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From Paul to Saul? Not exactly.
</header> It is a common view that the Apostle Paul had his name changed from Saul after his Damascus road experience. I always assumed it was biblical. But as our Associate Pastor pointed out one day, that is not what the text says. Here is the grand total of verses about his name:
Acts 13:9-10 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
That’s it. No dramatic re-naming, just a note that he was also called Paul. It was probably just a Jewish / Greek thing.
Now this isn’t a major issue, of course. But it is a good lesson to read the Bible all we can and draw our conclusions from it and not to base our theology on non-biblical things.
The passage is also notable for how Paul whales on a false prophet and makes him blind for a time. We could use a dose of that on the rampant false teachers in our day.
