Acts 9:3

Act_9:3-19

And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heave.

The heavenly light

As the supernatural reflects the moral in all the miracles of the Bible, so in the conversion of St. Paul. We have here--

I. An emblem of the gospel.

a light from heaven. All knowledge is light. But as the light here was peculiarly dazzling, so the gospel is a special revelation of Gods will. It is heavenly light, because--

1. Of its Divine origin. The apostles denied that they preached cunningly devised fables. As the eye is made for the light, so the soul is made for Divine truth. The gospel speaks with so much clearness and authority, that conviction is carried home. Would anyone have convinced Saul that he saw merely the blaze of a torch. Nor can anyone persuade the believer that he is only influenced by the words of man? Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

2. Of its benign influence. The light and heat of the sun come like every good and every perfect gift, from the Father of lights. As heaven is bright and loving, so the gospel is the good news of salvation to men. It brings the peace and smile of heaven. There was darkness before, but now God hath shined in our heart.

3. It leads heavenward. Christians are not pilgrims because they are forced by time to move on, but because they have the light, and move in the right direction.

II. An illustration of Divine methods. Suddenly there shined a light.

1. The sovereignty of the Divine will. God has no need of consultations with His creatures. His wisdom is infinite, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Rom_11:33-36). How unexpected the scene near Damascus. You ask, why God has done this? and the only answer is, I am that I am. You must accept the Saviour on this ground: it is the will of God.

2. The decisiveness and finality of the Divine acts. The appearance to St. Paul was as emphatic as it was sudden. There was no mistake as to the source of the communication. Jesus met with Saul, not to parley with him, but to acquaint him with the ultimatum of the court of heaven. You perceive this in Pauls answer. The gospel is of none effect unless it carries with it its final appeal and authority.

3. The mercifulness of the Divine purposes. God comes to save, and not to destroy our souls. (Weekly Pulpit.)

When need is greatest God is nearest

Proved--

I. To Saul. When sin rose highest the Lord snatched him back.

II. To the Christians at damascus. When the enemy was even before the gate, the Lord called, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther. (K. Gerok.)

Sauls conversion

I. Saul before conversion. He seems to have been aroused to supreme violence by the martyrdom of Stephen. Like some beasts of prey which grow uncontrollable the moment they taste blood, this restless zealot breathed out threatenings, a metaphor which reminds one of pictures of war horses snorting fire from their kindled nostrils. We see then--

1. That a young man can be thoroughly moral and yet be anything but a Christian. Compare what Paul said of himself about this period of his life (Act_23:1) with what he writes about his correctness according to the standard of those times (Php_3:4-6).

2. That a young man can be very conscientious and honest, and yet not be a Christian (Act_24:16). Everybody admitted that Saul acted up to his convictions. What he thought to be right, that he did swiftly and fearlessly (2Co_1:12; Act_26:9-11).

3. That a young man can be very zealous in religion, and yet do more injury than good. What our Lord thought of the Pharisees we know, but He never credited them with indolence (Mat_23:15). But Saul prided himself on being one of the straitest of them (Act_26:4-5). There is a zeal not according to knowledge: and it makes a vast difference what a man believes, even if he is sincere; for the more sincere he is, if he be wrong, the worse it is for him and everybody else.

4. That when a young man becomes a true Christian he perceives the sorrowful mistake he made before (Gal_1:13; 1Ti_1:12-16; 1Co_15:9).

II. Sauls conversion. Observe here--

1. How surely fixed is the unseen limit beyond which rebellious sinners are not permitted to go. God sometimes suffers a bad man to succeed in a bad cause, so as to make his arrest more abrupt, and his final failure more overwhelming. He did not stop Saul at Jerusalem; He let him prance his proud steed across Palestine; then He interposed, and with one flash of His presence He ended that high career.

2. How surely fixed is the Divine grace within which a penitent sinner can find safety. The issue is always narrowed down to two persons, God and the human soul; that is the reason why God takes conversion sovereignly into His own hands, and that is the reason why we cannot repent or believe for each other. Mark the words thou and me at the beginning and at the end of the conversation. It was as if Christ had told Paul, the conflict is between Me and thee; and then it was as if Paul told Christ he admitted it, duty is from me to Thee. When that supreme point in a souls history is reached, and never before, it is easy to find peace; for the soul stands before a merciful God at last. Conclusion: The lesson leaves this proud persecutor in a pitiable condition of humiliation. But Saul is happy; he has become Paul. He takes a new commission; he is a chosen vessel now (Act_5:15). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Conversion of St. Paul

The festival of the Conversion of St. Paul falls aptly near the end of the Epiphany season, for it was brought about by a manifestation of Christ, and that vouchsafed to one who, though himself a Jew, was chosen to be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. The manifestation on the road to Damascus was of Christ glorified. St. Paul alludes to this distinction in the Epistle to the Galatians (Gal_1:1). The apostle, like the original twelve, was called by Christ Himself; but it was his special and solitary honour to have been commissioned by the risen and glorified Lord. There are three manifestations of Christ in glory, or rather three to whom these epiphanies were vouchsafed--St. Stephen, St. Paul, and St. John. Over and above their special purposes in relation to the persons to whom our Lord appeared, these unveilings of Christ, since the cloud received Him out of our sight, help us to realise the continuity of His work in heaven. St. Paul was drawing near to Damascus. It was about noon. The city may be seen from afar. The desert is passed. The eye feasts itself upon the green avenues through which the ancient capital is approached. In the distance may be descried the faint outline of its white buildings standing out against the azure sky. Saul catches already the murmurs of the rivers of Damascus, and the ripple of the rivulets which glisten and sparkle and leap amongst the tangled brushwood. The perfume from the Syrian gardens, in which shrub, and fruit, and flower, are intermingled in wild profusion, which refresh the weary traveller, have little charm for him. He is breathing out slaughter. His mind is filled with the thought of how many disciples of Christ he may lay violent hands upon, and bring bound unto Jerusalem. There is, however, another image which will rise up before his memory. There is the face of a young man, his eyes uplifted towards heaven. Saul hears again his dying prayer, and the thuds of the stones which are falling around him; he cannot shake off the remembrance--the courage and the forgivingness of the youthful martyr--Thy martyr Stephen (Act_22:20), what was it sustained him? When--suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. The Church usually celebrates the martyrdom of the saints, the end rather than the beginning of their spiritual course. But, as she marks in her Calendar the conception and nativity of our Lords mother, and the birth of St. John the Baptist, so she keeps a festival to commemorate the conversion of St. Paul. It is the great turning point in Sauls history, a change somewhat out of the range of the ordinary operations of grace. We call it in our collect a wonderful conversion. Let us inquire into the cause of Sauls conversion, and secondly, note what is marvellous about it.

I. The narrative of St. Pauls conversion is three times told in the Acts of the Apostles, besides the apostles allusions to it in several Epistles. From all we gather that the great change in Sauls convictions was brought about by a vision. It was the result of grace, though two factors, as we shall presently see, combined to produce it. Grace may come to us from without or from within. Grace in both these ways moved the soul of Saul of Tarsus. God appeals to us both through outward objects, and by His voice within. By the preaching of the gospel, by the working of miracles, by the events of Divine Providence, by the influence and power of good example, He can speak to us. He spoke to Saul in a vision. There are those who deny, or at least doubt, the supernatural character of the event. Saul fell to the earth, they say; but this might have taken place through natural causes. The whole might have been the result of a thunderstorm, a sunstroke, a fit, or simply might have arisen from mental hallucination. But Sauls companions in travel also heard the voice, though they saw not the Form, nor caught the words. They saw indeed the light, and were afraid. The light above the brightness of the midday sun, St. Paul says, when standing before Agrippa, not only encircled himself, but them which journeyed with him, and all fell to the earth together. It was at noon when all in Eastern climes is hushed and still, and beneath a cloudless sky, that this happened. All Sauls prepossessions, all Sauls interests from an earthly point of view, his reputation and his honour, are against the change which at that moment was wrought. St. Paul is no visionary, but a man of masculine mind and clear judgment. Intellect appears to predominate over the imaginative faculty in the apostle, if we may judge from his Epistles. God speaks sometimes in visions to His saints. These visions are of different kinds; some addressed to the mind, others to the imagination, some to the eye of sense. St. Pauls was of the last kind, like the burning bush which Moses saw, and from the midst of which the voice of God was heard; so Saul saw with his eyes, and was blinded by the glory which he beheld. But grace from without is not enough. The fact that only one of the two thieves who were crucified with Christ repented will be sufficient to show that man may have the grandest opportunities and neglect them. The vision was rich, indeed, in revelation upon which St. Paul gazed--Jesus glorified--I am Jesus of Nazareth, not only I was. The memories of earth will not be expunged by the waters of Lethe from the soul as it passes into the eternal world. Jesus is still Jesus of Nazareth. His history is a part of Himself. Saul, as he was persecuting the Christians, looked back to Christ, thought of Him only in reference to His mortal life in the past. Now he realises a present Christ--that which some who have been brought up as a Christian fail to do--and, moreover, learns the truth that Christ is one with His members, and that in persecuting them he was persecuting Him. It was, then, a rich external revelation of truth to Saul, but it needed inward grace that it might become victorious. The soul must be illumined also from within. The inspirations of that Spirit whose work it is to receive of Christ and reveal Him unto us, must be vouchsafed. And this also was granted. It pleased God, who separated me from my mothers womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me (Gal_1:15-16). The cause, then, of St. Pauls conversion, as of all others, is the grace of God. But there is another factor which has ever its share in the work of conversion--the human will. God does not destroy our moral accountability. Even in the case of St. Paul, whose conversion was in many ways wonderful, it rested with himself whether he would or would not yield to the grace which was given him. He distinctly asserts that he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision (Act_26:19). It was a moment not only of rich revelation, but also of entire self-surrender, when Saul exclaimed, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?

II. We have considered how the grace of God, from without and from within, and the cooperation of the human will, changed Saul into Paul, the persecutor into the apostle. Now look at the greatness of the event; in what respects it was wonderful. The justification of a sinner is ever a great event. St. Pauls conversion was wonderful because of the sharp antagonism between his previous and subsequent life. This antagonism is common when of a moral kind. Such a sharp contrast may be traced between the life of St. Mary Magdalene or St. Matthew, before their conversion and after. But it was the strength and violence of St. Pauls religious opinions which underwent this remarkable change. He was blinded by prejudice and passion.

1. It was wonderful, in that the grace of God overtook him in the very act of sin, as he was drawing near to Damascus, in the very acme of opposition and of violence. Souls sometimes prepare the way for Gods grace by outwardly ceasing from sin. The stone of evil habit is removed from the door of that sepulchre before the voice of Christ penetrates into the realms of the dead. But St. Pauls experience is an illustration of the mission of God the Son to mankind--While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

2. The change was wonderful too, in its suddenness. Conversions may be suddenly or gradually effected. St. Peters is an instance of a spiritual evolution, the gradual development of a vocation: Pauls of a sudden and more violent change. The former is a type of what is normal; the latter, of what is wonderful or extraordinary. God turns water into wine at Cana in a moment, but this was a miracle. He brings wine regularly out of the vine by means of the natural processes of growth and culture. Nor again, must we exaggerate the suddenness of St. Pauls conversion, though we admit that it was wonderful. St. Stephens martyrdom had made an ineffaceable impression on his mind. Revolutions do not take place in history without a long series of events which lead up to them, though they seem to burst upon the world in a moment: so with the great apostle, though sudden was the change, there were doubtless preparations of grace going before it.

3. Lastly, it was wonderful in its completeness. There is usually the gradual growth, oftentimes the fluctuations or relapses. The new life has first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But in St. Pauls case, as in the miracle of Cana, which we have already alluded to as in some sense its analogue--the miracle of turning water into wine, the good wine surpassed the ordinary produce of the grape; so the operations of grace seemed to have been so condensed in the soul of St. Paul as to bring fruit to perfection at once. He seems not to pass through what spiritual writers describe as the stages of purgation, illumination, and union with God, but attains at once to a vigorous spiritual life and a burning love for Christ. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)

Conversion

To consider, then, the circumstances of St. Pauls conversion as an outline of our own. He fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him. It is, accordingly, mostly amid terror and amazement that men are restored to God. God has impressed a law on the natural world also, that healthful cure can, for the most part, only take place through bitterness and suffering. The cures of our bodies picture to us the cures of our souls. The progress may be more or less painful; but bitterness is mixed in all. Those who have felt it say that the restoration of suspended life is far more suffering than apparent death. Restored circulation has pain; every touch of our body, whereby health is given back, has pain; well-nigh every healing medicine is bitter or revolting to our taste. By this universal law God would reconcile us to those merciful bitternesses, whereby He corrects our vitiated love for the destructive sweetnesses of this world, and cures our sickly tastes and appetites, teaching us to find no sweetness but in Him. So He prepares us beforehand to look to them as healthful, and find therein our health. Yes! sorrow, sickness, suffering, loss, bereavement, bring with them precious hours. God blinds us, like Saul, to the world, that, like Sauls, He may open our eyes to Him. He strikes us down, that He may raise us up. We should not be eager to escape sorrow, but only, through sorrow, to escape death. But pain of body, and sorrow of heart, have their end; if not sooner, yet in the grave: terror of soul has of necessity no end. Time, if it does no more, reconciles to sorrow, but not to fear. Man can endure the past, because it is past; the present, because it must end: but fear for the future, when the future is eternity, has no end. Yet it was through fear that God brought St. Paul to Himself; and he trembling and astonished said. Nay, so wrapt up in this fear and awe did the heavenly voice leave him, that for three days and three nights he neither ate nor drank, but prayed. In fear He struck him to the ground; in fear and blindness, though with hope, He raised him. Fear, exceeding fear of hell, is one of the most usual ways in which God brings us back to Himself. It needs not that others have warned us of it, Children may hear of it, as it should seem, when man intends it not to reach them. But God brings it home to their tender consciences. To cease to do evil, and learn to do well, is the whole of repentance, but such repentance is not learned without sorrow, sorrow, heart-searching in proportion to the sin. God, it has been said, willeth to save sinners, but He willeth to save them as sinners. If He saved them by a simple change of heart, without any repentance for their past life, He would save them as innocent. He wills that they should feel that it is an evil thing and bitter to have forsaken the Lord thy God. God Himself, in His miraculous conversion of His chosen vessel, St. Paul, kept him three days and three nights without relief. During that long space of fixed sorrow and humiliation, intenser than we have ever felt, He allowed not his mind to be ministered to by man. How much more may we be content to bear sorrow and fear, who, wherein we have sinned, have sinned against the light, not of the law only, but of the gospel; not against the light shining around us, but against the light, lightened within us; not against a revelation made without us, but grieving the good Spirit of God placed within us. Sorrow then and aching of heart, brought upon us by God, are mostly the means by which God brings back His prodigal children; sorrow or fear without us, to grow by His grace into a godly fear and dread within us. And as we cannot make ourselves sorrow, so we should beware how of ourselves we cease to sorrow, or use the promises of the gospel to heal our pain rather than our sickness. St. Paul lay there where he was stricken, until God said to him, Arise. It is a fearful thing to see how people, on an imagined conversion, contrive to forget what they have been, or remember it only to thank God that they are not now such. Yet the sorrow is not to end in itself. St. Paul had to arise and do Gods bidding; and we must arise, and with him ask, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? With him too we must do it; keeping back nothing when we ask, and shrinking from nothing which is laid upon us. Such was St. Pauls conversion. He freely offered up all, and took all. All he had been he gave up; what he was not he, in Gods hand, became. He was a ravening wolf, he became a lamb; the persecutor, he became persecuted. So was he in all things, and that exceedingly, transformed into the opposite of what he was before. And this is the most hopeful sign of a real healthful change wrought in us, when we become in life other than we were before; if we, like him, become blinded to the world, and see only in the world Him who was crucified for us, and with Him are ourselves crucified to the world; if for ambitious, we become lowly; for proud, humble; for angry, meek; for impatient, patient; for self-indulgent, self-denying; for covetous, liberal. Nor, again, are we to hope to have all our way plain before us, or to see His face equally clearly, as when He first by His merciful severity checked our wayward course, and recalled us to ourselves and to Him. By merciful interpositions, if we heed them, He sets us, from time to time, in a right course, but then He leaves us to the ordinary channels of His grace, and the guidance, which He has provided in His Church. Even to St. Paul He declared not at once, all He had in store for him. (E. B. Pusey.)

