Acts 9

Acts 9:1

C. The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus (9:1-31) 9:1, 2 Chapter 9 marks a distinct turning point in Acts. Up to now, Peter has held a position of prominence as he preached to the nation of Israel. From now on, the Apostle Paul will gradually become the foremost figure, and the gospel will increasingly go out to the Gentiles. Saul of Tarsus was perhaps in his early thirties at this time. He was generally regarded by the rabbis as one of the most promising young men in Judaism. As to zeal, he outstripped all of his fellows. As he watched the growth of the Christian faith, known as the Way, he saw in it a threat to his own religion. Therefore, with seemingly unbounded vigor, he set out to destroy this pernicious sect. For instance, he had obtained official authorization from the high priest to search Damascus in Syria for disciples of Jesus to bring them bound to Jerusalem for trial and punishment. 9:3-6 His traveling party drew near Damascus. Suddenly a great light shone around him from heaven, causing Saul to fall to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? When Saul inquired, Who are You, Lord? he was told, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.In order to appreciate Saul’s emotions at this time, it is necessary to remember that he was convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was dead and buried in a Judean grave. Since the leader of the sect had been destroyed, all that was now necessary was to destroy his followers. Then the earth would be free of this scourge. Now with crushing force, Saul learns that Jesus is not dead at all, but that He has been raised from the dead and has been glorified at the right hand of God in heaven! It was this sight of the glorified Savior that changed the entire direction of his life. Saul also learned that day that when he had been persecuting the disciples of Jesus, he had been persecuting the Lord Himself. Pain inflicted on the members of the Body on earth was felt by the Head of the Body in heaven. For Saul it was first doctrine, then duty. First, he was properly instructed as to the Person of Jesus. Then he was sent into Damascus where he would receive his marching orders. 9:7-9 The men who journeyed with him were in a thorough daze by this time. They had heard a sound from heaven, but not the articulate words which Saul had heard (Act_22:9). They had not seen the Lord; only Saul had seen Him and had been called to apostleship at this time. The proud Pharisee was now led by the hand … into Damascus where he remained three days without sight. During that time he neither ate nor drank.9:10-14 One can picture the effect of the news on the Christians in Damascus. They knew that Saul had been on his way to capture them. They had prayed for divine intervention. Perhaps they had even dared to pray for Saul’s conversion. Now they hear that the archenemy of the Faith has become a Christian. They can hardly believe their ears. When the Lord instructed Ananias, one of the Damascus believers, to visit Saul, Ananias poured out all the forebodings of his heart concerning this man. But when assured that Saul was now praying instead of persecuting, Ananias went to the house of Judas on Straight Street. 9:15, 16 The Lord had wonderful plans for Saul: … he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake. Primarily Saul was to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and this commission would bring him before kings. But he would also preach to his countrymen according to the flesh, and here he would experience the keenest persecution. 9:17, 18 In a touching display of Christian grace and love, Ananias expresses full fellowship with the new convert by laying his hands on him, calling him Brother Saul, and explaining the purpose of his visit. It was that Saul might receive his sight and that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit. It should be noted here that the Holy Spirit was given to Saul through the laying on of hands of a simple disciple. Ananias was what the commentators call a layman. That the Lord should use one who was not an apostle should certainly be a rebuke to those who seek to confine spiritual prerogatives to the clergy.When a person is truly converted, certain things always happen. There are certain marks which show the reality of that conversion. This was true of Saul of Tarsus. What were these marks? Francis W. Dixon lists a few of them:

1. He met the Lord and heard His voice (Act_9:4-6). He received a divine revelation, and only that could have convinced him and made him the humble inquirer and devoted follower that he became.
2. He was filled with a longing to obey the Lord and to do His will (Act_9:6).
3. He began to pray (Act_9:11).
4. He was baptized (Act_9:18).
5. He united in fellowship with God’s people (Act_9:19).
6. He began to testify powerfully (Act_9:20).
7. He grew in grace (Act_9:22). EXCURSUS ON LAY MINISTRY One of the most important lessons we can learn from Acts is that Christianity is a lay movement, and that the work of witnessing was not committed to a special class, such as priests or clergymen, but to all believers. Harnack claimed that when the church won its greatest victories in the early days in the Roman Empire, it did so not by teachers or preachers or apostles, but by informal missionaries. Dean Inge wrote: Christianity began as a lay prophetic religion. … It is on the laity the future of Christianity depends. . . . Bryan Green says: The future of Christianity and the evangelization of the world rest in the hands of ordinary men and women and not primarily in those of professional Christian ministers. Leighton Ford says: A church which bottlenecks its specialists … to do its witnessing is living in violation of both the intention of its Head and the consistent pattern of the early Christians. . . .Evangelism was the task of the whole church, not just the name characters.And finally, J. A. Stewart writes: Each member of the local assembly went out to win souls for Christ by personal contact and then brought these newborn babes back into these local churches where they were indoctrinated and strengthened in the faith of the Redeemer. They, in turn, went out to do likewise. The simple fact is that in the apostolic church there was no such person as a clergyman or minister who presided over a local congregation. The normal local church consisted of saints, bishops, and deacons (Phi_1:1). The saints were all ministers, in the NT sense. The bishops were the elders, overseers, or spiritual guides. The deacons were servants who carried on duties in connection with the finances of the local church, etc. No one bishop or elder occupied a place as clergyman. There was a body of elders working together as shepherds of the assembly. But someone may ask, What about the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers? Weren’t they the clergymen of the early churches? This is answered in Eph_4:12. These gifts were given to build up the saints in order that they (the saints) might carry on the ministry and, thus, build up the body of Christ. Their goal was not to settle themselves as permanent officials over a local congregation, but to work toward the day when the local church could carry on by itself. Then they could move on to establish and strengthen other assemblies. According to church historians, the clerical system arose in the second century. It was not known in the Acts period. It has served as a hindrance to world evangelization and the expansion of the church, because it makes too much depend on too few. Believers in the NT are not only ministers; they are priests as well. As holy priests, they have constant access by faith into the presence of God to worship Him (1Pe_2:5). As royal priests, they are privileged to tell about the One who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light (1Pe_2:9). The priesthood of all believers does not mean that everyone is qualified to preach or teach publicly; it deals primarily with worship and witness. But it does mean that in the church there is no longer a special class of priests who have control of worship and service.

