About Jesus   Steve Sweetman

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ch. 9:1-19    ch. 9:19-31    ch. 9:32-42 

Saul’s Conversion  (ch. 9:1 - 19)

Luke returns to the subject of Saul.  He says in verse 1 “meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples…”  Luke says that during the time that Philip and others were preaching the good news with miraculous signs, Saul was still going about persecuting Christians, or as Luke puts it, “the Lord’s disciples”. 

We should note that  the disciples mentioned here were the “Lord’s disciples”, not Peter’s or John’s.  One mistake that is often made in the modern discipleship movements is that we fail to recognize the disciples belong to Jesus, not to the earthly man who is leading them.

We see how violent Saul is here, with the words “murderous threats”.  These threats had teeth in Jerusalem , where Saul had help from the Temple Police and the Sanhedrin to carry out these threats.  We should realize that though Saul might have had his own personal reason to mount such persecution, he was acting in accordance with the Sanhedrin.

Saul asked the Jewish leaders for a letter of recommendation so he could carry out his campaign of terror north to Damascus.  This city was the oldest city in the known world at this time.  It had many synagogues.  This letter would have been presented to the synagogue leaders as proof that Saul had permission from the Sanhedrin to arrest any person of “the Way”. 

We see the term “the Way” used in this verse to denote Christians.  Jesus called Himself “the Way”, that is the only way to God the Father.  Disciples were called the Way as well, maybe because this was a new Way of living.  Christianity was more than a belief system, but a total new living experience.

The idea was that Saul would arrest, both men and women, as he did in Jerusalem , and bring them back to Jerusalem where they would be put into jail.  But none of this came about.  Luke says in verse 3, “as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from Heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 

We know that these words came from the Lord Jesus.  He calls out Saul’s name twice, as if to get Saul’s attention, as if He had not already had it from the flash of light.  Also, the doubling of Saul’s name  suggests great emotion from the one doing the speaking.  It reminds me of Jesus crying over Jerusalem when He cried out, “O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem …”

The NIV gives Paul’s response in the form of a question.  Saul asked, “who are you, Lord”?  The comma and the question mark in this sentence is important.  I think many of us read this question without pausing at the comma, and without inflecting our voices at the question mark.  Saul did not say, “who are you Lord’.  He said, “who are you, (pause for a moment – the continue), Lord”? (as in a question)  Saul was not addressing a statement to the Lord.  He was simply asking if the voice he heard was from the Lord.  I think he knew it was.  He was only making sure.  Then of course, who he thought was Lord, meaning the God of Abraham, was in fact  Jesus.  Saul needed this clarity.  He did not understand that the Lord was Jesus until Jesus answered him.

To interject for a moment, it is thought that the date of this event was probably around 35 AD, only a couple of years after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and  ascension. 

Back to the narrative.  The voice replied by saying, “I am Jesus, who you are persecuting”.  This must have totally stunned Saul.  Here he was on his way to arrest the followers of Jesus.  Most likely his thoughts were full of anticipating his arrival in Damascus .  Every step closer would have been a step of excitement. Then suddenly he gets knocked off the animal he was riding, sees a great light and hears this voice.  He asks who is speaking to him, and the voice says that “it is Jesus, who  you are persecuting”.  What a tremendous shock to his system.  The event itself was terrifying to him, but with the added sense of the presence of Jesus, this had to have been an experience that was out of this world. 

Jesus totally associates Himself with His followers that Saul is out to arrest and kill.  When He says that “I am Jesus who you are persecuting”, He means that whatever you do to mine, you do to me.  And of course we know that this had always been Jesus’ stance.  Once, when speaking of the future judgment He said that those who did, or did nothing, to the least of these my brothers have done the same to me.

The Lord says one other thing, “now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do”.  Apparently Jesus said nothing else.  Most likely nothing else needed to be said.  

One thing we should note here and that is the NIV leaves out a phrase that is found in the KJV.  The KJV says that God told Paul that it was hard for him "to kick against the pricks."  The word ”pricks" is from a Greek word that means sting, as in a bee sting.  The point is that God had been stinging Paul with pricks, trying to get Paul over to His side, but Paul was ignoring these stings.  Therefore God had to be more drastic with Paul.  Thus the events of chapter 9.  There is clearly a manuscript problem here.  That being said, in Acts 26:14 when Paul recounts the events of chapter 9, he does include this phrase.  