Saul of Tarsus converted

This event, which happened on the Damascus road about the year 37 A.D. was truly one of the most momentous of history. The meaning of this remarkable occurrence reaches out a long way. Indeed, since the New Testament is the final revelation for the Christian Church on earth, the power of Sauls conversion must be felt to end of time.

I. Its meaning first, of course, concerned himself.

1. He was convinced of the truth of Christianity. By Christianity we mean the doctrine that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. By what sort of an argument was Saul convinced of the truth of Christianity? The reasons for his becoming a Christian were both external and internal. The miracle was double, and whatever any one of any school of thought might require as a sufficient ground for such a tremendous change as was brought about in Saul is actually supplied in his case. He became a Christian really and rationally.

2. By this change Saul was led into an entirely new kind of life, not only in his heart, but in his work. Christianity was not only his creed, it was his business. Saul was to abolish Judaism as a half-way step to Christianity; he was to preach salvation to the Gentiles as Gentiles. To this change, planned by God to be brought about through Saul, our conversion is due. This work was to be done through a life of unusual obedience to Christ. Its type is presented to us at the very opening of Sauls Christian career in the question, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?

3. And how was all this brought about? Wholly of the grace of God. Saul did not convert himself, did not designate his work to himself, did not characterise it With suffering, did not furnish his own spiritual equipment for it. All was from God.

II. Sauls conversion had a great influence on the Christians of his day.

1. It showed them that Gods care was over them.

2. It showed that Gods power was behind His care. It is not enough to watch unless one is able to help. God knew and God was able. If He could make a man like Saul of Tarsus over into a follower of Jesus He could do anything; for this was the impossible, ordinarily speaking.

3. Sauls conversion showed the early Christians that God would use means for their blessing and the furtherance of His work such as they had not expected.

III. To Christian truth always Sauls conversion has especial value.

1. In the line of Christian doctrine it has force. Sauls experience was not in a dream or in a vision. It was in broad daylight, under normal conditions. Thus he beheld Christ in glory. Christ then is alive, He is glorified, and His glory is not spiritual alone, but of such a kind that it can be apprehended by other ways than by thought upon His character. He can be present wherever He chooses in His glorified body, and can reveal Himself when He likes. The doctrine of the existence and work of the Holy Spirit is touched upon in the story of Sauls conversion.

2. Sauls conversion has immense value in the department of apologetics--the defence of Christianity. There is a problem here which mere naturalism has never been able to solve. Saul presumably was able to know either a stroke of lightning or a sunstroke if he had experienced it. An attempt has also been made to explain Sauls conversion on psychological lines. Because at once (verse 5) he addresses Christ as Lord (Kyrie, which in this place is nothing more than the ordinary word of salutation to a superior), and because Christ (verse 5) says it is hard for him to kick against the pricks (which means only that opposition to Christ is useless), it has been thought that Sauls conscience had been troubling him and making him wonder if perhaps Jesus were not the Christ, and so preparing him to be converted on a slight occasion. But the record gives not a hint of any such psychological preparation. Out of deliberate and bitter antagonism Saul was converted to Christ. The conditions were as unfavourable to his conversion as they could be made. No stronger evidence for the miraculous, supernatural character of Christianity could be offered. If Saul did not see Christ, then the strongest convictions of the clearest minds cannot be respected, and no thinking whatever is ever worth anything.

3. Sauls conversion has an especial relation to Christian mission. There are some special notes worth making in addition to these, in connection with the conversion of Saul.

(1) All men need conversion. Saul was a good, moral, even godly man before he became a Christian.

(2) No one is too hard a subject for a possible future Christian.

(3) The outline of the souls progress in conversion is the same for all.

(4) Grace is the only means of our salvation. All is from God.

(5) There is a work for everyone who is made Christs. We are elected to work.

(6) Our work is accomplished through suffering. What we gain we pay for. Let us not grudge the cost. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

The conversion of Saul

I. The truth of Christianity.

II. The sovereignty of God in the conversion of men. What has he, in regard to his salvation, which he did not receive? It is needful, in this connection, that we should be cautioned in regard to two points.

1. The conversion of Paul, while it illustrates Gods sovereignty, does not exhibit any uniform plan as to the exercise of that sovereignty. He saves men by different ways.

2. We need to be reminded, by way of caution, that the sovereignty of God in the conversion of men gives no encouragement to continued impenitence. Therefore, harden not your heart. Reply not against God. Presume not on His forbearance.

III. The riches of Divine mercy towards the chief of sinners. (H. J. Van Dyke.)

Sauls conversion Gods glorification

God is such an Artificer, that He has pleasure only in difficult masterpieces, and not in trifling pieces of work. Also He works with special pleasure from the block. Therefore He has from of old selected especially very hard wood and stones in order to show His skill in them. (M. Luther.)

The conversion of Saul

The three greatest facts in redemptive history in the order of time and importance are the advent of Christ, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the conversion of Saul. Consider Saul--

I. As an enemy to the cause of Christ. His enmity was--

1. Intense, as we gather both from the narrative (verse 1) and the mans character. He was a man of--

(1) Strong intellect, which gave power to his passions.

(2) Strong impulses, which gave force to every purpose.

(3) Invincible conscientiousness, which led him to the greatest cruelty without flinching.

2. Practical.

(1) He gets his persecuting plans legalised (verse 2).

(2) He prosecutes his commission.

(a) Promptly.

(b) Thoroughly (Act_8:3).

II. As conquered by the revelation of Christ.

1. The nature of this revelation.

(1) By symbol. A light from heaven--probably the Shekinah glory--not recognised as such by his companions, but seen by Saul to be the garment in which He clothed Himself whom Saul was persecuting.

(2) By words.

(a) In the same tongue in which He had conversed during His earthly ministry.

(b) Emphatic. Jesus often used such repetitions, to fix attention. Martha, Martha. Simon, Simon.

(c) Most exciting. Why persecute Me? What injury have I done to thee?

2. Its effects. It brought him--

(1) Into conscious contact with Christ.

(2) To a complete submission to the will of Christ.

III. As exhibited in the service of Christ (verse 20). What a change is this! The messenger engaged to enlist Saul is here introduced. Ananias was especially selected and especially directed. Note here--

1. The reason assigned for the message received. Pauls prayer, which reached the heart of Christ, was answered in the mission of Ananias.

2. The manner in which the message was at first received. Reluctantly (verses 13, 14).

3. The Divine argument with which the message was again urged (verses 15, 16). Sauls subsequent history realised all that is here stated (Act_25:1-27; Act_26:1-32; Act_27:1-44; 2Co_11:23-28).

4. The manner in which the message was carried out.

(1) Affectionately. Brother Saul.

(2) Faithfully. Ananias does not go in his own name, but in Christs.

(3) Effectively. No remedies were applied, but the cure was perfect. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The conversion of Saul

Look at the conversion of Saul--

I. As illustrating the great moral change which is essential to the salvation of every sinner. Note--

1. The feelings developed in connection with it.

(1) A vivid consciousness of Christ.

(2) Anxious inquiry.

(3) Profound contrition.

(4) Earnest prayer.

2. The display of human and Divine in effecting it.

(1) There is the human in Saul. The Divine is not sufficient to account for Sauls conversion; for it was as strikingly displayed in the eases of Pharaoh, Salaam, and the witnesses of the crucifixion. God created us without our consent, but cannot save us without it. There was something in Saul that made him susceptible to the Divine influence. He was conscientious, and reverenced the Divine will as far as he knew it.

(2) There is the human in Ananias. God usually converts man by man.

3. The thoroughness of the change. How vast the difference between the man of verse 1 and the man of verse 20.

II. As supplying a cogent argument in favour of the Divinity of the Christian faith. Lord Lyttleton has ably demonstrated this. The argument may be thus shaped:

1. If the testimony of Paul concerning Christ be true, Christianity is Divine. Jesus was the grand theme of his ministry--Jesus the promised Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world. If you believe Paul, you must believe in Christ.

2. If the conversion of Saul is a reality, his testimony must be true. This conversion shows that he had all the qualifications necessary to bear a credible testimony.

(1) The necessary intelligence. He was no blind fanatic, but saw, heard, and felt Christ.

(2) The necessary candour. If a witness is prejudiced, his testimony is vitiated; but Pauls prejudices were all against Christ.

(3) The necessary disinterestedness. He had everything to lose, and nothing to gain.

III. As affording hope of mercy to the greatest sinner (1Ti_1:16). (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The conversion of Saul

1. Philip was sent to the eunuch of Ethiopia, and he made excellent work in that direction. Why was not Philip sent to the next man? He also rode in a chariot, and he also was deeply interested in religious questions. As well have sent a lamb to a lion! Is there no method in these providences? Does success in one case mean success in another? Will one kind of preaching do for every kind of hearer? Who will go to Saul? Not a man. Saul must be struck with lightning Divine. The thunder must take him in charge!

2. Christianity wrought a marvellous change upon a man of conscience. Saul was in a singular sense a most conscientious man. He was not a ruffian. He was a Pharisaic saint. He was a sincere man. There is nothing in all human history so terrible in opposition as conscience that is not based on reason.

3. Every man is born into the family of God by what may be called a miraculous conception. The new birth is always a miracle. Saul was converted miraculously. You were converted miraculously. We approach some mountain heights so gradually, that we are hardly aware that we have been climbing until we find ourselves without any further height to ascend. So it may be with many conversions. The great question for us to settle is. Are we really in Christ?

4. Christianity always creates the most marked experience of the individual mind. In the eunuch the experience was one of joy. In Saul it was one of thoughtfulness and prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The conversion of Saul

We have heard opinions about what we term sudden conversions. Some persons do not believe in them. But here is the first word that is objected to! It is an Old Testament word. Suddenness was approved by the Lord of the Jewish Church. The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple. Mark the harmony of that particular feature of the incident with the Divine purpose. A slow, deliberate, intellectual transformation would have been a moral violence under circumstances so peculiar. What could be more harmonious in all its particulars and relations than the conversion of the eunuch? A man quietly reading in his chariot and filled with wonder as to the meaning of the mysterious Word, what more seemly than that a teacher should sit beside him and show the meaning of the sacred mysteries? But here is a man yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter with such a man you cannot reason; God therefore suddenly strikes him to the ground. Let us admire this providence of arrangement and this inspiration of incident, as well as the stupendous conversion itself. Do not reprove the suddenness until you understand all the circumstances. The very suddenness may itself be part of the occasion. Now, look at the incident as showing--

I. Sauls relation to Judaism--i.e., to his past life. Does Jesus Christ condemn Judaism? No. He Himself was a Jew. There is not a word of chiding in all the speech. The only thing that was being done was that Saul was hurting himself. Why kick against the pricks? The persecutor only hurts himself. The bad man digs a hell for himself. Christ did not condemn the personal attitude of Saul. Saul was a man of the Old Testament, which says an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The heretic and blasphemer must be stoned. Saul was therefore keeping strictly within historic lines and constitutional proprieties when he said, in effect, This novel heresy must be stamped out with force. Christianity does not condemn Judaism; it supersedes it. Christianity takes it up, realises all its types, and symbols, and ceremonies. Judaism is the dawn, Christianity is the full noontide. Christianity brings to maturity and sweetness all the roots and fruits of the Judaism. The Jew is simply a man who has not come on to the next point in history. But for Judaism, there could have been no Christianity. We are debtors to the Jew. The Gentiles never converted themselves. The Jew was sent to the Gentile. The most stubborn prejudices were turned into the most anxious sympathies, and this is the crowning miracle of the grace of Christ.

II. His conversion as the greatest triumph which Christianity has accomplished. This was the master miracle. Who is this man? A Jew, of an ancient and honourable pedigree; a student, a scholar, a man of high and influential station. There lay within him capacity to do anything that mortals ever did. His hand once upon the prey, the prey was dead, unless the fingers be unloosed by Almightiness. Jesus Christ Himself directly undertakes his conversion, and works thus His supreme spiritual miracle. When Saul was converted, there was more than one man changed. There is a conversion of quality, as well as a conversion of quantity. Statistics cannot help you in this matter. Let a Saul of Tarsus be converted, and you convert an army. He will not let the world allow him to travel through incog. We can go through the house, the market, and the exchange, without anybody identifying us! Saul of Tarsus will never pass without recognition, and no town will he be in without setting up his holy testimony. Conclusion:

1. The Lord uses a remarkable expression in verse 11. Behold, he prayeth. Had he not been praying all his lifetime? In a certain sense, yes; but whilst saying prayers, punctilious in ritual, exemplary in all the outward observances of his Church, Saul had yet, in a Christian sense, never prayed. Prayer is a battering ram which only a Christian arm can work.

2. Another remarkable expression we find in verse 16. I will show him how great things he must suffer for My names sake. Mark the harmony of this arrangement. God knows what we are doing, and He pays to the uttermost. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, etc. Adonibezek said, As I have done, so God hath requited me. Samuel said to Agag, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. Saul was in this succession, a student in that school of compensation. Saul was now made to feel how exactly true these terms were (cf. Act_8:3 with Act_14:9; Act_9:1 with chap. 23; Act_26:10 with Act_16:26)

. Do not suppose you can escape God. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The conversion of Saul

I. As illustrating moral contrasts. Saul, who went out to persecute, remained to pray (verses 1, 11).

1. He breathed hotly. How changed in a little time! for his face is turned upward to heaven, and its very look is a pleading supplication. What has occurred? These effects must be accounted for. Have they any counterpart in our own experience? Have any of us passed from fierceness to gentleness, from drunkenness to sobriety, from darkness to light, from blasphemy to worship? Then we understand what is meant by this most startling contrast. This is precisely the work which Christianity undertakes to do. It undertakes to cool your breath, to take the fire out of your blood, to subdue your rancour and your malignity, and to clasp your hands in childlike plea and prayer at your Fathers feet. Such is the continual miracle of Christianity. Jesus makes the lion lie down with the lamb, and He causes the child to hold the fierce beast, and to put its hand with impunity on the cockatrice den. Other miracles He has ceased to perform, but this continual and infinite surprise is the standing testimony of Christ.

2. When Saul was a Pharisee he persecuted; when Saul became a Christian (verse 22) he proved. As a Pharisee, he said, Destroy Christianity by destroying Christians. Having seen Jesus, and entered into His Spirit, does he now say, The persecution must be turned in the other direction; I have been persecuting the wrong parties? No! Standing with the scrolls open before him, he reasons, proving that this is the Christ. When he was not a converted man, he never thought of proving anything. Now he stands up with an argument as his only weapon; persuasion as his only iron; entreaty and supplication as the only chains with which he would bind his opponents. What has happened? Is there not a counterpart of all this in our own experience, and in civilised history? Do not men always begin vulgarly, and end with refinement? Is not the first rough argument a thrust with cold iron, or a blow with clenched fist? Does not history teach us that such methods are utterly unavailing in the extinction or the final arrest of erroneous teaching? Christianity is a moral plea. Wherein professing Christians have resorted to the block and the stake, they have proved disloyal to their Master, and they have forgotten the spirit of His Cross. You cannot make men pray by force of arms. You cannot drive your children to church, except in the narrowest and shallowest sense of the term. You may convince men of their error, and lead men to the sanctuary, and, through the confidence of their reason and the higher sentiments, you may conduct them to your own noblest conclusions. How far is it from persecuting to praying? From threatening and slaughter to proving? That distance Christ took Saul, who only meant to go from Jerusalem to Damascus, some hundred and thirty-six miles. Christ took him a longer journey; He swept him round the whole circle of possibility. It is thus that Jesus Christ makes us do more than we intended to do. He meets us on the way of our own choice, and graciously takes us on a way of His own.

