Paul Perspective

Perspectives on Paul In our studies we have discussed whether or not Paul was called or whether he was converted. At some point it was asked if Paul had a revelation. As we know, Paul was a person who murdered people. He persecuted God’s people because he felt that they were not keeping the purity of Christ. When it comes to Paul and his old perspective, it is said that he opposed Jewish legalism. “What Paul rejected about Judaism is that it was a legalistic system.”(Gombis, 2010) In other words, they felt that if they did good things they can have a little leverage to give to God for salvation. In some of the studies it says that before Paul came to the road of Damascus he was on a guilt trip because of what he was doing. Paul began to realize that he was in sin and that it was causing him to do wrong. Romans 7:18 says, “ For I know that in me( that is, in my flesh) dwellers no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Paul was well in times to what his flesh could do. However; that gave him a reality check into what he did not feel comfortable doing anymore. He realized that there was more to the Law. Killing to keep something or …show more content…
In the old perspective of things it was said that Paul was operating under a guilty conscience. In some of my reading I saw a different outlook about Paul’s conscience. “Paul did not suffer from a tortured conscience prior to his conversion, but had a robust conscience. He had no doubts that he was doing the right thing in persecuting the church prior to God’s arresting him on the Damascus road.”(Gombis, 2010) The new perspective involves Paul not opposing legalism within Judaism. “He is opposing the latent, but very strong, impulse within Jewish Christianity that God’s salvation in Christ is limited to those who are “within the Law”, those who are ethnic Jews or who convert to Judaism.”(Gombis,