Saul on the Damascus road
9
📚And Saul, still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 📚and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way 📖, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 📚And as he traveled he came near Damascus. And suddenly there shone around him a light from heaven.9:3 The hour had come for God to change the greatest enemy of the church into the greatest teacher of the church. This was a marvelous display of God’s grace, mercy and love. See 1 Tim 1:12-16; 2 Tim 1:9. Paul’s whole life was changed in a single incandescent moment.⚜
4 📚And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
9:4 To persecute Christ’s believers is to persecute Him. In fact, whatever we do either against them or for them we do against Him or for Him. They are the body of which He is the Head (1 Cor 12:12-13; Eph 1:22-23; Col 1:18). It is not possible to persecute the “body” or any member of it without persecuting the “Head” at the same time. Compare Matt 10:40; 18:5; 25:34-46; Luke 9:48; John 17:20-23.⚜
5 📚And he said, “Who are you, Lord 📖?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads”.
6 📚And he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” And the Lord said to him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it will be told you what you must do”.
9:6 Paul had just asked a question about which he tells us in Acts 22:10 (see note there). The question indicated Paul’s submission to the Lord, and willingness to obey. In Acts 26:16-18 Paul reveals that the Lord told him something of what he would do.⚜
7 📚And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. 8 📚And Saul rose up from the ground. And when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
9:8 The brilliant light blinded him physically; a greater light had shined into his heart and given him spiritual sight – 2 Cor 4:6.⚜
9 📚And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank anything.
Saul and Ananias
10 📚And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias”. And he said, “Here I am, Lord”.
9:10 Ananias means “Jehovah is gracious” (in Hebrew, “Hananiah”). He was a Jew who had believed in Christ – Acts 22:12. Note on visions at Gen 15:1.⚜
11 📚And the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for a person called Saul of Tarsus. For see, he is praying,
9:11 Tarsus was a town in the area that is now called Turkey. It was Saul’s home town (Acts 9:30; 11:25; 21:39; 22:3). We see in this verse what Saul had been doing since the Lord appeared to him – praying. What he began then he continued for the rest of his life and became an example to all of us in how to pray and for what to pray (Acts 16:25; 20:36; 22:17; Eph 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Phil 1:3-11; Col 1:9-12).⚜
12 📚and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight”.
9:12 It is interesting that the Lord Jesus chose to appear to Saul near Damascus rather than near Jerusalem where the apostles were, and that He used an unknown believer rather than one of them. See Isa 55:8-9.⚜
13 📚Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints 📖 at Jerusalem. 14 📚And here he has authority from the chief priests to put in chains everyone who calls on your name”.
15 📚But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel for me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. 16 📚For I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake”.
9:15-16 In these two verses the Lord gives the essence of Paul’s life and work described in chapters 13–28. He was a “chosen vessel”. See Acts 26:16-18; Gal 1:15; Eph 3:2, 7, 8; Col 1:25; 1 Tim 1:12; 2 Tim 1:11. Suffering for Christ was an integral part of all his ministry and he learned to rejoice in it – 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Thess 3:3-4; Col 1:24; 2 Cor 7:4; 4:16-18; Rom 5:3. He realized that in God’s present kingdom on earth being permitted to suffer for the King’s sake is a mark of His great favor – Matt 5:10-12; Rom 8:17; Phil 1:29.⚜
17 📚And Ananias went and entered the house, and, putting his hands on him, said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, that is, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming, has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit”.
9:17 It seems from this that Saul received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of Ananias’s hands (though the language does not make this absolutely certain). Acts records different ways in which men received the fullness of God’s Spirit – directly from God (Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-45), by the laying on of the hands of the apostles (Acts 8:17; 19:6), and, in this one case here, probably by the laying on of hands of an ordinary disciple. Sometimes this happened before water baptism, sometimes after. God’s Spirit worked as He pleased, and no one could predict His manner of working.
We should observe that the Lord clearly and specifically commanded Ananias to do as he did. No one without such direct instructions from the Lord should presume to do such a thing. Notice he called Saul “brother”, thus accepting him into the fellowship of believers.⚜
18 📚And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and got up, and was baptized 📖. 19 📚And when he had taken food, he was strengthened. Then Saul stayed some days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
Saul preaches the gospel he had once denied
20 📚And immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. 21 📚But all who heard him were amazed, and said, “Is not this the one who destroyed those who called on this name 📖 in Jerusalem, and came here for that same purpose, that he might take them in chains to the chief priests?” 22 📚But Saul increased all the more in power, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
23 📚And after many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 📚but their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. 25 📚Then the disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall in a basket.
9:23-25 See 2 Cor 11:33. This was only the first of many attempts the Jews made to stop Saul (v 29; Acts 13:45; 14:5, 19; 17:5, 13; 18:6; 21:27-31). The sufferings which were to be a part of his life (v 16) had begun.⚜
26 📚And when Saul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.
9:26 Gal 1:15-19. They had not seen Saul for about three years, and had only heard rumors of him. Their fear was natural.⚜
27 📚But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
9:27 Barnabas lived up to the meaning of his name (Acts 4:36. See also Acts 11:22-24). At the time, it seems, in Jerusalem there were only two who were called apostles (Gal 1:18-19 – but it is possible Paul was speaking of a different time in Galatians).⚜
28 📚And he was with them in Jerusalem, coming in and going out.
29 📚And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
9:29 Verse 23.⚜
30 📚When the brethren came to know this, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him away to Tarsus.
9:30 Verse 11.⚜
31 📚Then the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit increased in number.
9:31 The Jewish leaders had discovered that persecution would not destroy the church or stop its witness, and they must have been astonished when the chief persecutor himself became a disciple of Jesus. Notes on the fear of the Lord at Gen 20:11; Job 28:28; Ps 34:11-14; 111:10; Prov 1:7.⚜
Peter heals Aeneas and raises Dorcas from death
32 📚And it came about as Peter passed through all areas of the country, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.
9:32 Lydda was a town about 40 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem near Joppa.⚜
33 📚And there he saw a certain man named Aeneas who had kept to his bed for eight years and was paralyzed. 34 📚And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up, and make your bed”. And immediately he got up.
35 📚And all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
9:35 Miracles alone cannot produce faith (Luke 16:31), but God may use them to convince people that He is near and active. Notes on miracles at Matt 8:1; John 2:11.⚜
36 📚Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and deeds of charity which she did.
9:36 Joppa was a port on the Mediterranean Sea about 55 kilometers from Jerusalem. Tabitha is Aramaic, Dorcas is Greek. They both mean “gazelle”. She was an example of what every Christian should be in service to the poor. Unfortunately few follow her example. On helping the poor see Gal 2:10; Matt 19:21; 2 Cor 9:9.⚜
37 📚And it came to pass in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 📚And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, asking him to come to them without delay.
9:38 It seems they had hope that Peter could restore Dorcas to life.⚜
39 📚Then Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood next to him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.
40 📚But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed, and, turning toward the body, said, “Tabitha, arise”. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 📚And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her to them alive.
9:40-41 Compare Mark 5:21-24, 35-43; John 14:12-13. This is one of only two cases in the book of Acts of the raising of the dead. For the other see Acts 20:7-12. Though the Lord rarely performed this miracle it was no more difficult for Him than any other.⚜
42 📚And this became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
9:42 They recognized that it was the Lord Jesus who had raised the dead, not Peter. See Acts 3:12.⚜
43 📚And it came about that he stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.
9:43 Jewish teachers considered tanning an unclean trade, but this did not bother Peter in the least.⚜