3. In the opening of the narrative, Saul was a strong man, the chief, without whose presence the band would dissolve. And in this same narrative we read of the great persecutor that they led him by the hand. What has happened? We thought he would have gone into the city like a storm; and he went in like a blind beggar! We thought he would have been met at the city gate as the great destroyer of heresy; and he was led by the hand like a helpless cripple! Woe unto the strength that is not heaven-born! When we are weak, then are we strong. You are mightier when you pray than when you persecute. You are stronger men when you prove your argument than when you seek to smite your opponent. Saul led by the hand; then why need we be ashamed of the same process? Who will despise the day of small things? Presently he will increase in the right strength; not the power of transient fury, but the solid and tranquil strength of complete repose.

II. As giving us glimpses of Christ. He is--

1. Watchful. Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age. He left, yet did not leave. He is invisible, yet watchful; looking upon Saul every day, and looking at the same time upon His redeemed Church night and day. Events are not happening without His knowledge. He knows all your antagonistic plans. As for you Christians, He knows your sufferings, and oppositions, and through how much tribulation you are moving onward to the kingdom.

2. Compassionate. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. He pitied the poor ox that struck its limbs against the sharp and piercing goads. This expostulation repeats the prayer of his dying breath. He does not bind Saul with his own chain; He throws upon him the happy spell of victorious love.

3. Consistent. I will show him what great things he must suffer for My names sake. When Jesus ordained the disciples to go out into the world, He laid before them a black picture, and told them that they would be persecuted; and now, when He comes to add another to the number, He repeats the ordination charge which He addressed to the first band.

III. As showing the nature and purposes of spiritual vision. All these things were seen in a vision. Say some of you, We have no visions now. How can we have? We may eat and drink all visions away. The glutton and the drunkard can have nothing but nightmare. A materialistic age can only have a materialistic religion. We may grieve the Spirit, quench the Spirit; we may so eat and drink and live as to divest the mind of its wings. It may be true that the vision has ceased within a narrow sense, but not in its true spiritual intent. Even now we speak about strong impressions, unaccountable impulses, uncontrollable desires, unexpected combinations of events. What if the religious mind should see in such realities the continued Presence and Vision which gladdened the early Church?

IV. As demonstrating that Christianity does not merely alter a mans intellectual views or modify a mans moral prejudices. Christianity never makes a little alteration in a mans thinking and action. Christianity makes new hearts, new creatures. Other reformers may change a habit now and again, may modify a prejudice, a temper, a purpose with some benign and gracious intent; but this Redeemer wants us to be born again. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new. There drop from his eyes as it were scales, and, with a pure heart, he sees a pure God. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Sauls conversion

Three distinct lines of thought appear in this lesson, each concentered in a person--Saul, Ananias, and Christ.

I. Let us notice the steps in Sauls conversion, and find in them the story of every seeking soul.

1. Sin. We see in Saul an open, active, determined, and cruel enemy of Christ. We see a persistent enemy resisting the convictions of the Holy Spirit, kicking against the pricks of his own conscience, yet an honest, sincere enemy. I did it ignorantly in unbelief (1Ti_1:13).

2. Conviction, Sauls conviction was sudden, yet gradual. Gradual, for he had been striving against the influences of the Spirit (verse 5) ever since he had seen the transfigured face of Stephen; sudden, when the culminating instant came. In a moment he awoke to the consciousness of his guilt.

3. Decision. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? That sentence marked the crisis of a life, when Saul chose Jesus as his Master. What mighty results followed that instants decision!

4. Seeking. For three days Saul was in an agony of prayer, seeking the Christ whom he had persecuted. The delay was not because God was unwilling, but because Saul was not yet in the right condition to receive the blessing.

5. Salvation. At last the scales fell from his eyes, and Saul saw Christ, not as his enemy, but as his forgiving Saviour.

II. Another line of thought is suggested in Ananias, the helper in Sauls conversion.

1. He was a man. God uses men, and not angels, to point souls to salvation. Even Saul of Tarsus, though called by Christ Himself, is taught the way of faith by a fellow man.

2. He was a believing man. Saved himself, he was able to show others the way of salvation. Only the man who has himself seen the Lord can show Him to others.

3. He was a man of character. Notice what is said of him in Act_22:12. Those who win souls must be men of good report.

4. He was in close and complete communion with Christ, enjoying direct revelation and holding familiar converse with his Lord. He who would have power with men must have power with God.

5. He was an obedient worker, fulfilling the Divine command, even when it sent him into danger; for it seemed perilous to visit a persecutor with the message of the gospel.

III. There is also a suggestive subject in Christ as revealed in Sauls conversion.

1. A living Christ. Only a little while ago Jesus died on the Cross, and was buried in the sepulchre. Yet now a living form stands forth, saying, I am Jesus!

2. A Christ with individual notice. He saw Sauls journey, knew his purpose, and recognised his character. He knew how Saul had striven against the Spirit. He called Saul by name, and called Ananias by name also. Christ in heaven has knowledge of men and events on the earth.

3. A Christ of infinite sympathy with His people. Why persecutest thou Me? He felt the blow at His Church more keenly than the spear thrust into His own body. In all our afflictions as Christians Christ is afflicted.

4. A Christ who sees the best in every man. Ananias saw in Saul only the enemy and the persecutor. Christ saw in him a chosen vessel and an apostle. He sees in every soul infinite possibilities.

5. A Christ with transforming power. He can transform Saul into Paul, Stephens slayer into Stephens successor, an enemy into a champion. What Christ could do with Saul He can do with any man. The conversion of Saul:--Let us regard this--

I. As illustrative of the truth of Christianity. In the case of the apostle, nothing but evidence the most decisive could have effected such a change, in such a man, and at such a time.

1. He had the common prejudices of a Jew against Christianity and its Founder.

2. He was a Pharisee, and had the peculiarly inveterate prejudices of his sect.

3. He was a man of worldly ambition.

4. His very sincerity as a persecutor proves the power of that evidence which could convert such a man into a disciple.

5. The temper of his mind when the great event occurred which led to his immediate conversion, was only calculated to indispose him for conviction. On this we remark--

(1) That he could not be deceived, either in the light or in the voice; or, supposing that to have been barely possible with him, yet, surely, not with those who accompanied him, at the same time. Nor could he be deceived in the fact of his blindness, and of his supernatural healing by Ananias, who gave him instruction.

(2) Nor was he a deceiver. St. Paul was a good man; and that is our security that he would not deceive. If he were not a good man, where shall we look for one? But if he were a good man, then is the account true, for he could not have been deceived; and Jesus did meet him in the way, and the religion of Christ is from God.

II. As showing the power and grace of the Saviour. This was manifested--

1. As to the Church--

(1) By the conversion of its destroyer.

(2) By the revelation of its oneness with Christ, and His intense interest in it. Why persecutest thou Me?

2. As to Paul himself, we see it in the illumination of his mind, in the extinction of his worldly temper, the conquest of the love of applause, the moral strength that was communicated.

III. As furnishing important practical lessons. We are reminded--

1. That love is the test of religion.

2. That our salvation is of God.

3. That true religion implies conversion--the change of the whole character.

4. That the end of a thing is better than the beginning of it.

5. Let us be thankful that God raised up this great light for His Church. Let us study his writings, and imbibe their spirit. Let us glorify God in him. (R. Watson.)

The conversion of Paul

I. Its circumstances.

1. It was without any preliminary preparation or special instruction.

2. It was without human instrumentality.

3. It was attended with a miraculous display of light and sound of words.

4. The physical effect of these displays: blindness and prostration.

II. Its nature. A sudden and entire change in his views of Christ.

1. He had previously regarded Him as a mere man, as a bad man, unfaithful to His ancestral religion, and as an impostor, one falsely pretending to be the Messiah. Honestly, i.e., really entertaining these views, he thought it his duty to persecute the followers of Jesus, and to arrest the progress of the new religion.

2. This was very wicked because--

(1) His views of the Old Testament and its prophecies of the Messiah were due to a carnal state of mind.

(2) The evidence of Christs Divine mission was such that none but a wicked person could reject it. Hence Paul considered himself the chief of sinners--a clear proof that honesty of conviction does not exonerate.

3. These false views of Christ were instantly rejected.

(1) He saw Him to be the Lord, i.e., a Divine Person, the Son of God (Gal_1:16).

(2) He saw Him to be God manifest in the flesh. He believed that Jesus, a man, was the Son of God.

(3) He saw that Christ was the promised Messiah. This was the truth that he at once preached (Act_22:20).

III. Its agency.

1. Not by the outward circumstances.

2. Not by the revelation of Christ to his sense of vision. The wicked at the last day shall see Christ and flee from Him.

3. But by the immediate power of God (Gal_1:16). So our Lord said to Peter, Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father.

IV. Its effects.

1. Entire submission and devotion, a willingness to renounce anything, and to do anything that Christ required.

2. This supposes the recognition of Him as God. So Christ became at once the supreme object of worship, love, and zeal.

3. It made him one of the greatest, best, and happiest of men.

4. It secured for him a place among the redeemed in glory. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

Pauls conversion a type of the Reformation

I. Before both. Christ was persecuted and believers afflicted.

II. At both.

1. The light from heaven.

2. Repentance of heart.

III. From both.

1. Evangelical preaching in the Church.

2. Evangelical missions in the world. (K. Gerok.)

The conversion of St. Paul

1. That blessed war of aggression which Jesus Christ wages upon the evil one is a war which is made to maintain itself. Christs soldiers are His captured enemies. Perhaps the most notable instance of this is the conversion of Saul. Jesus Christ never encountered a bitterer or an abler foe; never won a mightier captain for His army. This conversion brought to the Church immediate rest from persecution, and prepared for the ultimate extension of a free gospel to the world at large.

2. Now, the important fact, that such a man suddenly abandoned the Pharisaic theology and became the Churchs foremost preacher, amply justifies the detail with which the story is here related. The immediate occasion of Sauls change of life was quite as exceptional as the change itself was eventful. It was no ordinary case of a man led to believe in Jesus Christ through the evidence of others, the testimony of the Church, or the force of spiritual need. It was quite unique--a case which has no parallel. The agent in this mans conversion was not a mortal man, his fellow. It was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who called him personally. The apparition was not an inward vision such as appeared afterwards to Ananias. It was a veritable return of Him who went up from the Mount of Olives. And this personal manifestation of Him whom the heavens had received, is, I suppose, solitary in Christian history. The evidence is therefore exceptionally strong. Of course such a transaction cannot be compared with public events, like the death or resurrection of Jesus, to which many could testify. Here there could be no eye or ear witness but one. His evidence alone is to be had, and it is explicit. For it was upon the fact that he had personally seen his risen Master, as the other apostles saw Him, that Paul rested his claim to the privileges of apostleship. And the evidence of Paul was confirmed by the vision of Ananias, and was accepted as conclusive by the Church of Christ at the time.

3. Now, I suppose it may be due to the emphasis laid on this solitary appearance of Christ that so little has been told us of the internal history of the conversion. But who can tell the spiritual processes of any conversion? and why should we pry too curiously into the mysterious, secret place where, under cover of the darkness, the Spirit of God broods over the soul whom He will renew with His great grace into the likeness of the Eternal Son? The general nature of the change, however, which passed over Saul, is, I think, to be pretty well made out from what we know of the man before and after. Up to the moment when the glory smote him, this man was a Hebrew of the extremest type, and it needs no great insight to see that, to such a man, the preaching of repentance and faith in the Cross of a crucified deliverer from sin must have been simply gall and wormwood. So he flung himself into the work of stamping out this hateful heresy. Yet, all the while, I think it probable that Sauls mind was not quite at ease. I gather from the first words Jesus spoke to him, as he lay upon the road, that all had not been quite serene in the soul of the persecutor. Jesus had, ere this, been trying to get him into the right way. Some words heard in controversy, some meek victims patience as he haled him to prison, some great craving of his own heart, some breath, in a quiet hour, from the Spirit of God--something must have stirred within this man, who looked, to other men, so resolute, and who told himself he was so right, a suspicion that, after all, the Nazarene might not be altogether wrong. And Saul had kicked against these pricks. Ah, which of us, from our own experience, cannot understand his case? To which of us has it never happened, that when we were well contented with our religious state, some ghastly doubt looked up all of a sudden and troubled us; some fear lest, after all, our standing might not turn out to be so very safe, and our religion so very real? But suddenly, in the glare of light that covered the scene at noon, a man appeared whom Saul believed to be a dead impostor. And the shock given to his whole being was as awful as it was sudden. Everything in the narrative speaks of instantaneous and utter collapse. We trace it in the few and timid words which he is able to stammer out. Who art Thou, Lord? What shall I do? If Jesus was the living God, then he, Saul, had always been rotten, hopelessly rotten. The old is shattered forever; it lives no more. Gamaliels pupil, the Sanhedrin inquisitor, the blameless Pharisee, the slayer of Stephen--this old man is dead.

4. What were the meditations which filled up these three days before he began to pray? We do not know. But I think we shall not err if we concede the grand discovery of these days to have been the discovery of a spiritual law which condemned his legal righteousness as being, in his own later words, loss and dung. He needed no man now to tell him that his way of pleasing God, as he thought, had been a hideous blunder, since he had absolutely laid persecuting hands on Christ, thinking he was doing God service. Back through all his past life, his memory must have gone, discovering, bit by bit, that what he had called righteousness became, to his astonished soul, pride, discharity, sin; what he had called gain became utter spiritual loss. And in the end, when the need of atoning blood to wash such sin away, and bring Divine forgiveness, grew up within his soul into clear consciousness, then, at last, indeed, he began to look up out of his prostration and collapse. God began to reveal His Son in him by giving him the first hint of the Spirit of adoption. His mind reverted for help, turned round about in his loneliness to the names of those very disciples down in his notebook that he had come to arrest, and now, in a sweet vision, he seemed to see one of these friends of Jesus come into the home where he lay helpless and in darkness, and give him light. See how Jesus Christ must smite down that He may lift up. He first came in person by the way and brought judgment, darkness, horror, and almost death. He came now, the second time, by the gentle words of His humble servant, came by the blessed sacrament of His Church, and so coming He brought light, peace, and the hope and desire of a new and better life.

Conclusion: St. Pauls conversion substantially is repeated in the history of ten thousand souls.

1. The same appalling discovery that the exterior observance of piety which one took for righteousness is no righteousness, but dead works, because not animated by the spirit of love to God, has been made times upon times since Paul made it. And if it is not often that Gods disclosure of Himself bursts upon a man with such violent catastrophe as here, it will be your highest wisdom to see whether or not you have made the Pauline discovery, and learned the Pauline lesson.

