In Philippians 3, Paul goes after those heretics who would add their own righteousness to that of Christ in order to be saved. He tells them that if any man has reason to boast, it would be him. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees--you get the point. But he considers all of this rubbish (lit. refuse/excrement) compared to knowing Christ. It is all about Christ!
Little noticed in the list of Paul's former accomplished is the phrase "as for zeal, a persecutor of the church." You must think that he took a labored breath as he, by God's inspiration, penned that line. One of his greatest accomplishments prior to Christ was the murder of his Christian brother, Stephen, and violence against his Christian family. This little line provides a portal through which we can learn more about what it meant for Paul to say "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (1:21). We must consider God's grace to Paul, starting with that dark day of Stephen's murder so many years before.
On that day, a young, firey Christian named Stephen did what he normally did--share Christ and Him crucified. God's Word was a fire in his bones, and by the power of God's Word and Spirit, Stephen's wisdom in sharing the Scriptures couldn't be refuted. As a result, many of the self-righteous religious leaders concocted false charges against him and put him on trial before the Sanhedrin. It is likely that Saul of Tarsus was there for most if not all of these proceedings.
Looking then through Saul's eyes, he watched as Stephen made no defense of himself before the Sanhedrin, but put them on trial for joining their fathers in rejecting God's Word and resisting His Spirit, culminating in their crucifixion of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Saul, like the others, wasn't particularly happy about being called a rebel and murderer of Christ, and thus led a mob to murder Stephen.
As he watched with approval, he found himself looking upon something highly usual--even as he was crushed by boulders, Stephen's face shined like that of an angel as he seemed transfixed. Stephen declared that he had seen heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand. At this, Saul and his band cried out and rushed at Stephen to finish the murder. But even at his last, Stephen took the words of his Savior upon his lips: Forgive them!
The great church father, Augustine, believes that this event marked the beginning of Paul's conversion. Paul owes his conversion, Augustine asserts, to the prayers of Stephen. It was as if Christ closed the skies upon one vision, and opened them in another above the road to Damascus. Let us not think that God is deaf to our prayers!
In Stephen, Paul saw the embodiment of that great theme of the Christian life: To live is Christ and to die is gain. He saw in Stephen's call (to make Christ known), and Stephen's comfort (his heavenly citizenship and being carried by Christ). These great realities are what stood behind Paul's inspired phrase--to live is Christ and to die is gain--and stand behind that theme in our own lives as well. We'll discuss these further in the days ahead.
To be continued...
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