PAUL: A PARADIGM
OF ELECTION TO SALVATION FOR SERVICE
An Exploration of Divine
Election in the Apostle’s Conversion and Ministry
Introduction
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus,
better known as the apostle Paul, has long been recognized as one of the most
remarkable stories in Christian history. How a zealous, violent persecutor of
Christians became their leading spokesman, scholar, and evangelist is a
question which defies simple, rationalistic explanations and argues forcefully
for the validity and historicity of the Christian claims. But
Paul’s story is unlike most cases of conversion. He came to Christ, not in
response to a presentation of the gospel, but on his knees while blinded by the
glory of the risen Lord. The apostle heard from the beginning he had been
chosen, not merely to believe in Jesus, but to testify as a witness of the
risen Savior (Acts 9:13-16; 22:10; 26:15-18). Irving Jensen notes, “The
sovereign ways of God in foreordination are remarkably demonstrated in
Paul’s…life.”
But God’s sovereign foreordination of Paul’s ministry raises profound questions
about divine election as it relates to his salvation.
Divine election refers to God’s
choice of certain people in relation to his redemptive purpose. It “is the
result of the divine initiative of God.” Sometimes
election is corporate, as in God’s choice of Israel as a nation (Deut. 7:6-8).
Sometimes election is individual, as in God’s choice of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3;
Neh. 9:7), David (1Sa. 16:6-13), Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5), and Paul (Gal. 1:13-17).
But whether the object of election is corporate or individual, it refers to
“God’s plan to bring salvation to His people and His world”
and “to the purpose or plan of God whereby He has determined to effect His
will.” Paul
wrote that divine election “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God,
who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16). He told the Ephesians that the Father “chose us in
[Christ] before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and
blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4). Peter referred to Christians as “those who
are elect…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1Pet. 1:1-2).
Though the doctrine of election is controversial, it is an important biblical
and theological issue.
Why did Jesus appear to Saul on the
road to Damascus and not to every other persecutor? Why did the Lord reveal
himself to Saul and not to others who heard the gospel but turned away? Why did
the Christ choose Saul to be a witness and apostle before he was born? Why did
God elect Paul for service in the gospel even before he believed? Some will say
Paul was chosen based on his foreseen faith, i.e. God chose Paul because he
knew, one day, Paul would choose to believe in Jesus. This theory, however,
turns the doctrine of election upside down, giving priority to man’s choice of
God rather than to God’s choice of man. We can hardly refer to election as
divine if the decisive choice is first made by the individual who is supposedly
elect. Paul’s conversion demonstrates God’s decisive action in bringing a rebellious
sinner to repentance by shining “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ” into Paul’s heart (2Cor. 4:6). The Lord
irresistibly drew Paul, yet he came willingly (1Cor. 9:16-18). God’s choice of
Paul before his birth to be a witness of Christ to the Gentiles indicates the
eternal, unconditional nature of divine election and exemplifies the graciousness
of divine mercy.
Part One – A Clear Indication:
Paul’s Election for Service Stated
Paul was Chosen by God for Special
Service
Saul’s vision of the
Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus was an experience destined to change the
persecutor’s life. I. Howard Marshall notes, “The purpose of the revelation was
that Paul should become a witness, describing and proclaiming what he had seen
and heard.”
Jesus did not merely appear to Paul to convince him of the Christian claims or
to frighten him into receiving baptism. The vision was as much to commission
the zealous Pharisee as it was to convict him. Luke records the Lord saying,
“But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do” (Acts
9:6), and Paul later recalls the Lord saying, “Rise, and go into Damascus, and
there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do” (Acts 22:10). The
perfect-tense tetaktai
(tetaktai appointed)
“indicates that Paul is part of an established divine plan.” On
another occasion Paul narrates the commissioning on the road in even greater
detail:
And I said, 'Who
are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But
rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to
appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me
and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and
from the Gentiles--to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they
may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by
faith in me.' (Acts 26:15-18)
Paul’s
description to King Agrippa of his Damascus road vision clearly points to the
significance in the apostle’s mind of the commission he received that day. Paul
did not merely decide to move into a new career. God changed his vocation.
The Lord had a clear purpose and plan for Paul’s life and moved decisively to
call and guide the persecutor into service as an apostle. The former opponent
of Jesus’s followers was goaded by God much as a herdsman might direct his
animals. The apostle ministered willingly, but regarded himself as under
compulsion to Christ (cf. 1Cor. 9:15-18).
Paul’s election by God to be a
witness and spokesman is but one example in a long line of such cases. In the
Bible the Lord sovereignly chooses and calls men like Abraham, Moses, David,
Jonah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and John the Baptist for his service.
