Judaism and Apocalypse

Paul gives a brief summary of his advancement in Judaism in Galatians 1:13-14, but the description is surrounded by references to an unveiling of Jesus:

A. The gospel came not from man, 11-12a

B. but by revelation (apokalupsis) of Jesus, 12b

B. Former life in Judaism, 13a

C. Persecuting the church of God, 13b

B’. Advancing in Judaism, 14

B’. God revealed (apokalypto) His Son in me, 15-16a

A’. No consultation with flesh and blood, 16b-18

Clearly, the “unveiling” of Jesus to and in Paul stands in stark contrast to Paul’s zeal as a Jew. Can we be more specific about what was unveiled about Jesus?

Perhaps it was the simple fact that Jesus was around to be unveiled. Saul considered Jesus’ followers a danger to Judaism, and Jesus Himself a false Messiah. Saul heartily approved the murder of Stephen, and he would have been as hearty in his approval of the crucifixion of Jesus had he been there. Then Jesus shows up, alive, on the road to Damascus, and that upends Paul’s world.

But I wonder if we can see something else here, something more Johannine and Petrine. Paul is certainly capable of using apokalupsis in a generic way (Galatians 2:2), but in some places the revelation has a more specific content – a revelation of judgment (Romans 2:5), of the sons of God (Romans 8:19), of the mystery (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:3). And the latter, the revelation of the mystery, has particularly to do with the mystery of the inclusion of Gentiles. 

At least once, Paul uses apokalupsis to refer to the coming of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:7), a usage that links with John’s usage in Revelation 1:1. That might also be the referent in Peter’s hints about the revelation of Christ’s glory (1 Peter 4:13). Paul’s progress in Judaism is arrested, perhaps, by the revelation of the coming of Jesus in judgment. 

According to John, Jesus comes to punish the harlot who drinks holy blood, the harlot that is Jerusalem. When Jesus unveiled Himself to Paul, Paul realized that, as long as he progressed in Judaism, he was among those who were providing holy blood to the harlot.