, where souls go to rest. Click here for previous posts about how interesting Sheol really is, and the mistranslation of “hell”.

This split between Saul and Paul, was not just evident in his name, but spiritually also. Reading the rest of Acts, it seems Saul/Paul is saying and acting two ways. The biggest arguments and controversies were about circumcision and the laws, which was an issue between Jewish-followers and Roman-followers of Yeshua; and about the Resurrection of Yeshua, which was an issue between the Pharisees and Sadduccees. It is these two arguments that got Paul in big trouble, and which had him beaten, even stoned at one point, and in custody for protection for many years. In Acts 21:15-26 we read how Paul is confronted again by Yeshua’s followers about the laws, and that Paul then goes and proves that he is a follower of the law by making purification sacrifices in verse 26. There is this constant split where Paul have to prove himself to both Jew and Roman. In Acts 26:24, the Roman governor Festus even shouts at Paul, “You are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane“. This was the problem, Paul was so highly educated, that when he tries to explain things, it sometimes goes right over peoples’ heads. Remember, he received a rigorous Jewish education in the Laws of Torah (1), but also the extra laws of the Pharisees (2), as well as the Roman laws (3!) – which is evident in his question-and-answer style of teaching. He was considered an intellectual genius, with great confidence and great speaker abilities, knowing how to use words in arguments.

Peter ends his letters in 2 Peter 3 with a warning about how to understand Paul, “about our dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught/ignorant and unstable (not strong in faith and the word) people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” Paul sure had enemies on both side of the fences, the followers of Yeshua and the Pharisees. But like Peter says, it is not the fact that we are not as intellegent like Paul that makes his letters hard, but if we don’t understand (taught) the Torah and have our faith rooted (being stable) in Scripture, then we will be easily thrown off course with people who use Pauls’ letters to their own agendas – which then would seem like it contradicts the Laws/Torah of YHWH. Paul didn’t bring a new religion, and neither did Yeshua. People used Pauls’ letters to twist into a different religion which was followed by Yeshua’s followers. This is why it is so important to go back to Genesis 1, and not just read the Scriptures, but really study them to understand it’s meaning. The Laws were not there to punish, but to teach.