Acts 9:1–22
In the divinely empowered growth of the Church in Acts, Paul’s conversion from rabid persecutor to zealous witness called to speak the word of God “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47) is pivotal.[1] The risen Jesus is able to reverse the persecuting zeal of Saul to make of him perhaps the Church’s greatest evangelizer and theologian.
Saul’s Conversion (9:1–9)
1Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. 3On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” 7The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. 9For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
OT: Exod 3:7; Dan 10:7
NT: John 16:2; Acts 22:3–16; 26:9–20; 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:11–17; 1 Tim 1:13
Catechism: conversion of heart, 1430–33; call to conversion, 545, 1036, 1427–29
Lectionary: Acts 9:1–22: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25)
[9:1–2]
Saul’s conversion is so important that Acts will recount it three times, each time bringing out different aspects or emphases (9:1–19; 22:3–22; 26:4–23). This double repetition underscores the huge role that Paul played in spreading the gospel.
This first report of Saul’s encounter with the risen Jesus immediately follows the description of Philip’s mission. Luke links this momentous event with his earlier report of Saul’s persecuting activity (Acts 8:1–3) with the word “still”: Saul, still breathing murderous threats. . . . Saul’s fierce hostility to Christianity is mentioned repeatedly in Acts and in his own letters.[2]
Luke explains that Saul received authorization from the high priest to extradite Jewish disciples of the Lord from the synagogues in Damascus for punishment in Jerusalem. Another historical example of such extradition power is 1 Macc 15:16–21, in which the Romans grant such authority to the high priest. Saul seeks permission to seize any men and women belonging to the Way, which implies that he thinks they deserve punishment as a reprehensible Jewish sect.[3] The term †“the Way” was the earliest name for Christianity.[4] It refers to the fact that following Jesus is a whole way of life, and it alludes to the biblical expression “the way of the Lord,” meaning a way of life that is pleasing to God and in keeping with his covenant.[5]
[9:3]
Saul is brought up short in his journey to Damascus by a sudden appearance of the risen Jesus. Luke narrates this event in language reminiscent of Old Testament †theophanies—overwhelming experiences of the presence and holiness of God. Saul is intercepted by a light from the sky (or “light from heaven,” RSV, NRSV, NIV). Biblical †theophanies are often accompanied by heavenly light (see Ezek 1:4, 7, 13; Dan 10:5–6), as was Jesus’ transfiguration (Luke 9:29–31). Because of the shock from this light, Saul fell to the ground (there is no mention of his falling off a horse, and it seems unlikely since v. 8 says that Saul’s companions lead him into Damascus by hand).
[9:4–5]
Saul hears a heavenly voice call his name twice, “Saul, Saul,” just as occurred in the Old Testament when God had an urgent command, mission, or promise for figures like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Samuel.[6] The voice from the heavenly light challenges him: “Why are you persecuting me?” Mystified, Saul asks the identity of his heavenly visitor: “Who are you, sir?” Although Saul does not know who his visitor is, he is certainly aware that he is from heaven. The context, therefore, calls for the more exalted translation “Lord” (NIV, NJB, JB, RSV, NRSV) rather than “sir” for the Greek kyrios.
The response, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” is earth-shattering to Saul for two reasons. First, Jesus of Nazareth, whom Saul thought was not only dead but also cursed by God (see Deut 21:22–23; Gal 3:13), and for this reason could not possibly be the Messiah, is alive and risen from the dead! Saul has become an eyewitness to the risen Jesus, as were the other apostles (see 1 Cor 15:4–8).
Second, the risen Jesus identifies himself with those who believe in him, whom Saul is persecuting. Saul discovers that to lay a hand on Jesus’ followers is to lay a hand on Jesus himself. This self-identification of Jesus with his disciples later became the foundation for Paul’s theology of the Church as the “body of Christ,” one of his central themes (Eph 4:12; see 1 Cor 12:12–30).
[9:6]
The Lord instructs Saul to go into the city, Damascus, where he will be told what he must do. Saul’s conversion is at the same moment his commissioning as an apostle and witness to Christ. Although the Lord sovereignly initiates this commission, he leaves its implementation to the ministry of the Church in the person of Ananias.
[9:7]
Luke emphasizes that only Paul both saw and heard the vision, not the men who were traveling with him, who heard the voice (or “the sound,” NIV) but could see no one. This exemplifies the New Testament emphasis on reliable testimony as requiring that a witness both saw and heard that to which the witness testifies, that is, it cannot be just hearsay.[7] Later Paul will emphasize that what qualifies him as an apostle is the fact that he saw the risen Lord (1 Cor 9:1).