9:19-25 The disciples in Damascus opened their hearts and homes to Saul. He soon made his way to the synagogues, proclaiming boldly that Jesus is the Son of God. Consternation resulted among his Jewish hearers. They had understood that he hated the name of Jesus. Now he was teaching that Jesus is God! How could it be? How long he stayed in Damascus on this first visit we do not know. From Gal_1:17 we do, however, learn that he left Damascus, went to Arabia for an unspecified length of time, then returned to Damascus. Where does the trip to Arabia fit into the record in Acts 9? Possibly between verses 21 and 22. Many of God’s most used servants have had an Arabian or wilderness experience before being sent out to preach. In Arabia Saul had opportunity to meditate on the great events that had taken place in his life, and especially on the gospel of the grace of God, which had been committed to him. When he returned to Damascus (v. 22), he was able to confound the Jews in the synagogues, proving that this Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. This so infuriated them that they plotted against the life of this one who had once been their champion but who was now an apostate, a renegade, a turncoat. Saul escaped by being lowered by night … through a hole in the city wall in a large basket. It was an ignominious exit, but Saul was now a broken man anyway, and broken men can endure reproach for Christ’s sake that others would shun. 9:26-30 From the human standpoint, Jerusalem was the most dangerous place Saul could visit. However, assurance that one is in the will of God permits him to make proper allowance for his personal safety. Whether this was Saul’s first visit to Jerusalem as a Christian, the same one that took place three years after his conversion (Gal_1:18), is debated. On his first visit to Jerusalem he met Peter and James, but none of the other apostles. Here, in verse 27, it says that Barnabas … brought him to the apostles. This could, of course, mean Peter and James, or it could mean all of the apostles. If the latter is intended, then this is a second visit to Jerusalem, not mentioned elsewhere. At first the disciples in Jerusalem were afraid to receive Saul, doubting the sincerity of his profession as a believer. Barnabas proved true to his name as a son of consolation by befriending Saul, recounting his conversion, and telling of his fearless testimony for Christ at Damascus. The believers soon realized that Saul was genuine when they saw him preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem. He provoked the strongest opposition among the Hellenists. When the brethren saw that his life was in danger from these Jews, they escorted Saul to the seaport of Caesarea. From there he went to his home town of Tarsus, near the southeast coast of Asia Minor. 9:31 Then followed a breathing spell for the churches in Palestine. It was a time of consolidating the gains they had made, and of seeing the fellowship grow numerically and spiritually.

Acts 9:32

III. THE CHURCH TO THE END OF THE EARTH (9:32-28:31) A. Peter’s Preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles (9:32-11:18) 9:32-34 As the narrative now reverts to Peter, we find him visiting believers in various parts of Judea. At length he comes to Lydda (Lod), northwest of Jerusalem, on the road to Joppa (modern Jaffa, or Yafo). There he finds a paralytic who had been bedridden eight years. Calling him by name, Peter announces that Jesus the Christ is his Healer. Aeneas immediately arises and carries his pallet. It is highly probable that Aeneas received spiritual life and physical healing at the same time. 9:35 The healed paralytic proved to be a testimony for the Lord in the city of Lydda and in the entire coastal Plain of Sharon. Many turned to the Lord as a result. 9:36-38 Joppa was the major seaport of Palestine, located on the Mediterranean about thirty miles northwest of Jerusalem. Among the Christians there was a kindhearted lady named Dorcas, who was well-known for making clothes for the poor. When she suddenly died, the disciples sent an urgent message to Lydda, asking Peter to come without delay. 9:39-41 Upon his arrival, he found all the widows … weeping pathetically as they showed the garments which Dorcas had made for them. He asked them to leave, then knelt down and prayed, and commanded Tabitha to arise. Immediately she was restored to life, and rejoined her Christian friends. 9:42 This miracle of resurrection became widely known, so that many believed on the Lord. However, comparing verse 42 with verse 35, it seems that more were converted through the healing of Aeneas than through the raising of Dorcas. 9:43 Peter stayed many days in Joppa, staying in the house of Simon, a tanner. The mention of Simon’s trade here is significant. The Jews considered tanning a disreputable business. Constant contact with the bodies of dead animals caused ceremonial defilement. The fact that Peter lived with Simon showed he was no longer bound by this particular Jewish scruple. It has often been pointed out that in three successive chapters we have the conversion of a descendant of one of Noah’s sons. The Ethiopian eunuch (chap. 8) was undoubtedly of the line of Ham. Saul of Tarsus (chap. 9) was a descendant of Shem. Now here in chapter 10, in Cornelius, we see one of Japheth’s posterity. It is a striking witness to the fact that the gospel is for all races and all cultures, and that in Christ all these natural distinctions are abolished. As Peter used the keys of the kingdom in opening the door of faith to the Jews in chapter 2, he is seen doing the same to the Gentiles in chapter 10.