PENTECOST & PAUL – part 4
In Cyprus the Roman proconsul wants to hear Barnabas and Saul preach the word of God. But when his attendant tries to turn him from the faith, Saul (who from now on is called Paul) rebukes him and he becomes blind. When the proconsul saw this, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
Up till now Saul had been following Barnabas as a loyal and devoted friend. But from now on, the old order of their names is never mentioned again. It’s no longer, Barnabas and Saul – from now on it’s ‘Paul and his companions’
So why should Paul have suddenly adopted his Roman name? Well, as the first representative of Jesus before a high official of Rome, he realized that Paul, the Roman citizen and a member of the ruling race, was a more powerful force in the world than Saul the Jew. So it was naturally as Paul that he faced the Roman Empire. One man with his Lord against the might of pagan Rome!