Was Paul being deceptive in his efforts to win souls in 1 Cor. 9:19-21?
For the sake of winning souls for Jesus, did Paul deceive his listeners by trying to be one of "them" and not himself?
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Asked May 10 2017
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John Matthews
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Tim Maas
I don't read or interpret this passage as deception on Paul's part, but as a statement by him that, because of the various life experiences that he had undergone, or the multiple perspectives that he had personally attained from those experiences, he was able to empathize with people of many different beliefs or positions in life with respect to God (including those who had never heard of the God of Israel, or who were even enemies of Christianity), and speak to them as "one of their own", in order to have maximum effectiveness in evangelizing them and bringing them to the same faith in Christ that he had. (This, in my opinion, is one of the reasons why God chose Paul, even though he had initially persecuted the church).
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