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WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I AM?

A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PERSON AND TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST

Traditional   orthodox   Christianity   presents   Jesus   as   the   Messiah/ Redeemer, God’s supreme sacrificial offering paying the price for the sin and  transgression  of  the  believer.  Jesus  is  declared  to  be  eternally  co- equal with God, the second Person of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit,  but  humbled  in  time  and  space  to  come  to  us  in  the  likeness  of flesh, born of a virgin, and at about thirty five years of age, crucified, but raised up from the dead as a guarantee of the future resurrection of hu- manity  to  the  Final  Judgment  and  the  restoration  of  all  things.  Having completed his task, he ascended to heaven from which he will return at the end of the age. Is this really what Jesus was like? Are these historical  facts? Can we find out how genuine this picture of Jesus is after all these centuries?

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

If we want to explore who Jesus really is and what he taught, that is, if we  want  to  know  something  of  the  historical  Jesus,  then  of  course  we want to try and look at any writings that Jesus might have left us and at any writings of his immediate followers in order to try and gain as much first hand knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus as we can. Unfortunately, Jesus himself did not write any letters, or any essays or dissertations  explaining  his  teaching;  and  neither  did  he  write  his  own  bio- graphy. So straight away we are left with having to search for accounts of  Jesus  and  his  teaching  by  consulting  any  writings  of  his  immediate followers and subsequent to them, the leaders of the early church.

THE   BIBLE:   DATE   AND   AUTHORSHIP   OF   NEW   TESTAMENT DOCUMENTS

Of course, one source that we have to look at are the gospels and let- ters that make up the New Testament in our Bibles. However, this matter is not as straightforward as it may seem. Theories as to the dates of the writing of the letters and gospels that make up the New Testament, and just who their authors are, vary. So it is necessary for us to take an aside for  a  moment  in  order  to  explore  what  modern  scholarship  says  about these  issues  and  also  to  see  why  the  Bible  has  come  down  to  us  in  its present  form  and  order,  which  means  that  we  must  also  spend  a  little time  exploring  the  very  early  history  of  the  Christian  church.  Once  we have  done  this,  we  may  be  then  able  to  return  to  our  main  theme  and have  a  better  understanding  of  the  views  of  the  early  church  and  also have  a  better  understanding  of  which  New  Testament  documents  are reliable.

DIFFERENT OPINIONS OF BIBLE SCHOLARS

Once again it is unfortunate to note that not all scholars agree on these issues. Different scholars have different interests: the conservative schol- ar is keen to maintain the view of the Bible and the New Testament as God’s Word, written by the Apostles as commissioned by Jesus and in- spired by the Holy Spirit, so they want all these documents to be written  in  the  first  century.  Needless  to  say,  secular  scholars  have  a  different agenda. Various methods and approaches are used – too complex to go into  here  –  and  all  together,  this  results  in  different  opinions  with  re- gards to the date of writing of these documents.

DATE OF WRITING

Below are three lists of the New Testament books, arranged in order of date according to three different sources – conservative scholars writing for the N.I.V. Study Bible, then a list from the Encyclopedia Britannica and  finally  a  list  drawn  from  research  on  the  web  from  various  sites. Thus, if we were to look again at these New Testament writings and order them according to the date of writing, we would have a New Testa- ment that would look like this:

Date of writing - Title

N.I.V. Study Bible:

48-49 or 51-53 or 53-57 Galatians

51 I Thessalonians

51-52 II Thessalonians

50’s or 60’s Mark

50’s 60’s or 70’s Matthew

53-55 or 57-59 or 61 Philippians

55 I Corinthians

55 II Corinthians

57 Romans

60 Ephesians

60 Colossians

60 Philemon

Early 60’s or before 50 James

63-65 I Timothy

63-65 Titus

66-67 II Timothy

60-68 I Peter

65-68 II Peter

Prior to 70 Hebrews

70’s or 80’s Luke

63 or 70-> Acts

 65 or 80 Jude

50’s 60’s or 85 John

85-95 I John

85-95 II John

85-95 III John

95 Revelation

Or like this: Encyclopedia Britannica:

I Thessalonians.

