After Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus and spent years training him, we find Saul teaching at Antioch. The Jerusalem church had sent Barnabas to check out the newly formed group of Jesus followers in Antioch.
Antioch was the 3rd-largest city in the Roman Empire, with a population of half a million. It was a cosmopolitan city with great commercial and political power. Both Jews and Gentiles lived there and would have provided the early church with many opportunities for evangelism. “Antioch was to the Roman world what New York City is to ours,” writes James A. Kelso.[1]
Barnabas recognized that God was working both with the Jewish and Gentile believers there. But Barnabas needed help and remembered that Saul was in Tarsus. Acts 11: 25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.) [2]
A Difficult Path to Teaching
Saul, as a zealous Jew, was an enemy of those who followed Jesus. He did not see Jesus as the Messiah but a heretic who was leading people astray. He had been determined to stamp out this new movement as he journeyed to Damascus. But Jesus appeared to him on the way and demonstrated that He was alive and the Messiah. This turned Saul’s world upside down.
Even though Saul immediately began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God, his fellow Jews rejected the message. Saul appears to have gone on a pilgrimage to Arabia, where Jesus taught him and prepared him for his call to the Gentiles. In addition to his preparation in Arabia, Saul returned to his hometown of Tarsus. This was for his safety, but also allowed him to work out his theology among the Gentiles there.
Barnabas had befriended Saul in Jerusalem and probably knew that God had commissioned him to minister to the Gentiles. Even though it was about 150 miles between Antioch and Tarsus, Barnabas went and got Saul to bring him back as a teacher. Saul’s story demonstrates that our training journey for God’s call is not always straightforward, but can have surprising twists and turns.
Redirected for Mission
Just as Saul’s past did not limit God’s call on his life, neither does ours. God can redeem our mistakes and train us for what is ahead. When we look to God for His guidance and are willing to listen and obey, God can forgive and restore us from our mistakes. In fact, God loves to do this to give us a testimony of a changed life.
Saul had been out to kill Christians. When he began to preach the Gospel, Christians thought it was a ruse to arrest them. It took time for them to trust an enemy that God had turned into a emissary. Certainly, there should be a period of vetting for someone who has turned from persecutor to preacher. At the same time, we must learn to receive and affirm those God has called out of questionable pasts. Fifteen years earlier, Saul would have been shocked to hear that he would be teaching at Antioch. God can use those whom we least expect.
To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/from-enemy-to-emissary
[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 449). Victor Books.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ac 11:25–26). Tyndale House Publishers.