Paul understood his own election as a minister to be within this tradition. In
Galatians Paul notes he is “one set apart and called from his mother’s womb,” a
position parallel to Jeremiah’s selection as a prophet while yet unborn (cf.
Jer. 1:5).
F. F. Bruce observes:
With no
conscious preparation, Paul found himself instantaneously compelled by what he
saw and heard to acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one, was alive
after his passion, vindicated and exalted by God, and was now conscripting him
into his service. There could be no resistance to this compulsion, no kicking
out against this goad which was driving him in the opposite direction to that
which he had hitherto been pursuing. He capitulated forthwith to the commands
of this new master; a conscript he might be, but henceforth also a devoted and
lifelong volunteer.
Paul was Chosen by God for Specific
Experiences
Paul
not only received confirmation of Jesus’ Messianic claims and of his election
as a witness on his journey to Damascus, he was also given specific information
about the suffering which awaited him as a servant of Christ. The Lord told
Ananias before he went to see Paul how the former persecutor would suffer as a
preacher of the gospel (Acts 9:16).
Jesus’ promise of deliverance from both Jews and Gentiles clearly implied the
danger Paul would face (Acts 26:17). The
apostle’s letters testify to the extreme hardships and persecution he endured
for the sake of Christ (2Cor. 1:8-10; 11:23-29; Gal. 6:17; 2Tim. 3:10-12). Such
experiences might have defeated many others, but Paul was empowered by Jesus’ revelation
these things would be so.
The
Lord continued to guide Paul as the apostle encountered specific threats during
his preaching ministry. During one of his visits to Jerusalem, as he prayed in
the Temple, the Lord told Paul, “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly,
because they will not accept your testimony about me” (Acts 22:18). While facing
opposition in the city of Corinth, the apostle was reassured, “Do not be
afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one
will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people”
(Acts 18:9-10). After his arrest in Jerusalem, when Paul might otherwise have
despaired of life, Luke records, “The following night the Lord stood by him and
said, ‘Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in
Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome’” (Acts 23:11). And during the
nearly fatal voyage to Rome, the imprisoned Paul was again encouraged by
revelation that he and his companions would succeed in reaching the capital
(Acts 27:21-26).
Jesus
not only chose Paul for ministry. He foresaw, permitted, and guided the
specific course his servant’s ministry would take. Thus the revelation of
Paul’s election as a witness not only included his commission, it included information
of what his role would involve. The Lord did not choose him to preach and send
him into the unknown. The same God who set apart Paul in his mother’s womb knew
every day of his life and prepared him to endure what was ahead (cf. Psa.
139:16). Paul’s preaching and persecution were both governed by God’s sovereign
purpose.
Part Two – A Necessary Implication:
Paul’s Election to Salvation Implied
Paul’s Election for Service
Preceded His Salvation
There
can be no doubt the divine election of Paul to be a witness of Jesus Christ
preceded his experience of salvation and conversion. Paul said God “set me
apart before I was born, and…called me by his grace” before he “was pleased to
reveal his Son in me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles”
(Gal. 1:15-16).
Though salvation is grounded in God’s “own purpose and grace which he gave us
in Christ Jesus before time began” (2Tim. 1:9), it is manifest and actualized
in space and time when one believes in the Lord Jesus (John 1:12-13; 5:24; Acts
16:30-34; Eph. 1:13). As William Klein puts it, “In God’s mind, his purposes on
behalf of a person may be foreknown and predestined. But it is not until the
action of ‘calling’ that the person actually becomes a recipient of and
participant in God’s purposes for him.”
Therefore, while Paul was set apart by God from his mother’s womb for service as
a preacher of the gospel, the apostle was not saved from sin and treated as a
child of God until sanctified by faith in Christ (cf. Acts 26:18; 2Thess.
2:13). His election for service to Christ preceded his experience of salvation
in Christ.
Paul’s Election for Service
Presupposed His Salvation
Divine
election, whether for service or salvation, inevitably and necessarily precedes
the actualization of whatever is purposed, but there is also a necessary
sequence within the various aspects of God’s election. Paul was chosen for
service as a witness of Christ, but this raises the question, did Paul’s
election as an apostle presuppose his election as a believer, one saved by the
blood of Christ? It is clear some are chosen by God for service apart from salvation.
Judas was chosen by Christ as an apostle, but his role was as the betrayer, not
as a saved believer (John 6:70-71). Likewise, the Pharaoh of the exodus was
chosen by God as a vessel of wrath to display the divine glory (Rom. 9:17, 22).
