Only One Chosen Race In Christ

There is a very large group of people in the Western Evangelical Church who believe someday, that either before or at Christ second coming, all Jews regardless of their faith in Jesus Christ, will be saved. There ethnicity will make a way. Saved by sight at His appearing even.

God will saved them in spite of their rejection of His Son as their Messiah. But how can that be true? From what the Apostle Paul has written it is very clear that only a remnant have been and will be saved.

In Romans chapter 9 the Apostle Paul grieves for the Jews (Romans 9:2), whom he clearly identifies as “my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3) “who are Israelites” (Romans 9:4). But why does he grieve? He gives us the answer in the passage following.

But this is a message that the Dispensational Zionists in the Evangelical Church refuse to acknowledge. However Paul’s message here is fundamental to the entire salvation message of the Bible from Abraham to the present.

Did God fail to save all Israel and therefore some of Paul’s brethren are lost? Did God’s Word lose its power over some of those who claim to be ethnically Jewish? In the following text, the Apostle answers these questions.

6 It is not, however, that God’s Word has failed. For not all the ones of Israel,
these are of Israel, 7 nor because they are Abraham’s seed are all children, but “In Isaac a Seed shall be called to you.” (Gen. 21:12) 8 That is: not the children of flesh are children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.

Romans 9:6-8 KJ3

There are two distinct concepts of Israel here. One is of the flesh and the other of the spirit, of the promise made to Abraham. In the quoted passage “In Isaac a Seed shall be called to you.” (Genesis 21:12) the Apostle makes it clear that there is a Seed, and we know who that is, because he clearly identified him as Jesus Christ.

16 But the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed (it does not say,
And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” which is Christ).

Galatians 3:16 KJ3

Therefore if someone is a believer in Jesus Christ he or she is a child of God and inherits all the promises God made to Abraham. In Christ they are “reckoned for a seed.” In the Seed (singular) Jesus Christ all believers are counted as a seed.

That metaphor is completely consistent with John 15.

5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because without Me you are not able to produce, not one thing. 6 If not one abides in Me, he is cast out as the branch and is dried up; and they gather them, and they throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

John 15:5-6 KJ3

The Apostle makes it very plain that abiding in Christ means through faith and not ethnicity.

25 But faith coming, we are no longer under a tutor; 26 for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many as were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ. 28 There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there is no slave nor freeman, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are of Christ, then you are a seed of Abraham, and heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:25-29 KJ3

Therefore the distinction between Jew and Greek (or any non-Jew) is gone. Only faith matters, nothing of the flesh matters. Being in Christ means salvation and enteral life in Jesus Christ. If one is not in Christ he is cast out into hellfire.

The Apostle goes on in his lesson to teach that God’s calling has nothing to do with the flesh but is all according to God’s purpose and choice (election).

9 For the Word of promise is this, “According to this time I will come, and a son will be to Sarah.” (Gen. 18:10) 10 And not only so, but also Rebekah having conceived by a man, our father Isaac. 11 for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of the One calling, 12 it was said to her, “The greater shall serve the lesser”; (Gen. 25:23) 13 even as it has been written, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” (Mal. 1:2-3)

Romans 9:9-13 KJ3

Even though by birth, Esau, being born first, should have had the birthright but the Lord said “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau’. He chose the younger over the older. This was to illustrate God’s sovereign choice and it had nothing to do with their goodness or badness because God chose before they were even born and therefore before they could do anything good or bad.

This further illustrates that when grace operates Christ chooses whomever He will. The sin in the person He chooses has nothing to do with it. Nor does their ancestral lineage, but it only depends on God’s choice of who are the chosen ones.

14 What then shall we say? Is there not unrighteousness with God? Let it not be! 15 For He said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will pity whomever I pity.” (Ex. 33:19) 16 So, then, it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of the One having mercy, of God. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very thing I raised you up, so that I might show forth My power in you, and so that My name might be publicized in all the earth.” (Ex. 9:16)

Romans 9:14-17 KJ3

It is not of any genetic, ethnic lineage nor of which religion you adhere to nor of who your ancestors were.

So do you see it? The flesh counts for nothing. All that counts is the grace of God and that grace is found through faith in Jesus Christ. Those in Christ, whether they be ethnically of Israel or not of Israel, are saved only by Christ’s choice in choosing them to be part of the election. To those rejecting Christ He hardens and damns them.