53-54 Philemon

53-54 Galatians

53-54 I Corinthians

55 II Corinthians circa 56 Romans

64-70 Mark

70-80 Matthew

80-85 Luke

80-90 Acts

80-90 Hebrews

80-90 Revelation

90-100 II Thessalonians spurious

90-100 John

90-100 Jude

95-105 James

100-120 Colossians

100-120 I John

100-120 II John

100-120 III John

100-125 I Peter

Possibly 2nd century I

Timothy Possibly 2nd century II

Timothy Possibly 2nd century Titus

Circa 150 II Peter

Ephesians spurious

Or like this:

From a web site on early Christian writings:

40-80 Lost sayings of Gospel Q

50-60 1 Thessalonians

50-60 Philippians

50-60 Galatians

50-60 1 Corinthians

50-60 2 Corinthians

50-60 Romans

50-60 Philemon

50-80 Colossians

50-90 Signs Gospel

50-95 Book of Hebrews

50-120 Didache

50-140 Gospel of Thomas

50-140 Oxyrhynchus 1224 Gospel

50-200 Sophia of Jesus Christ

65-80 Gospel of Mark

70-100 Epistle of James

70-120 Egerton Gospel

70-160 Gospel of Peter

70-160 Secret Mark

70-200 Fayyum Fragment

70-200 Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

80-100 2 Thessalonians

80-100 Ephesians

80-100 Gospel of Matthew

80-110 1 Peter

80-120 Epistle of Barnabas

80-130 Gospel of Luke

80-130 Acts of the Apostles

80-1401 Clement

80-150 Gospel of the Egyptians

80-150 Gospel of the Hebrews

90-95 Apocalypse of John

90-120 Gospel of John

90-120 1 John

90-120 2 John

90-120 3 John

90-120 Epistle of Jude

100-150 1 Timothy

100-150 2 Timothy

100-150 Titus

100-150 Apocalypse of Peter

100-150 Secret Book of James

100-150 Preaching of Peter

100-160 Gospel of the Ebionites

100-160 Gospel of the Nazoreans

100-160 Shepherd of Hermas

100-160 2 Peter

We can note that in the third list, I have also included other Christian documents that did not make it into the Bible, for reasons that we shall see in a moment. So the New Testament is not our only source of information about Jesus and the early church, but it is the Bible documents that we considered authoritative, as we shall see.

AUTHORSHIP OF THESE DOCUMENTS

There is also debate concerning who wrote some of these documents. So, if we average out these various dates and add some of the known au- thors, we end up with a list that looks something like this:

Lost sayings of Gospel Q (Hypothetical).     Circa 40 - 70

I Thessalonians (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 50 A.D.

Galatians (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 50-60 A.D.

I Corinthians (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 50-60 A.D.

II Corinthians (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 50-60 A.D.

II  Thessalonians  (spurious  -  no  consensus  as  to  authorship)   Circa

50–100 A.D

Gospel of Thomas (spurious – esoteric – may include sayings of Jesus not in gospels) Circa 50 –100 or 110-150

Philemon (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 55-60 A.D.

Romans (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 55-60 A.D.

Philippians (Apostle Paul)..  Circa 62 A.D.

Hebrews (not by Apostle Paul - anonymous).     Circa 63-64 A.D.

James (No consensus as to authorship).     Circa 45-100 A.D.

Mark (written by John Mark, or anonymous, based on Apostle Peter)

Circa70-75

I Timothy (falsely attributed work).     Circa 63–100A.D.

Matthew    (written    by    an    anonymous    Jewish    Christian)    Circa 70–100A.D.

Jude  (No  consensus  as  to  authorship).      Circa  70–125  A.D  Eph- esians (spurious - no consensus as to authorship)

Circa 70–170A.D.

Colossians (No consensus as to authorship).     Circa 60–160A.D.

Gospel of Peter (spurious)... Circa 150 - 200

Revelation (No consensus as to authorship).     Circa 80–95 A.D.

Luke  (written  by  Luke  the  evangelist,  or  an  anonymous  associate  of Paul) Circa 80-90

Acts  (written  by  Luke  the  evangelist,  or  an  anonymous  associate  of Paul)Circa 80-90

I Peter   (Apostle peter or Unknown author) Circa 75-112 A.D.

1 Clement (Sometime canonical – proto-orthodox) - concerns division and removal of elders by church at Corinth c. 96 A.D.

John (written by Johannine community based on John the apostle)

Circa 90-100

Gospel of the Ebionites (Written to Jewish Christians).     Circa 100

Gospel  of  the  Nazareans  (Possible  original  document  based  on  oral traditions) Circa 100

I John (written by John the apostle) Circa 100-110 A.D

II  John  (written  by  poss.  follower  of  John  the  apostle)  Circa  100-110

A.D

II  Timothy  (falsely  attributed  work,  follower  of  Paul).      Circa

100-125 A.D.

