FAR BEYOND RELIGIOSITY

The Apostle Paul represents the most striking example that a religious life does not always mean a life with God. A person can be zealous and serious in his religious practice, but at the same time be away from God. Although many religions speak of the Creator, his followers do not have a genuine spiritual life, for they have not had a personal encounter with Him. They are only faithful followers of a human religious tradition, which although it has an appearance of sacred, is unable to bring man closer to the true God. 

It is at this point that "holy wars" are based, where people kill others in the name of God. Blind, spiritually, love their religion more than to others. Paul was like that. According to the evangelist Luke, during Stephen's stoning, "witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul... and Saul approved of their killing him" (Acts7,58; 8:1). Some scholars see, in these words, Paul as in charge of stoning. Later, Luke wrote, "but Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and and put them in prison" (Acts8.3).  

The Apostle of the Gentiles before he met Christ, he prided himself on his religiosity. Israelite circumcised on the eighth day of life, of the tribe of Benjamin, "a Hebrew of Hebrew; in regard to the Law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the Church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless...". But after his encounter with Christ, he declared, "What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith..." (Philippians3.5-9). 

Many people are trapped in a process of self-salvation. They believe they will be saved by following the codes of their religion. But the prophet Isaiah said that "our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (64.6), that is, there is nothing so noble that we can make us pay our salvation. This is the meaning of grace: man is incapable, by himself, of saving himself, but God, by far loving him, has provided his salvation through Jesus' sacrifice. When Paul understood this, he abandoned his own righteousness and embraced "that it comes through faith in Christ." 

According to Luke's account, in his encounter with the Lord, on the road to Damascus, Paul lost his sight and only saw again for a divine miracle, after Christian Ananias prayed for him (Acts9). This narrative makes us think that man without God, even if religious, does not see spiritual reality. He sees doctrines, liturgy, customs, iconography, but these things are only a kind of religious interface that points to the sacred. We need to see beyond this curtain to see God and the spirit world, otherwise we will be only in terms of religion. And this "see", as happened to Paul, is a divine action in man. 

That is why Jesus told Nicodemus, a religious expert of the Law and a member of the Sanhedrin: "you must be born again", that is, to be born of the Spirit (John3:1-8). We only attain spiritual instances that are far beyond religiosity when we open our minds, our hearts, and our whole being to God. Then the Spirit of God, according to Paul, awakens our spirit to true life with God (Romans814-17). 

Writing to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul spoke of the need for our "eyes of the heart" to be enlightened to understand spiritual reality. He himself, after his encounter with God, he had experiences that dead religiosity does not reach. To the Corinthians, speaking of himself, he wrote: " I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven... was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell" (2 Corinthians 12.2-4). Of course, only few, highly committed to God's work, will have a spiritual experience like this. But it serves to show that there is much more in life with God than in religious formalism. 

Antônio Maia - M. Div.

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