18 So, then, to whom He wills, He shows mercy; but to whom He wills, He hardens.

Romans 9:18 KJ3

Satan has worked very hard to overturn this gospel message and has very successfully deceived many evangelicals into believing that ethnic lineage (i.e. in those claiming to be Jewish) gives them privilege and puts them on the fast-track to salvation.

But if that were true, why would the Apostle Paul be so grieved? Simply, it is because he understands that the rejection of Christ by his kinsmen means their loss to salvation.

But the Apostle Paul knows that there is no valid criticism of God for condemning those who reject Christ as the majority of the Jews through history have. Only a small remnant have been called and chosen, and received Him as Lord and Saviour.

19 You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? 20 Nay, rather, O man, who are you, the one answering back to God? Shall the thing formed say to the One forming it, Why did You make me like this? (Isa. 29:16) 21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honor, and one to dishonor? (Jer. 18:6) 22 But if God, desiring to display wrath, and to make His power known, endured in much long-suffering vessels of wrath having been fitted out for destruction, 23 and that He make known the riches of His glory on vessels of mercy which He before prepared for glory, 24 whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also out of nations [Gentiles].

Romans 9:19-24 KJ3

God is sovereign and like the potter has authority over the clay. In His creation He makes some for glory and some for destruction. All deserve destruction (Romans 3:23) but God through Christ chose to save some. And that choice is one of those mysteries, because it is only by the will of God, not by anything about who you are.

25 As also He says in Hosea, I will call the ones Not My People, My People! And the ones Not Being Loved, Being Loved! (Hosea 2:23) 26 “And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are Not My people, there they will be called, “Sons of the Living God.” (LXX-Hos. 2:1; MT-Hos. 2:23) 27 But Isaiah cries on behalf of Israel, “If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.” 28 For He is finishing and finishing quickly the matter “in righteousness,” “because the Lord” “will do a thing having finished quickly” “on the earth.” (Isa. 10:22-23) 29 And as Isaiah predicted, “If not the Lord of hosts left a seed to us, we would have become as Sodom, and as Gomorrah we would have been compared.” (Isa. 1:9)

Romans 9:25-29 KJ3

The number of the Israelites through history may be as the sand of the sea, but only a remnant of physical Israel will be saved. If God had not chosen a remnant then there would be none at all. But that is the same for the non-Jews (the nations) who were not God’s people (“Not My People”). They will by God’s sovereign choice now be called “My People”.

30 What then shall we say? That the nations, the ones not pursuing righteousness, have taken over righteousness, but a righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not arrive to a law of righteousness? 32 Why? Because it was not of faith, but as of works of Law. For they stumbled at the Stone-of-stumbling [Jesus Christ], 33 as it has been written, “Behold, I place in” “Zion a Stone-of-stumbling,” “and a Rock-of-offense,” “and everyone believing on Him will not be shamed.” (LXX and MT-Isa. 28:16; MT-Isa. 8:14).

Romans 9:30-33 KJ3

Israel got so fixated on making for themselves their own righteousness through keeping the law, which is fundamentally impossible, that they failed to be righteous. This was because there always was ever only one way to be righteous before God, and that was by faith in Jesus Christ, who on the cross paid our sin-debt to the Father and established righteousness for all believers. Genetic lineage, religion, ethnicity, blood, or nationality never had any merit.

4 For it is impossible for the ones once having been enlightened, and having tasted of the heavenly gift, and becoming sharers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasting the good Word of God, and the works of power of a coming age, 6 and having fallen away, it is impossible for them again to renew to repentance, crucifying again for themselves the Son of God, and holding Him up to public shame.

Hebrews 6:4-6 KJ3

The Jews once had an advantage to know this because they had the oracles of God (Romans 3:2). They tasted of the “heavenly gift” but fell away because they rejected Jesus Christ. The Apostle explains that having rejected Him it is impossible for them to come to repentance. In effect they are again crucifying the Son of God. This is the very nature of those Jews who reject Jesus Christ’s shed blood of the New Covenant today.

The Apostle repeats this in another chapter of Hebrews.

