No. 5. >> Dr. Just, I am very glad to be studying the book of Galatians. And thank you for responding to my question about Paul's name. Let me continue by noting that what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus must have been powerfully dramatic to have turned him from being a persecutor of the church to the apostle to the Gentiles. As I remember, Paul was headed toward Damascus to carry out a persecution. Are you able to provide detail about Paul's encounter with Christ? >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: Eric, there is always a moment in a person's life that is kind of a turning point. And certainly Paul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus is one of those. In the year 2000 I had the privilege of being on an archeological dig in Caesarea Philippi, which is now called Banias in northern Israel. Right near where the road to Damascus goes, near Mt. Hermon. And we climbed one of the hills near Mt. Hermon. And we looked and saw the road going to Damascus and I could picture the Apostle Paul in his entourage heading to Damascus to persecute the church there. They probably knew he was coming. They were probably petrified of what was going to happen. And Paul was determined to change the church there and to turn it into a Jewish synagogue again. One of the things that's important to recognize about the Apostle Paul is that he was somebody who knew everything that everybody else knew about Jesus. In fact, in many ways, Paul probably understood Jesus better than anybody else. Because they both interpreted the Scriptures in the same way. He knew what Jesus taught. He knew what Jesus' claims were. What Paul didn't believe was that Jesus was the Christ. So when there is this encounter on the road to Damascus which you can read about and we don't have time to do it but you can read about it in the Book of Acts, Chapter 9, you'll see that in revealing himself to Paul, as the Messiah, he gives Paul that one piece that was missing for him. And that is that wonderful statement of grace that Jesus is the one who had come into the world to save sinners by suffering, dieing and rising. When the Lord Jesus reveals that he is the Christ to Paul on the road to Damascus, the scales do in fact fall from his eyes both literally and physically. He becomes now an apostle to the Gentiles. And as the Lord says to Ananias: See how much he's going to suffer on behalf of my name. Paul will take the same passion that he had for Judaism into his apostleship to the Gentiles and his passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, that Damascus road experience was not a time where Paul learns anything new about Jesus. He knew it already. What he learns at that point is something that you can't learn in your head. It's a belief. The Holy Spirit came upon him when Jesus revealed that he was the Christ to him. And from that moment on, Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to being a believer and a confessor of Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah. Now, this is something that is an act of God. And when we read the book of Galatians, we'll see how important this conversion was for him Paul describes it as -- and I'm going to use this language -- as an Apocalyptic event. Apocalyptic simply means a moment of revelation when God shows himself to us. The incarnation because Jesus is revealed to us as the Son of God is an Apocalyptic event. This is something outside of us. Where God comes to us in a way that is outside of our normal way of transacting reality. For Paul, the revelation of Jesus on the road to Damascus is an Apocalyptic event. It is a defining moment for him. And again, as I mentioned earlier, it is a defining moment for us, for the church of Jesus Christ. Because from this moment on now, Paul becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. That is what his call is all about. And Paul not only understands that, he embraces it with the kind of passion and courage that only Paul seems to have.