Jesus presented Saul with the issue of his most outstanding sin, that was persecuting Jesus.  Jesus did not preach the good news to Saul.  He left that up to a human being to do.  This is interesting.  Jesus could have easily shared the gospel to Saul, but that is not His job to do.  That is our job.  So Jesus tells Saul to go into Damascus and he would be told what to do next.  Jesus did not say just how or when he would find this information out, only that he would.

It is hard to say just how Saul felt at this moment.  He most likely felt totally humiliated, in front of those with him, and in the presence of the Lord Jesus.  He must have felt awe struck, maybe scared.  He must have felt confused, not really knowing what was next, having his plans divinely changed at the last minute.  Then beyond all of this, when Saul got up from the ground, and opened his eyes, that were shut from the blinding light, he could not see.  He was blind, and needed someone to lead him around. The powerful Saul was cut to the ground.  I suppose that Jesus had to do something very drastic to get Saul's attention.   He would become the main spokesman to the Gentiles from the early church.  I believe that Saul is the New Testament Moses.  The initiation of his new life and ministry was accompanied with great power.

Verse 7 says that the men with Saul were speechless, having heard the sound, but seeing no one. 

Many over the years have pointed out an apparent contradiction.  Here (in the KJV) Luke says that those with Saul “heard a sound”.  In Acts 22:9 (KJV) Paul says that those with him did not hear the voice.  One possible way to reconcile this is to say that those with Saul indeed heard a ”sound” as it says in chapter 9, but did not hear words that could be understood.  The words to them were only heard as a sound.

You should note the when reading the NIV you do not see this apparent discrepancy.  The NIV in chapter 9 says that they heard the sound.  In chapter 22 it says that they did not understand the voice, which differs from the KJV and my Interlinear Bible. It appears that the 1994 edition of the NIV has fixed this problem in the translating process.   

In verse 9 Luke says that those with Saul led him into town and for 3 days Saul did not eat or drink anything.  We don’t really know if Paul was fasting, as in the sense of fasting and praying, or if he was so out of sorts that he could not eat or drink anything.  We do know that in verse 11 Luke says that Saul was praying.  This might suggest fasting in order to pray.  We can only imagine what Paul might have been going through.

It is my thinking that he was very contemplative.  He must have been rethinking his whole life.  The words of Jesus must have been still ringing in his ears.  “It is Jesus, who you are persecuting”.  Agony and torment must have filled Saul’s heart and mind.  This was most likely a time of great repentance on Saul’s part.

While Saul was in prayer the Lord spoke to a man named Ananias. The Lord called out his name, and he answered the Lord by saying, “yes, Lord”.  Once again we note the dynamics of the miraculous in these early disciples. 

In verse 11 the Lord proceeded to tell Ananias, “go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.  In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

From what the Lord told Ananias we now know that Saul had a vision while praying during these 3 days. This suggests to me that the Holy Spirit was working in Saul’s life for those 3 days. 

When Ananias heard this, he was not that impressed.  He reminded the Lord of who Saul was, and why he had come to Damascus in the first place.  At first mention of Saul’s name, even from the Lord, Ananias wanted nothing to do with him. 

Verse 15 gives the Lord’s response to Ananias.  He says, “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name sake.”

The Lord just told Ananias some important information about Saul.  We don’t know if the Lord had actually told Saul this at this point, but I think we can safely say that he found out sooner than later God’s plan for him.  Right at the beginning, at Saul’s conversion the Lord told him that he was a chosen instrument to carry the gospel of Jesus, both to Jews and to Gentiles, and to the Gentile kings.  How this would happen would be a result of Saul suffering.  Saul understood from the very beginning that his new life would not be easy, that he would suffer much for the name of Jesus.  In the same way that he caused suffering on Christians before his conversion, he would suffer himself in like fashion as a Christian.

God called Saul during these 3 days.  This calling was a special calling, a calling that ranked with the 12 apostles themselves.  As Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:8, he was born out of season, meaning he was born into this ministry later than the 12 apostles.  Without getting too involved here, 1Cor. 15:8 suggests that Paul viewed himself as one of the twelve, that is, one of the original apostles.  There were other apostles in those days that weren't the original twelve, but Paul considered himself as an original who was born late, since he had seen Jesus.  If you remember, the stipulation that Peter made in Acts 1 for Judas' replacement was that he had to have seen Jesus. Paul might have known this and that is why he said what he said in 1 Cor. 15:8.  Thus Paul views him and the original apostles distinct and differently than the other newer apostles.  We should have the same understanding.  I do believe in modern day apostles, but they are not on the same level as the Twelve and Paul.       

