Paul — the Unknown Years

One of the difficulties of the Book of Acts is that Luke does not say what year an event took place in or how long there might be between two dates. He does not tell us in what year the Day of Pentecost took place, nor does he tell us how many years had passed between it and the conversion of Paul. Nor does he say how long Paul was away from Jerusalem in Damascus and thereabouts (over three years). 

What he does tell us about Paul is that he was sent back to Tarsus by the disciples in Jerusalem and then later on Barnabas went to Tarsus and found him and brought him to serve in the church in  Antioch. Were those years in Tarsus important or was he in a kind of wilderness? Does Luke indicate anything about them and does Paul himself say anything about them in his letters?

We can start by noticing what Luke says in Acts 9:26-30: ‘And when [Paul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.’

Paul returns to Jerusalem as a believer

We all like to hear news about a notable convert, but news of Saul’s conversion does not seem to have become a major point of interest in the church in Jerusalem. Indeed, it looks as if the disciples there had not even heard that he had become a believer in Jesus shortly after arriving in Damascus some years before. Or if they had heard, they had regarded it as only a rumour. 

Having read Acts 9:26-30, what do we think of it? Perhaps we could ask two basic questions about it. For example, how long a period did it take for these events to occur? Let us list them: Paul tries to join the disciples but fails; Barnabas then introduces him to the apostles and he is welcomed; Paul then preached boldly in Jerusalem; he then disputes with Hellenistic Jews (he used to be of them), and they then attempt to kill him; he then is sent away to Tarsus by the disciples. Probably, we would say all that would take a few months at least. Paul says in Galatians 1 that he was in Jerusalem on this visit for only fifteen days (Gal. 1:18). That was certainly an interesting fortnight or so. 

Moreover, how many of the apostles in Jerusalem did Barnabas introduce Paul to? Paul says in Galatians 1 that he only saw Peter and James (Gal. 1:19). So Luke is accurate when he uses the plural noun ‘apostles’, but maybe we assumed that he meant more than two. But then we are always helped when we compare scripture with scripture.

Although it was only a short period in Jerusalem described in a set of few verses, there are at least two important lessons we can take from the passage that are not limited to the apostles but apply to all believers. 

People may not always be glad to see you

Paul had enjoyed being with the disciples in Damascus and while there he had experienced the Lord’s blessing. He would have an amazing story to tell of the Lord’s gracious dealings with him and the disciples over the three or so years that he had been there. The previous time that he had been in Jerusalem he had been arresting believers for their faith in Jesus. Now he was a changed man. He wanted to see them so much. Yet when he tried to do so, he was rebuffed by the disciples. How disappointing for him! What was God’s providence indicating? Should he go back to Damascus? But, then, he had been forced to leave there in a basket?

Is such an experience not common among the Lord’s people? They take what seem to be obvious steps, but they discover that God shuts doors in ways that seem almost incongruous. Of course, in Paul’s case on this occasion, the doors were only closed for a few days. But sometimes the barriers can remain for much longer for believers wanting to serve God. 

The disciples were not the only group that were dismayed by Paul’s return to Jerusalem. In addition to the disciples, Paul’s previous contacts in Jerusalem among the Hellenistic synagogues were furious at the change in his opinions. He had left Jerusalem determined to crush the church, but he was back in Jerusalem and declaring the same message that he had indicated he would destroy. They did not need a Barnabas to tell them what was happening, it was clear enough from Paul’s own words. And they were infuriated. Paul could see in them a mirror of what he used to be — a hater of Christians. He longed for them to come to know Jesus, but there was no evidence that God was working in their lives. Indeed, the opposite seemed to be happening.

That can happen to Christians with those they knew before they were converted. They have discovered the amazing riches of God’s grace, they have had their sins forgiven and have been welcomed into the family of God. Now they can look forward to heaven. Because they have found this range of blessings, they want to share the gospel with others. So they return to those who knew them before conversion, but often discover that the change is unwelcome and their contacts don’t want to know. Indeed, they can become hostile, very hostile.

God opens doors in unexpected ways

During this time of difficulty for Paul, he discovered that God knew what to do about the situation. In both areas of concern — that of being accepted by the disciples and that of being protected from the Hellenist Jews — God solved Paul’s dilemmas by using the intervention of other people. 

First, with regard to the concern of the disciples, the Lord put it into the heart of Barnabas to come to the rescue. What qualifications did Barnabas have? I would suggest he had two qualifications — credibility with the disciples and knowledge of the circumstances. If he did not have the credibility, his intervention would not have been heard. His credibility had grown over the years to such an extent that he was regarded as the son of consolation. This shows the importance of how a believers lives from day to day. Consistency of behaviour had made Barnabas a man of Christian eminence, whose word was highly regarded. 

