What is the concept Paul teaches about his salvation and the nation of Israel?
Paul teaches that his Damascus road salvation was like a premature birth, one born before the due time. Just as he was saved miraculously in a moment, so the nation of Israel will yet be saved—not all, but a remnant—when they see their resurrected Messiah and believe.
Les explains that God's timetable puts the birth of the nation clear out to the end of the Tribulation, at the Second Coming of Christ. Yet Paul was already saved about 2,000 years earlier, so he calls himself a preemie, delivered prematurely. The concept Paul teaches is that Israel's future salvation will mirror his own sudden conversion: as he was saved in a moment on the road to Damascus, so the nation of Israel will yet be saved—not 100 percent, but the remnant. They too will experience that same kind of resurrection power; they will see their resurrected Lord and Messiah and King coming in the clouds of glory, and then they will believe in a moment. This is what Paul means by being born out of, or before, the due time.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
More Questions
In what sense did Paul say he came before the due time for Israel?
Paul applied 'born out of due time' to himself because he had come on the scene before the due time for the nation of Israel as a whole.