8. PAUL
Paul was a distinguished Pharisee who zealously persecuted Christians until Jesus appeared to him one day on the road to Damascus. Christians were shocked to see Paul begin preaching that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel and the world. Paul suffered much for his faith in Christ, but he also did much to spread the gospel throughout Israel and Asia Minor. Even though Paul’s worst sins are recorded as occurring before he became a Christian, he also admitted to continuing struggle against sin as a believer (Romans 7:18–25).
God used Paul’s zeal and advanced education to spread the gospel and teach millions of people over the centuries since Jesus’ resurrection about the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. We can learn from Paul that becoming a Christian doesn’t mean we will never sin; rather, the Christian life is a battle between the Spirit and flesh that will continue until we die and are freed from our mortal bodies. Believers will receive new bodies that can never be corrupted, just like the resurrected body of their savior Christ (1 Corinthians 15:12–28).
The only truly good man who ever lived on the earth is Jesus, the God-man. If any of us had to depend on our own works for a right standing before God, we would all be condemned. The Bible tells us: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Thankfully, Jesus was made man to keep God’s law perfectly and be the perfect atoning sacrifice for all sinners who put their faith in him alone, which comes by God’s grace alone:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13)
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