The Conversion of St. Paul
Dear friends in Christ. Today is a very special day in the Church. First of all, today is the last Sunday in the Epiphany season. As its final Sunday, as its culmination, before we enter the season of Pre-Lent, we remember our Lord’s Transfiguration, that is, that time when Jesus took some of His disciples with Him and let them see Him in all of His divine glory and majesty—as His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light. Here Jesus confirms that Peter’s confession of faith made the week before [Mt 16.16]: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God is true as He shows the disciples His divine glory, that He is the true God, and as God the Father Himself testifies [Mt. 17.5]: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This is the culmination of the Epiphany season which is all about the Babe of Bethlehem revealing Himself/ showing Himself to be the true God! Since there’s no doubt, we are now prepared to look ahead to Lent and Jesus’ suffering and death because we are certain that it was not just any man who suffered and died on the cross—but it was the God-man and thus we can be certain of our salvation.
The second event that makes this Sunday very special is that today is also the day the Church remembers the Conversion of St. Paul. Here is Epiphany’s other theme—mission work. Today we remember and rejoice that the Lord brought to faith that great persecutor of the Church, Saul, who would become Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. What great blessings the Lord gave the Church through His servant St. Paul and continues to through the holy word he wrote!
Notice the most wonderful way that these two Epiphany themes come together today as we remember the miraculous way the Lord brought Saul to faith to become the Apostle Paul. Just as we read in today’s Gospel, His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light, so also we have in the account of Saul’s conversion: Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and later he would write [1 Cor 15.8]: Then last of all [Christ] was seen by me also. Although that day at Jesus’ transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw Him in all His divine glory, and Saul last of all would see Jesus in His divine glory, each time a person comes to faith—that is, each time the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart of a person, they, too, then recognize that the Babe born in Bethlehem as not just any baby; they recognize that Jesus is not just any man but also true God and their Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. In other words, wherever the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart of a person, with the eyes of faith the person sees/ recognizes Jesus in all His divine glory and majesty.
What St. Paul is most remembered for is that he, the most Jewish Jew, would bring the Gospel to the non-Jews, the Gentiles. That’s what Jesus appointed him to do when He called Saul to be His apostle: he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel; and [Ac 26.16-18]: 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.’
It is precisely this work of St. Paul—of the other Apostles and of all faithful preachers down through the ages—that the Lord prophesies to the OT people through Malachi in our text: For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. As we examine this one verse of prophecy that also concerns the work of St. Paul, we will see that great and spiritual sacrifice, that is, the preaching of the Gospel, among the Gentiles by which God’s name is made glorious in the whole world and people from all over the world gathered into His Church.
1. How vital is that great and spiritual sacrifice the preaching of the Gospel, that proclamation of who Jesus is and what He has done; that preaching that not only tells of Jesus but also presents and offers the gifts and blessings He brought about for us! Remember what Jesus told Paul: 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.
By the preaching of the Gospel and only by the Gospel does the Lord fully reveal Himself. To be sure, people instinctively know that there is a God—look at all the different religions in the world throughout history—but who is that God? That’s the vital question. And because of sin we don’t know who that one true God is. Because of sin we cannot know the true God aright. Our sin corrupted natures are spiritually blind to God and spiritually dead. As little as a blind person, without help, is able safely to make a survival trek out of rugged wilderness, even less can a person, left to their own devices, find the way back to God.
That’s why the Lord sent St. Paul and all faithful proclaimers of His saving word—so that through the word that they proclaim peoples’ spiritual eyes might, by the work of the Holy Spirit in that word, be opened and 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.
Why was it a big deal that Paul be an apostle particularly to the Gentiles? Be a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel? The Israelites had a fighting chance: they had the prophets of the OT; they had the promises of the coming Savior; they had Christ in their midst with His teaching and miracles confirming that teaching. But what about those who didn’t have the prophets and prophecies of the coming Savior? What about those among whom Jesus did not come and preach? They would still be in the darkness of sin and death; they would still be slaves to sin and devil; only eternal damnation would await them.
