'Saul (who also is called Paul)' ...--ACTS xiii. 9
Hitherto the Apostle has been known by the former of these names,
henceforward he is known exclusively by the latter. Hitherto he has
been second to his friend Barnabas, henceforward he is first. In an
earlier verse of the chapter we read that 'Barnabas and Saul' were
separated for their missionary work, and again, that it was 'Barnabas
and Saul' for whom the governor of Cyprus sent, to hear the word of the
Lord. But in a subsequent verse of the chapter we read that 'Paul and
his company loosed from Paphos.'
The change in the order of the names is significant, and the change in
the names not less so. Why was it that at this period the Apostle took
up this new designation? I think that the coincidence between his name
and that of the governor of Cyprus, who believed at his preaching,
Sergius Paulus, is too remarkable to be accidental. And though, no
doubt, it was the custom for the Jews of that day, especially for those
of them who lived in Gentile lands, to have, for convenience' sake, two
names, one Jewish and one Gentile--one for use amongst their brethren,
and one for use amongst the heathen--still we have no distinct
intimation that the Apostle bore a Gentile name before this moment. And
the fact that the name which he bears now is the same as that of his
first convert, seems to me to point the explanation.
I take it, then, that the assumption of the name of Paul instead of the
name of Saul occurred at this point, stood in some relation to his
missionary work, and was intended in some sense as a memorial of his
first victory in the preaching of the Gospel.
I think that there are lessons to be derived from the substitution of
one of these names for the other which may well occupy us for a few
moments.