Even among non-Christians the phrase “having a road-to-Damascus moment” is commonly used to describe a sudden change of view and conviction that has significant effects in a person’s life. I’ve recently seen it in reference to someone realising that cycling is actually quite pleasant and advocating for cycle lanes after previously dismissing them as a waste of space.

The phrase, of course, refers to the experience Saul had on the road to Damascus, where he went to persecute Christians. As he neared Damascus a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Jesus appeared to Saul there on the road to Damascus. As a result of the encounter he was a changed man, even his name was changed to Paul.

But as we read Paul’s letters, we also notice a certain continuity with the hopes and aims of Saul. He still had a zeal for God, a quest for learning and understanding, for seeing God’s kingdom come. But he realised that in Jesus all that he had hoped and longed for had been fulfilled. Paul did not dismiss the Jewish Scriptures as irrelevant, for example, did not abandon the Jewish faith, did not fight against his fellow Jews. Rather, he saw the Scriptures fulfilled in Jesus Christ and used them to teach about Jesus and what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. He invited Gentiles from all nations to be grafted like wild branches into the tree of Israel. And Paul had great sorrow and unceasing anguish for his fellow Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, that God’s promises had been fulfilled in Jesus.

There was continuity between Saul’s life as a zealous Pharisee and Paul’s life as a Christian missionary. It was all grounded in his deep faith and love for God. And it was his knowledge and respect for Scripture that made him such an effective missionary.