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations. How can the Lord’s name be great among those who do not know Him? That’s why He sent St. Paul and all faithful teachers. On this day that we remember St. Paul and his conversion, we also remember the great gift and blessing of his conversion and also our own conversions. Although St. Paul’s conversion was rather dramatic with the light from heaven, seeing Christ and hearing His voice, the blindness, the scales falling from the eyes, etc., each conversion—yours and mine—was equally miraculous as by His Holy Spirit our Lord Christ created faith in Him in our hearts. We went from an enemy of God to one who loves Him and is now in Christ His dear child and heir; we went from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight knowing the true God aright; we went from spiritual death to spiritual life. That’s how dramatic each conversion is! That’s how miraculous each conversion is!
It is precisely through our conversion—which is God’s work alone—that this prophecy of our text is fulfilled. It was fulfilled as the Lord brought Saul to faith to be His St. Paul; it was fulfilled when the Lord brought you and me to faith; it is still being fulfilled today in each baptism. The Lord’s name will be great among the nations only when people know God rightly—only when they recognize the mercy of the Father; only when they know and receive in faith the sacrifice of the Son. How can God’s name be great when people recognize that, yes, there is a God but that He is their judge—can they praise and glorify Him? How can God’s name be great when people recognize that there is a God but that they are sinners and that this God is angry over sin, their sin, which burdens them and their consciences accuse them of? How will the Lord’s name be great among the nations when people think they have to earn their way into heaven by their works, when they are forever unsure they have done enough?
That’s why the Lord’s name will be great among the nations only when the Gospel is preached. When the Gospel is preached—that is the full Gospel, including the holy Sacraments—not only do we come to know the Father’s mercy and grace, not only does Christ reveal Himself in His glory—but we receive the gifts and blessings of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life; we receive spiritual life; our faith is strengthened; we become God’s dear children and heirs of heaven. Then, as the Lord shows His greatness in kindness and mercy toward us, as we rejoice in His grace toward us, as we in Spirit-worked faith know the Lord rightly and in that faith receives His gifts and blessings, His name becomes great as we love Him, praise Him, go to Him in thanksgiving, and share His saving word with others.
2. Not only does the Lord’s name become great throughout the world as the saving work of Christ is preached and the blessed fruit of His work is given in the word, absolution and sacraments and received in faith, but it becomes great also as that faith is lived out in our daily lives: and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering, for my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. The Christian’s life of faith and good works is that offering up of incense and a pure offering to the Lord. But in order for the offering to the Lord that the Christian offers up to be pure, the one who makes that offering/ sacrifice—the Christian—must be pure; a pure offering requires a pure one to offer it up.
All that the Christian does out of love for God and in fulfillment of His commandments is a good work, a pure offering. But aren’t we sinners? Isn’t all we do contaminated with sin? Yes, but remember through Spirit-worked faith we receive the forgiveness of sins Jesus brought us. Where there is faith, faith is continually receiving the gifts and blessings of Christ, continually receiving the forgiveness of sins. Do you want a visual/ a certainty of your forgiveness? Go to your baptism. There your sins were washed away; there you died with Christ; there you rose with Christ—forgiven all your sins. Do you want another visual? Think of the Blessed Sacrament in which we take, eat and drink the very body and blood of Christ, entering you, cleansing you, forgiving you!
All that you now do as a Christian, is a pure offering because, cleansed/ forgiven your sin you are a purified one offering up a pure offering. Dear Christian, we are forgiven—that’s the result of the work of the God-man, Christ Jesus; that’s what’s offered and given to us in the Gospel Paul and all faithful teachers in the Church proclaim! Yes, because we are still sinners, still have our old sinful nature, we will sin; but led and empowered by the Holy Spirit we fight against sin and so put sin to death all the while rejoicing that through the Gospel our sins are wiped out. In our hearts, the Holy Spirit is mightily at work stirring up in us the truth that believes in and confesses the holy Triune God; we praise Him with our life and bodies, offering that pure offering and that incense of prayer [Ps. 141.2], praise and thanksgiving, calling upon Him and giving Him thanks, bearing our troubles and producing good works.
On this day that we remember the two themes of Epiphany—Jesus revealing Himself as the true God and also mission work—we give our Lord praise and thanks for His calling Saul/ Paul to be His blessed Apostle; and we give Him thanks that He revealed Himself to us, forgave us our sins and brought us into His holy kingdom, the Church. We pray, that led and empowered by His Holy Spirit we continue to offer up incense and a pure offering. INJ Amen