Bible Study for Saturday, May 17th, 2025

Intrepid — Literally, not trembling or shaking with fear; hence, fearless; bold; brave; undaunted.

from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary

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Great only as good, because fashioned divinely, were those unpretentious yet colossal characters, Paul and Jesus. Theirs were modes of mind cast in the moulds of Christian Science: Paul’s, by the supremely natural transforming power of Truth; and the character of Jesus, by his original scientific sonship with God. Philosophy never has produced, nor can it reproduce, these stars of the first magnitude — fixed stars in the heavens of Soul. When shall earth be crowned with the true knowledge of Christ?

from Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 360

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Paul’s Demonstration, from the Christian Science Journal, April 1912, by Sophie F. Stolz

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The Road to Damascus: Saul Takes His Journey

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Sons of Encouragement by Francene Rivers

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Paul by Edgar J. Goodspeed

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The Last Apostle Documentary with professor Mark Fairchild

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I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

Acts 22 : 3, in the King James Bible

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Saul means great man in Hebrew; Paul means small man, or humble.

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Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Philippians 3 : 8, in the King James Bible

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Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help.

from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 453

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Chapter 7 — Pond and Purpose, from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy

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But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

Acts 9 : 22, in the King James Bible

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Confounded — Mixed or blended in disorder; perplexed; abashed; dismayed; put to shame and silence; astonished.

from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary

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Scripture: Acts 7:58

… from the moment he was converted to the moment he died, he was always a persecuted His life was divided into two periods, — first he was persecutor, and then he was persecuted. When he had been driven from city to city, and many times stoned, how he must have thought of Stephen, and the stones that fell on him. When he had been hated of all men for Christ’s sake, he might well have despaired of the gospel ever spreading had he not said, “Ah! but, as it converted me, it can convert others. Did not I take care of the clothes of those who stoned Stephen, those rebels who took the pearls that fell from, his lips, and trod them under foot like swine?” This would encourage him to stand before the cruel Nero, and to tell him the gospel of Jesus, for he who could convert a Saul could convert a Nero if he willed to do it. You never find Paul drawing back or flinching, but he went preaching almost to the ends of the earth, feeling himself to be a debtor both, to Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, because, said he, “I obtained mercy, that in me first. Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” Oh, yes! it is good for you to remember what you used to be, for you will have hope for other people when you remember that.

[As for Saul’s presence at Stephen’s stoning…]

If Saul had not been there, he would have missed the benefit of Stephen’s discourse; and Stephen’s sermon is the text from which Paul preached all his life. If you examine it carefully, you will find that Stephen’s speech is the root out of which, through the blessing of the Spirit of God, Paul’s theology grows. Stephen gives him the clue of all that argument in the Epistle to the Romans about Sarah and Hagar; and all that discussion about father Abraham, being justified by faith is there in Stephen’s speech. And the Epistle to the Hebrews is another plant that grows out of the seed which Stephen sowed in Saul’s mind; there are several phrases which are identical. I think that the reason why we have that speech of Stephen recorded so fully is that Paul travelled with Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul told Luke what Stephen had said, for it seems to have gone right into his soul, and to have stuck there. It must have been so, for it moulded all his Epistles, and you can trace the influence of Stephen in every parchment upon which Paul put his pen. It may sometimes happen that men, who are opposed to the Word of God, may actually be influenced by a man at whom they sneered. That may be the very man at whose feet they humble themselves. Perhaps, after he is dead and gone, that man’s piety may colour the whole life of a young man who now hates him. You cannot tell; but this I know, — that, out of many an evil thing, God has often brought great good, as he did in this case, both through the prayer and through the preaching of holy Stephen.

Stephen and Saul, May 13, 1875 (excerpt), by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (From: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 51)

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A good work was begun in Saul, when he was brought to Christ’s feet with those words, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And never did Christ leave any who were brought to that. Behold, the proud Pharisee, the unmerciful oppressor, the daring blasphemer, prayeth! And thus it is even now, and with the proud infidel, or the abandoned sinner. What happy tidings are these to all who understand the nature and power of prayer, of such prayer as the humbled sinner presents for the blessings of free salvation! Now he began to pray after another manner than he had done; before, he said his prayers, now, he prayed them. Regenerating grace sets people on praying; you may as well find a living man without breath, as a living Christian without prayer. Yet even eminent disciples, like Ananias, sometimes stagger at the commands of the Lord. But it is the Lord’s glory to surpass our scanty expectations, and show that those are vessels of his mercy whom we are apt to consider as objects of his vengeance. The teaching of the Holy Spirit takes away the scales of ignorance and pride from the understanding; then the sinner becomes a new creature, and endeavours to recommend the anointed Saviour, the Son of God, to his former companions.

from Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on Acts 9

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Evil Reversed by Mary Hornibrook Cummins

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Love for God and man is the true incentive in both healing and teaching. Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.

from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 454

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…with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19 : 26, in the King James Bible

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The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond

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It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.

Horace Greeley

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And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4 : 7, in the King James Bible