26 For if we are willfully sinning after receiving the full knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice concerning sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and “zealous fire being about to consume the adversaries.” (Isa. 26:11) 28 If anyone did not regard the Law of Moses, without compassions on “the word of two or three witnesses” dies. (Deut. 17:6) 29 How much worse punishment do you think will be thought worthy to receive, the one having trampled the Son of God, and having counted common the blood of the covenant in which he was sanctified, and having insulted the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 10:26-29 KJ3

We literally see this expressed in the actions of Israelis today. Spitting of Christians in Israel has become epidemic as well as attacks on churches (John 15:18). The hatred behind this is hatred for Christ.

There is only one chosen race and it is not any ethnicity or tribe. Only those chosen by Jesus Christ, who abide in Him are His chosen nation. There is no merit in the flesh, but only by faith in His shed blood on the cross. Believing that makes you a member of His new nation, and member of His heavenly kingdom.

9 But you are “an elect race,” “a royal priesthood,” “a holy nation,” “a people for possession,” so that “you may proclaim the excellencies” of the One who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (LXX-Ex. 23:22; MT-Ex. 19:5-6) 10 you who then were “not a people, but now are the people” of God; “who not having received mercy, but now receiving mercy”. (Hos. 1:6, 9; 2:1, 23)

1 Peter 2:9-10 KJ3

The Apostle Peter understood this and quoted the same text that the Apostle Paul quoted from Hosea chapter 2.

23 And I will sow her to Me in the earth. And I will have mercy on No Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, You are My People! And he shall say, My God!

Hosea 2:23 KJ3

Both apostles were Jews who acknowledged that those not of the tribe of Israel are now Israel (My People). They are part of the true Israel of God, which only in part comprises ethnic Jews. The rest are non-Jews. Therefore in Christ all believers are the true Israel of God.

Related Reading

• Scofield Study Bible | A Zionist Funded Project to Subvert the True Gospel of Jesus Christ
• God Keeps His Promises by JD Hall
• Introducing “Stola Scriptura: How the Enemies of Christ Schemed to Steal the Scriptures”
• Covenant Theology Has Historically Taught That There is Only One People of God United in Christ
• Reclaiming the True Israel of God | Why the Next Generation Must Hear the Bible, Not the Commentators
• The True Israel of God
• Christian Zionists Misunderstand “All Israel Will Be Saved”
• The Vineyard of God
• The Blessings of God on Abraham

The Good News – the Gospel

• Do You Know Him?
• The Salvific Power of Christ
• How Do You Know You Are Saved?
• Can You Do Anything To Be Saved?

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From Kingship to Smallness: The 14-Year Journey from Saul to Paul

1,716 words, 9 minutes read time.

This deep dive into the life of the Apostle Paul is built on the archaeological, cultural, and theological reality of the first-century Roman world. It is a world of harsh lines and absolute ownership. While historical records do not confirm a physical ear piercing with 100% certainty, the internal logic of the Eved (Love-Slave) ritual and the cultural weight of the term doulos provide a compelling framework for understanding Paul’s radical transformation.

The religious elite of the first century were not looking for a savior; they were looking for a judge who could crush dissent. Saul of Tarsus was that judge. He lived in the “kingship” of his own heritage, a high-ranking Pharisee with the legal authority to hunt, bind, and destroy those who followed the Way. This was not a man drifting through life; this was a man of absolute power who was eventually leveled by a light that blinded his physical eyes to open his spiritual ones. The Damascus road was the end of Saul the King. What followed was not an immediate rise to stardom but a systematic 14-year dismantling of his pride, his rank, and his very name. This article deconstructs that journey—the transition from the high-commanded hunter to the “Love-Slave” of Christ. It is a map of decrease, moving from the top of the social ladder to the position of a bondservant, a status held in utter contempt by the world. Face this truth: the wreckage of a life built on self-importance must be cleared before the Master can build anything of value.

The Saul to Paul Name Change and Social Demotion

The transition from the Hebrew name Saul (Sha’ul) to the Latin Paul (Paulus) was not a divine light-switch moment but a calculated, functional shift into radical smallness. Saul was a name of heritage and kingship, likely honoring the first king of Israel from the tribe of Benjamin. By adopting the name Paul, which literally means “small” or “little,” he was signaling a total social freefall. This was a verbal declaration of his bondservice, a public “receipt” that the man who once held the highest religious credentials now viewed them as skubala—a gritty, visceral term for “crap” or “dung”. In a Roman society that worshipped status, Paul chose a name that physically matched the humble submission of a slave.