2. One unexpected day has often revolutionised a life. We all live in the presence of spiritual forces, which may, at any moment, get unlooked-for access to us. A stray word, a new acquaintance, a book you open, some sudden disaster, may prove, before you know it, the very turning of your history. But let none be idle waiters on critical moments in Providence. Seek the Lord while He may be found. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

The conversion of St. Paul

I. Its circumstances.

1. In the Bible proper names frequently had meanings. Now this Saul, or Shaul in Hebrew, and especially in Arabic, means not only asked for, but to seek diligently or to be sought out. And here you have in the very name the history of every sinner who comes to God; he is not one who is seeking God first, but one who is sought for. Was it not the case even with Abraham? And He said, Abraham, Abraham; and he answered, Here am I. Did Moses call God first, or seek for God? Far from it; Moses, Moses; and he said, Here am I.

2. In what state was this Shaul at the moment he was sought out? Yet breathing out threatenings, etc. Such a man cannot have been in his sound senses. And you may see his own candid confession of that. (chap. 26.). I compelled them to blaspheme. I experienced something of this lately at Cairo. From eleven oclock in the night till three oclock I was with several Jews, who continually tried me to say only once, only once, curse the name of Jesus. And why did he do this? Being exceedingly mad against them. And it is said--yet breathing out. Why yet? Something must have gone on before, which might have changed his opinions and his conduct. And many such things went before, but without use to him. The Son of God nailed on the Cross had fulfilled every prophecy regarding His sufferings. Here is Stephen praying amidst the shower of stones, Lay not this sin to their charge; a thinking mind, like Pauls, one should suppose would have been struck with this. And he went unto the high priest. He had the approbation of the ecclesiastical authorities. We can have the approbation of the world and the orthodox churchmen, and yet be still far from God. He desired of him letters that if he found any of this way. I was often struck with this expression, when I heard the Arabs speaking about religion; they do not say the religion of Jesus, but I want to know your way. What is your way? And do we not often find this the ease in England? Speak to men about vital conversion, and they answer, Oh! I am not of that way.

3. And suddenly. We find often that the grace of God comes suddenly. And so we find frequently that genius is awakened. An Italian forty years of age lived at Rome, and went every day to St. Peters, but he never was struck with the masterpieces of Raphael; but one day he went there, and suddenly struck with them his genius awakened, and he exclaimed, I am also a painter; and from that moment he became the great painter Correggio. So very often the grace of God comes. A man is journeying on and on carelessly towards eternity, when, suddenly struck by the grace of God, he exclaims, I am also a sinner ransomed. Paul saw a light--that described Isaiah--The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light--the Sun of Righteousness. And he fell to the earth. I had an exact illustration of this when I was brought to Turkisthaun in slavery. After I was ransomed, the dungeons of hundreds of slaves were opened; these poor people had not seen the daylight for many months, and when they so suddenly were brought into it, they were so struck that several were as if they were going to fall down; they were overpowered. Oh! they said, we cannot see the light, it is too powerful. So it is with people, when they are so suddenly overpowered with this light from heaven. It makes such an impression upon them, that they cannot bear it. And he heard a voice, saying unto him. We see our Lord does not use much learning or much eloquence to put down a man, to bring him to Himself, but very few words. I read this chapter to a Persian several years ago, a man of great powers; and he said, There is one thing I find in Christianity which I do not find in our religion; it is a religion of the heart, it speaks to the heart. And this he found in these very words, in which here our Lord asks of Saul--Saul, Saul!--thou who art sought out, thou sought for, thou whom I am seeking like a mother her child, like a father his wayward child--why persecutest thou Me? What a striking contrast! In the first verse it is said, Yet breathing out threatenings against the disciples; bat here the Lord asks, Why persecutest thou Me? Persecute the mother, the child will feel it; persecute the child, the mother will feel it. And for this reason only the Christian religion deserves the name of religion. What is religion? To bind again together man to God. And he said, Who art Thou, Lord?--at once confessing his ignorance, as everyone struck by the grace of God will do. As long as we think ourselves wise we shall never come to the truth. But here--who art Thou? Very modest; he did not know Him, though he persecuted Him. But he felt His power, and therefore he called Him Lord. And the Lord said, I am Jesus--Jehoshua, God the Saviour. This is very affectionate. I am not come here to destroy thee, though thou hast persecuted Me; I am still Jesus. Whilst you may not yet believe in Him, it is Jesus, the Saviour, who came to seek those that were lost. And he, trembling and astonished, said--How natural this is! How little an infidel, however clever, knows or understands the Bible! Schiller says, We are still in want of a kind of Linne for the human heart--i.e., in want of a person to give us a development of the human heart, as that celebrated Linne did of the natural kingdom. Now if he had only studied the history of Paul, he would have found a development of the human heart. A man who had stood for many days near a precipice, and never knew that he was near it, but had his eyes suddenly opened and was instantly snatched away from it--he must tremble. But a real believer does not remain trembling. And he, trembling and astonished, said--not, Now I will go and read the books of our Rabbis; and a really awakened sinner would not say, I will go and read Paley, or Dr. Adam Clarke or other writers on the evidences; but like Paul, Lord! what wilt Thou have me to do? verifying those words of our Lord, Except ye be converted and become as little children, etc. A little child does not say, I must speculate to get a thing from my father; but it asks him for it. Now see how the Lord takes him by the hand. And the Lord said unto him, Arise.

4. Let us pursue this history. Here you will see how a real believer has to suffer, and from a quarter where he does not expect it--from believers. What has the Jew to expect when he once boldly confesses the name of Jesus? Mistrust from a quarter where he ought not to experience it--from believers. If Ananias had lived in our time, they would have called him a cautious and prudent man. Now let us hear the answer of the Lord: Go thy way--(for His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our thoughts); that very Saul who was going about breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord is a chosen vessel. In Arabic, Paul means an instrument; he was a Shaul, a sought-out--he is now a Paul, an instrument, a chosen vessel to bear My name. And now Ananias at last was convinced.

II. Its result. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales. At first he was like the blind man, who was receiving his sight; things were still indistinct to him, and he saw men like trees walking; but now that there fell upon him the Holy Ghost, he conceived what it is to be a Christian, was baptized, and joined the disciples. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues. When the believer enters a beautiful garden he invites others to enter. Straightway--no round-aboutery. And a believer is not ashamed; he preaches Him who had been a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.

III. This history is a type (1Ti_1:16)--

1. Of the conversion of the Jewish nation. He was one born out of due time. And so in every century one has seen Jews born out of due time. In the middle ages there was Sixtus Senensis, a Jew at Rome, whose writings still exist, and from whom we may say that the most spiritual part of the Roman Catholic Church, the Jansenists, still derive all their Biblical knowledge. So De Lyra was the teacher of Luther. And so in our time.

2. Of the future conversion of the nation. He was a Saul, a sought-out; and to Jerusalem it is said, Thou shalt be called sought-out, a city not forsaken. The light shone round about him from heaven; and to Jerusalem it shall be said, Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. And as the Apostle Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, so my nation shall be the great national apostle to the Gentile world; and Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising. And as there was peace in the Church at the time of the conversion of Saul, so thy walls, O Jerusalem, shall be called Peace, and thy governors Righteousness. (J. Wolff, LL. D.)

The conversion of St. Paul

I. The conversion itself.

1. It was an improbable event.

2. It was miraculous in its circumstances, and as such is a proof of the gospel. Because

(1) No rational solution other than that he gives can be given for it. It was not a delusion, nor a deception.

(2) It proves Christs resurrection, and therewith the whole gospel.

(3) It authenticates Pauls doctrine as a supernatural revelation from Christ.

3. Though miraculous in its circumstances it was normal in its essentials.

(1) As to the nature of the change.

(2) As to the means by which it is effected.

(3) As to the evidences of its sincerity.

II. The state of mind expressed. It included--

1. Entire abnegation of self. He sought not his own

(1) Advancement;

(2) Enjoyment;

(3) Improvement.

2. Absolute submission to Christs authority.

(1) Not his own will.

(2) Not that of friends, rulers, or the world.

(3) But Christ alone had authority to determine and direct his course.

3. Entire consecration to the service of Christ.

(1) Readiness to do His will.

(2) Willingness that He should determine not only the service, but the field and the circumstances.

III. The means by which it was produced.

1. The revelation of Christ. This was--

(1) External; but this was not all, for He was thus revealed to thousands.

(2) To the reason. A rational conviction was produced.

(3) Spiritual, effected by Christs Spirit, and consisting in spiritual manifestation.

2. The truth revealed was the Divinity of Christ. Because--

(1) He is called Lord.

(2) Because in Gal_1:16 he says, It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.

(3) Because of the analogy between this revelation and that on the Mount of Transfiguration.

(4) Because Paul makes conversion consist in knowing Christ.

(5) From its effects. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

The progress of St. Pauls conversion

I. The first impression. The deep feeling of his spiritual inability (verse 8).

II. The first signs of life (verse 11).

III. The first testimony (verse. 20).

IV. The first experience (verse 23). (Jaspis.)

Saul meets with Jesus

I. Spiritual crisis. Saul had now arrived at his spiritual crisis. Such a crisis has occurred in the lives of most great reformers, and at these moments they become absorbingly interesting. Buddha waiting for the final illumination under his wisdom tree; Mohammed in the caves of the desert; Luther in the monks cell; Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus--each in his own way was having that last desperate encounter with the past and its outworn traditions, which was to fit him to be the religious pioneer of the future. Such a passage from the old to the new may be fitly called conversion. Most of us may have known something like it. Not that everyone must pass through an intellectual or spiritual convulsion. Some souls seem to grow like flowers; some leap like cataracts. There are halcyon as well as earthquake natures; there are neutral tinted people who never seem to rise or fall very much; there are well-balanced people set in harmonious conditions who develop day by day, and never know the shocks of sudden change.

II. Hindrances to spiritual progress. In most of us there is a bar, and that bar has to be passed or the soul will languish.

1. Pleasure is one mans bar. Till he recognises something above pleasure he will make no way. A noble cause or enthusiasm at last lays hold upon him, and he counts pleasure lost for the first time that he may compass the new ideal. He postpones appetite, he learns self-sacrifice. The bar is passed.

2. Another drifts. Indecision, want of purpose, is his bar. The love of a pure, strong, tender woman delivers him; or the companionship of a high-minded friend steadies and directs his aims.

3. Another is an idolater of self. His horizon is hopelessly narrowed in, and there is no progress until you get out of that dismal, vicious circle. Responsibility, interests, loves and lives of others, sense of a spiritual world--in one word, God and religion in some form awakening Divine echoes, sounding undreamed of depths within, such a revelation may come upon you with a shock. The expulsive power of a noble affection, the absorbing power of a good cause, the emancipating and illuminating power of a Divine sentiment may be the terms of your conversion.

4. Sauls bar was intellectual pride and self-sufficiency. In politics this obstinate habit breeds the State despot, the man who would sacrifice party, principle, country. In religion it produces the fanatic. The Son of God may hang on a tree; Stephen with the angel face may be stoned; Savonarola and Huss may be stoned.

III. Divine leadings. There came a day when Paul wept to remember how Saul had persecuted the Church of Christ. But at present he breathes nothing but threatenings and slaughter, and is off to Damascus on his cruel purpose. But on that lonesome journey Saul thinks--

1. Tis an odious business, this. Is it a duty? My duty! My Master Gamaliel used to say, Let them alone, etc. Ah! he was too mild. One must not tolerate insult to the Holy Temple and the Law. So Gamaliel was pushed aside.

2. Saul thinks; This Jesus. Why did the people hear Him? A magician of words it seems, mistaken at first for an eloquent Rabbi--most cursed perversion of talent. That He who spoke the story of the prodigal, which the very children now prattle, should have uttered that hateful tale of the vineyard--that was aimed at our holy rules; a poisoned tongue, an insidious, treacherous Rabbi that Jesus: His viper brood of disciples must be stamped out; tis the will of God. And so Jesus was pushed aside.

3. Then once again Saul thinks as the face of the murdered Stephen rises before him: Such an one with the makings of a good Haggadist, but hopelessly tainted. Is it not written, The poison of asps is under their lips? yet did not his looks belie his iniquity? We judged him, he seemed to be judging us. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Monstrous brazen-tongued heretic, or visionary--which? Yes, he saw a vision. I would that face had not been crushed in so bloody a death. But no, it was expedient that one man died for the people. We have stamped the thing out in Jerusalem by that stroke. Yet his smile, his prayer--last fraud of the tempter. Thou hadst Stephen in thy toils--thou shalt not take me so easily. And with this did Saul smite his jaded steed, as Balaam did his, and for a like reason. On! on! he fiercely spurred, and again his poor beast kicked against the pricks, as he was himself kicking against the pricks of a Divine Master who sought to guide him whither he would not go. Suddenly his brain reels--like an over-bent bow gives in a moment--he staggers on horseback--the bolt seems to fall from the blue. Is it thunder? Is it a voice? Is it a light?--aye, above the brightness of the sun, but it leaves Saul in darkness. Jesus has met him by the way. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)

Conversion by the vision of Christ

In the middle of July, 1719, Colonel Gardiner, who was then leading a most licentious life, had spent the evening of a Sunday in some gay company, and had an assignation with a married woman at midnight. The company broke up at eleven, and while he was waiting for the hour of twelve, he took up a book to pass away the time. As he was reading, he saw an unusual blaze of light fall on the page, and looking up he saw before him, as it were suspended in the air, a representation of our Blessed Lord on the Cross, surrounded by a glory. At the same instant he heard a voice saying, O sinner, did I suffer this for thee, and are these the returns? The vision filled him with unutterable astonishment and agony of heart; and pierced by a sense of his ingratitude to God, he from that moment forsook his evil life.

The completeness of St. Pauls conversion

Is it not beautiful to see how Paul forgot all his old Pharisaism? All the hard words and bitter blasphemies that he had spoken against Christ, they have all gone in a moment. What strange changes will come over some beings in an instant! One of my students who has been a sailor has preached the gospel for some long time, but his English was far from grammatical. Having been in college some little time he began to speak correctly, but suddenly the old habit returned upon him. He was in the Princess Alice at the time of the lamentable catastrophe, and he escaped in an almost miraculous manner. I saw him some time after, and congratulated him on his escape, and he replied that he had saved his life but had lost all his grammar. He found himself for awhile using the language of two or three years ago; and even now he declares that he cannot get back what he had learnt. He seems to have drowned his grammar on that terrible occasion. Now, just as we may lose some good thing by a dreadful occurrence, which seems to sweep over the mind like a huge wave and wash away our treasures, so by a blessed catastrophe, if Christ should meet with any man tonight, much which he has valued will be swept away! You may write on wax, and may make the record fair. Take a hot iron and roll it across the wax, and it is all gone. That seems to me to be just what Jesus did with Pauls heart. It was all written over with blasphemy and rebellion, and He rolled the hot iron of burning love over his soul, and the evil inscription was all gone. He ceased to blaspheme, and he began to praise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

An inspired vision

A poor woman caught by a slave-raiding band in the far interior, and in a moment snatched with a few of her friends from home, from children, from hope, found herself on the march to the coast in the dreadful slave gang. Day after day, foot sore and heart sore, she wended her weary way, until one night in her sleep visions of God came to her. She dreamed she was in a larger room than she had ever seen; and at one end of it there was a man with a white face, whose words gave her great comfort. She rose the next morning with heart relieved, a pilgrim to a blessed destiny. She did not know what it was to be; she knew that she was a pilgrim to the sunrise. She reached the coast, was there sold, and embarked on board a slaver. The slaver was taken, and a large part, herself included, of the slave cargo was landed at Fernando Po. A little while after she was taken to our little chapel at Clarence in West Africa. It was the room of her dream. There was the man of her dream, and his message brought the light of immortality to her heart, which never left it. And my story is not ended. That was fifty years ago. She was living a few years since, for Wright Hay told me that whenever he was in any discouragement or difficulty he went to this noble old saint of God, and never left without finding wisdom and help from her saintly counsel. (S. Chapman.)

