(1) A Radical Change. Whether or not men reject the account of his conversion, there is no avoiding the conclusion that during his early manhood he met with a radical change, not only of opinion but also of character. Certain it is that his whole mental attitude toward the Christ was changed. It appears that he himself abandone the title of Saul and chose the name of Paul. which means "the little one;" whether or not this name was taken on account of his bodily size, which is said to have been small, it was cer tainly illustrative of the change which had passed over the man, who now called himself "the least of the apostles." Here was a man of education and ability, whose convictions became so strong that he willingly —nay gladly—forfeited the good will of all his old friends, forfeited his social position and all of his worldly prospects, by espousing the cause and the name of the Christ. This converted Jew flung the banner of the cross in the faces of the very men with whom he had been associated in the work of persecution. No wonder he could assert that "/ have been crucified with Christ yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth t:n 77IC; and the life whiclt I now live in the fiesh, live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God zvho laved me and gave hinzself up for me" (Gal. ii:2o, R. V.) Having perceived the full power of the cross as a means of redemption from the power of the law, he testified that: "Christ re deemed us from tlze curse of the law, having be come a curse for us" (Gal. iii :II-13). There is much similar testimony in this single Epistle, and the Galatians accepted the doctrine. They knew it must be true, for the man who preached it wrote to them out of his own experience, and they knew that he had given up a life of ease for one of hardship, loss, and suffering, for the sake of the truth which he advocated.
His Epistle to the Romans is no less emphatic. In the very first chapter he affirms that Jesus is the Son of God; "Promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. i:2-4)• Paul's message pertains to life and death, and the resurrection from the dead, and this is the gospel which he advocates, not as his own but as "the gospel of his Son." This gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that bclieveth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. This gospel is for all: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of Gad; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are post through the forbearance of God" (Rom. 1:1:22-24). The same thought is repeatedly ex essed, for he preached the justification by faith, as a means of "peace with God through our Lord Tesus Christ." "1,Vhile we were yet sihners, Christ died for us." "While WC were enemies zve were
reconciled to God through the death of his Son . . . and not only so, but zue rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation (Rom. v R. V.) (2) Apostle to the Gentiles. Although "a Hebrew of the Hebrews" Paul became in a pe culiar sense "the Apostle to the Gentiles." He taught both Jews and Gentiles that men are justi fied by faith and not by obedience to the law, and that the circumcision which God required under the new covenant was the circumcision of the heart and not of the flesh.
He freely taught that all men are sinners ; that they cannot be justified before God by an obedi ence rendered in their own strength, or by obedi ence to the Jewish law. Freedom from con demnation must come through faith in the Christ, who as the descendant of David, and as the Son of God, came into the world as an offering for sin, that as many as believe in him may have eternal life.
His assertions are in perfect harmony with Matthew, who says: "This is the blood of my covenant which is shed for many unto remission of stns" (Nlatt. xxvi :28). In the letters to the Corinthians references to the death of Christ are not so frequent, but they are no less emphatic. His theme was still "Christ crucified." . In the fifteenth chapter, in which the resurrec tion of believers is taught so forcibly, it is con nected always with the resurrection of him who hath broken the tomb, and illumined the sepulcher by passing through its portals.
Paul's testimony concerning the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord is as em phatic as that of Matthew, Mark and Luke. He believed it with all his heart and taught it un flinchingly in the face of imprisonment and pri vation. In heat and cold, under the repeated stripes of cruel scourging, Ile never shrinks in the proelamation of that gospel whose truth was so convincing that for it he had renounced every thing that the world could offer him.
(3) Requisites of a Witness. The credibil ity of a witness requires that he should be con scientious, and all of Paul's history shows him to have been so; whether he was persecuting the saints or flinging the banner of the cross in the face of the polished Athenians he was always sternly uncompromising. (a) The credibility of a witness also requires that he shall know whereof he affirms; that he shall be personally acquainted with the facts in regard to which he testifies; and this was eminently true of the great Apostle to the Gentiles. (b) Also that he shall have moral courage enough to tell the truth even in face of opposition, and if need be of persecution also. The apostle Paul at last sealed his testimony with his blood. (c) Such credibility is greatly in creased in value if he has been convinced against his will and in the face of preconceived opinions. Not only is this true of Paul, but the truth to which he testifies is one to which his former atti tude was of uncompromising hostility. After be ing the persecutor he accepted of persecution.