III  John  (written  by  poss.  follower  of  John  the  apostle)..Circa

100-110 A.D

Didache (Proto-orthodox – on the borders of the canon – church manu- al) Circa 100 – 120

Preaching of Peter (Apologetic – not canonical- proto apologetic) Circa 100 - 130

Gospel of the Egyptians (Proto- Gnostic) Circa 100 - 150

Gospel of the Hebrews (Proto- Gnostic) Circa 100 - 150

Shepherd  of  Hermas  (Sometime  canonical  but  not  Apostolic)  Circa

100-150

Gospel of Thomas (spurious – esoteric – may include sayings of Jesus not in gospels) Circa 50 –100 or 110-150

Epistle of Barnabas (Sometime canonical – proto-orthodox) Circa 130

II  Peter   (Spurious.  No  consensus  as  to  authorship).      Circa  65  –

160 A.D.

Titus (falsely attributed work).     Circa 80-200 A.D. Apocalypse of Peter (spurious).     Circa 110 - 150

Gospel of Truth (Gnostic/esoteric) Circa 150 - 180

Once again, scholars vary in their opinions concerning the authorship of  these  documents,  so  the  above  list  can  only  be  an  approximation  to give us a flavour of the issues and debate.

‘Q’ – A HYPOTHETICAL SOURCE DOCUMENT

What we have then is a gradation of writings emerging from a Jewish background and context. Jesus himself leaves no written documents, but within ten to forty years after his death there is a hypothetical document in  circulation,  one  which  is  now  lost  to  us  -  a  document  that  scholars have called ‘Q’, for ‘Quelle’ meaning ‘source’. This ‘Q’ document seems to  be  the  source  document  for  the  synoptic  gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark and Luke. They are called synoptic because they are three gospels which are very similar in content. Nevertheless there are also some significant variations  between  them.  The  gospels  are  written  about  thirty  to  forty years after the death of Jesus. It would seem that Mark was written first with  Matthew  being  written  within  the  next  decade  or  so  and  Luke about a decade later. Luke is the first of two books by the same author, the  second  book  being  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  written  it  would  seem about fifty years after the death of Jesus at the earliest.

THE EARLY JEWISH CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Aside from ‘Q’ and the variants that emerge from it, there is the early Jewish Christian tradition. Initially, Christianity was a Jewish sect with the  Holy  Spirit  being  poured  out  on  Jews  at  Pentecost.  This  sect  was based in Jerusalem and was headed by the disciples of Jesus, particularly Peter.  It  is  regarded  that  there  are  some  fragments  of  what  this  group taught that can be found in the book of Acts of the Apostles. Two sec- tions in particular are cited: Peter preaching in the temple in Acts Ch 3; and Stephen addressing the council in Acts Ch 7.

Acts Ch 3 v 12 – 26 - Peter Preaches in the Temple

Peter  saw  his  opportunity  and  addressed  the  crowd.  “People  of  Is- rael,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it  is  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob—the  God  of  all  our  ancest- ors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same  Jesus  whom  you  handed  over  and  rejected  before  Pilate,  despite Pilate’s decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead  demanded  the  release  of  a  murderer. You  killed  the  author  of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact! “Through  faith  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  this  man  was  healed—and  you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.

“Friends,  I  realize  that  what  you  and  your  leaders  did  to  Jesus  was done in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had fore- told about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times  of  refreshment  will  come  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in  heaven  until  the  time  for  the  final  restoration  of  all  things,  as  God promised  long  ago  through  his  holy  prophets.  Moses  said,  ‘The  Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.  Listen  carefully  to  everything  he  tells  you.’ Then  Moses  said,

‘Anyone  who  will  not  listen  to  that  Prophet  will  be  completely  cut  off from God’s people.’

“Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today. You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham,

‘Through    your    descendants    all    the    families    on    earth    will    be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sin- ful ways.”

Acts Ch 7 v 1 – 60 - Stephen Addresses the Council

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these accusations true?”

This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. But God gave him no inheritance  here,  not  even  one  square  foot  of  land.  God  did  promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet. God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.

‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’

“God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when  Abraham  became  the  father  of  Isaac,  he  circumcised  him  on  the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation. These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued  him  from  all  his  troubles.  And  God  gave  him  favour  before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh  appointed  him  governor  over  all  of  Egypt  and  put  him  in charge of the palace. But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was  great  misery,  and  our  ancestors  ran  out  of  food.  Jacob  heard  that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some. The  second  time  they  went,  Joseph  revealed  his  identity  to  his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all. So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors. Their bodies  were  taken  to  Shechem  and  buried  in  the  tomb  Abraham  had bought  for  a  certain  price  from  Hamor’s  sons  in  Shechem.  As  the  time drew near when God would fulfil his promise to Abraham, the number of  our  people  in  Egypt  greatly  increased. But  then  a  new  king  came  to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their new- born babies so they would die.