This name change occurred roughly 14 years after his conversion, appearing in the record as he launched into his mission to the Gentiles. It served as proof of his maturity, showing that the “smallness” was no longer a badge he was trying on but a lived reality. He traded a name of authority for a title of contempt because he realized that for Christ to increase, his own ego had to be ground into the dirt. Stop clutching your titles and your “rank” in a world that is rotting; Paul’s name change proves that true power only comes when you are small enough to be used by the Master.

The 14-Year Silent Period and the Bondservant Proving Ground

Paul did not walk off the Damascus road and into the pulpit; he disappeared into the desert and the shadows for over a decade. This 14-year “silent period” was the spiritual equivalent of the six years a Hebrew servant worked before legally choosing to stay with a master forever. In Arabia, he underwent an intense period of direct revelation, where Jesus personally re-taught him the Scriptures through a new lens. This was not a time of self-reflection but of divine leveling, where the “ear” as the organ of obedience was trained to hear only one voice. After Arabia came a decade of obscurity in Tarsus, a time of ministry where the theory of “smallness” became a daily practice.

This duration of hidden training ensured that by the time he re-emerged with Barnabas in Antioch, his commitment was no longer an impulsive reaction but a settled identity. He had reached the point of freedom and explicitly chose to stay, a voluntary surrender rooted in love for the Master who had intercepted him. This period of silence was the crushing of the old Saul, making way for the bondservant who would eventually be “pinned” to the household of God. If you think your “potential” is enough without the discipline of silence and the weight of obedience, you are sleepwalking toward a mediocre end.

The Theological Pierced Ear and Cultural Marks of Ownership

The core of Paul’s identity as a doulos rests on the ritual of the “Love-Slave” found in Exodus 21, where a servant’s ear was pinned to a doorpost with an awl. While we cannot verify with 100% certainty that Paul wore a physical hole in his ear, his constant identification as a bondservant to a Gentile audience made a physical or social “mark” a legal necessity. In the Roman world, a slave’s status was often worn on the body; without a direct cultural receipt, his claim of total ownership by Christ would have been legally inconsistent. Paul pointed to his stigmata—the scars from lashings, stonings, and beatings—as the physical proof that he belonged to the household of God.

These were his “piercings,” the evidence that he was no longer a free agent or a “hired hand” but the literal property of a Master. Unlike Roman brands used for punishment, the Hebrew ear piercing was a badge of love, signaling that the servant refused to go out free. This voluntary mark would have been the ultimate visual testimony to a skeptical church and a watching world that the hunter had become a servant. Whether the mark was a ceremonial hole or the scars of service, his body was a map of his surrender, testifying that his ear was permanently fixed to the doorpost of the Kingdom. Stop hiding behind flowery language and churchy platitudes; if your life doesn’t carry the “marks” of your service, you aren’t a bondservant, you’re a tourist.

Radical Humility: Reclaiming the Fisher of Men Identity

The life of the Apostle Paul is a direct challenge to the modern church’s obsession with gatekeeping and social rank. Paul traded the “kingship” of a high-ranking persecutor for the “smallness” of a marked slave because he understood that the “doorpost” of God’s household is open only to those willing to be pierced. He bypassed the religious gatekeepers to reach the outcasts—the tax collectors and the “vile”—because he was no longer competing with God for authority. His 14-year descent into obscurity was the necessary training to embrace a status that society held in utter contempt.

The name Paul, the potential piercing, and the scars of his mission all scream one thing: he belonged to another. Get on your knees and face the mirror. If you are still “choosing” who gets grace instead of being a “fisher of men,” you have missed the point of the Gospel. For Christ to increase in the wreckage of this world, you must decrease. The choice to be “pinned” is yours—but once the awl hits the wood, there is no going back to the mediocrity you once called freedom.

Call to Action

Stop hiding behind your credentials and your “rank” in a world that is rotting. If your life doesn’t carry the “marks” of your service, you aren’t a bondservant, you’re just a tourist. The Damascus road was the end of Saul the King, and the next 14 years were a systematic dismantling of his pride to make room for a new Master. Paul’s name change to “Smallness” and his potential pierced ear weren’t just religious fashion; they were a public “receipt” that he had traded his high-ranking authority for the humble submission of a “Love-Slave”.