The conversion of Saul

Look at the mighty mountain lifting its head above the clouds that do but girdle it. How proud and defiant it stands! Far up above the dusty ways of man, clothed in robes of unsullied snow, it seems the very emblem of the unchangeable. Yet every day it is being levelled. The glacier grinds the rock; the frost frets and frays it; the torrents wear away the stones and hollow out the sides. Now rocks are rent from it and go sweeping far into valleys, in turn to be ground into soil, until in time the great mountain that stood bleak and bare is spread into the golden cornfields or into the pastures that are covered with flocks, and where the homesteads look forth from the midst of the trees that screen them, and the happy people laugh and sing. Now that is what the heavenly Father is seeking to do for us by the daily discipline of life, and by the ministry of His grace. He puts Himself within reach of us that He may bring down the pride and selfishness, that He may take away the coldness and hardness, and turn us into love and service and a thousand forms of blessedness. Have faith in God. Take hold of the power of God that is in Christ Jesus that in you the mountain may be made into cornfields. Look at Saul of Tarsus. How like a mountain did he stand! How proud, how defiant, how high he carried his head! And like the mountain, too, how the black storms gathered around him, and the lightnings blazed, how the thunders lowered and crashed, and the cruel torrents roared and raged in their fury! It is a volcano that rises before us whence flow the streams of fire. But lo! there comes the grace of God. He is broken, transformed. Listen how long after he writes to the little flock to whom he had ministered: We were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her own children, so being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear unto us. The persecuting Saul is turned into an apostle of love. Faith has cast out the mountain and transformed it into the cornfields and pastures. Now we are to take hold of the grace of God to do like wonders within us. We have no business to talk about our nature, we have to think about the almighty power of God. (M. G. Pearse.)

Gods method of converting men

Etienne de Grellet says he required a reason for everything from a child. God, however, chose His own way in his conversion. He was walking in the fields, under no kind of religious concern, when he was suddenly arrested by what seemed to be an awful voice, crying, Eternity! eternity I eternity! It reached his very soul. His whole frame shook, and, like Saul, he fell to the ground. He cried out, If there is a God, doubtless there is a hell. For long he seemed to hear the thundering proclamation, and was eventually led to decision.

A sudden conversion

I knew a young woman who was brought to God very suddenly. She was busily engaged singing a profane song, when a flash of lightning seemed to pass through the room she occupied, illuminating the place with a sudden, supernatural light; then followed a deep, loud roll of thunder, and the young woman, feeling as if in the presence of God, fell upon her knees confessing her sins and crying for mercy. Sins, which hitherto she had not felt to be sins, seemed to stand up and condemn her; she felt that there was no safety for her except through the blood of Jesus; and Christ, the merciful Saviour, accepted her.

Conversions may be quite sudden in their beginnings

In December the days grow shorter till the twenty-first, the shortest day, when, at a precise moment, the sun pauses and begins to return towards the north. And then, though the days are constantly growing longer, and the sun coming nearer, yet for weeks there is no apparent change. The snow lies heavy upon the earth. There are neither leaves, nor blossoms, nor singing birds; nothing to mark the summer time which is surely advancing. But at length the ground begins to relax in the sunny places, and the snows melt, and warm winds blow from the south, and buds swell, and flowers spring, and ere long there is the bloom and glory of June. So there is a precise moment when the soul pauses in its departure from God, and begins to return towards Him. The fruits of that return may not be at once visible; there may be long interior conflicts before the coldness and deadness of the heart is overcome; but at length the good will triumph, and instead of winter and desolation, all the Christian graces will spring up in the summer of Divine love. (H. W. Beecher.)

The battle of Damascus

I. The enemies.

1. Saul breathing vengeance with his armed followers, and his weapons of human learning and carnal zeal.

2. Christ the Crucified and Exalted One, with the marks of His wounds and in His heavenly glory; behind Him crowds of angels, among whom is joy over one sinner that repenteth.

II. The fight.

1. Christ attacks.

2. Saul defends himself.

III. The victory.

1. Saul surrenders.

2. Christ triumphs.

IV. The spoil. He shall have the strong for a prey. Saul is led away a prisoner, not to death, but to life.

V. The joyful te deum of the church. (K. Gerok.)

The great day of Damascus

I. Its troubled and stormy morning.

II. Its hot and thundery noon.

III. Its quiet and blessed evening. (K. Gerok.)

The proud rider unhorsed

Damascus still stands with a population of 135,000. It was a gay city of white and glistering architecture; its domes playing with the light of the morning sun; embowered in groves of olive, and palm, and citron, and orange, and pomegranate; a famous river plunging its brightness into the scene--a city by the ancients styled a pearl surrounded by emeralds. A group of horsemen are advancing. Let the Christians of the place hide, for they are persecutors; their leader, as leaders sometimes are, insignificant in person--witness Napoleon and Dr. Archibald Alexander. But there is something very intent in the eye of the man, and the horse he rides is lathered with the foam of a long and quick travel of one hundred and thirty-five miles. He cries, Go long to his steed, for those Christians must be captured and that religion annihilated. Suddenly the horses shy off and plunge, until the riders are precipitated. A new sun had been kindled, putting out the glare of the ordinary sun. Christ, with the glories of heaven wrapped about Him, looked out from a cloud, and the splendour was insufferable, and no wonder the horses sprang and the equestrians dropped. Struck stone blind, Saul cries out, Who art Thou, Lord? And Jesus answered him, I am the One you have been chasing. He that scourges Christians scourges Me. I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. From that wild, exciting, and overwhelming scene there rises up the greatest preacher of all the ages--Paul, in whose behalf prisons were rocked down; before whom rulers turned pale; into whose hand Mediterranean sea captains put control of their ship wrecking craft, and whose epistles are the avant courier of a resurrection day. I learn from this scene--

I. That a worldly fall sometimes precedes a spiritual uplifting. A man does not get much sympathy by falling off a horse. People say he ought not to have got into the saddle if he could not ride. Here is Paul on horseback; a proud man riding on with government documents in his pocket; a graduate of a most famous school in which Doctor Gamaliel had been a professor; perhaps having already attained two of the three titles of the school--Rab and Rabbi, and on his way to Rabbak. I know, from his temperament, that his horse was ahead of the other horses. But without time to think of his dignity he is tumbled into the dust. And yet that was the best ride Paul ever took. Out of that violent fall he arose into the illustrious apostleship. So it has been in all the ages. You will never be worth anything for God and the Church until you are somehow thrown and humiliated. You must go down before you go up. Joseph finds his path to the Egyptian court through the pit into which his brothers threw him. Daniel would never have walked amid the bronzed lions that adorned the Babylonish throne if he had not first walked amid the real lions of the cave. Men who have been always prospered may be efficient servants of the world, but will be of no advantage to Christ.

II. That the religion or Christ is not a pusillanimous thing. People try to make us believe that Christianity is something for men of weak calibre, for women, for children. Look at this man. He was a logician, a metaphysician, an all-conquering orator, a poet of the highest type. I have never found anything in Carlyle, or Goethe, or Herbert Spencer that could compare in strength or beauty with Pauls Epistles. I do not think there is anything in Sir William Hamilton that shows such mental discipline as you find in Pauls argument about justification and resurrection. I have not found anything in Milton finer than Pauls illustrations drawn from the amphitheatre. There was nothing in Emmet pleading for his life, or in Burke arraigning Warren Hastings, that compared with the scene before Agrippa. A religion that can capture a man like that must have some power in it. Where Paul leads, we can afford to follow. I am glad to know that Christ has had in His discipleship a Mozart and a Handel in music; a Raphael and a Reynolds in painting; an Angelo and a Canova in sculpture; a Rush and a Harvey in medicine; a Grotius and a Washington in statesmanship; a Blackstone, a Marshall, and a Kent in the law; and the time will come when the religion of Christ will conquer all the observatories and universities, and philosophy will, through her telescope, behold the morning star of Jesus, and in her laboratory see that all things work together for good, and with her geological hammer discern the Rock of Ages. Oh, instead of cowering when the sceptic talks of religion as though it were a pusillanimous thing, show him the picture of the intellectual giant of all the ages prostrate on the road to Damascus; then ask your sceptic who it was that threw him. Oh, no! it is no weak gospel. It is a glorious, an all-conquering gospel; the power of God unto salvation.

III. That a man cannot become a Christian until he is unhorsed. We want to ride into the kingdom of God just as the knight rode into castle gate, on palfrey beautifully caparisoned. We want to come into the kingdom of God in fine style. No crying over sin. No begging at the door of Gods mercy. No, we must dismount, go down in the dust, until Christ shall, by His grace, lift us up, as He lifted Paul.

IV. That the grace of God can overcome the persecutor. Paul was not going, as a sheriff goes, to arrest a man against whom he has no spite. He breathed out slaughter. Do you think that that proud man on horseback can ever become a Christian? Yes! There is a voice from heaven uttering two words, Saul! Saul! That man was saved; and so God can, by His grace, overcome any persecutor. The days of sword and fire for Christians seem to have gone by; but has the day of persecution ceased? No. That woman finds it hard to be a Christian while her husband talks and jeers while she is trying to say her prayers or read the Bible. That daughter finds it hard to be a Christian with the whole family arrayed against her. That young man finds it bard to be a Christian in the shop when his companions jeer at him because he will not go to the gambling hell or the house of shame. But, oh, you persecuted ones, is it not time that you began to pray for your persecutors? They are no prouder, no fiercer than was this persecutor. God can, by His grace, make a Renan believe in the Divinity of Jesus, and a Tyndall in the worth of prayer. John Newton stamped the ships deck in derisive indignation at Christianity only a little while before he became a Christian. Out of my house, said a father to his daughter, if you will keep praying; and, before many months passed, the father knelt at the same altar with the child.

V. That there is hope for the worst offenders. It was particularly outrageous that Saul should have gone to Damascus on that errand. The life and death of Jesus was not an old story as it is now. He heard parts of it recited every day by people who were acquainted with all the circumstances; and yet, in the fresh memory of that scene, he goes to persecute Christs disciples. Oh, he was the chief of sinners. No outburst of modesty when he said that. He was a murderer. And yet the grace of God saved him, and so it will you. There is mercy for you who say you are too bad to be saved. You say you have put off the matter so long. Paul had neglected it a great while. You say that the sin you have committed has been amid the most aggravating circumstances. That was so with Paul. You say you have exasperated Christ, and coaxed your own ruin. So did Paul; and yet he sits today on one of the highest of the heavenly thrones.

VI. That there is a tremendous reality in religion. If it had been a mere optical delusion over the road to Damascus, Paul was just the man to find it out. If it had been a sham and pretence, he would have pricked the bubble. And when I see him overwhelmed, I say there must have been something in it. And, my dear brother, you will find that there is something in religion in one of three places, either in earth, or in heaven, or in hell. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The difficulties in the narrative

There are three accounts of the conversion of St. Paul, and they are all in this book. The first is the account of Luke here; the two others are by Paul himself--one to an infuriated mob in chap. 22, the other before Agrippa in chap. 26. Let us--

I. Examine the apparent discrepancies in detail.

1. In one account the companions of Saul fell to the ground; in the other they stood wondering and astonished. But--

(1) It is not at all unlikely that in the journey from Jerusalem some were on horseback and some on foot. This is the common way of making up companies in the East. I once saw a caravan, coming out of the desert into Cairo; some were upon camels, some on asses, many were walking. They had all been to Mecca and back. Those who fell, therefore, in one narrative would be those mounted; those who stood in the other would be the travellers on foot.

(2) But, again, at the first shock all might have fallen, and those who were the farthest from the centre might have sooner recovered themselves, and have been standing astonished even when Saul was still lying upon the earth.

2. In one account it is said the companions of Saul did not hear the voice that spake, and in another that they did hear. Now, do you think that twelve men of common honesty and common sense would find much difficulty if there was such a discrepancy as this between two witnesses who were giving their evidence before them? The slightest cross examination would bring out the fact that in the one case what was heard was a sound, something inarticulate, mysterious, and that in the other they did not hear the words, the distinct utterance that was given. And further, the difference in the word voice in the two passages involves this explanation. In the one case the import is that they heard (the sound) of the voice; in the other, that they did not hear the voice itself--what was said.

3. In one account Ananias is described as a disciple, and all that he says, and all that is said of him, is in harmony with that; in another account he is described as a devout man according to the law, and everything that is said of him, and that he says, is in harmony with that. Well, the one account is not contradictory to, but only supplementary of, the other. But besides that, there is beauty and propriety in the different way in which Ananias is spoken of in the two cases. In the first case, where he is spoken of as being a disciple, is in St. Lukes history of him. St. Luke was a Christian writer, writing a Christian history for Christian people, and therefore he naturally put forward the Christian side of Ananias. In the other case St. Paul is addressing an infuriated Jewish mob, all zealous for the law. With admirable tact, therefore, he endeavours to conciliate them, and he naturally puts before them Ananias Jewish side.

4. In one case it is said that Jesus directed Paul to go into the city, and it should be told him what he must do; but when he is addressing Agrippa, Paul himself seems to speak as if Jesus had said to him a great deal more. Paul, I think, did not receive at the moment of his conversion, from the lips of Jesus, all that he says to Agrippa; but he did receive it all, either direct from Christ or through Ananias as commissioned by Him. In addressing Agrippa his one object was fully to set before him his apostolic commission. The substance and the source of the truth were what was important; and Paul, without attenuating his address by enumerating times and places and circumstances, exercises his common sense in so putting the matter before the king as to fix his attention on the authority and the scope of the ministry he exercised.

II. Some observations arising out of them. Note--

1. The nature and characteristics of human testimony. If two witnesses express themselves precisely in the same language, word for word, it is suspicious. What we look for is substantial agreement with circumstantial variations; such variations constitute, not the weakness, but the strength of the testimony. We have human testimony in this book. Inspiration in respect to some things was necessarily verbal, but, had it always been that, you could never have two accounts of anything. And, moreover, if the guiding inspiration had to be such that every word was to be exactly just that which was uttered, then you have no human agent, with his freedom and intelligence, giving his evidence, but exclusively the dictations of the presiding mind, and these mechanically conveyed. A mere automaton might have been set in motion to do that. On this hypothesis the Bible might have been photographed, and that, too, in human language, by a Divinely directed, material force. You have something better than that. You have Divine thought; but you have that communicated by conscious and active minds. Of course, if we had the witnesses before us, we should soon be able, by a little cross examination, to harmonise their statements.

