For discussion

[percho]

Did Paul of himself all of a sudden become a believer or did Jesus call Paul and make a believer of him for the purpose of God?

Acts 9:15,16 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

1 Tim 1:12-16 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love (shed abroad by the Holy Spirit), which is in Christ Jesus. This a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

John 10:26-28 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.

 

[Greektim]

Gal 1:15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;

 

[Iconoclast]

Did Paul of himself all of a sudden become a believer or did Jesus call Paul and make a believer of him for the purpose of God?

Acts 9:15,16 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

1 Tim 1:12-16 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love (shed abroad by the Holy Spirit), which is in Christ Jesus. This a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

John 10:26-28 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.

Yes....there is a pattern revealed in scripture of how God saves sinners by His electing love ,and irrestable grace.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Van]

I see we have yet another effort at defending total spiritual inability, the mistaken doctrine of Calvinism.

So by the numbers once again:

1) Did Paul "all of a sudden" become a believer? No. He had concluded that the "way" was mistaken and was trying to root it out. So he had been at least superficially familiar with the claims of Jesus and had rejected them.

2) Did Jesus call Paul? Well duh, of course Jesus called Paul on the road.

3) Did God make a believer of Paul by the power of irresistible grace? Nope.

4) Jesus asked Paul why he was persecuting Him, and told Paul to go to Damascus to receive instruction. He also temporarily blinded Paul.

5) What did Paul consider and evaluate and ponder during those three days of blindness and fasting? Praying? Yes! Had a vision of a visit? Yes! Looking for the one who would restore his sight? Yes.

6) Did God say Paul had been chosen for salvation? Nope. Paul was God's chosen instrument to bear God's name before the Gentiles, kings, and sons of Israel.

7) Once the scales fell from his eyes, he was baptized, referring to water baptism, indicating that Paul had become a believer over those three days with perhaps the sign of his blindness going away just as he had seen in the vision as tipping the balance of his mind. In any event, he then fellowshipped with disciples of the way in Damascus for several days. Then Paul began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying He is the Son of God.

So there we have the time line from Acts 9:1-20.

In the retelling of his conversion account, Acts 22:16 that Paul "called on the name of the Lord." So Paul chose to trust in Jesus, to call upon or put faith and trust in Jesus, after three days of fasting and meditation.

Bottom line, 1 Timothy 1:16 teaches that Paul is an example for those who would believe in His for eternal life. Paul is an example for those considering choosing to believe, rather than an example of someone compelled to believe. Calvinism distorts Paul's testimony to pour the man-made doctrine into the text.