Why did Paul turn his back on his position as a religious leader?
Paul turned his back on his religious leadership because his conversion on the road to Damascus totally disrupted his life. He had profited greatly as a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, making big money as one of Israel’s religious leaders, but after conversion he renounced that well-paying position and all it entailed.
The teaching explains that after Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, it totally upset his whole apple cart of life, so to speak, and he turned his back on that well-paying position as a member of the Sanhedrin and as a member of the Pharisees. Paul says in Galatians that he profited in the Jews’ religion—he was making big money as one of the religious leaders of Israel—and he turned his back on all that. The teacher also notes that leadership in the realm of the Spirit demanded that Paul was married and had children, then wonders what happened to his wife and kids, admitting he does not know and may be wrong.