2. These three different accounts were all written by the same hand. Though the first account only is in the words of Luke, the others being in the words of St. Paul, yet Luke wrote them all down; they lay before his eye; he could compare them as we do. Luke was a man of education and intelligence; of disciplined faculty and sound judgment. Now, if he had included what was inherently contradictory in a book written for the express purpose that those who read it should know the certainty of the things in which they had been instructed, do you suppose that he would not be conscious of the discrepancy? And do you not see that it was in his power to remove it? He could easily have made the accounts harmonise. But he did not think it worth while to do it. (T. Binney.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 9:3-5. And as he journeyed — Full of wrath against the Lord’s disciples; and came near to Damascus, suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven — This, doubtless, was occasioned by the rays of glory which darted from our Lord’s body. Some have thought that Saul, being a learned Jew, would easily know this to be the Shekinah, or visible token of the divine presence; and that he therefore cried out, Who art thou, Lord? — Though he saw no human form. But the question certainly rather implies, that he did not know who or what he was who spoke to him: and it is plain, from Act 22:14, and other texts, that he did see, amidst this glory, a human form, which yet he might not at first imagine to be that of Jesus, though Stephen had, probably in his hearing, declared that he saw a vision of this kind. See Act 7:55-56. And he fell to the earth — As did also all those that journeyed with him, according to the relation which he himself gives, Act 26:14. They all fell prostrate from fear or reverence, supposing the supernatural light which they saw to be an indication of the appearance of some divine person or angel. Thus Saul, when his rage is come to the highest, is taught not to breathe slaughter. And what was wanting in time to confirm him in his discipleship, is compensated by the inexpressible terror he sustained. By this also the suddenly-constituted apostle was guarded against the grand snare in which novices are apt to fall, namely, that of pride and high-mindedness. And — To his great astonishment; he heard a voice — Severe, yet full of grace; saying unto him — In the Hebrew language, (Act 26:14,) Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? — The persecutions of Christ’s disciples are here represented as the persecutions of Christ himself; because of their union with him by the Holy Spirit, which renders them members of his body; and because of that sympathy which he has with them under all their sufferings. See Heb 4:15; Isa 63:9. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? — And what is it that I have done against thee? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest — Who can describe the amazement and terror which must have seized Saul on hearing these words? The name of Jesus was not unknown to him; his heart had risen at it in anger and resentment many a time; and gladly would he have buried it in oblivion. He knew it was the name that he persecuted; but little did he expect to hear it from heaven, or from the midst of such glory as now shone round about him. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks — Thou wilt find it hard for thee to accomplish thy malicious designs against me; nay, all thy fury can only wound thyself, without being able to do me or my cause any real injury. For, as Dr. Hammond rightly observes, this is a proverbial expression, signifying that impotent rage which hurts one’s self, and not the person or thing against which it is levelled.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

B.—THE EXALTED LORD APPEARS TO SAUL, WHEN THE LATTER IS NEAR DAMASCUS

Act_9:3-9

3And [But] as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about [flashed around] him a light from2 heaven: 4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5And [But] he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said [But he (omit the Lord said)]3, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:4 [omit the remainder of this verse, and that part of the next, which precedes the word Arise] it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said, unto him, [But] Arise, and go into the city, and it shall [will] be told thee what thou must do. 7And the men which [who] journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a [the, τῆς] voice, but seeing no man. 8And Saul arose from the earth; and [but] when his eyes were opened, he saw no man [nothing]Acts 5 : but they led him by the hand, and brought [conducted] him into [to] Damascus. 9And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act_9:3. Suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.—Saul had nearly completed his journey, and was already in the vicinity of Damascus, when he was suddenly arrested by an appearance from heaven, and cast to the ground. A light, proceeding from above, flashed around him (περιήστραψεν [with which comp. περιλάμψαν, Act_26:13]), as sudden in its appearance, as powerful, and as dazzling as a flash of lightning. It is evident, however, that Luke does not mean, literally, a flash of lightning; the verb which he employs is only intended to compare that heavenly appearance to the lightning. The preposition περί in the compound verb implies that the light surrounded Saul, and, specially him only, but not any of his attendants. Luke does not remark in this connection that Saul saw Jesus himself in this heavenly, light, but the fact is subsequently stated (Ἰησοῦς ὁ ὀφθείς σοι, Act_9:17; ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ εἶδε τὸν κύριον, Act_9:27; ἰδεῖν τὸν δίκαιον, Act_22:14, and comp. 1Co_9:1; 1Co_15:8.)

Act_9:4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice.—Saul was filled with terror, and, prostrated by the overpowering influence of the heavenly appearance, saw nothing further. But he heard a voice which called to him, and to which he replied—it was the Lord Jesus who spoke. He said; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? The words were, according to Act_26:14, pronounced in the Hebrew dialect [i.e. the Aramæan, or Syro-Chaldaic, (Robinson)], and with this circumstance the shorter Hebrew form of the name which is here given [Σαούλ], in place of the [somewhat more usual] Grecized form [Σαῦλος] precisely agrees. The interrogative pronoun τί demands an account of his motives for engaging in this persecution, according to the beautiful interpretation of Chrysostom:τί παρʼ ἐμοῦ μέγα ἤ μικρὸν ἠδικημένος ταῦτα ποιεῖς;—We are reminded by it of the noble reply which Polycarp made to the proconsul who required him to blaspheme Christ: ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ ἕξ ἓτη ἔχω δουλεύων αὐτῷ, και οὐδεν με ἠδίκησεν. Καὶ πῶς δύναμαι βλασφημῆσαι τον βασιλέα μου, τὸν σώσαντά με; Martyrium St. Polyk. c. 9. [Euseb. H. E. IV. 15.]. The question accordingly appeals to Saul’s conscience, and is designed to awaken in him a sense of the grievous wrong which he is committing.

Act_9:5. Who art thou, Lord?—Saul’s question indicates that he did not immediately recognize Jesus, although a presentiment respecting the nature of Him who spoke, may have at once followed the appeal made to his conscience. [“Conscientia ipsa facile diccret: Jesum esse” (Bengel). Tr.]. The words of the Lord (in which ἐγὼ and σύ are emphatically contrasted) are not to be referred to the first call, in the sense that they are a continuation of it (equivalent to: ‘Saul, I, whom thou persecutes!, am Jesus.’ Bengel), but constitute a direct answer to the question: ‘Who art thou?’ (equivalent to: ‘I, who appear to thee, and have called, am that Jesus whom thou persecutest’). But as Jesus appeared in his heavenly glory, while Saul is a poor and feeble being, easily prostrated and terrified, the answer was adapted to humble him deeply, and lead to his self-abasement. [Here a part of the text. rec. is omitted by Lechler; see above, note 3, appended to the text. For the explanation, see below, Exeg. etc. note, on Act_26:12-14.—Tr..]

Act_9:6. [But] arise, and go into the city.—The address of Jesus turns, at the word ἀλλά [for which see above, note 3, appended to the text], from the past to the future; old things are passed away, all things are to become new. Jesus speaks as the Lord, who has the right to command Saul, who will issue further instructions, and who expects obedience. Paul would not have known what course he should now follow; ho is directed to enter the city and await information, without knowing the source from which it will proceed; the passive form, λαληθήσεται, is purposely chosen.

Act_9:7. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless.—The attendants, who had probably been commissioned by the high priest to aid Saul in the arrest and delivery at Jerusalem of the Damascene Christians, stood speechless and confounded. (Such is frequently the signification of ἐννεός, which originally signified only mute, but often, too, occurs in the sense of ἐκπεπληγμένος). [The form ἐνεοί, found in A. B. C. E. H., and Cod. Sin., is now regarded by the highest authorities as more correct than ἐννεοί of G. and the text. rec.—Tr.]. The circumstance that these attendants heard the voice, but, at the same time, saw no one from whom it proceeded, was specially adapted to amaze and confound them. When Paul himself speaks of this circumstance, in Act_22:9, he says in reference to his companions:τὴν φωνὴν οὐκ ἥκουσαν τοῦ λαλοῦντός μοι. This language seems, at first view, to contradict the terms in the present verse, viz. ἀκούοντες μὲν τῆς φωνῆς, and recent criticism has not failed to take advantage of it. Those attempts to explain this apparent discrepancy, which make a distinction in the sense of φωνῆ occurring in both passages, have, no doubt, been unsuccessful; thus, some interpreters allege that φωνῆς here refers to Paul’s words, while, in Act_22:9, φωνὴ τοῦ λαλοῦντός μοι is mentioned (Occum., Beza, and others); by others φωνή, in the present verse, has been supposed to designate an inarticulate sound, but, in Act_22:9, to refer to articulated words (Rosenmüller, Heinrichs, and others); both of these interpretations are in conflict with the context. There, is, nevertheless, an essential difference between hearing [a mere sound], and hearing [that is, understanding the meaning, as earlier interpreters, and Grotius, Kuinoel, Hackett, etc. explain ἥκουσαν in Act_22:9. (Meyer)—Tr.]. The meaning of Paul’s words in Act_22:9 is very plain, viz.: his attendants did not hear the voice of him that spake to him, i. e., did not receive a distinct impression of the words or language of the speaker (φ. τοῦ λαλ. μοι), and therefore did not understand his address to Saul. In Act_9:7, on the other hand, we are simply informed that they heard the voice, which could easily have been the case, even if the words of the Lord addressed to Saul were not distinctly understood by them. It is, besides, worthy of notice, in this connection, that ἀκούειν is connected in the present passage with the genitive, and not as in Act_22:9, with the accusative. The distinction in sense is thus explained by the editors of the Thesaurus Linguæ Græcæ of H. Stephanus [Henry Stephens, or, more accurately, Estienne, a grandson of the first Henry, the founder of this celebrated family of Parisian printers. Herzog, Real-En. XV. 64 ff.—Tr.]: “Genitivus maxime poni videtur in re, quam in genere audimus, aut ex parte tantum, aut incerto aliquo modo,—Accusativus proprie rem certius definitam indicare cogitandus est” In this case, Bengel would be justified in saying: Audiebant vocem solam, non vocem cum verbis. And the objection made by Meyer to such a view, viz., that merely seeing and hearing are in both passages mentioned antithetically, is not well founded, neither does it prove that in both cases the hearing was the same, for the seeing was not the same: according to Act_9:7, they saw no man, but according to Act_22:9 they saw the light. Both passages alike show, as Baumgarten (I. 195 ff,) has ably demonstrated, that Paul received a distinct, but his companions an indistinct, impression.—[See Exeg. note on Act_22:6-11, ult.—Tr.].—Another variation is found in the two statements, occurring in Act_9:7 and Act_26:14; according to the former, the attendants stood, but, according to the latter, they, as well as Paul, fell to the earth. Here, too, some writers have supposed that a discrepancy exists which cannot be explained, and inferences have thence been drawn to a certain extent, which affect the credibility of Luke. It should, however, be carefully noted that the words in Act_26:14 (πάντων δὲ καταπεσόντων ἡμῶν εἰς τὴν γῆν) unmistakably refer to the first moment when the light was suddenly seen to flash, after which the voice of Jesus called to Saul, whereas, according to Act_9:7 the men stood speechless at the time when Jesus and Saul were speaking. Or, in other words, Act_26:14 refers to an earlier, but Act_9:7 to a later point of time. It is not here admissible to take εἱστήκεισαν in a pluperfect sense (equivalent to: they had stood, or continued to stand), for since the perfect ἕστηκα has the sense of the present tense, the pluperfect εἱστήκειν occurs in that of the imperfect. [Win. Gram. N. T. § 40. 4. ult.—Tr.]. Moreover, that the men stood, is not the fact to which it is intended to give special prominence, but that they were speechless or confounded, although we are not authorized to overlook entirely the posture (standing) in which they are found. It is true, that if the present verse alone were considered, we would receive no other impression than that Saul’s companions had continued to stand during (he whole transaction. But as the other passage informs us that they all fell to the earth as soon as the light was seen, we can easily conceive (with Bengel, Kuinoel, Baumgarten) that, although it is not expressly stated, Saul’s attendants recovered from their fright, sooner than he did, and then arose. He fell down with them at once, and, when the voice called to him, continued to lie as if he were paralyzed; his attendants, who heard the voice but did not understand a word, and who were, consequently, not personally interested, very naturally recovered at an earlier moment. This is not an arbitrary assumption, as Meyer supposes, since it is sustained by a comparison of the parallel passages, and is not rendered improbable by any fact which they record.

Act_9:8-9. When his eyes were opened, he saw no man [nothing].—Saul arose from the earth, in obedience to the command [Act_9:6], but when he opened his eyes which had hitherto been closed, he could see nothing, and continued in this state during the following three days. He could open his eyes, but could not see.—(The phrase οὐδὲν ἔβλεπε involves an objective negation [denying an alleged fact]; μὴ βλέπων in Act_9:9, is not distinguished from it logically, but, rather, only grammatically (Winer [Gram. N. T. § 55, 5, ult.—used subjectively, or, denying a certain conception.—Tr.]), since the negative belongs to the participle. The latter is merely a less emphatic expression than βλέπων, which would at once imply actual blindness; but it is not Luke’s purpose to convey such a conception, since he does not represent Saul’s condition as a divine punishment.).—This temporary loss of sight, which however continued during several days, was, without doubt, occasioned by the dazzling light that accompanied the appearance of Jesus [comp. Act_22:11.—Tr.]; still, a special divine act must be assumed as the original cause, since the men who were with Saul, had also seen the light (Act_22:9), without being themselves deprived of sight. For they were able to lead him, like a blind man, by the hand into the city.—During these three days Saul entirely refrained from eating and drinking; he was occupied with his own thoughts and the examination of his spiritual state; and while he waited for the instructions which he was to receive from the Lord, fasting and prayer constituted his preparation for the future.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. It was not till Saul had reached the vicinity of Damascus, and now drew nigh to the gates of the city, that his progress was checked and he was awakened by Christ. The danger which threatened the Damascene Christians was imminent, for their enemy was at hand, but the help which God affords is most gloriously revealed in the most severe trials. When Saul reached the spot in which he hoped to celebrate the victory of his zeal, he was himself subdued by the Lord.

2. Jesus personally appeared to Saul, at. first in a heavenly light which flashed around the latter like lightning, then called to the prostrate man, reproached him for being a persecutor, revealed his own name, and finally directed him to enter the city, where the will of God should be made known to him. These are the essential features-of the occurrence which took place near Damascus. They instantly produced the deep conviction that Jesus lived. When Saul persecuted the disciples, he was governed by the delusion that after Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified as a malefactor and blasphemer, he had remained in the power of death. But Jesus, who now appears to him personally, is made known alike by the light and by the words which he pronounces, so that Saul obtains a direct, positive and personal knowledge that Jesus, the Crucified One, although he had died, is alive. [“He shewed himself alive” Act_1:3]. It is a fundamental truth, of the Christian religion that the Redeemer lives. We have not a Saviour who lived only at a former time, or, “who was”, but we have one “who is, and is to come.” (Rev_1:4, where ὁ ὤν designedly placed before ὁ ἦυ καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος). Christ is ὁ ζῶν (Rev_1:18). And the truth, of which Saul is now convinced—that Christ, is alive—is one of the leading themes of his subsequent preaching—a prominent article of the faith which he proclaimed.

3. This appearance, besides, conveyed to Saul a deep impression of the glory of Jesus in his state of exaltation. The light which suddenly flashed around him with the rapidity and the brightness of lightning, was a light from heaven, the effulgence in which God himself dwells. It was in this effulgence that Jesus appeared to Saul, and so powerful was the effect, that, like all who were with him (Act_26:14), he immediately fell to the earth, and was deprived of sight for several days. The voice, too, of Jesus exercised an irresistible influence over him; he at once became conscious of the superiority and sovereign power of Him who now appeared, and bowed in deep submission before him. Jesus, indeed, not only lives, but is exalted in heaven, living and reigning in divine glory. All the extraordinary and wonderful features of the scene combine in bearing witness to the majesty and glory of Jesus.

4. It is apparent as well from Act_9:17; Act_9:27, as from Saul’s own declarations (e. g. 1Co_9:1; 1Co_15:8), that he saw Jesus on this occasion, heard his voice, and spoke with him. And this did not occur in a dream; it was not exclusively an internal process in his soul; it was not the apparition of a spirit, but a real, visible and audible manifestation in the world of sense: Jesus appeared to Saul personally in his glorified corporeality, as true man, as the same Jesus, who had dwelt on earth, and who nevertheless appeared at this time from heaven in divine glory. This fact bears witness to the abiding humanity of the glorified Redeemer, and to his glorified corporeality. It was this event in the experience of the apostle Paul which formed the original and principal source whence he derived his deep views and doctrines concerning the combination of the spiritual and the corporeal in the spiritual-corporeal paths of human life,—the transfiguration of man’s bodily nature—the resurrection of the body, etc.

