LEAVE THE NAMES ALONE - For The Sake Of Your Soul

 

I saw a meme today, one that intoned us to call The Apostle Paul by the name given to him at his circumcision, which was, "Saul."

        The point of the post was that we should adopt the modernistic trend of using "preferred names" for Bible figures, as people today do in their chosen, "lifestyles."
    By that I mean, we are expected in our time to apply, "pronoun names," "sex-change names," and whatever names people apply to themselves based on how they choose to identify... so, we should follow suit and similarly use the birth names of figures in Scripture.
    Why? Because, well, they would probably prefer that, and... the people making the memes think we should do that because they say so.

    So lets have some Backstory Time, shall we?

    At his circumcision in the Temple, Paul WAS named, 'Saul'.
This was for two reasons:

    1. It was the custom among the Jews in his part of Judea who adhered to the Temple sect of Judaism.

    2. Being as he would be brought up as the strictest of Pharisees in the Temple environment, this naming announced him to God, and consecrated the boy as belonging to Him within that society.

    So, for roughly 30 years, he was known as Saul.

    And all was hunky-dory for ol' Saul. He was a zealous and committed Pharisee, and he was eager to serve God by rounding up and persecuting any who did not adhere to his precepts of Judaism..., like those fringe Jews outside the Temple cult, and, of course, any who converted to following that Jesus guy, the one they called the Christ!
    But that all changed one fateful day as he was on the road to Damascus to arrest some more converts. Because who should appear, blocking the way, but The Ascended and Glorified Christ HIMSELF!
    
    The Lord – being The Lord - blinded everyone in the raiding party with His dazzling, glorious light, then addressed Saul,...

"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

    Saul fell groveling on the ground at this visitation, because, while he was only too happy to see Christians murdered for their faith, he was well aware of what they believed.
    So, he knew EXACLTY who was speaking to him, and why.
    
    Saul replied, 'Who are you, Lord?'

    See... the use of that word, "Lord," by a devout Jew, tells us of his awe and that he knew who was before him.

 The reply from Christ came thus:
"'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

    He was blinded by The Lords light, and was thereafter led to Damascus by hand. But he regained his sight after 3 days, when none other than Saint Ananias of Damascus came to meet him.

    "Brother Saul," Ananias proclaimed, "the Lord, [even] Jesus, He that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight again, and be filled with the Holy Ghost."
    There and then, Saul's sight was restored, and being a smart guy, he knew what was up... so he demanded to be given a Christian baptism. That put an end to his career as a Christian murderer and set him on a totally new lifestyle path.
    From that moment, an immediate transformation was wrought in the soul of Saul. He was straight away converted to the Christian Faith, as he himself later related, and therewith changed his name from 'Saul' to, "PAUL."

    "P-A-U-L".... Paul.

    He then began travelling and preaching the Faith, as PAUL, and as they say, the rest is history.

    But you caught that, right? You surely spotted that Paul now identifies as a Christian, a convert to Christ – and he willingly CHANGED HIS NAME TO INDICATE THAT.

    In later letters and writings, he would say as an Apostle for Christ, that he considered his old life, "dead to him." He would also admonish that any who would follow Christ will see their previous lives as also, "dead to them."

    Thereafter, he was Paul, and Paul he shall be called. Paul is the correct name, and no other name will do; especially a name the man himself had clearly buried.
    So it's inappropriate to refer to him as Saul - by his own choice.

    At this point, I'm a little befuddled by the meme-makers, and their obviously jilted dictates about naming folks in Scripture according to THEIR expectations.
    The mixed-message silliness they sent made no sense, because Saint Paul, The Apostle to the Gentiles, was way ahead of them.
    He quite clearly changed his name to a "preferred" one based on his lifestyle choice, and expected all would call him by that name.
    He DID NOT want to be called by his former name – despite what meme-makers might demand.

    To me, it appears the meme-ists confused themselves. They have this idea that they can control how we use names, and particularly those in Scripture. There is a progressive element within Christian culture, as there is in the secular world, and they want to demand we marry worldly modernism with Christ, despite the warnings He and others have given against doing that.

    What does all this mean? Just this: because we see this, "choose your own name," craziness in the modern world does NOT mean we must bring it into Christianity.
    Some will say that Christians need to 'get with the times,' but we are told exactly the opposite by God, by Christ, and by His Apostles. The sordid ways of the world have no appeal to Christians, and those who think that following them, and dictating choices based on them makes one good and faithful is in for a rude awakening.

    And I'm pretty sure Paul would agree.