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Sunday, 03 May 2009 20:47 |
"and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." 1 Corinthians 15:7-8
The phrase “abnormally born” comes from a greek word (ekotroma) that is almost universally translated abortion. (see Vine's, Robertson, Strong and others.) Shocking as the word abortion is let's meditate on this passage rather than react emotionally to the grotesque image the word ekotroma paints in our mind.
When Paul encountered the risen Lord he was on the road to Damascus. In fact at that time his name was not even Paul. His name was Saul of Tarsus. And his intention upon arriving in Damascus was to imprison more followers of Christ. Saul of Tarsus was a sworn enemy of the Church the likes of which we have never witnessed in America. In America Christian leaders are often heard speaking out against the ungodly, leftist courts which keep kids from praying in schools or allow such detestable practices as abortion to occur. We have never experienced a threat to our religious freedom and general well being like Saul. The legal system in America is tame in comparison. No one hated Christians and attempted to destroy Christianity more than Saul.
Saul had imprisoned, murdered, beaten, and tortured any Christian he could get his hands on. He hated the church. He made every effort to destroy it.
Then Christ appeared to him, also... boom! Things changed to say the least.
Maybe Paul was thinking as he wrote this, "why didn't Christ just kill me on that road? " Maybe Paul had been pondering the event for years, the moment Christ apprehended him. Paul might have thought that Christ would have been justified in slaying him right on the spot. But our Lord saw fit to save rather than destroy and so Saul became Paul.
Paul's start as a Christian was an odd turn of events but it was full of Grace. A man who God would have been truly justified in slaying to defend His people is suddenly turned into a member with full standing in the Church he once sought to destroy. Like an aborted fetus Paul could see no hope of survival in his new life, except for one thing:
The amazing Grace of God almighty.
Would the church in America rejoice or despair if one of our perceived enemies suddenly became one of us? It would be quite a mess, and I have a feeling that is what Paul saw in his conversion, the Lord had put him in a very messy situation. For the rest of Paul's life he had to defend his standing in the church that, once upon a time, he had worked so feverently to destroy. Well, Paul did work, but as he explains in 1 Corinthians 15:10 it was Grace working in him. God took a mess of a life, a Saul of Tarsus and produced Paul the Apostle, as it were and in his own words: an abortion.
We tend to think that God saved us because there was something in us He needed. Quite the opposite is true. God save us because there was nothing in us that was good. Rare is the Christian who can see the total abortion of their life up to the time they met Christ. The Grace of God is shocking and scandalous. Grace turns the worlds upside down and inside out. When by all rights He should have killed us He gives us life. He takes our place, he pays the price. He redeems the unredeemable.
The translators of this verse are being much too polite calling it "untimely born". That just does not get the point, Paul had a profound understanding of the Amazing Grace of God and he was using a shocking word to describe his own utter desperation. We need that vision now. The Grace of God takes the life of a destroyer and turns it into a life of a builder. God takes us from breathing hate and slaughter to breathing love and peace. Not because of who we are or anything we have done, but because like an aborted fetus fighting for every breath we look to God for Grace. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 01 July 2010 07:13 |
New Testament 