[9:8]
When Saul gets up from the ground, he discovers that he can see nothing, since the light from the vision has blinded him. Ironically, this persecutor—who had intended to lay hands on Christian captives, bind them, and lead them back to Jerusalem—must himself be helplessly led by the hand into the city of Damascus.
[9:9]
Saul’s blindness lasts three days, during which he neither ate nor drank. The three days may be intended to allude to the interval between Jesus’ death and resurrection. Saul’s physical and spiritual darkness parallels the emotional and spiritual desolation of Jesus’ followers between his death and resurrection. During this period Saul was taking in the magnitude of what had happened to him and reevaluating his whole life in a new light. He now realized that he had made a terrible mistake. When he thought he was doing the will of God, he was blaspheming and persecuting God’s Messiah, resisting the Holy Spirit, and opposing God (see Acts 7:51; 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13; 1 Tim 1:13). His righteousness and religious zeal now appear for what they were: self-righteousness, arrogance, and stubborn self-will. At the same time, Saul’s heart was captured by the Lord. In his Letter to the Philippians he wrote of this momentous event: “Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (Phil 3:7–9). Fasting, a traditional sign of penitence, is Saul’s instinctive response to his encounter with the Lord and a preparation for his baptism and further enlightenment.
Saul’s Baptism (9:10–19a)
10There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, 12and [in a vision] he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay [his] hands on him, that he may regain his sight.” 13But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. 14And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, 16and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” 17So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit.” 18Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, 19and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.
OT: Isa 6:8; 55:8–9; Tob 11:13
NT: John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 22:12–16; 26:9–20; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 1:8
Catechism: baptism, 1214–16; faith and baptism, 1226; suffering with Christ, 618
Lectionary: Acts 9:1–22: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25)
[9:10]
Ananias, the disciple in Damascus whom God sent to remove Saul’s blindness, is God’s chosen instrument for incorporating Saul into the Church through baptism. Ananias and Saul receive an unusual reciprocal vision of each other, similar to the reciprocal vision that Peter and Cornelius will have in Acts 10. The Lord appears to Ananias and calls him by name in a vision, but he calls his name only once, “Ananias” (compared to the double “Saul, Saul” in v. 4).[8] In an exemplary biblical response to a divine call, Ananias answers, “Here I am,” just as Isaiah had responded to God’s invitation (Isa 6:8; see also Gen 46:2; Exod 3:4; 1 Sam 3:4). The Lord who appears here to Ananias is the risen Jesus, who is addressed as Lord, the Old Testament name for God (Acts 9:13–17).
[9:11–12]
The Lord Jesus directs Ananias with great detail to the street called Straight and to the house of Judas, to seek out a man from Tarsus named Saul. Jesus reveals that Saul is praying and that he too is seeing a vision, in which Ananias comes in and lays hands on him for him to regain his sight. Saul’s vision is a mirror image of Ananias’s vision.
[9:13–15]
Ananias balks at this mission because he knows Saul’s reputation as a persecutor of the Lord’s holy ones in Jerusalem. Worse, Saul is now in Damascus with authority to arrest all who call upon Jesus’ name. It could be dangerous to reveal one’s belief in Jesus to this persecutor. There is a touch of irony in Ananias’s trying to inform the Lord about Saul’s actions when the Lord already has a plan to change Saul from persecutor to chosen evangelist. Ananias’s objections are overruled by the Lord: “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.” God is clearly in charge of this event, and his ways are not our ways (Isa 55:8–9).
In the Gospel of Luke, Simeon prophesied that Jesus had been sent as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, / and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:32). Saul is being sent to proclaim Jesus to the same groups. The addition of “kings” recalls Jesus’ prophecy to his disciples: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name” (Luke 21:12). Later in Acts, Luke will show Paul indeed witnessing to Christ before governors and kings (13:7; 26:1–30) and to both Gentiles and Jews in cities throughout the empire (9:20; 14:1; 22:1–21).
[9:16]
Jesus concludes his response to Ananias by explicitly foretelling how much Saul will have to suffer for my name. This former persecutor will now himself be asked to endure persecution for Jesus’ sake. Both Acts and Paul’s own letters attest to the fulfillment of this prophecy, for example, by his being stoned at Lystra (Acts 14:19) and being beaten and imprisoned at Philippi (16:19–24). The last chapters of Acts are devoted to Paul’s imprisonments and trials, from his arrest in Jerusalem (21:30–33) to his house arrest in Rome, at the end of the book (28:16–31). Paul’s Letters also have many references to his sufferings, which he endured joyfully for the sake of Christ (Col 1:24).[9]
Some scholars have seen the role of Ananias as conflicting with Paul’s own statement in Gal 1:11–12: “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” However, Acts 9 shows that Paul did not receive the gospel, the good news about Jesus’ resurrection, from Ananias, but from personally encountering the risen Jesus. Luke’s statement implying that Saul would be instructed by a member of the Church (Ananias) about how to respond to the revelation of Jesus can be reinforced by another of Paul’s autobiographical narratives: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3). There Paul appears to be citing a creed that he had been taught, either by Ananias or some other Christian, in his baptismal instruction after he had seen the risen Christ.[10] Thus the initial divine revelation, which he received directly from God, was supplemented by the teaching he received through the mediation of the Church.
