="Noblemen, post: 3730100, member: 266179"]When Paul had his revelation of the indwelling Christ, he went into the Arabian desert. Paul was "more zealous than you all" in his religion. I believe after Paul's revelation, he spent some time in the desert getting the message of God so fixed in him that when he came out of the desert he would know what he was talking about.
More importantly is the fact he was God was getting that deep root of religion out of Paul.
Paul knew nothing but the law, and would kill to protect it.
Even though God had revealed Christ in Paul and was giving to him the gospel of Grace, he needed things fixed in him by the HolySpirit. We all have that deep root of religion that God deals with.
One thing that I have come to understand about "religion" or religious doctrines in general is how men get a deception in their mind, and then build their believe subject to this deception.
It brings the phrase "A Little leaven leavens the whole lump" to a whole new understanding. If a person looks at the very first example of deception we see how this is the tactic of the serpent.
Gen. 3:
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that
in the day ye eat thereof, (Reject the instruction)
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
First satan convinced her that God's Word can not be trusted and that even though He said basically "the wages of sin is death", that this wasn't true for Eve.
Then He plants the deception that God's instructions are not in her best interest, that they are created to keep her blind and burdened, and that she can only "see" if she rejects God's Word and trusts on her own vision.
This is, of course, not true. Satan is the father of lies. But it did convince Eve just the same. And until she realizes she believes a lie, and "renews her mind" in this regard, every thing she believes will be corrupted by these lies. Therefore, "A little leaven leavens the "Whole" lump.
I say this because of your comment about Paul's religion. "
Paul knew nothing but the law, and would kill to protect it.".
This implies that Paul was following God's Laws. This belief that the Pharisees were following God's Laws and that is why they didn't know the Christ when He came is not true. It is a deception that is deeply ingrained in Mainstream religions today. God's Word teaches just the opposite
So I just want to point out that yes, Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. The model Pharisee, blameless in the Laws of their religion. But the Pharisees did not follow God's Laws, they did not believe "All that was written in the Law and Prophets" as did Paul after his conversion. They created heavy religious burdens, not from God, and placed them on the backs of the people. The Law and Prophets prophesied of their corruption and their lawlessness and the Christ confirmed what the Prophets said about them.
This was Paul before his conversion.
Matt. 15:
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with
their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Not God as is widely taught)
Matt. 23:4 For they (Pharisees, not God) bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
John 8:
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
45 And because I tell
you the truth, ye believe me not.
Jer. 5:
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people (Paul before conversion)
love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
This was Paul after his conversion.
Acts 24:
13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
14 But this I confess unto thee,
that after the way which they ( Pharisees) call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
Acts 26:
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea,
and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and
turn to God, and
do works meet for repentance.
So I agree with you about how deeply ingrained the Pharisees religion was in Paul's mind, and how difficult it is to undo deeply held deceptions, and Paul's desire, after the truth about his religion had been shown to him, to serve the Living God and not the devil as he had been tricked into serving his whole life.
But I don't believe in the widely taught religious doctrine that the Pharisees didn't know the Christ because they were trying to follow God's Laws, because the Bible teaches against this doctrine, just as the Law and Prophets exposed the doctrines of the Mainstream Preachers of Christ's time. Zechariahs knew the Christ when he came, Abraham knew the Christ when He came, Simeon, Anna, the Wise men, they all knew the Christ when He came, but Paul and the Pharisees did not.
So if a person has been convinced into believing something that is not true according to the scriptures, as was Saul before Paul, then their entire religion has been compromised. And everything they believe is influenced by this deception. I think this is why the Christ said to live by "Every Word" of God and not just parts of the Word as Paul and the Pharisees did.
Great topic though, and isn't this forum a place for believers to weed this "leaven" out of our minds?