5. The very intimate communion of life which exists between Jesus and his disciples, is implied both in the first call: “Why persecutest thou me?”, and in the subsequent reply: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Saul had imagined that he persecuted none but the Christians, whom he regarded as fanatical sectaries without a leader or shepherd, and as apostates from the traditions of the fathers; but he had not supposed that any relations whatever now subsisted between himself and Jesus of Nazareth, who had been put, to death, and was thus removed from his path. But Jesus himself now appears to him and bears this witness: ‘Thou persecutest me—not simply my disciples, but me also.’ Their sufferings, consequently, are his sufferings—they cannot be separated from him, so that they can be assailed without afflicting Him. In consequence of the communion of life which he maintains with his people, he is ever in them, and suffers, is reviled and persecuted with them. And his exaltation and dominion confer blessings on them; while he protects his followers, he fills their enemies with terror. The oneness of Christ with Christians—the communion of life and intimate connection existing between the Lord and believers—the church of Christ one body, and the Lord its head—these lofty truths, which belong to our faith, which the mind of the apostle Paul grasped with more power and distinctness, and which he developed in his discourses and writings with even more fulness than others have done, are already presented in their general features, or in a germinal state in the appearance of Jesus to Saul in the vicinity of Damascus.

6. But the following thoughts must have, preeminently, occurred to him, and have moved him very deeply: ‘I have then persecuted Him, even when I little thought that I was doing it; I have sinned against Him! He is exalted in heaven, possesses irresistible power, justly claims humble and implicit obedience(τί με θέλεις ποιῆσαι), and yet I have resisted him! I now feel with whom I have to do. Nevertheless, he has not met me for judgment; he has not crushed me in his wrath. He has, rather, with pity and love, arrested my erring steps, has called me to himself, yea, assigns a holy work to me.’ (The latter thought is suggested by the call which he received, a few days afterwards, to be the apostle of the Gentiles.).—This was grace—full, free, pitying grace, granted to the sinner. It was the light of grace which first revealed to Saul the magnitude of his guilt, and the true character of sin in general. And his deep fall taught him, on the other hand, to understand the height and glory of divine grace, By such revelations he was cast down, and yet lifted up; his fall to the earth, and the ability to arise, when he received the encouraging command of Jesus, were an image of the processes which occurred in his soul. And now his own personal experience enabled him to understand the nature both of sin and of grace, revealing the latter as the preponderating power of God. Even if sin abounded, grace did much more abound. (Rom_5:20). Hence, sin and grace are the two hinges of the Gospel, in the view of the apostle, on which, in the divine economy, all things turn.

7. Saul had hitherto persecuted the disciples of Jesus because he believed them to be not only fanatical and erring worshippers of Jesus of Nazareth, but also persons who did not render due honor to the sanctuary of Israel, the Law, and the traditions. He was a zealot in maintaining the traditions of the fathers (ζηλωτὴς τῶν πατρικῶν παραδόσεων, Gal_1:14). As such a zealot, he warred with those who, as he thought in his delusion, had apostatized from Jehovah and his law; and if he beheld the execution of Stephen with satisfaction (Act_8:1), and exerted all his power in destroying the church of Jesus, he entertained no other opinion than that he was performing a good and righteous work, on which God looked with pleasure. But he is now taught, in a startling and even painful manner, by the appearance of Jesus from heaven, that God looked on his course with displeasure. He is compelled to view his conduct in a new light; the work which he had believed to be acceptable and preeminently meritorious, is, in reality, most sinful in the eyes of God; it. is actually a conflict with the Anointed of God, and, consequently with God himself, by which deep guilt was contracted. The Christians are, accordingly, not apostates, but, on the contrary, the children of God, men who are eminently favored by the Most High. Hence, his views of the law, and of the righteousness of the law, were, of necessity, entirely altered.

8. The influence which the appearance of Jesus exercised on Saul was irresistible. He was thrown to the ground, and was compelled to yield unconditionally to a higher power, thoroughly convinced that he lay at the mercy of Him who had appeared and addressed him. But this is very different from the question: Is this revelation of Jesus to be considered as gratia irresistibilis, or is it not? Olshausen believed that it ought to be answered in the affirmative. [But after expressing his conviction that σκληρόν here occurs in the sense of ἀδύνατον, and that Paul could not then have resisted the force with which grace met him, Ols. adds: “If we, however, recognize this sense in the present passage, we do not on that account by any means approve of the Augustinian doctrine of gratia irresistibilis.”—Tr.]. The language of the Lord (which, it is true, is an interpolation here [see note 3, appended to the text above], but is genuine in Act_26:14) does, in fact, apparently imply an irresistibility—but only apparently. For Paul himself remarks, on the occasion on which he repeats those words, that, he had not been ἀπειθής to the heavenly vision (Act_26:19), thus plainly presupposing the freedom of his will,—the independent character of his obedience, which he could have also refused. There is not a single feature of the whole transaction which indicates an irresistible change of the will. And the apostle Paul never speaks of his conversion, at any subsequent period, in such a manner as to deny the freedom of his self-determination, when ho followed the divine directions. However unrestricted the operations of grace are, they are directed only towards a free subject, or, to one who can as well accept as repel grace. The choice is given to Saul, either to yield to the impression which this appearance made on him, and open his heart more and more fully, or to close the avenues to it. But that he chose the former, or, was willing to yield to the impression which he had received, is already implied in the questions: “Who art thou, Lord?” “What wilt thou have me to do?”

9. The internal processes connected with the occurrence, were far more important than the external. However wonderful the visible appearance was, the revelation of Jesus to the spirit of Saul, was, nevertheless, the decisive miracle; and in this light the apostle himself views the subject. It is true that he repeatedly mentions the circumstance in his Epistles, that he had seen the Lord Jesus (1Co_9:1; 1Co_15:8). But when the occasion leads him to express his most profound views of the event, he describes the central circumstance of the whole as being ah internal ἀποκάλυψις (εὐδόκησευ ὁ θεὸς—ἀποκαλύψαι τὸυ υἱὸυ ἐν ἐμοί. Gal_1:15-16). If the main design of the whole occurrence had been fully accomplished by means of the light and the sound, the attendants (assuming that their senses were perfect), would have necessarily been able to perceive and understand precisely as much as did Saul himself. But both the visible appearance and the call of Jesus made only an indistinct and confused impression on them, and furnished them with no definite and clear conceptions. This result must obviously be ascribed, first, to the sluggishness of their souls, which were not susceptible of such impressions, and, secondly, to the fact that this revelation of Jesus did not belong simply to the world of sense, but was, at the same time, of a spiritual, or spiritual-corporeal nature.

10. The temporary blindness of Saul was designed by the will of God not so much to be an image of the moral blindness in which he had hitherto lived (as it is generally believed), as, rather to withdraw and seclude him from the external world, during the period in which he pondered, and learned to understand, the decisive event that had occurred; it furnished him with an opportunity to be alone with himself and with his God and Saviour. According to this view, his blindness was not a punishment, but much rather an aid to reflection and a gift of grace.—During these three days Paul neither ate nor drank any thing whatever. This fasting or bodily preparation, was not imposed by the law, but was altogether voluntary, and was dictated by an inward impulse; it was, consequently, strictly evangelical; it referred to the divine instruction and the message which he had been directed (Act_9:6) to await. We are informed in Act_9:11, that prayer was, in this case, combined with fasting.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See below, Act_9:10-19 a.

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Footnotes:

[2]Act_9:3. In place of ἀπό [of the text. rec., after φῶς], A. B. C. G. [also Cod. Sin.] and subordinate manuscripts, as well as several ancient versions, exhibit ἐκ, which has, accordingly, been very properly preferred by Lach. and Tisch.; ἀπό is sustained only by E. H., and some minuscules. [Alf. retains ἀπό, and, with Meyer, regards έκ as a correction from Act_22:6.—Tr.]

[3]Act_9:5. The words Ὁ δὲ κύριος ει̇͂πεν, of the text. rec. [but omitted in the Vulgate], are found only in G. H., and some minuscules; they occur in the Syriac version. In E. ει̇͂πεν is wanting; other manuscripts omit κύριος. A. B. C. and some other authorities have simply ὁ δέ, which is undoubtedly the genuine reading, but was afterwards unnecessarily enlarged by the addition of κύρ. ει̇͂πεν. [Alf., like Lach. and Tisch. regards the two words κύρ. ει̇͂π. as interpolated, and omits them.—Cod. Sin. reads: ὁ δὲ ει̇͂πεν.—Tr.]

[4]Act_9:5-6. It is remarkable that the following gloss, which Erasmus, and, after him, the Elzevirs [text. rec.] adopted, does not occur in a single Greek manuscript; it is not found in the [recently discovered] Codex Sinaiticus. It was inserted after διώκεις in these terms: σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν.Τρέμων τε καί θαμβῶν εἶπε Κύριε, τί με θέλεις ποιῆσαι; καὶ ὁ κύριος πρὸς ἀυτόν.—E. alone has σκληρόν .. λακτίζειν, but omits the rest. The Vulgate, on the other hand, and some oriental versions [Syr.], as well as Theophylact and Oecumenius, exhibit this addition, which is evidently borrowed from the parallel passages, with an enlargement intended to improve the whole. The words σκληρόν ..λακτίζειν, are taken from Act_26:14, while in Act_22:10 the following occur: ει̇͂πον δέ. τί ποιήσω κύριε, whereas in all the manuscripts Act_9:6 begins with ἀλλά [before ἀνάστηθι.—Stier and Theile’s N. T. encloses the whole passage in brackets; Alf. like Lach., Tisch., etc., omits the whole, as “the authority of the MSS. is decisive: it could hardly be stronger.”—Cod. Sin. omits the whole passage, i. e., σκληρόν … πρὸς αὐτόν, and reads: διώκεις· ἀλλὰ ἀνάστηθι.—Tr.]

[5]Act_9:8. The great majority of MSS., and some versions and fathers read οὐδένα, which was adopted by the text. rec. Still, οὐδέν is to be preferred; it is supported by B. and Cod. Sin., and, especially, some ancient versions [Syr. Vulg. nihil]; besides, A. originally exhibited οὐδέν, which was afterwards changed to οὐδένα by another hand. It is, moreover, very probable that this correction was suggested by μηδένα of Act_9:7. [This is also the view of Meyer, who terms the correction “mechanical,” and of Lach. Tisch., etc., while Alf. retains οὐδένα, and thinks that οὐδέν is the correction, intended “to render the description of the blindness more complete.”—Cod. Sin. exhibits οὐδέν in Tischendorf’s 4th. edition (Lipsiæ, 1863), but he remarks, p. LXVIII.): “super ν videtur α cœptum sed statim missum esse factum.”—Tr.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 9:3. Ἐν δὲ τῷ πορεύεσθαι, as he journeyed) Ordinarily they who are performing a journey are not readily susceptible of apparitions, by reason of the motion and the noise.—ἐξαίφνης, on a sudden) When GOD suddenly and vehemently attacks (accosts) a sinner, it is the highest benefit and unbounded faithfulness on His part. It is thus that Saul is taught to cease breathing out slaughter at the time that his fury has come to its height; and what was wanting in the duration of his discipline, is made up for by the terror which penetrated all the inmost depths of his soul: by which very means being thus suddenly converted into an apostle, he is also fortified against the danger to which novices are liable.—αὐτὸν, him) A most evident apparition: Act 9:7-8. Not unlike was the vision of Constantine, wherein he saw a cross; which vision is at least as worthy of credit as the dream of Alexander the Great as to the High priest of the Hebrews. The history is given in Joseph us, and is well worthy of being read.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_9:3-9. The conversion of Saul does not appear, on an accurate consideration of the three narratives (9, 22, 26) which agree in the main points, to have had the way psychologically prepared for it by scruples of conscience as to his persecuting proceedings. On the contrary, Luke represents it in the history at our passage, and Paul himself in his speeches (22 and 26; comp. also Gal_1:14-15; Php_3:12), as in direct and immediate contrast to his vehement persecuting zeal, amidst which he was all of a sudden internally arrested by the miraculous fact from without. Comp. Beyschlag in the Stud. u. Krit. 1864, p. 251 f. Moreover, previous scruples and inward struggles are à priori, in the case of a character so pure (at this time only erring), firm, and ardently decided as he also afterwards continued to be, extremely improbable: he saw in the destruction of the Christian church only a fulfilment of duty and a meritorious service for the glory of Jehovah (Act_22:3; comp. Gal_1:14; Php_3:6). For the transformation of his firm conviction into the opposite, of his ardent interest against the gospel into an ardent zeal for it, there was neededwith the pure resoluteness of his will, which even in his unwearied persecutions was just striving after a righteousness of his own (Php_3:6)a heavenly power directly seizing on his inmost conscience; and this he experienced, in the midst of his zealot enterprise, on the way to Damascus, when that perverted striving after righteousness and merit was annihilated. The light which from heaven suddenly shone around him brighter than the sun (Act_26:13), was no flash of lightning. The similarity of the expression in all the three narratives militates against this assumption so frequently made (and occurring still in Schrader); and Paul himself certainly knew how to distinguish in his recollection a natural phenomenon, however alarming, from a φῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ associated with a heavenly revelation.[235] This φῶς was rather the heavenly radiance, with which the exalted Christ appearing in His δόξα is surrounded. In order to a scripturally true conception of the occurrence, moreover, we may not think merely in general of an internal vision produced by God (Weiss, Schweizer, Schenkel, and others); nor is it enough specially to assume a self-manifestation of Christ made merely to the inner sense of Saul,although externally accompanied by the miraculous appearance of light,according to which by an operation of Christ, who is in heaven, He presented Himself to the inner man of Saul, and made Himself audible in definite words (see my first edition; comp. Bengel, üb d. Bekehr. Pauli, aus d. Lat. übers, v. Niethammer, Tüb. 1826). On the contrary, according to 1Co_15:8 (comp. Act_9:1), Christ must really have appeared to him in His glorified body (comp. Act_9:17; Act_9:27). For only the objective (this also against Ewald) and real corporeal appearance corresponds to the category of appearances, in which this is placed at 1Co_15:8, as also to the requirement of apostleship, which is expressed in 1Co_9:1 most definitely, and that in view of Peter and the other original apostles, by τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ἑώρακα. Comp. Paul in Hilgenfelds Zeitschr. 1863, p. 182 ff. The Risen One Himself was in the light which appeared, and converted Saul (and hence Gal_1:1 : τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν), with which also Gal_1:16 (see in loc.) fully agrees; comp. Php_3:12. This view is rightly adopted, after the old interpreters, by Lyttleton (on the conversion, etc., translated by Hahn, Hannov. 1751), Hess, Michaelis, Haselaar (Lugd. Bat. 1806), and by most modern interpreters except the Tübingen School; as well as by Olshausen and Neander, both of whom, however, without any warrant in the texts, assume a psychological preparation by the principles of Gamaliel, by the speech of Stephen, and by the sight of his death. For the correct view comp. Baumgarten; Diestelmaier, Jugendleben des Saulus, 1866, p. 37 ff.; Oertel, Paulus in d. Apostelgesch. p. 112 ff., who also enlarges on the connection of the doctrine of the apostle with his conversion.[236] On the other hand, de Wette does not go beyond an admission of the enigmatical character of the matter; Lange (Apost. Zeitalt. II. p. 116 f.) connects the objective fact with a visionary perception of it; and Holsten (in Hilgenfelds Zeitschr. 1861, p. 223 ff.), after the example of Baur, attempts to make good the vision, which he assumes, as a real one, indeed, but yet as an immanent psychological act of Sauls own mind,a view which is refuted by the necessary resemblance of the fact to the other Christophanies in 1 Corinthians 15.[237] All the attempts of Baur and his school to treat the event as a visionary product from the laboratory of Sauls own thoughts are exegetical impossibilities, in presence of which Baur himself at last stood still acknowledging a mystery. See his Christenth. d. drei ersten Jahrh. p. 45, ed. 2. It is no argument against the actual bodily appearance, that the text speaks only of the light, and not of a human form rendered visible. For, while in general the glorified body may have been of itself inaccessible to the human eye, so, in particular, was it here as enclosed in the heavenly radiance; and the texts relate only what was externally seen and apparent also to the others,namely, the radiance of light, out of which the Christ surrounded by it made Himself visible only to Saul, as He also granted only to him to hear His words, which the rest did not hear.[238] Whoever, taking offence at the diversities of the accounts in particular points as at their miraculous tenor, sets down what is so reported as unhistorical, or refers it, with Zeller, to the psychological domain of nascent faith, is opposed, as regards the nature of the fact recorded, by the testimony of the apostle himself in 1Co_15:8; 1Co_9:1 with a power sustained by his whole working, which is not to be broken, and which leads ultimately to the desperate shift of supposing in Paul, at precisely the most decisive and momentous point of his life, a self-deception as the effect of the faith existing in him; in which case the narrative of the Book of Acts is traced to a design of legitimating the apostleship of Paul, which in the sequel is further confirmed by the authority of Peter.

