Acts 9 (Bible Study) (Paul)
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Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[a] but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
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Acts of Jesus through the Apostles
Introduction to Paul
Stephen's testimony and death had a great impact on Paul who spearheaded God's worldwide outreach.
1. Acts 9v1-2. How do these verses shed light on John 6:44 & John 15:16? How is this an encouragement to us in doing evangelism?
In John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.” In John 15:16 “you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit”. One thing is certain from these texts, we do not, initially, “seek” God, unless first God seeks us. The Bible says that in our natural state: “No one seeks for God” (Rom.3:11). Those who are seeking is because God is at work. He opens our hearts (Acts 16:14). We only love him because he first loves us (I John 4:10, 19). Christians have differed over whether this “seeking grace” from God is resistible or not. Those who believe in predestination say “no” and those who do not believe in predestination say “yes”. But there is agreement that we cannot turn to God unless he comes to us first.
This illustrates that Saul was completely hostile to the gospel and the church, he was not “open” or “seeking” at all. Because the Christians had “dispersed” away from Jerusalem because of the persecution (Acts 8:1-4), Saul was now travelling to neighbouring cities to find Christians and to bring them home for punishment (v.2). So his opposition to the gospel was fanatical. Thus his conversion is proof of the power of God’s sovereign grace to bring people up short and take the scales off their eyes.
C.S. Lewis, in his account of his conversion, likens God to a fisherman after his fish or to a divine chess player putting him into checkmate. (See Surprised by Joy, last chapter)
"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." CS Lewis: Surprised by Joy
When we are sharing our faith, keep Saul in mind. First, we must not think in terms of people who are “likely” to become Christians v others who are “unlikely”. Have hope for everyone.
2. Acts 9:3-4. Compare this account of Jesus first words to a fuller account in Acts 26:13-14. What indication is there that Saul’s conversion was not as “sudden” as it seems? What could these “goads” have been? What “goads” did Jesus use on you?
In Saul’s account of his conversion experience in Acts 26, he mentions that Jesus said to him, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (26:14). “Goads” sticks used by farmers to get animals to obey their commands. What were these “goads” of Saul’s of which Jesus spoke?
Although the specifics were only speculation, in general, the reference to “goads” must mean that Saul was actually wrestling with doubts and conviction about Christianity. In fact, his fanatical opposition to Christianity evidently was his effort to silence his ambivalence. What might some of these goads have been? Romans 7:7ff indicates that Saul had come under tremendous conviction that he could not fulfil the law of God. In particular, the 10th “thou shalt not covet” convicted him. He says that one day this commandment came “alive” & it “slew” him). A Pharisee with great pride in his ability to satisfy the law, and he realized that the law demanded an inner peace and contentment that he did not have (“not covet”).
But then there was Stephen. We know that Saul had heard Stephen’s speech, which indicated that Jesus came to replace the temple (as the final atonement) and to fulfil the law. Saul had seen the amazing joy and love in Stephen’s face (6:15; 7:58-60). He heard Stephen’s proclamation of a whole new way to God (Acts 7), then he would have been troubled. “Goads” in his mind and conscience.
So Saul’s conversion was not as instantaneous as it might appear. Jesus had been drawing him with his grace very gradually, and the dramatic “Damascus Road” experience brought it to a head.
3. Acts 9:3-9. Some have said that Saul’s conversion is strong evidence for the supernatural origins of Christianity. How so? (Cf 9:1-9 with Acts 22:3-16 and 26:9-18).
In Acts, Saul often told the story of his Damascus Road conversion — eg Acts 22:3-16 and 26:9-18. In every one of the three accounts of his experience, his travelling companions are mentioned, and what they heard and saw is mentioned as well. The “companions” also saw the light (see Acts 22:9), and heard the voice (see Acts 9:7), and fell to the ground from amazement at the phenomena (Acts 26:14). Yet, though they heard the “sound” (9:7) they could not make out specific words (22:9), and though they saw the light (22:9), they could not make out a specific figure (9:7).
Why were these companions so critical, and why did Saul always include what they experienced and what they did not? Saul was an extremely public figure, and his conversion would have created an extremely unpleasant situation for the opponents of Christianity. When he immediately began to publicly proclaim that he had met the risen Christ on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:27), there would have and enormous desire on the part of the religious authorities to disprove his story. He publicly mentioned the fact that he had witnesses to his encounter. Saul’s conversion was historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
4. Acts 9:4-5. What is the significance of Jesus’ statement that Saul is persecuting Him? (How is it an encouraging statement?)
Jesus' statement that Saul is “persecuting… Jesus” is surprising, since Saul thought he was persecuting a heretical Jewish sect. That is the reason that, when the voice says, “why are you persecuting me?”, Saul asks “But who are you? I’m not persecuting you!” There are two implications.
First, though we are not conscious of the fact, we are all enemies of God, hostile and “persecutors” of God, until we are reconciled to him through the gospel. Paul says in no uncertain terms that we are all the Lord’s enemies (Rom.5:10; Col.1:21). Our problem is not just that we are failing God, but that we are fighting God. Our natural state is not just that we break the rules and fall short of being good, but that we resent God’s control over our lives, and we set ourselves up as our own saviour and lord, and we resist his exertion of his power over us. Evidently, Paul never forgot this lesson, because in Romans 5 and 8 and Ephesians 2 and elsewhere, he insists that even very religious people who seek to obey the Bible are enemies of God, as long as they seek to save themselves by their goodness and holiness. They are trying to be their own Saviours, and they thus feel continually angry at God for not giving them their “due” in life. Spiritually, we are hostile and we attack God. “Why do you persecute me” is bad news...
Second, on the other hand, it is good news. For Jesus is saying that he so identifies with his people that he sees anyone assaulting us as assaulting him. This has many implications, but we will mention 3 here. (a) First, it shows that to become a Christian is not just to join a club, but to be grafted into a Body, the Body of Christ. When we get the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ, that unites us to all other Christians by a unique, spiritual, living link (I Cor.12:13) (b) Second, it shows that Jesus does protect us. He takes any assaults on us personally. We must be careful not to assume that this means we are exempt from harm! Acts shows that Christians are tortured and die. But this means that Jesus is always present with us to “sanctify our distress to us” (e.g. II Cor.1:3-11; 4:16-18), and that he sometimes does deliver us from imminent danger (Acts 12:1ff.) c) Third, it hints that not only is Jesus identified with us, but that we are identified with Jesus. As he is loved by the Father and he is at the right hand of the Father, we are loved by the Father and we are at the right hand of the Father (Eph.2:6-8).
5. Acts 9:10-31. What are the results of Saul’s conversion that are evident in these verses? What changes do we see?
First, Acts 9:9 and v11 together show that Saul was fasting & praying. This was a very concentrated and prevailing prayer. So the first change is a new relationship with God himself.
Second, he had a new relationship to the church. Ananias rightly is shocked that Saul could really be a Christian (Acts 9:13-14). Yet he goes to Saul and calls him “Brother” (v17). The gospel destroys old ties and identities, and now that Saul is a Christian, he is Ananias’ brother!
We see that Saul, both in Damascus and in Jerusalem, seeks out “the disciples” (v19, 26), even when both churches were very wary of him and reticent to embrace him. Conversion fundamentally changes our associations. Our new “family” becomes other Christians, regardless of our past record, class and national distinctions.
Third, we see that Saul has a new sense of obligation for the world. He risks his life immediately by proclaiming the gospel publicly. He has a new sense of his responsibility since he has powerful gifts of knowledge and articulation. This was so strong that he was willing to risk his own suffering and death.
