Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This final installment on the Bible is from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well.

Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 23)

That God can convert the most hardened sinners is illustrated by the conversion of Saul, a vicious persecutor of the early Christians, into the Apostle Paul, a great missionary for Jesus. A Pharisee who had been “breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), Saul was on his way to the city of Damascus to round up more Christians when a flash of light from the sky knocked him to the ground and blinded him. He heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Who are you, Saul asked, and the voice responded, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do” (9:4-6).

Three days later, the Lord appeared to a man in Damascus named Ananias and told him to go to a certain house and baptize Saul. But Lord, said Ananias, “I have heard…what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem” (9:13). The Lord told Ananias to go, “for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.” So, Ananias went and baptized Saul, who got his sight back and soon after began proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God in the synagogues of Damascus.

Saul left Damascus and spent three years in Arabia before returning to Damascus and devoting another three years to preaching the Gospel of Christ. He barely escaped a plot to kill him and then traveled to Jerusalem, where he spent fifteen days with Peter. Many of the Jews in Jerusalem were afraid of the man now known as Paul and doubted the sincerity of his conversion. But a disciple named Barnabas defended Paul, and he continued to speak out about Christ. When there was another plot to kill him, Paul went to his hometown of Tarsus.

After several years there, Barnabas came and took him to Syrian Antioch, where the followers of Christ were first called Christians (11:26). The two disciples then journeyed to many cities and began to convert not only Jews, but also Gentiles. In Lystra, Paul healed a man who had been crippled from birth and was dismayed when the excited crowds began to hail him and Barnabas as gods. Some Jews came from other cities and stirred up people against them.

Paul was stoned and left for dead, but he got up, went back into the city, and then he and Barnabas eventually made their way back to Syrian Antioch. There they heard about the controversy over whether Gentiles had to be circumcised before becoming Christians, so they left for Jerusalem and took part in the Council in AD 49 that decided Gentiles did not have to follow Jewish practices before becoming Christians.

After having separated from Barnabas because of a disagreement over whether Mark should accompany them (Paul said no), Paul recruited first Silas and later Timothy and Luke to join him on his second missionary journey throughout Asia Minor and into Europe. In Philippi, Paul drove an evil spirit out of a slave girl who had earned her owners a lot of money telling fortunes. The owners accused Paul and Silas of advocating anti-Roman customs and had them stripped and beaten and thrown into jail.

Around midnight, an earthquake shook the jail and opened all the doors. When the jailer saw what had happened, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul told him not to harm himself because no one had escaped. He went to the jailer’s house and baptized him and all his family.

The apostles went next to Thessalonica, where they attracted many converts, and then on to the Greek city of Athens, where Paul addressed a large crowd of Gentiles at a place called the Aeropagus. He managed to convince only a few to become Christians. In Corinth, where he was reviled by those who did not believe in Jesus, the Lord spoke to him in a vision, encouraging him to “go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you” (18:9-10).

Paul spent much of his third journey in Ephesus, where he spoke out against the worship of the goddess Artemis. The silversmiths in the city, who made their living selling statues and shrines to Artemis, rioted against Paul and forced him to leave. He went back to Jerusalem and reported to the brothers there all that he had accomplished. But his enemies stirred up the crowds against Paul and got him arrested. Again, the Lord appeared to him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my name in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome” (23:11).

After a trial in Caesarea, Paul said that he was a Roman citizen and appealed for judgment by the Roman Emperor. After his ship ran aground on the island of Malta, Paul eventually reached Rome in the spring of AD 61. He spent more than two years under house arrest, evangelizing great numbers of people, and reportedly was beheaded around AD 67 during the murderous reign of Emperor Nero.

List of Words:

BARNABAS

BEHEADED

CORINTH

EARTHQUAKE

EPHESUS

GODS

JAILER

JESUS

JERUSALEM

PAUL

ROME

SAUL

SILAS

Quiz

  1. ___________ was converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus.
  2. When Saul asked who was speaking to him, the voice said, “I am __________, whom you are persecuting.”
  3. He took the name ___________ after being baptized by Ananias.
  4. Many people did not trust Paul until _______ defended him against all charges.
  5. Paul strongly rejected the idea that he and Barnabas were _____________ because they had cured a man in Lystra who had been crippled from birth.
  6. On his second journey, Paul recruited ______________ to accompany him.
  7. A severe ______________ shook the jail where Paul and Silas were being held.
  8. They went to the house of the ____________ and baptized him and his family.
  9. Jesus told him in ___________ to keep on speaking out and “do not be silent.”
  10. Paul’s third journey took him to ______, with its temple to the goddess Artemis.
  11. While speaking later in _________________, Paul was arrested to prevent a riot and transferred to Caesarea, where he remained in custody for two years.
  12. Because he had appealed his case to the Roman Emperor, Paul was taken to __.
  13. After several years under house arrest in Rome, Paul was ________________ during the reign of the Emperor Nero around AD 67.

Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress