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The Sovereignty of God on the Damascus Road: Introduction

What was Saul like before his conversion?

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  ~Acts 9:1,2

When reading the narrative account from Acts chapter 9, we would do well to remember where Luke got this information. The Apostle Paul himself would have recounted these events for Luke to record, so in a sense Paul describes his own assessment of whom and what he was before that day he met Christ. Let's begin this study by looking at the first part of verse 1:

“Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord”

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.  ~Acts 7:57,58

The very next chapter Luke relates Saul was not only present at the murder of Stephen, but he was in agreement with it and inspired by it for more...

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.  ~Acts 8:1-3

The very idea of “breathing threats and murder” is how Paul would describe his own attitude towards Christians before conversion. Threats and murder are what he drew his breath from and it sustained him. Finding and putting to death Christians is what got Saul out of bed in the morning! So then let it be noted that on the day Saul met Christ on the Damascus Road, repented of his sin and trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, his heart was filled with a hateful and murderous desire for Christians. Even up to the very moment of his conversion Saul was totally depraved, totally unable to know God on his own. Again, Saul's own words...

For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.  ~Galatians 1:13

Saul had the heart typical of any unbeliever. Later, many years after his conversion, he wrote a letter to a body of believers in Rome and in it he describes every man, woman, and child before salvation...

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written:

There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit;

“The poison of asps is under their lips;
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.

A few years ago when I began studying the Doctrines of Grace and whether mankind was totally depraved, I came across this clear statement made by the Apostle Paul...

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  ~1 Corinthians 2:14

The point here is the “natural man” (unsaved) is incapable of receiving the things of God. It is not a matter of choice, but inability. In his book “What’s So Great About The Doctrines of Grace?” Richard Phillips said this...

Sin has corrupted man’s thinking in such a way that people lack the ability to understand the truth about themselves, God, and the world.

Saul was a typical man with an unsaved and unregenerate heart. He was ignorant of God and His Christ and in going about establishing his own fallen brand of righteousness; Saul lived for threats and murder of God’s people. What was Saul like before his conversion? He was totally depraved, totally unable to understand God and seek Him. Just like you... just like me.