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Dear bro. Turner:
 Other
than being a direct operation of the Holy Spirit, what is your
opinion of Paul's conversion? Acts 9, 22, and 26 give a
different account. Did he go to Paradise before or after his
baptism (2 Cor. 12:4)? Did this take place only during his stay
in Arabia (Gal. 1:12)? Can sin enter into heaven? How long was
it, after God gave the Law that the Jews began to depart from
it? Did they ever fully return to do all the Law commanded? The
same questions re. law of Christ.
Reply:
I
find nothing in the records to indicate Paul's conversion was a
"direct operation of the Holy Spirit." Study Acts
22:14-15; compare with 26: 16, 1 Cor. 15:8-10, Gal. 1:15-17. The
Lord appeared unto Saul to qualify him as a special witness of
the resurrected Christ, NOT to convert him. He saw, after the
due time, what others saw at the ordinary time; but being
convinced that Jesus was Christ, he had to repent toward God,
and submit to divine authority (being baptized) exactly like
anyone else. An earthen vessel (Ananias, NOT the Lord) told him
what he must do (2 Cor. 4:7).
The
three accounts are not "tape recordings"
"word-for-word" reports, but they agree. The men with
Saul saw the light and were afraid (22:9), and they heard a
voice but saw no man (9: 7). So, when Paul says they "heard
not the voice of him that spake to me" (22:9) the obvious
meaning is that they heard the sound of a voice, but it was
unintelligible to them. Have you never "heard a voice"
and had to ask, "What did you say?"
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It
was more than 17 years after Saul's conversion that he went to
Jerusalem for conference (Gal .1:18, 2:1, Acts 15:), and he had
not yet been to Corinth. By the time he wrote 2 Cor. 12: the
chronology would not allow us to relate the heavenly visit to
his baptism or to the Arabian stay. Some think the reference may
be to his stoning (Acts 14:19-20) but there is no certainty in
the matter. Paul was asserting that divine truth had been
revealed to him, and there is no need to make more of this than
that called for by the context.
God
will not approve sin in heaven or earth (2 Pet. 2:4), and the
inevitable end of sin is separation from God and the heavenly
abode (Rom. 6:23).
Regarding
God's laws, old or new, neither Jew nor Christian perfectly kept
or measured up to the divine standards. God's laws, being
expressions of His nature and character, are idealistic —
pointing man ever higher, defining his failures, making him
aware of his need for forgiveness. Space will not allow
extensive discussion here, but we believe both the Jewish
"congregation" and the "church" of the 1st.
century consisted of imperfect people, imperfectly following
divine instructions.
Perhaps
I do not understand what the querist has in mind, but it
suggests a "perfect, apostate, and then restored"
institution that will somehow take its members to heaven. IF
there was a perfect "church" today they wouldn't let
me in, for I would ruin their reputation. The pattern is
perfect, but we sinners need mercy.
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