Understanding Saul’s Political Zeal and the Pharisee Vision for National Salvation (Reconciling Faith And Politics Series)

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2018

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before Saul became the Apostle Paul, he was a Pharisee passionately devoted to reshaping Israel into a holy and politically restored nation. In the second installment of our Faith & Politics trilogy, Mike Erre continues unpacking the rich political imagination of Saul prior to his dramatic encounter with Jesus. By examining how salvation, politics, and national identity were deeply intertwined in Saul’s worldview, we gain insight not only into first-century Judaism but into today’s Christian nationalism and the church's entanglement with political power.

Mike walks us through the grand biblical narrative from Israel’s vocation as a light to the nations, through the trauma of exile, to the zealous response of the Pharisees—including Saul’s coercive efforts to purify the nation. As he draws striking parallels between the political fervor of the Pharisees and the evangelical pursuit of a “return to national greatness,” listeners are invited to examine how political hopes shape our understanding of salvation, justice, and community.

Key Takeaways:
• Understanding the Political Vision of First-Century Pharisees – Exploring how Saul’s hope for salvation was deeply rooted in national liberation, justice, and the restoration of Israel’s power and purity.
• Exile, Exodus, and Redemption – How the archetypes of exile and Exodus informed Israel’s longing for divine intervention, and how political freedom was seen as a core part of salvation.
• Paul’s Zeal for National Purity – Unpacking the Pharisee strategy of enforcing holiness and fidelity to the law to prompt divine rescue—and how that zeal turned violent.
• Parallels to Modern Christian Nationalism – Exploring how the evangelical desire to “take America back for God” mimics Pharisaic ideologies of cultural purity and coercive means.
• Foundations for a Changed Political Imagination – Setting the stage for the next episode’s exploration of how Paul’s encounter with Jesus radically reorients his vision for God’s kingdom and political engagement.

Resources Mentioned:
• Book of Isaiah – Second section and its Exodus themes
• Jeremiah 29 – The call to seek the peace of the city during exile
• Book of Deuteronomy – “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree”
• Tim Gombis – Theological commentary on Paul’s political transformation

Join us next time as we explore how meeting the risen Jesus reshaped Saul’s imagination—and what that means for how we live politically faithful lives today.

As always, we welcome your questions and reflections at [email protected]—and encourage you to subscribe, leave us a review, and follow along on Instagram and Facebook to stay part of the ongoing conversation.

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Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeErre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, Mike here. Good day to you or good night to you whenever it is you're listening.
0:06.6	However it is you're listening. So grateful to be a part of your life and play a small part in your journey.
0:12.3	Welcome to the Vox podcast. Again, just a reminder. We are in the business of helping people
0:19.9	thoughtfully deconstruct and reconstruct their faith.
0:23.8	These days, there are lots of lots of great big questions and things that people are wrestling
0:28.9	with.
0:29.4	And it feels like all of that has been accelerated and amplified by social media.
0:34.7	And so we think there is a spot for people having these sorts of conversations
0:39.4	around these sorts of topics. We're trying to get through some talk on politics. And before I
0:47.6	dive in, I just again want to say, and I know I say it every week, but thank you to those of you
0:53.2	who like and subscribe us and review us on iTunes.
0:56.4	That's huge, huge, huge.
0:58.3	That keeps iTunes aware of us and helps people to find us.
1:05.5	For those of you supporting us on Patreon, I cannot just simply thank you enough for that and for our new
1:13.0	Patreon supporters. Welcome. And then, and then lastly, just so grateful for your feedback, your
1:18.4	questions. I'll probably do a question episode, next episode, just because we've got a lot
1:23.4	of really, really good stuff kind of accumulating. So, before we were so rudely interrupted by my SD card running out of memory last week,
1:33.3	I was in the middle of trying to paint a picture about how faith and politics are to be
1:39.2	reconciled in a Christian kind of way.
1:44.0	And we were using the Apostle Paul in his journey as an example.
1:49.6	Now, remember politics, of course, is just talking about our ordering,
1:53.4	the ordering of our social life together.
	...

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