So we read in verse 17 that Ananias obeyed the Lord.  He went to the house and met Saul and said, “brother Saul…”  Right away we see that Ananias recognized Saul as a brother in the Lord.  We should then take from this that Saul was now classified as a real Christian.  Whether he first believed on the road to Damascus or during the 3 days, he had given his life to Jesus, and Ananias knew that. 

Ananias continues by saying, “the Lord – Jesus…”   It seems to me that Ananias wanted to make sure that Saul knew what Lord he was talking about.  This was not the Lord God of Abraham, as the Jews would think, although in one real sense He was.  But this was Jesus, the God man that lived on earth and was killed and rose from the dead to live in a place of authority along with the God of Abraham.  Yet when speaking of Abraham, Jesus was Abraham's offspring as Paul came to learn and teach.  We wee this in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, verse 16.

Once again he continues, “Jesus, who appeared to you on the road  … has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Two things were going to happen to Saul when Ananias lays his hands on Saul.  They were, Saul’s blind eyes would be healed, and Saul would be filled with the Spirit. 

Again we see the term “filled with the Holy Spirit”.  The question can be asked, did Saul have the Holy Spirit before Ananias laid hands on him?  The text does not give us the answer to this question, so I speculate.  According to what I have seen so far in the book of Acts, and what comes later, it is quite likely that Saul actually received the Spirit when Ananias laid hands on him.  This would be similar  to the event in chapter 8 with the Samaritans and Philip.  Saul first became a believer, then after 3 days her received the Holy Spirit. As I've said before, the conversion experience is made up of three things.  One must repent, then believe, and then receive the Holy Spirit.  This can take place all at once, or over a period of time.  I think with Paul, it might have taken three days.   

As soon as Ananias prayed for Saul his eyes were healed. Luke says that it was like scales falling off his eyes.  Luke does not record any evidence of Saul being filled with the Holy Spirit, but I am sure he was.  If the Lord told Ananias that Paul would be filled with the Spirit, then that surely happened.

Note the term "filled with the Holy Spirit".  This term is used in two ways in Acts.  It's used in references to someone receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time.  It is also used in reference to someone having the Holy Spirit come on and into him after already receiving the Holy Spirit. 

Verse 19 says that after this had happened Saul ate some food to regain the strength he had lost while fasting for 3 days.

To close this section we should note that there is no mention of Saul being water baptized.  There is no mention that he had received any spiritual gift, as in tongues.  When Saul first came to saving faith is questionable as well.  We do know that from this time on, Saul was a changed man.  That being said, the Holy Spirit did come on Saul, and when that happens in the book of Acts, something very dramatic always happens.  In this case, Saul was healed from blindness.  Concerning tongues, we do know from 1 Cor. 14 that Paul did pray in tongues.  Whether that began to happen here or not, we don't know.

Saul In Damascus And Jerusalem (ch. 9:18 - 31)

Luke, in verse 20 says that Saul spent “several days in Damascus ” and “at once he began to preach in the synagogue that Jesus was the Son of  God”. Here we see the zeal of Saul.  It didn’t take long, as a matter of fact, he started preaching right away in the synagogue.  He preached, in these early days, the one thing he knew from his encounter with Jesus, and that was “He was the Son of God”. 

I believe that Paul was a zealous man by nature, and when Jesus took over his life, that zeal was used by the Lord, just as it was once used by the devil.  When someone comes to Jesus, he does become a new creation in one sense of the word, but the Lord doesn't change the basics of who he is.  He does make modifications in our lives so that righteousness can be seen and experienced.   

Everyone who heard Saul was totally astonished because they all knew why he had come to Damascus , and now he was preaching the very thing he came to destroy.  What a testimony this must have been.

From what Luke says in verse 22 we can see that it did not take Saul long to learn.  He “baffled the Jews in Damascus ” with his powerful preaching. 

It did not take long for the Jews to get angry with Saul.  They were so upset with him they tried to kill him.  They guarded the gates to the city in case he escaped.  But Saul’s “followers”, as Luke puts it, (he had a following already) helped him escape one night “by lowering him in a basket” in a whole in the city wall.