[9:17–19]
Accepting Jesus’ explanation and obeying his command, Ananias lays hands on Saul and addresses the former fierce persecutor as my brother, welcoming him into the Christian community. He reports, “The Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you, . . . so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit.” First Saul is healed from his blindness, a sign of his inner spiritual enlightenment. The scales coming off his eyes remind us of the cataracts peeling off blind Tobit’s eyes (Tob 11:13). Then after he is filled with the holy Spirit and baptized, Saul breaks his fast, eats, and recovers his strength.
Fig. 8. Mosaic of St. Paul in Veria, Greece (location of ancient Beroea).
AJ Alfieri-Crispin/Wikimedia Commons
Saul Preaches in Damascus (9:19b–22)
He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, 20and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. 21All who heard him were astounded and said, “Is not this the man who in Jerusalem ravaged those who call upon this name, and came here expressly to take them back in chains to the chief priests?” 22But Saul grew all the stronger and confounded [the] Jews who lived in Damascus, proving that this is the Messiah.
OT: Ps 2:7
NT: Gal 1:23–24; Phil 3:6–7; 1 Tim 1:12–13
Catechism: Jesus the Son of God, 441–45, 470–78; Jesus the Messiah, 436–40
Lectionary: Acts 9:1–22: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25)
[9:19b–20]
Saul lost no time in fulfilling his new mission to witness to Jesus. During the period in which he remained with the disciples in Damascus, he began at once to preach and proclaim the Jesus whose followers he had previously persecuted. He directly confronted the Jews, his former allies, in the synagogues, announcing that Jesus is the Son of God. The Church would later fully articulate the theological meaning of “Son of God” in declarations such as the Nicene Creed. But even here in Acts, Saul is preaching much more than the Old Testament understanding of the Davidic king as an adopted son of God (Ps 2:7). Luke’s Gospel already hinted at the fuller meaning of Son of God in Gabriel’s message that Jesus would be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that is, that he would have no human father (Luke 1:32–35).
[9:21]
Luke emphasizes the radical change in Saul by quoting the exclamation of those who heard him: “Is not this the man who in Jerusalem ravaged those who call upon this name [of Jesus]?” Is not his purpose here in Damascus to extradite them in chains to the chief priests? In Gal 1:23, Paul cites the same response to his transformation: “The one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” The astonished reactions underline how humanly unbelievable was Saul’s transformation—as astounding as the previously crippled beggar’s walking and leaping in the temple (Acts 3:8–10).
[9:22]
The term used to describe Saul as growing stronger (endynamoō) is the same Greek word Paul uses to describe Abraham, who was empowered to believe (Rom 4:20), and to exhort Christians to “be strong” in the Lord (Eph 6:10). In the power of the Holy Spirit, Saul confounded the Jews in Damascus by means of convincing biblical demonstrations, proving that Jesus is the Messiah. Saul was especially equipped to make effective proofs from Scripture since he himself had needed to make a 180–degree turn in his own biblical interpretation. He had been convinced that Jesus could not be the Messiah because he had died the death of crucifixion and was under its curse (Deut 21:23). By seeing Jesus alive, he was compelled to accept that Jesus is indeed the Messiah who has freely taken our curse upon himself (Gal 3:13).
Reflection and Application (9:1–22)
Jesus’ choices of human instruments to do his work are unpredictable and surprising. First he chooses fishermen and other “uneducated, ordinary men” (Acts 4:13). Then he chooses Saul, a highly trained and distinguished Pharisee (Acts 22:3; Phil 3:4–6) who is convinced that Jesus’ followers are spreading blasphemy and is fanatical in persecuting them.
Young people considering a priestly, religious, or lay vocation sometimes think, “I am not worthy.” Acts makes clear that Jesus does not seek out the worthy to be his priests, religious, missionaries, or lay evangelists. Luke even quotes Jesus as saying that he came not for the healthy but the sick, not to call the righteous but sinners (Luke 5:31–32).[11] Paul said of himself, “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man” (1 Tim 1:13)—clearly one of the sinners Jesus came to call. Worthiness is unquestionably not the prerequisite for being called by the Lord. Rather, by his grace the Lord makes us worthy for whatever task he calls us to.