God is not limited to using those who surrender their hearts to him. All
persons, believers and unbelievers, pious and profane, are vessels for service,
whether for honorable or dishonorable use (2Tim. 2:20). So it is possible for a
person to be chosen for service who is not among the elect, i.e. the saved. But
is this the case for Paul?
Paul
appears to see little difference between his call as a believer and his
commission as a witness.
Bruce notes that Paul “speaks as if the call and commission were part of the
one conversion experience” and relates the apostle’s experience to those of
Isaiah, who was cleansed and commissioned in the same vision (Isa. 6:1-9),
Ezekiel, who was commissioned in the midst of a similar vision (Ezek.
1:4-3:11), and Jeremiah, who was appointed as a prophet before his birth (Jer.
1:5).
All of these prophets’ lives and ministries testify to their salvation as well
as to their service to God. If Paul’s election rightly stands in the tradition
of these great men of faith, then his election as a servant cannot be separated
from God’s purpose for his salvation.
Many
find the idea of individual, unconditional election by God of persons to
salvation objectionable, believing such election would negate an individual’s
free will and responsibility to participate in the salvation process. But if
Paul’s call to believe in Christ and his commission to proclaim Christ are,
indeed, parallel and inseparable, as they appear to be, how can we understand
his election to salvation as anything other than individual and unconditional?
Some will say the Lord elected Paul because he foresaw the apostle’s eventual
faith in Jesus, but this would place Paul’s decision to believe logically,
though not temporally, prior to his election by God. In other words, it would be
Paul who first chose Christ, then Christ who returned the favor by choosing Paul.
This makes the doctrine of election merely a divine response to man’s choice.
When
the Bible speaks of God knowing or foreknowing certain people, it does not
refer to simple knowledge of what will later be true. God undoubtedly has such
information (Psa. 139:1-18; Isa. 46:9-10), but when the Scriptures speak of God
knowing certain ones it refers to relationship (Exod. 33:17; Amos 3:2; Matt.
7:23; John 10:14; 1Cor. 8:3) and/or divine choices with regard to those persons.
In Acts 2:23 Peter describes Jesus as “delivered up according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God.” God’s foreknowledge of the crucifixion is more
than mere foresight. It corresponds to his “definite plan” that it be so (cf.
1Pet. 1:18-20). In the same way, God’s foreknowledge of saved persons is
related to his choosing them to be in fellowship with him and becomes the basis
for his calling them (Rom. 8:29-30; 1Pet. 1:1-2).
God’s
call of those he foreknows and elects is effectual, i.e. it accomplishes what
it intends by drawing those foreknown to him.
This is evident in Paul’s case since no reason, sermon, or witness could
overcome his unbelief, until the Lord acted decisively by manifesting his glory
in order to bring the persecutor to the point of faith. William Klein says,
“Paul uses kalein [call] to describe
a divine activity.”
Though Klein is an Arminian scholar who rejects individual, unconditional
election in favor of a corporate, conditional model, he recognizes God’s
calling is a “causative action in designating Paul as his own child.”
Divine election and the divine call are not synonymous in the NT, but they are
closely related. Klein goes on to say:
Is kalein truly an elective term? Not…in
the sense that it is coincident with God’s election to salvation. But it is
“elective” in that it marks the individual application in the life of the
believer of God’s elective purposes. It would seem from the evidence that kalein refers not so much to God’s
choice of individuals to salvation as to his action in naming or designating
some to be Christians. It describes God’s active role in assigning, applying,
or bestowing salvation to those who are the elect.
It
is reasonable, if not necessary, to conclude Paul’s election for service was
based upon a prior election to salvation. Alan Cole notes, “To Paul, the origin
of all human salvation is in the mind and loving purpose of God.”
God clearly foreordained Paul’s service as an apostle and preacher of the
gospel. While some have served in such roles without clear evidence of
personal, saving faith (e.g. Jonah, Judas), Paul’s role as announced by Jesus
and further explained by Ananias seems undeniably linked to salvation in the
Lord (Acts 9:15-17; 26:18). It strains both reason and the relevant texts to
affirm Paul’s service as an apostle was foreordained but his salvation in
Christ was merely foreseen. Marshall observes that “Ananias’s somewhat
reproachful question [in Acts 22:16] ‘Why do you wait?’ is slightly odd,”
but it makes perfect sense if we recognize Paul’s service as a witness
presupposed his obedience to Christ as a disciple. The question is not, “Will
you accept Christ and be baptized?” but “Why do you wait?” God’s will for Paul
has been revealed, and now Paul is urged to recognize Jesus’ call and visibly,
publicly embrace the saving message of God’s Son. God had taken hold of Paul,
and it is time for Paul to press forward to take hold of salvation as well
(Php. 3:12).
