Why Saul Changed His Name
I’ve always wondered why Saul changed his name to Paul.
This is all Luke gives us, during his first stop on his first missionary journey: “Then Saul, who was also called Paul…” (Acts 13:9).
That’s it. No explanation.
And from that point on, Luke calls him Paul.
Why does Saul suddenly go by “Paul”?
I began to think about all this as I read from Romans 1, where Paul writes,
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Romans 1:14-15, ESV
“Under obligation…”
“Eager to preach…”
Paul was a driven man. He gave his life to reaching the Gentiles:
· three long-term missionary journeys (planting churches throughout the region),
· writing more than a dozen letters to the churches (twelve are included in the canon, but we know he wrote more),
· frequently suffering at the hands of his enemies, who often resorted to violence to stop him,
· finally landing in long-term Roman custody as a prisoner of the state, who eventually executed him.
It was while I was thinking about Paul’s driving passion to reach the Gentiles that I realized why Saul changed his Hebrew name to “Paul.”
Paul’s singular goal was to reach Gentiles with the Gospel, so he cut out everything that would get in the way of communicating that message. He knew that with Gentiles, “Saul” would reinforce his Jewish identity and create an unnecessary barrier. So he went by “Paul” for the rest of his life.
For Paul, the only thing that mattered was that people have a clear path to Jesus. Everything else was negotiable, even his own name, the name his parents gave him, the name that he himself had made famous in first century Judaism.
Paul’s driving urge to reach the Gentiles prompted me to think about my own life and ministry and calling. I realized that I have spent most of my life working with “Jews,” people who, like me, have a church background.
Here’s what I wrote in my journal as I thought about this:
There simply aren’t very many “Gentiles” in my life, never have been, with my four decades in Christian education and now in the pastorate. If I’m going to know anyone outside the faith well enough, deeply enough to have a gospel conversation with them, I will need to take deliberate, intentional steps in their direction. Not an easy or natural thing for an introvert to do, but something I must do if they are to hear about Jesus from me.
This all leaves me with several questions:
1. How can I cultivate that kind of passion to reach the “Gentiles” in my life, the people who don’t have a church background, people who are tragically unaware that God loves prodigals and gave up His Son to bring them home?
2. Am I willing for God to stoke that kind of passion in me?
3. What would it look like for me to move intentionally in the direction of the “Gentiles” in my life?
4. Is there anything in my way of life that could be an impediment to that message, anything that might be a distraction from the Gospel message?
5. Am I willing to sacrifice that distraction so that the “Gentiles” in my life can have a clear path to Jesus?