I fell to my knees on the dusty road with my head in my hands and my eyes welling up with tears. It was broad daylight, but all I could see was darkness. The light from the heavenly vision had blinded me. Yet although I was blind, I could finally see the truth. It was as though a veil had been removed from my mind.

“You are the right man for this mission, Saul!” Annas had assured me as he patted me on the back. “With your support and the Lord on my side, I will extinguish this man-made movement once and for all!” Annas replied, “If they don't, then imprison those of the Way to help them remember what happened to Stephen! Make them beg for mercy, Saul!”

Earlier that morning I had left the company of the High priest with a band of my men. We were on our way to Damascus and extremely thirsty because of the intense heat. Then all of a sudden, though I was intending to arrest others, I myself, was arrested by love. A bright light suddenly appeared all around us and its pure radiance penetrated my soul. I felt naked and sinful all at once with nowhere to hide.

As I fell to my knees, I heard a voice in my own language ask me, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?” Startled, I replied, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus of Nazareth!” Before replying again, as though he knew my next question, He instructed me, “Get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason…”

This short story is based on the recorded accounts of Paul’s conversion in the book of Acts (Acts 9:1-7; 22:6-21; 26:12-23). Together these Scriptures teach us one big truth: Paul's encounter with the risen King led to his conversion and commission as an apostle. The Lord’s question, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?” revealed that Jesus was taking Paul’s threats personally. Essentially He was informing Paul, “You’re not only messing with my church, my bride, you’re messing with me!” This sent Paul into a state of “cognitive dissonance.”

Paul's initial mental and emotional confusion was owing to his realization that he was not right with God. Like so many people in the world today, he assumed that his own righteousness and good works could merit God's favor and salvation. In this blog I would like to take a closer look at what Paul specifically relied on to get right with God before His encounter with Jesus. Then in conclusion I'd like to answer the question, “How can a person become righteous before God?”

In the letter of Philippians, Paul came up against false teachers who were insisting that people must be circumcised in order to become Christians. Since they were boasting in their own self-effort to justify themselves before God Paul decided to play their own game. In his “boasting,” Paul opens up his wallet and shows us his pre-Christian CV. In Philippians 3:5-6, he provides us with four specific qualifications that he held.

Paul had the right ancestry

Unlike the false teachers, who converted to Judaism and were circumcised as adults, Paul was born a Jew. He was a pure thoroughbred and was circumcised on the eighth day as a baby. He also came from tribe of Benjamin, from which King Saul descended, and after whom Paul’s parents named him. So, in response to the false teachers, Paul first boasted that he had the right ancestry.

Paul had the right occupation

Next he had been educated and trained as a Pharisee by Gamaliel, one of the most respected Jewish teachers of his day. The Pharisees were “the separatists” of the day because they separated themselves from the world to devote themselves completely to God. So, in response to the false teachers, Paul boasted that he had the right occupation.

Paul had the right zeal

As a Pharisee, Paul despised Christians because he saw them as deserters of the Mosaic Law. They threatened the Jewish identity. Therefore, any Jewish person who joined the church would surely bring the wrath of God upon the Jews because they were embracing Gentiles who polluted the Torah (i.e. the first five books of the Law). Hence, he desired to eliminate the church through violence and persecution. So, in response to the false teachers, Paul boasted that he had the right zeal.

Paul had the right morality

Finally, in response to the false teachers, Paul boasted that he had the right morality. He did not claim sinless perfection, but did claim to be righteous in the sense that he had kept the external requirements of the Law meticulously without fault. In other words, Paul believed that he had kept the law from A to Z. Like the Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray, Paul was confident in his own righteousness before God (Lk. 18:11-12).

Paul had all the right credentials to silence the boasts of the false teachers – the right ancestry, the right occupation, the right zeal, and the right morality. Though he thought he had it all, he came to realize that he was still spiritually bankrupt.

God's righteousness is a gift

Paul came to realize that he was not spiritually rich, but spiritually bankrupt before God.  In fact, the very qualifications that he previously considered to be assets in his spiritual bank account, soon became spiritual liabilities (Phil. 3:7-8). All his life he had been trying to earn God’s righteousness through his good works. But, on the Damascus Road, he realized that God’s righteousness could only be received as a gift apart from doing the works of the law (Phil. 3:9).

Perhaps you consider yourself to be a moral or a religious person because you have all the right credentials like Paul. However, Paul’s story teaches us that no amount of good works can save us (Eph. 2:8-9). This means that your church attendance, your tithing, your giving to charity, feeding the poor, reading your Bible, praying from time to time, none of your good works are good enough! God’s righteousness is a gift that must be received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Rom. 5:1).