Get on your knees and face the mirror. Are you still trying to be the one who “chooses” who gets grace, or are you ready to become a “fisher of men” at the bottom of the social ladder? For Christ to increase in the wreckage of your life, you must decrease. The choice to be “pinned” to the Master’s doorpost is yours, but once the awl hits the wood, there is no going back to the gutless mediocrity you once called freedom. Hit your knees tonight and surrender your pride before the Master. Stop competing with God for authority and start listening with the ear of a servant.

Choose smallness. Get to the doorpost. Become the bondservant you were called to be.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• Why Did Bondslaves Have Their Ear Pierced? – One For Israel, 2024
• Exodus 21: Laws Concerning Slaves – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Deuteronomy 15: The Sabbatical Year – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Galatians 6:17: Marks of Jesus – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Philippians 3:8: Loss of All Things – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Psalm 40:6: Sacrifice and Offering – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Acts 13:9: Saul called Paul – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Galatians 1:17-18: Arabia and Jerusalem – Bible Gateway, 2026
• Slavery in Ancient Rome – Encyclopedia Britannica, 2025
• The Apostle Paul and the Early Church – Biblical Archaeology Society, 2023
• Saul of Tarsus – Jewish Encyclopedia, 2024
• The Word Doulos in the New Testament – Theology of Work Project, 2024
• Doulos: Strong’s Greek 1401 – Bible Hub, 2026
• Paulus: Strong’s Greek 3972 – Bible Hub, 2026
• Skubala: Strong’s Greek 4657 – Bible Hub, 2026
• Paul’s Inner Circle: Arabia and Tarsus – Monergism, 2023
• Apostle Paul: Missionaries and Scholars – Christianity Today, 2024
• Stigmata: Strong’s Greek 4742 – Blue Letter Bible, 2026
• Roman Slavery – World History Encyclopedia, 2024
• The Bondservant of Christ – Ligonier Ministries, 2025
• What is a Bondservant? – GotQuestions.org, 2026
• Exodus 21 Interlinear – STEP Bible, 2026
• Topical Studies: Bondservant – BibleTools, 2024
• The Ear in Hebrew Thought – Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, 2025
• The Marks of Jesus – Desiring God, 2023
• Dictionary of Bible Themes: Slavery – Bible Study Tools, 2026
• History of Slavery: Ancient Origins – History Channel, 2024
• Eved: The Hebrew Servant – Hebrew4Christians, 2025
• What Does it Mean to be a Servant of Christ? – Crossway, 2024
• Timeline of the Apostle Paul – BibleStudy.org, 2026
• From Saul of Tarsus to Apostle Paul – Veritas Forum, 2023
• The Meaning of Doulos – Grace to You, 2025

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

The Hollows of Grace

The Hollows of Grace

[Intro]

(Slow, haunting fingerstyle guitar with a deep, woody tone)
(Low hum of an upright bass)
(Distant, mournful cello note)

[Verse 1]

I stood tall in the halls of the heavy-handed
With a name that tasted like a king
I was the judge, the hunter, the high-commanded
Until the silence started to sing
Three days of dark to break my pride
Then fourteen years to wither inside
I traded my rank for a lowly place
And found my name in the hollows of grace.

[Chorus]

So pin my ear to the Master’s door
I don’t want my freedom anymore
Let me grow small while He grows tall
I’m a servant now, at the beck and call
I’m a love-slave bound by a choice I made
To reach the ones that the church mislaid.

[Verse 2]

The religious men, they love their gates
Choosing who’s worthy and sealing their fates
But I see the taxman, the outcast, the “vile”
And I meet their eyes with a brother’s smile
My former life?
It’s nothing but waste Just skubala (crap) with a bitter taste
I won’t look down from a judging floor
When I’m just a slave at the Master’s door.

[Bridge]

(Music thins out to just piano and a single guitar string)
The elites are gonna be in for a shock
When they see the outcasts on the Rock
The ones they called a “sin” and a shame
Are the ones who carry the Master’s name
My mark isn’t silver, my mark isn’t gold
It’s a hole in my ear that says I’ve been sold.

[Chorus]

(Vocal becomes more raw and raspy)
So pin my ear to the Master’s door
I don’t want my freedom anymore
Let me grow small while He grows tall
I’m a servant now, at the beck and call
I’m a love-slave bound by a choice I made
To reach the ones that the church mislaid.

