Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, describes himself before he met Jesus as being (Phil 3:5) a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a strict Pharisee and a pure blooded citizen of Israel. Before his conversion we would say that he was a hard-nosed Jew who hated Jesus and His followers. As we read the beginning of the book of Acts it seems like he was trying to stamp out Christianity all by himself. His zealous hatred for Jesus and His followers won him the admiration of all the Jews, especially the high and mighty. And they were only too pleased to have somebody bold enough to do the dirty work they only WISHED they had the guts to do.
In Romans 1:1 and Titus 1:1 he declares himself to be a servant. There are many opinions on the internet about the meaning of the Greek word duolos. Some say that it just means 'servant' and some say that it refers to a 'bondservant' as mentioned in Exodus 21:1-6.
However, I am inclined to think Paul's intention lines up more correctly with Thayer's Greek Lexicon of the Greek word duolos. His studies interprets the word as to ensnare or capture.
Follow my line of reasoning for a moment. By his own admission and the testimony of the writer of the Book of Acts, Paul (or Saul of Tarsus) waged his own religious war against all of the followers of Jesus Christ. He put them in prison, tore up their homes (figuratively) and voted to kill at least Stephen. He might have voted to kill others.
I personally believe that he thought he was honestly doing God's will by stamping out the heretical movement that sought to undermine the religious customs that Jews had always followed. I get this idea from the fact that the religious big wigs of the day gave him letters of authority to put Jesus' followers in jail.
You know the story. When he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was 'captured' by Jesus' love for him. Even though he had done some despicable things to a lot of Jesus' followers, Jesus never brought the subject up. There is never any mention where Jesus jumped down Paul's throat about anything. Jesus only talked to Paul about his future and not his past. He talked to Paul about what He wanted Paul to do not what Paul had done.
This encounter and many more that Paul had with Jesus had one central theme and that was the agape love of God. The kind of love that walked in perpetual forgiveness. It was the kind of love that spoke sweetly and not sharply. It praised and not prattled. It lifted up and never tore down.
The more that Paul came into Jesus' presence, the more real God's love for him became. The more Paul prayed, the more ensnared or captured Paul became in the love of God. God took him through a lot of hard places that Paul didn't deserve to have to walk through. But God's grace and His agape love were there to walk with him.
It is my desire, as well as it should be all Christians, to develop such a love relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we too become ensnared with Jesus. Yes, it took Paul through a lot of hardships, but Paul saw thousands of people saved, healed and delivered. Churches were established that raised up the anthem of a loving God and a resurrected Jesus. Yes, obstacles were in his path at times but God used those times to help him write a great portion of the New Testament. As a matter of fact, Paul's soul-saving work is still going on in the Body of Christ today.
Join with me and allow Jesus to ensnare us by pouring His agape love through us onto this ungodly world. Let's grasp prayer hands across the world and pray for a world-wide outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. Let's set the trap of God's love in our hearts and ensnare as many lost souls as we can.
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