God Knocked a Writer Off a Horse

What Christian writers today can learn from Paul and the book of Romans.

In most of my writing, I like to keep things down to earth and geared toward essential discipleship and spiritual growth. But what I like to read is often different. I love diving deep into the classic works of philosophy, theology, biblical commentary and study of the Bible as literature. I rarely get the chance to discuss that kind of thing at church or write about it. So for this piece, I’m letting my inner “nerd” out to play.

If you’ve noticed the truly remarkable quality of the writing God used to deliver His Word, I think you’re really going to like this piece. There is no finer example of a world-class writer in the Bible than Paul of Tarsus. Paul is also one of the most dramatic examples of the transformational power of God’s grace. In this essay we’re going to dig into both.

The Damascus Road Experience

Imagine this - one minute, you're riding high with a clear mission, and the next, you're flat on your back, blinded by the very God you thought you were serving. That’s Paul’s Damascus Road moment, described vividly in Acts 9. Paul, the zealous persecutor of Christians, was heading to continue his campaign against the believers when a light from heaven suddenly flashes around him. This wasn’t just any light; this was the glory of God confronting Paul. In a single instant, Paul’s life takes a dramatic turn. “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he hears.

This moment isn’t just transformational, this is theological. It’s a display of God’s grace and sovereignty in the life of one man, but it also echoes the transformative power available to all of us. As John Calvin astutely comments, Paul’s blindness symbolizes the spiritual darkness he had been living in, “This blindness… was the mirror of his inward blindness.” Calvin adds, "God draws him to the true light, though he had been perversely resisting" (Commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 9:1–19). It’s a great example of grace in action. Blinded in an instant - Paul would soon see God, the Church, and himself more clearly than he ever had before.

And here’s the kicker, God took a man bent on destruction and made him a builder of His new kingdom on earth. You can’t write a better plot twist than that!