Dr. Ira E. Williams
Saul’s Damascus Road event is one of the most dramatic events in the Bible, and for so many different reasons that can and has directly impacted the lives of so many Christians. The reasons for that event that have so impacted my life are the following: Jesus spoke to Saul, and that alone would be enough, but Jesus also identified Saul as being, 'My perfect tool,' and Saul, the zealous Pharisee, because he was so well-versed in God’s Word, rapidly recognized that beginning with Abram (before Abraham) God’s plan would eventually include both Jew and Gentile. Jesus’s resurrection from flesh to spirit and Saul’s transformation from zealous Pharisee to becoming the apostle to the Gentiles has helped me see how God’s plan includes me.But Saul’s Damascus Road event took place thousands of years ago, and Christians today are left to marvel at how Saul and his many associates could begin to travel those well-established Roman roads and slowly, and oh so painfully, begin to create nests of believers within the throngs of idol worshippers and more importantly how those widely scattered nests would take root and slowly become the Church that Martin Luther would feel compelled to challenge.Jesus and Martin Luther are the only two who have walked this earth and been able to initiate historical eras; Renaissance to Reformation is a historical milestone that got its birth because one isolated monk in one of the fragmented provinces of ununified Germany finally recognized what allowed Saul/Paul to create those original nests of believers so long ago-- justification by faith of Romans 1:17. Dozens of books have been written about Saul/Paul and Martin Luther and a dozen of books about all the popes, beginning with Peter. But connecting the dots over those fifteen centuries allowed Paul’s final, monumental letter to the Romans to really come alive. Both Paul and Martin Luther were making history while they were writing history, and history comes alive by connecting the dots.