[Outro]

I’m little, I’m small, I’m finally Paul Just a marked-up man at the Master’s call Listening close with a pierced-up ear To tell the outcasts: “The Master’s here”.

Disclaimer:
The Lyrics of this music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. You are free to use, share, remix, or build upon this work—even commercially—as long as credit is given to the original creator: Bryan King, the suggest format is: “The Hollows of Grace” by Bryan King, used under CC BY 4.0

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Struck Blind, Led By Grace

A Sermon of Encounter on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1–19a)

(Note: Sermons can be heard in audio format at https://millersburgmennonite.org/worship/sermon-audio/)

Introduction

Last Sunday Rachelle talked about the disciples trembling in fear behind locked doors, only to have a surprise encounter with the risen Christ. As you may remember, last week I shared during the children’s story about a fearful encounter with a tornado from my childhood. Since I left you hanging at the end, and since there have been some inquiries about how things turned out, I wanted to finish the story.

I left the story with the windows of the school wide open, the skies dark and roiling with clouds, and we students and teachers sitting with our heads between our knees in the hallway, as I heard a teacher running from the office and the squawking Bearcat weather radio announcing that a tornado was heading right for us.

Well, unless I have somehow been replaced by a clone, you of course know I survived.

I did some research, and it seems the tornado in question was an F4—one step below the worst rating—that occurred on March 29, 1976. It started in central Mississippi and traveled 127 miles to Meridian. I was in third grade. I was scared.

If my memory serves me correctly, the tornado jumped over the school and tore the roof off a car dealership down the road. I learned that the tornado did kill three people. But it could have been much, much worse if the twister had landed on top of a bunch of scared children in Mt. Barton Elementary School that warm afternoon in March.

If we live on this earth very long, most of us will encounter forces greater than ourselves. Moments of terror. Moments of mystery. Moments when we are left trying to understand why we encountered what we encountered, why we lived while others died, why we had to face the experience at all. There are things that overtake us in this life—storms in the sky, storms in history, storms in the soul—and in those moments we feel very small indeed.

That is part of what makes Acts 9 such a powerful text.

Because Acts 9 is not just about a road.
It is about a man under orders.
It is about a collision with a force far greater than himself.

Scripture portrays Saul as overwhelmed by the terrifying nearness of the risen Christ—fallen to the earth, blinded by glory, and reduced from a man of force to one who must be led by the hand.

Let us pray,

 Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones sean agradables a tus ojos, oh Dios, roca nuestra y redentor nuestro. Amén.

Homily

Saul begins the story as a man of certainty, a man of momentum, a man of religious fervor. He is not hesitant. He is not conflicted. He is “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” Violence is in his lungs. Zeal is in his bones. He believes he knows exactly what he is doing.

And yet in one terrible and merciful moment, all of that certainty collapses.

Sometimes Christ meets us that way, by interrupting the life we thought we controlled. Sometimes grace arrives as disruption. Sometimes truth comes as collapse. A veces, Cristo resucitado nos encuentra no en nuestra fuerza, sino en nuestra debilidad. Sometimes the risen Christ meets us not in our strength, but in our weakness.

And so as we come to this story, we do not come merely to admire Saul’s conversion from a safe distance. We come as people who know what it is to be brought low, to have our certainties shaken, to ask what on earth just happened, and what do we do now.

Acts 9 is not only the story of Saul’s conversion. It is also the story of how Jesus interrupts violence, how blindness can become the beginning of true sight, and how the church is called to receive even the one it most fears.

“Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest…”

That is how the story opens. Saul is not merely irritated. He is not simply mistaken.  He is a man so certain of his cause, so convinced of his righteousness, that he believes persecution is holy work.

That is one of the most unsettling truths in all of scripture: it is possible to be zealous for God and yet resistant to God. It is possible to be religious and wrong. It is possible to think we are defending truth while we are actually wounding Christ.

Saul is fervent. Focused. Devoted. He has official backing. He has a mission. He is going to Damascus to bind disciples and drag them away.

And then, on the road, everything changes.

A light from heaven flashes around him. He falls to the ground. And he hears a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

That sentence is at the heart of the whole passage.

Jesus does not say, “Why do you persecute my people?”
He says, “Why do you persecute me?”

Christ so identifies with the church, with the suffering, hunted, trembling body of believers, that to strike them is to strike him. To wound them is to wound him. To terrorize them is to terrorize him.