After this Saul went to Jerusalem, but instead of reporting back to the Sanhedrin like he normally would have, he tried to join himself to the disciples.  But as could be expected, they were somewhat afraid of him and did not accept at first that Saul himself had indeed became a disciple like them.

We can ask, "when did Saul go down to Jerusalem ?"   In Gal. 1 17 and 18 we read that after his conversion Saul did not “go up to Jerusalem … but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.  Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem.”  Geographically speaking Jerusalem is down, but in elevation it is up.  Paul apparently did not go up to Jerusalem right away.   

So it appears that the mention of “many days” had gone by when the Jews decided to kill Saul, (ch. 9:22), these many days were 3 years.  Within these 3 years he spent some time in Arabia .  How long we don’t know.  At this 3 year point his followers helped him escape.

Barnabas, who was obviously well respected by the disciples intervened on Saul’s behalf.  He convinced the apostles that Saul had really met the Lord and had been preaching the gospel “fearlessly”.  It appears that Barnabas did a good job in Saul’s defense because he was now accepted by the disciples and “moved around freely in Jerusalem ”. 

Because of Saul’s boldness of preaching the gospel the Jews in Jerusalem tried to kill him as well.  So the disciples, as in Damascus snuck him out of town.  He went first to Caesarea, where Philip lived, if you remember, and then farther north to Tarsus, his home town.

In verse 31 it says, “then the church enjoyed a time of peace”.  The “then” would refer to the fact that once Saul left the area of Judea, Galilee and Samaria, things settled down measurably.   Saul, who caused much trouble before his conversion by his persecution was still causing problems for the church because he was now a Christian.  So in one way or another, Paul always brought trouble with him.    

During this time of peace, the Holy Spirit, so Luke says, strengthened and encouraged the church, resulting in more men and woman being added to their numbers. 

Luke specifically says that these disciples “lived in the fear of God”.  I believe when the Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord it is more than a healthy respect and awe for God.  I think fear is fear, that is, people in one sense of the word were afraid of God, and rightly so. They dare not do anything wrong because they lived before the awesome God of the universe.  This is one thing in our modern church that has been lost, and it is too our detriment.

Aeneas And Dorcas  (ch. 9:32 - 42)

Luke now turns his attention from Saul to Peter.  In verse 32 we see that Peter often traveled throughout the country side preaching the good news of Jesus. On one of these occasions he visited the saints in Lydda.  Lydda was north west of  Jerusalem, closer to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea . 

In Lydda, we have Acts 3 all over again.  There was a crippled man who had been this way for 8 years.  His name was Aenaes.  When Peter saw his condition he simply told him that “Jesus Christ heals you”.  I don’t believe that you can find a formula for healing in the New Testament.  Here Peter tells this man that Jesus heals him.  In Acts 3 Peter just tells the crippled man to get up in the name of Jesus.  Whatever way that this man or any other person is healed, it makes a difference in those around.  I know this from my own life.  My father became a Christian when Jesus healed me of Juvenile Diabetes  at the age of five years old.  Luke says that all those who lived in those parts believed the gospel because of this miracle.  This again is why we have miracles.  They are signs that bring people to Jesus.

Peter leaves Lydda and goes to Jappa, farther to the north and to the west, a city on the coast.  Peter went to Jappa because a lady named Dorcus died.  Since the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda they asked him to come to Jappa since it wasn’t that far. They asked him, “please come at once”.  Now at this point Dorcus was already dead and ready to be buried. They had placed her body in an upper room, most likely waiting for Peter’s arrival.

Upon entering this upper room Peter saw many of Dorcus’ women friends in tears because of her fate. They showed Peter some of the clothing that she had made.  They were very saddened by her sudden illness that led to this death. 

Peter sent everyone out  of the room.  Why he did this, we don’t know.  But after they all left, he knelt down in front of the dead woman and said “Tabitha (or Dorcus) get up”.  Peter did not pray and ask Jesus to raise her up, he merely told her to get up.  This is most likely due to the fact that Peter represented Jesus in that upper room.  He spoke on His behalf. 

After saying these words to Dorcus, she opened her eyes and sat up.  Peter took her by the hand and helped her up.  Then Peter called in the disciples and presented Dorcus to them alive and well.  Once again we see Peter, an example of  a man used in miraculous ways in the early church.  As usual, because of the miracle, many came to believe in Jesus throughout Jappa.

Peter decided to stay in Jappa for “some time” Luke says. He stayed with a tanner named Simon.