At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him,  Pharaoh’s  daughter  adopted  him  and  raised  him  as  her  own son. Moses  was  taught  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  and  he  was powerful in both speech and action.

One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defence and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t. The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’

But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside.

‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’

When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born. Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,

‘I  am  the  God  of  your  ancestors—the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and

Jacob.’

Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him,

‘Take  off  your  sandals,  for  you  are  standing  on  holy  ground. I  have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’

So  God  sent  back  the  same  man  his  people  had  previously  rejected when  they  demanded,  ‘Who  made  you  a  ruler  and  judge  over  us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and saviour. And by means of many wonders and miraculous  signs,  he  led  them  out  of  Egypt,  through  the  Red  Sea,  and through the wilderness for forty years. Moses himself told the people of Israel,

‘God  will  raise  up  for  you  a  Prophet  like  me  from  among  your  own people.’

Moses  was  with  our  ancestors,  the  assembly  of  God’s  people  in  the wilderness,  when  the  angel  spoke  to  him  at  Mount  Sinai.  And  there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us. But our ancestors re- fused  to  listen  to  Moses.  They  rejected  him  and  wanted  to  return  to Egypt. They told Aaron,

‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has be- come of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’

So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made. Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written,

‘Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during those forty   years   in   the   wilderness,   Israel?   No,   you   carried   your   pagan gods—the shrine of Molech, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into exile as far away as Babylon.’

Our  ancestors  carried  the  Tabernacle  with  them  through  the  wilder- ness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses. Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their  new  territory.  And  it  stayed  there  until  the  time  of  King  David. David found favour with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actu- ally  built  it. However,  the  Most  High  doesn’t  live  in  temples  made  by human hands. As the prophet says,

‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?’ asks the Lord. ‘Could you build me such a resting place? Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’

You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even   killed   the   ones   who   predicted   the   coming   of   the   Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed  God’s  law,  even  though  you  received  it  from  the  hands  of angels.”

The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus stand- ing in the place of honour at God’s right hand. And he told them,

“Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!”

Then  they  put  their  hands  over  their  ears  and  began  shouting.  They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed,

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

He fell to his knees, shouting,

“Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!”

And with that, he died.

THE EARLY GENTILE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

I will look a little at the content of these passages with regard to Jesus in  a  moment.  But  before  I  do,  I  want  to  note  the  establishment  of  the Gentile  or  non-Jewish  Christian  tradition,  which  is  established  by  the Apostle Paul, or Saul as he was initially known.

JEWISH PERSECUTION OF THE JEWISH/CHRISTIAN SECT - SAUL

It is the upstart, troublesome Jewish Christian sect that Saul, a Jewish

Pharisee and purist trained in Jewish religious law, begins to persecute in  an  attempt  to  stamp  it  out,  because  it  is  what  he  sees  as  a  deviant, heretical, troublesome group within Judaism.

SAUL’S DAMSACUS ROAD EXPERIENCE

Even as Saul is busy on this mission to purge Judaism of this trouble- some  group,  he  is  stopped  in  his  tracks  on  one  particular  day.  Three times  we  have  an  account  of  this  event  in  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  So  we should  note  that  this  is  not  Paul  speaking  or  writing  here  in  Acts,  but someone else in the early church. The passages in Acts are as follows:

Acts 9 v 1 – 12

Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s dis- ciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the syn- agogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerus- alem.  As  he  neared  Damascus  on  his  journey,  suddenly  a  light  from heaven  [the  vaulted  expanse  of  the  sky  with  all  things  visible  in  it] flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

"Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The  men  travelling  with  Saul  stood  there  speechless;  they  heard  the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.  For  three  days  he  was  blind,  and  did  not  eat  or  drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him  in  a  vision,  [a  sight  divinely  granted  in  an  ecstasy  or  in  a  sleep,  a vision]

“Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The  Lord told him, “Go  to the  house of  Judas on  Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to re- store his sight.”

And again in Acts 22 v 2 - 13

Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our  ancestors.  I  was  just  as  zealous  for  God  as  any  of  you  are  today.  I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prison- ers to Jerusalem to be punished. About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly  a  bright  light  from  heaven  flashed  around  me.  I  fell  to  the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.

My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’

My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews  living  there.  He  stood  beside  me  and  said,  ‘Brother  Saul,  receive your sight!’  and at that very moment I was able to see him. And finally in Acts 26 v 9 - 20

“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them pun- ished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with per- secuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,

‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared [to allow one's self to be seen, to appear] to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you