Part Three – An Important
Illustration: Paul’s Election as a Paradigm
Paul’s Service is a Pattern for
God’s People
The
apostle Paul presented his faith, doctrine, and service as a model of Christian
orthodoxy in the churches he visited and in the letters he wrote.
He told the Corinthian believers, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”
(1Cor. 11:1). He encouraged the church in Philippi to have the same mindset
evident in his life and urged, “Join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on
those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Php. 3:17). The
apostle’s life was more than just a personal experience. It was a paradigm for
other believers to look at and learn from, a portrait of Jesus’ life being
manifest in Paul’s own, albeit imperfectly (Gal. 2:20; Php. 3:8-14).
Paul’s Salvation is a Pattern of
God’s Mercy
The
paradigmatic value of Paul’s life is more than just his model of faith and
service. The apostle wrote to Timothy, “I received mercy for this reason, that
in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an
example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life” (1Tim. 1:16). Paul
regards his salvation “as an example [Ï…̔ποτύπωσις pattern]” of God’s work in those who will
believe for eternal life. But what is the paradigmatic import of Paul’s
salvation? What do we learn from it?
Paul’s
conversion was “a conversion of will, intellect, and emotion, which dictated
the abiding purpose and direction of his subsequent life and activity.” But
this conversion was the result of God’s intervention in Paul’s life. Not every
convert has a vision of the risen Jesus which brings about a change in attitude
toward the gospel, so that cannot be the way in which Paul’s salvation is a
pattern. But every convert is brought to Christ through the decisive
intervention of God on the basis of his election and call. When Paul preached
in Antioch of Pisidia, Luke notes, “When the Gentiles heard this, they began
rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed [tassw] to eternal life believed” (Acts
13:48). In commenting on this passage, Darrell Bock notes that tassw “refers to God’s sovereign work over
salvation, where God has assigned those who come to eternal life. The passive
voice indicates that God does the assigning.”
God has appointed certain persons for eternal life, and at some point he will
decisively and effectually call them to faith in Christ. This was the case in
Antioch and in the life of Paul. It was also true in the case of 3,000 on
Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41), the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40), Cornelius (Acts
10:44-48), Lydia (Acts 16:14-15), and countless other believers since. Not
everyone is knocked to the ground by a blinding vision of Jesus, but every
person brought to faith is saved according to the same pattern as the apostle
Paul. They all are foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified
(Rom. 8:29-30).
Conclusion
Why
was Paul saved and commissioned as a minister of the gospel? Was it because of
the eloquence of Stephen’s sermon, the goodness of Paul’s heart, or his
open-mindedness to the message of Jesus? Paul was saved by sheer grace,
undeserved, unearned, and unexpected (1Tim. 1:12-16). God’s purpose for Paul,
determined before the apostle’s birth, was manifested at just the right time,
as a pattern of the divine mercy which would be shown to all who believe. “The
Lord knows those who are his,” Paul told Timothy (2Tim. 2:19). He knows them
before they come to faith (John 10:14-16; Acts 18:10). They are called,
effectually and inevitably, according to his divine purpose and grace given to
them in Christ Jesus before time began (Rom. 8:28; 2Tim. 1:9). Those he foreknows
he also predestines, calls, justifies, and glorifies (Rom. 8:29-30). “Salvation
belongs to the Lord,” as the prophet Jonah declared (Jonah 2:9). It is the work
of God from beginning to end (Php. 1:6; 1Thess. 5:23-24).
God’s
choice of Paul before his birth to be a witness of Christ to the Gentiles
indicates the eternal, unconditional nature of divine election and exemplifies
the essence of divine mercy. Jesus does not appear to every persecutor of the
church, but he did appear to Saul and reverse the course of his life.
The Lord does not reveal himself directly and personally to every person who
rejects the gospel of grace, but he did so for Saul and made him a preacher of
that good news. God did not wait for Saul to obey the gospel before he decided
how he would use him, nor did he determine the nature of Paul’s ministry based
merely upon divine foresight of what the apostle would do anyway. If divine
election means anything, if God’s predetermined purpose for Paul’s life has any
actual significance at all, it must be related to the Lord’s sovereign choice
to intervene in Paul’s life, effectually bring his enemy to faith, and commission
him for service as an evangelist and witness. Paul said to the Corinthians, “By
the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On
the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the
grace of God that is with me” (1Cor. 15:10).
Bibliography
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