What did Paul think about Jesus and Judaism before his conversion?
Before his conversion, Paul hated anything connected with the Christ of Calvary. He thought Christ was destroying his pet religion, Judaism. But God in grace saved him on the road to Damascus and commissioned him to go to the Gentiles with a new revelation not based on Judaism, the Law, or the Old Testament.
Les explains that before conversion Paul hated anything associated with the Christ of Calvary. He viewed Christ as destroying his pet religion, Judaism. Yet God in grace saved him on the road to Damascus and immediately gave instructions that this man would go to the Gentiles with a whole new format. That format was not based on Judaism, the Law, or the Old Testament, but on a whole new revelation of new truths never mooted before. Paul was sent among pagan Gentiles and was constantly confronted with the abject immorality of his day. Out of that wickedness and gross pagan immorality, he turned the Roman Empire upside down simply by preaching the Gospel. He was not a crusader, politician, or moralist; he preached the Gospel of the grace of God. Eventually, in prison because of his apostleship, he wrote letters as an apostle by the will of God to the saints—the believer, the Christian.