This means the church is never merely a voluntary association or a club of like-minded people. The church is bound to Christ. The body belongs to the head. Jesús resucitado se toma como algo personal lo que se le hace a su pueblo. The risen Jesus takes personally what is done to his people.

And this also means something else. When anyone is trampled, degraded, humiliated, or brutalized, Christ is not distant from that suffering. The crucified and risen Jesus is the one who still says, in every age, “Why are you persecuting me?”

The voice of Christ echoes across history—across jail cells, lynching trees, prison camps, ghettos, slave ships, detention centers, ruined villages, and frightened homes. Christ is not neutral where human beings are crushed.

But notice: Jesus confronts Saul yet does not destroy him.

The first word Saul receives is judgment, yes—but judgment in the form of revelation. Saul is forced to see that the one he opposes is the Lord. The one he thought he was defending God against is, in fact, God’s Anointed One. The risen Christ unmasks Saul’s righteousness as rebellion.

But Jesus does not kill Saul on the road. He stops him.

The grace of God is often like that. It interrupts before it rebuilds. It knocks us down before it raises us up. It unmasks the disease before it heals.

And then comes the strange mercy of blindness.

Saul opens his eyes, but he can see nothing.

The man who thought he could see clearly turns out to be blind. The man who believed he had clarity, certainty, and theological precision is suddenly dependent on others to lead him by the hand.

He came to Damascus to take captives.
Instead, he enters Damascus a prisoner of his blindness.

He came with authority.
He arrives helpless.

He came breathing threats.
He arrives in silence.

For three days he neither eats nor drinks. Three days. A familiar length of time in the Christian story. It sounds like death, burial, waiting, undoing. Saul is in a kind of tomb. The old Saul—the self-assured, violent, self-justifying Saul—is being dismantled in darkness.

Sometimes we speak of conversion too lightly. As if it were merely changing one’s opinion or adjusting one’s beliefs. But in Acts, conversion is more like death and resurrection. It is not a tweak. It is a collapse of the old order. Saul’s world caves in on the Damascus road. As Paul later wrote to the church of Corinth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: ¡Lo viejo se ha ido, lo nuevo ha llegado! The old has gone, the new is here!”

Some of us know what it is to have a world we trusted come apart. We know what it is to discover that our certainties were too certain, our judgments too sharp, our righteousness too self-protective, our religion too aligned with our fear.

Some of us know what it is to be brought low enough that we must be led by the hand.

But that is not the end of the story. Acts 9 is not only about Saul. It is also about Ananias.

The Lord comes to a disciple in Damascus and says, “Go.”

And Ananias rsponds with the facts: “Lord, I have heard from many about this man…”

In other words:
Lord, do you know who this is?
Lord, do you know what he has done?
Lord, do you know what he came here for?

Ananias is not faithless. He is honest. He knows the danger. He knows the stories. He knows the trauma Saul has caused. He knows that “welcome” is not cheap for people who have been hunted.

Pero el Señor dice: «Ve, porque él es un instrumento que yo he escogido…»

Yet the Lord says, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen…”

This is astonishing. God chooses the persecutor. Not because the persecution did not matter. Not because the harm was unreal. Not because God waves away the suffering Saul caused. No—God chooses Saul because grace is stronger than Saul’s past. La gracia es más fuerte que el pasado.

That does not minimize sin. It magnifies mercy.

Ananias goes.

This may be the hardest part of the text, honestly. Saul’s conversion is dramatic and memorable, but Ananias’s obedience is perhaps even more difficult.

Ananias must walk into the house where his enemy is staying. He must cross the threshold of fear. He must trust that Christ is already at work in someone he would never have trusted on his own.

And when he enters, his first words are breathtaking:

“Brother Saul.”

Brother.

Not “former enemy,”
not “dangerous man,”
not “suspect,”
not “problem,”
not even “convert.”

Brother.

Before the scales fall, Ananias speaks kinship. Before Saul has preached a sermon, planted a church, or written a letter, Ananias names him as family.

That is what the church is called to do—not cheaply, not foolishly, not without truth—but with the deep, trembling courage that believes Christ can make a new creation where we may only see a threat.

Ananias lays hands on Saul. Saul’s sight is restored. He is filled with the Holy Spirit. He rises and is baptized.

Maybe today some of us need the Saul word.
We have been too certain.
Too quick to call our own fear “conviction.”
Too ready to wound in the name of righteousness.
And the risen Christ is merciful enough to stop us.

