Is it Saul or Paul?

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Coming to you from my neighbor’s warm house. Our power is still out as of this writing (5 PM on Monday, been off basically since 3:30 AM this morning), and so we abandoned ship and had our kind, hospitable neighbors come rescue us. Please, Lord, protect our pipes from freezing and get our power back on soon!

 

Today’s reading is Acts 13:13-52.

In yesterday’s reading (Acts 13:1-12), Luke gives us this interesting detail:

“Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said….” (Acts 13:9)

 

Saul was his Jewish name, but many of the Greek-speaking Jews also had a Greek name they used in Gentile contexts. So, this is the point in the narrative that Luke starts calling him “Paul”, because this is the point when Pau’s missionary journeys take him mainly in front of Gentile audiences.

Make sense?