A New Name

“When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” – Acts 13:12 After being blinded by Jesus on his way to persecute the Church, the Holy Spirit instructed Saul to go into the city and wait for a man named Ananias to come and lay hands on him to restore his sight. After that, he began to preach the Gospel boldly and went to Arabia to be trained for ministry to the Gentiles — the ones he had overtly despised prior to his salvation.  Ultimately, he shared his faith with Sergius Paulus, who was a proconsulate to Caesar. Because this man had such great influence in the land, when he became a Christian, Saul was thrilled…so much so that he decided to take on his name — Paulus. Though it didn’t have profound spiritual meaning, this special moniker meant the

“When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” – Acts 13:12 For the past few days, we’ve learned about how the Apostle Paul was born into slavery, was set free, became a Roman citizen, studied under Gamaliel, persecuted Christians, and then converted to Christianity when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Today, I want to wrap up our discussion about this great father of the faith by sharing how he went from holding the name Saul, a Jewish zealot, to Paul, which means nothing but “short” in the Greek language. After being blinded by Jesus on his way to persecute the Church, the Holy Spirit instructed Saul to go into the city and wait for a man named Ananias to come and lay hands on him to restore his sight. After that, he began to preach

“Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’” – Genesis 32:28 As many of us return to our routine after the excitement and bustle of the holidays, I think it’s a good idea to focus on our identity in Jesus Christ. There can be a slump at the start of the year, with the cold of winter and the end of the warmth of Christmas, but I want to challenge you with the fact that in the Lord, you have a new name.  In the Old Testament, names were given as a form of identification, and they often served as a label for a person. This was certainly the case for Jacob. His name, which translates “one who grabs the heel,” identified him in the Hebrew language as a trickster, a deceiver, and