Some need the Ananias word.
We are being asked to go where we do not want to go.
To cross a threshold we did not choose.
To trust that Christ may already be at work in the person we fear, avoid, or resent.
And obedience feels dangerous.

Some need the church word.
We are not merely individuals with private spiritual lives. We belong to one another in Christ. What is done to one member is done to all of us. The wounds of others are not somebody else’s problem. Christ says, “Why do you persecute me?”

And some need the resurrection word.
Our blindness is not the end.
Our darkness is not the end.
Our undone place is not the end.
God knows how to use even the tomb-like places that fill our souls.

Again and again in Scripture, God meets fearful, overwhelmed, disoriented people and makes a way where there seemed to be none. Paul himself will later admit that he came “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” La Biblia no oculta el miedo humano. Revela a un Dios que se encuentra con las personas en medio de él. The Bible does not hide human fear. It reveals a God who keeps meeting people in the middle of it.

We often think faith should remove fear entirely. But scripture is more honest than that. Faith is not always the absence of trembling. Often it is what happens when trembling people keep going because God has met them where they shiver and shake.

This means grace is not merely about making nice people a little nicer. Grace is about new creation. Grace does not simply smooth over rough edges. It raises the dead and rips off the grave clothes. It takes enemies and makes them kin. It takes what is curved inward on itself and bends it toward love.

The church, then, is called to be the place where this strange and difficult miracle keeps happening. Not that we become naive about harm. Not that we forget wounds. Not that accountability disappears. But that we refuse to believe anyone lies outside the reach of the risen Christ. Nos negamos a creer que alguien esté fuera del alcance de Cristo resucitado.

So perhaps part of the sermon today is this: someone else’s healing may depend on your willingness to go.

Your willingness to knock on the door.
Your willingness to enter the room.
Your willingness to pray.
Your willingness to trust that Christ has gone ahead of you.

And perhaps part of the sermon is this too: your own healing may depend on letting someone come to you.

Letting yourself be seen in your blindness.
Letting yourself be led.
Letting yourself receive touch, prayer, kindness, and naming.
Letting the community do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

So this morning, wherever you find yourself in the story, hear the good news.

If you are frightened, Christ speaks peace to frightened people.
If you are blind, Christ can open your eyes.
If you are ashamed of what you have done, Christ can heal you.
If you are reluctant like Ananias, Christ can still send you.
If you are wounded by what others have done, Christ sees that wound as his own.

The voice that spoke on the Damascus road still speaks today.

Still interrupts. Still confronts. Still blinds false vision. Still opens true eyes. Still joins himself to the wounded. Still sends disciples into difficult places. Still makes apostles out of enemies and saints out of the shattered.

So may the Lord who met Saul meet us. May the Lord who sent Ananias send us. May the Lord who restored sight restore our own. And may the scales fall from our eyes—whatever they are, however long they have clung—so that we may finally see Christ, and in seeing Christ, also rise with him in power, witness, and glory.

Amen

Christian men: Stop sleepwalking through mediocrity! Lessons from Apostle Paul 🔥—Damascus conversion, unbreakable contentment, finish the race strong. Surrender now or keep rotting. Read & repent! ⚔️ #ApostlePaul #ChristianMen #FinishTheRace

https://bdking71.wordpress.com/2026/03/22/lessons-from-the-life-of-apostle-paul-a-guide-for-modern-believers/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

We're celebrating the sixth anniversary of Steadfast (and thus @littlehillschurch) tonight. Please join Pastor Tim and the church family as we look at #1Timothy 1:17. https://youtube.com/live/_BG0pEsBGrw

#Christianity #ApostlePaul #Praise

Did the #ApostlePaul know about #JudasIscariot? The evidence suggests he didn't.

In #1Corinthians15, Paul says #Jesus appeared to "the Twelve" - but according to the #Gospels, #Judas was already dead. And that famous verse about Jesus being "betrayed"? The Greek word παραδίδωμι (paradidomi) doesn't actually mean betrayal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQfQVhzt9Jw

'Because of God, love wins': Gay priest gives powerful sermon about authenticity of LGBTQ love

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/church-of-england-and-lgbtq

Per the #ApostlePaul’s letter 1 Corinthians 15:32 and #DaveMathewsBand after him:

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”