Was Paul’s encounter with Yeshua on the road to Damascus record his conversion to Christianity or his revelation that Yeshua is the long-awaited Jewish Messiah?
We read in Acts 9 the story of Paul and his trip to Damascus. He carried letters from the High Priest that allowed him to bring any members following Yeshua back to Jerusalem in chains. These were the people who believed Yeshua was the long-prophesied Messiah. During this journey, Yeshua reveals Himself to Paul. With a flash of light, blindness strikes Paul.
The men traveling with Paul led him to the house of Ananias. Upon meeting Ananias, something like scales falls from his eyes, and the blindness disappears. Paul receives the Holy Spirit.
In many translations, the title of the Acts section is something like “Paul’s Conversion” or “The Conversion of Paul.” These section titles imply that Paul is renouncing his Jewishness, and he becomes a “Christian.” It is essential to understand that these section titles are not part of the original scriptures but, along with Chapter and Verse notations, were additions made by those completing the translation and should not be read as inspired scripture.
Scripture does not mention anything of Paul’s conversion to Christianity. Paul remains a Jew but is now a believing Jew who recognizes Yeshua as the long-awaited Messiah. As you read Paul’s letters later in scripture, you will see that he continues to claim his Jewishness and continues his Jewish life.
If the section needs some extra-biblical label, I will call this section “Paul’s Revelation of the Messiah.” During Paul’s meeting with Yeshua on the road to Damascus, he identified Yeshua as the Messiah. Paul did not “convert” to Christianity. He remained a Jew but became a Jew who had correctly identified the Messiah.
Our church fathers have taken our Jewishness out of our history. They have made it appear that Yeshua came to bring a new religion called “Christianity,” and “Christians” have replaced the Jews. We, as Christians, have not become the Jews but have become the believing Gentiles who were a promise in the Tenach (Old Testament.) We are now grafted into the Jewish tree by that conversion. Before, we had no part of the tree. Now, because of the death of Yeshua, we grafted in as branches on that tree. We draw our nourishment from the roots. Before, we were without life, and now we have life with the Messiah as our root. He is our Jewish Messiah.
Paul did not become a Christian during his revelation on the road to Damascus. His eyes were opened and then included as part of this new man, consisting of Jews and Gentiles. Paul addresses the Gentile part of the new man in Ephesians 2:
11 Therefore, keep in mind that once you—Gentiles in the flesh—were called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision” (which is performed on flesh by hand). 12 At that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. 14 For He is our shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility—15 the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, 16 and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death. 17 And He came and proclaimed shalom to you who were far away and shalom to those who were near18 for through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Ruach. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. 20 You have been built on the foundation made up of the emissaries and prophets, with Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone.21 In Him the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple for the Lord. 22 In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place in the Ruach.