The second qualification that Barnabas possessed was his awareness of what had happened to Paul in Damascus. We are not told how Barnabas had come to know those details, but it is not difficult to assume that he possessed an interest in the progress of the gospel. Maybe all he done previously with his knowledge was to pray about the gospel’s success in Damascus. But now he discovered that he could solve the issue between Paul and the Christians. It would have been a sin for Barnabas to keep quiet. He would not have known that speaking up for Paul was the first contact with an individual with whom he later would spend several years serving the Lord. A lot can depend on a few words.

The second door that God opened for Paul was the decision of the disciples in Jerusalem that he should go back to his home area of Tarsus for his own safety. Paul submitted to their brotherly advice, not because he was a coward and wanting to escape a problem, but because it was an indication that God was opening another door for him now that he had authenticity with the apostles in Jerusalem. His short time with them convinced him that they had his good at heart, and so he went back to where he was from. His example is one that challenges us to accept the accumulated advice of other believers.

Paul returns to Tarsus as a believer

What kind of man was Paul as he left Jerusalem after his short stay? Two or three features can be pointed out. First, he had wanted to attend meetings of the disciples of Jesus. He does not seem to have allowed their initial refusal to dampen that desire. Nor did the fact that it could be dangerous hinder him. Meeting with them was a clear priority in his life. We can be sure that when he headed off to areas without disciples, such as Cilicia, he would be determined to make disciples who would value meeting together. 

Second, in Jerusalem, as we noted earlier, Paul spent time with Peter and James. I wonder what they would have spoken about. While it is only a suggestion, it is reasonable to assume that Paul would want to know what Jesus was like, what he had said, what was the difference in him before and after his resurrection, and those two men were ideal for telling him. James had grown up in the same family home as Jesus and, although he had not believed in Jesus until after his resurrection, he had seen Jesus live a perfect life. Peter too could recount many personal experiences with Jesus as well as detail for Paul many of the teachings and sayings of the Saviour. So far, Paul may not have known much literally of what Jesus had said and done when he was here on earth (perhaps much of his knowledge was connected to the fulfilment of what the Old Testament had predicted or described about the Messiah). We can imagine how greatly Paul appreciated being told those details.

Another lesson that Paul would take with him when he went to Tarsus was one of realism about the difficulties of the Christian life, especially with regard to opposition and dismissal of his message. He had experienced such trouble in Damascus and had been forced to escape through being lowered down the city wall in a basket. In Jerusalem, the opposition to him had been so intense that he had to leave after a couple of weeks. This would be the pattern of his life. Following Jesus is costly. Years later, Paul was to tell the Philippians in a letter that he had suffered the loss of all things. When did that take place? Perhaps when he returned to Tarsus and experienced rejection by his family. Maybe that was not when he lost it all, but he did discover that following Jesus was costly.

Luke tells us nothing about what Paul did when he reached his home area. He next mentions Paul in Acts 11:25 when Barnabas went to Tarsus for him and brought him to Antioch. But in Galatians 1:21-23, Paul tells us what took place: ‘Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”’ Tarsus was the capital of Cilicia.

Not much is said about Paul’s preaching in Syria and Cilicia. Syria covered quite a wide area (as we can see from a map), and Paul may mean that he preached in the parts of Syria that bordered the east of Cilicia. When Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey they did not visit Cilicia and Syria. But when Paul went with Silas on his second missionary journey, we are told in Acts 15:41 that they began by going ‘through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches’. They took with them the letter from the council in Jerusalem which was also addressed to the churches in Cilicia (Acts 15:23). Where did those churches come from? There is no other account of their possible beginning but what Paul did during the years he was sent to Tarsus. Maybe others did go there, but he certainly had done so when he went back to Tarsus. So what seemed like a journey into obscurity became a journey of spiritual prosperity.

Can we say anything else about this period in Paul’s life? There is one distinct possibility which is that it was during this period that he received a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 that he had received the thorn fourteen years earlier. 2 Corinthians was written about the years 55 and 56, and fourteen years before then places him in the period when he was away out of the limelight in Tarsus. Why would he need to be humble? He had been successful in planting churches. What was the thorn in the flesh? No one knows, except to say that it was something that the devil used to harass him.

It was a very different Paul that Barnabas met when he went to Tarsus to find him. Paul was now an experienced planter of churches, but he was a man who had known opposition for his faith. Indeed it has been pointed out that since the list of his sufferings recorded in 2 Corinthians 11 contain allusions to incidents not recorded in the Book of Acts he could be including opposition that he faced during those years in Tarsus. And he was coping with the effects of whatever the thorn in the flesh was.