Hardly deserving now of historical notice is the uncritical rationalism of the method that preceded the critical school of Baur, by which (after Vitringa, Obss. p. 370, and particularly Eichhorn, Ammon, Boehme, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, and others) the whole occurrence was converted into a fancy-picture, in which the persecutors struggles of conscience furnished the psychological ground and a sudden thunderstorm the accessories,a view with which some (Emmerling and Bretschneider) associate the exegetical blunder of identifying the fact with 2Co_12:1 ff.; while Brennecke (after Bahrdt and Venturini) makes Jesus, who was only apparently dead, appear to Saul to check his persecuting zeal. These earlier attempts to assign the conversion of the apostle to the natural sphere are essentially distinguished, in respect of their basis, from those of the critical school of Baur and Holsten, by the circumstance that the latter proceed from the postulates of pantheistic, and the former from those of theistic, rationalism. But both agree in starting from the negation of a miracle, by which Saul could have come to be among the prophets, as they consign the resurrection of the Lord Himself from the dead to the same negative domain. In consequence of this, indeed, they cannot present the conversion of Paul otherwise than under the notion of an immanent process of his individual mental life.

ἀπὸ τ. οὐρανοῦ] belongs to ΠΕΡΙΉΣΤΡ. Comp. Act_22:6, Act_26:13; Xen. Cyr. iv. 2. 15 : φῶς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ προφανές. On ΠΕΡΙΑΣΤΡΆΠΤΕΙΝ, comp. Juvenc. in Stob. cxvii. 9; 4Ma_4:10.

[235] This applies in the main, also, against Ewald, p. 375, who assumes a dazzling celestial phenomenon of an unexpected and terrible nature, possibly a thunderstorm, or rather a deadly sirocco in the middle of a sultry day, etc.

[236] See also Hofstede de Groot, Pauli conversio praecipuus theologiae Paul. fons, Groning. 1855, who, however, in setting forth this connection mixes up too much that is arbitrary.

[237] See, in opposition to Holsten, Beyschlag in the Stud. u. Krit. 1864, pp. 197 ff., 231 ff.; Oertel, l.c. In opposition to Beyschlag, again, see Holsten, zum Evang. des Paulus u. Petr. p. 2 ff.; as also Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschr. 1864, p. 155 ff., who likewise starts from à priori presuppositions, which do not agree with the exegetical results. These à priori presuppositions, marking the criticism of the Baur School, agree generally in the negation of miracle, as well as in the position that Christianity has arisen in the way of an immanent development of the human mind,whereby the credibility of the Book of Acts is abandoned. With Holsten, Lang, relig. Charaktere, Paulus, p. 15 ff., essentially agrees; as does also, with poetical embellishment, Hirzel in the Zeitstimmen, 1864.Hausrath, der Apostel Paulus, 1865, p. 23 f., contents himself with doubts, founded on Gal_1:15, which leave the measure of the historical character in suspenso. Holtzmann, Judenth. u. Christenth. p. 540 ff., finds thein the detailscontradictory and legendary narrative of the Book of Acts confirmed in the main by the hints of the apostle himself in his letters; nevertheless, for the explanation of what actually occurred, he does not go beyond suggesting various possibilities, and finds it advisable to ascribe to the same causes, from which it becomes impossible absolutely to discover the origin of the belief of the resurrection, such a range that they include also the event before Damascus.

[238] See Act_22:9. The statement, Act_9:7 : ἀκούοντες μὲν τῆς φωνῆς, is evidently a trait of tradition already disfiguring the history, to which the apostles own narrative, as it is preserved at Act_22:9, must without hesitation be preferred. In the case of a miraculous event so entirely unique and extraordinary, such traditional variations in the certainly very often repeated narrative are so naturally conceivable, that it would, in fact, be surprising and suspicious if we should find in the various narratives no variation. To Luke himself such variations, amidst the unity of essentials, gave so little offence that he has adopted and included them unreconciled from his different sources. Baur transfers them to the laboratory of literary design, in which case they are urged for the purpose of resolving the historical fact into myth. See his Paulus, I. p. 71 ff., ed. 2.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 9:3 . ἐν δὲ τῷ πορεύεσθαι , ἐγένετο : on the frequency of the infinitive as here, and of ἐγένετο in St. Luke, see Friedrich, Das Lucasevangelium , p. 13, but whilst St. Luke, even more than the other Evangelists, connects his narratives by more or less Hebraistic formulae, so he often tones down the Hebraism by changes of order or other modifications, cf. Luk 1:8-9 ; Luk 5:17 ; Luk 6:1 , Act 4:5 ; Act 9:3 , etc., see especially Simcox, Writers of the N. T. , p. 19, cf. also Blass, Gram. , pp. 232, 234. ἐγγίζειν τῇ Δ .: for a recent description of the three roads which lead from Jerusalem to Damascus, see Luckock, Footprints of the Apostles as traced by St. Luke , i., pp. 223, 224. We may well believe that Saul in his haste and passion would choose the quickest and best frequented route which ran straight to Shechem, and after inclining to the east, by the shores of the lake of Galilee, leads straight to Damascus, with an entrance on the south; possibly he may have been stirred to “exceeding madness” by seeing in the Samaritan villages indications of the spread of the faith which it was his purpose to destroy (Plumptre, Expositor , p. 28 (1878)). Ramsay, Expositor , p. 199, note (1898), follows the old tradition as to the locality (following Sir C. Wilson). But, as he points out, this locality fixed at Kaukab (so Luckock, also u. s. ), some ten or twelve miles from Damascus, was changed in modern times for a site nearer the city (so the Romanist commentator Felten, p. 185, laying stress on ἐγγίζειν ); but the spot so chosen seems an impossible one from the fact that it is on the east side of the city, not on the south; see also “Damascus” Hastings’ B.D., i., 548. Moreover the tradition for this site (one out of four selected at different times) does not appear to have existed for more than some two hundred years, and although we can well understand the action of the Christians in Damascus. who. on St. Paul’s Day, walk in procession to this traditional site, and read the narrative of the Apostle’s wonderful conversion, it seems that there is no adequate evidence in support of the spot selected. “It was a true instinct that led the Church to take the Conversion as the day of St. Paul. For other saints and martyrs their day of celebration was their dies natalis , the day on which they entered their real life, their day of martyrdom. But the dies natalis of St. Paul, the day on which his true life began, was the day of his Conversion,” Ramsay, Expositor , p. 28 (1898). ἐξαίφνης : the word is used by St. Luke twice in his Gospel and twice in the Acts only once elsewhere, Mar 13:36 . Hobart and Zahn claim it as a medical term, and it was no doubt frequent amongst medical writers, as in Hippocrates and Galen (Hobart, Medical Language of St. Luke , pp. 19, 20), but the word is also used in LXX several times in same sense as here. περιήστραψεν : only twice in N.T. not found at all in classical Greek, but see 4Ma 4:10 . The simple verb occurs in Luk 17:24 ; Luk 24:4 . The word is used in St. Paul’s own account of the event (Act 22:6 ), (and περιλάμψαν in his second account Act 26:13 ); noun in classical Greek of flashing like lightning. In Act 22:6 the time is fixed “about noon,” and in Act 26:13 it is said that the light was “above the brightness of the sun,” and shone round about those who journeyed with Paul. But St. Luke states the general fact, and St. Paul, as was natural, is more explicit in his own account. But St. Paul’s mention of the time of day, when an Eastern sun was at its brightest, and of the exceeding glory of the light, evidently indicates that no natural phenomenon was implied.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

he came near Damascus--so Act 22:6. Tradition points to a bridge near the city as the spot referred to. Events which are the turning points in one's history so imprint themselves upon the memory that circumstances the most trifling in themselves acquire by connection with them something of their importance, and are recalled with inexpressible interest.

suddenly--At what time of day, it is not said; for artless simplicity reigns here. But he himself emphatically states, in one of his narratives, that it was "about noon" (Act 22:6), and in the other, "at midday" (Act 26:13), when there could be no deception.

there shined round about him a light from heaven--"a great light (he himself says) above the brightness of the sun," then shining in its full strength.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Suddenly there shined round about him] This might have been an extraordinary flash of the electric fluid, accompanied with thunder, with which God chose to astonish and confound Saul and his company; but so modified it as to prevent it from striking them dead. Thunder would naturally follow such a large quantity of this fluid as appears to have been disengaged at this time; and out of this thunder, or immediately after it, Christ spoke in an awful and distinct voice, which appears to have been understood by Saul only.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. As he was in the way. In craving epistles of the high priest, he ran headlong against Christ willingly; and now he is enforced to obey whether he will or no. This is surely the most excellent mercy of God, in that that man is reclaimed unto salvation contrary to the purpose of his mind, whom so great a heat carried headlong into destruction. Whereas the Lord suffereth him to receive letters, and to come near to the city; (whereby we see how well he knoweth the very instants of times to do everything in due time; ) he could have prevented him sooner, if it had seemed good to him so to do, that he might deliver the godly from fear and carelessness. But he setteth out his benefits more thereby, in that he tieth the jaws of the greedy wolf, even when he was ready to enter the sheepfold. Also we know that men’s stubbornness increaseth more and more by going forward. Wherefore the conversion of Paul was so much the harder, forasmuch as he was already made more obstinate by continuing his fury.

Shined about him. Because it was no easy matter to pull down so great pride to break such a lofty courage, to pacify such a blind heat of wicked zeal, and, finally, to bridle a most unbridled beast, Christ must needs have showed some sign of his majesty, whereby Paul might perceive that he had to do with God himself, and not with any mortal man;. although there were some respect had of humbling him, (because he was unworthy to have Christ,) to accustom him by and by to obey, by laying upon his neck the meek and sweet yoke of his Spirit. And he was scarce capable of so great gentleness, until his cruelty might be broken. Man’s sense cannot comprehend the Divine glory of Christ as it is; but as God did oftentimes put upon him forms wherein he did show himself, so Christ did now declare and make manifest his divinity to Paul, and showed some token of his presence, that he might thereby terrify Paul. For although the godly be afraid and tremble at the seeing of God, yet it must needs be that Paul was far more afraid when as he perceived that the divine power of Christ was set full against him.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) And as he journeyed.—The route by which the persecutor and his companions travelled was probably that taken by the Roman road, which extended from Jerusalem to Neapolis (Sychar, or Shechem), thence to Scythopolis, and so by the shores of the Sea of Galilee and Cæsarea Philippi, and thence under the slopes of Hermon, to Damascus. On this supposition Saul would traverse the chief scenes of our Lord’s ministry, and be stirred to madness by the progress which the new sect had made in the cities of Samaria. It is, however, possible that he may have taken the road by the Jordan valley by which Galilean pilgrims sometimes travelled in order to avoid Samaria; but the former was beyond all question the most direct and best frequented road.

He came near Damascus.—The city has the interest of being one of the oldest in the world. It appears in the history of Abraham (Gen_14:15; Gen_15:2), and was, traditionally, the scene of the murder of Abel. David placed his garrisons there (2Sa_8:6; 1Ch_18:6), and, under Rezon, it resisted the power of Solomon (1Ki_11:24). Its fair streams, Abana and Pharpar, were, in the eyes of the Syrian leper, better than all the waters of Israel (2Ki_5:12). It was the centre of the Syrian kingdom in its alliances and wars with those of Israel and Judah (2Ki_14:28; 2Ki_16:9-10; Amo_1:3; Amo_1:5). Its trade with Tyre in wares, and wine of Helbon, and white wool is noted by Ezekiel (Act_27:16; Act_27:18). It had been taken by Parmenion for Alexander the Great, and again by Pompeius. It was the birth-place of Nicolaos of Damascus, the historian and rhetorician who is conspicuous as the counsellor of Herod the Great (Jos. Ant. xii. 3, § 2; xvi. 2, § 2). At a later period it was the residence of the Ommiyad caliphs, and the centre of the world of Islam. The beauty of its site, the river which the Greeks knew as Chrysorrhoas, the “Golden Stream,” its abounding fertility, the gardens of roses, made it, as Lamartine has said, a “predestined capital.” Such was the scene which met the bodily eye of the fanatic persecutor. The historian does not care to dwell on its description, and hastens to that which met his inward gaze. Assuming the journey to have been continuous, the approach to Damascus would come on the seventh or eighth day after leaving Jerusalem.

There shined round about him a light from heaven.—As in Act_26:13, “above the brightness of the sun.” Three accounts of the event that thus turned the current of the life of Saul of Tarsus meet us in the Acts. (1) This, which gives the writer’s report of what he could hardly have heard from any lips but St. Paul’s; (2) St. Paul’s narrative before the Sanhedrin (Act_22:6-11); (3) that which he gives before Agrippa (Act_26:13-18). They present, as will be seen, considerable variations, such as were natural in the records of a manifestation which was partial to some, and complete to one only. Those that were with him heard a voice but did not distinguish words (Act_22:9). They saw, as stated here (Act_9:7), the light, but did not perceive the form of Him who spoke. The phenomena, in this respect, stand parallel to those of the voice from heaven, in which some heard the words, ascribing them to an angel, while others, hearing only the sound, said it thundered (see Note on Joh_12:29). It is not possible in such a history to draw a hard and fast line between the objective and the subjective. The man himself cannot say whether he is in the body or out of the body (2Co_12:2-3). It is enough for him that he sees what others do not see, and hears what they do not hear, while they too hear and see enough to prove both to themselves and to him that something has occurred beyond the range of ordinary phenomena. Nothing in the narrative suggests the thought of a sudden thunderstorm, which has seemed to some writers a probable explanation of the facts. In that case, the gathering gloom, the dark rolling clouds, would have prepared the traveller for the lightning-flash. If this hypothesis be at all entertained—and as it does not necessarily exclude the supernatural element, and presents analogies to the divine manifestations on Sinai (Exo_19:16) and Horeb (1Ki_19:11-12), it may be entertained legitimately—we must think of the storm, if we take such a view, as coming with an almost instantaneous quickness, the first flash and crash striking all with terror, while the full revelation of the Christ was made to the consciousness and conscience of the future Apostle.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. And as he journeyed] There were two roads by which Saul could make his journey, one the caravan road which led from Egypt to Damascus, and kept near the coast line of the Holy Land till it struck eastward to cross the Jordan at the north of the Lake of Tiberias. To join this road Saul must have at first turned westward to the sea. The other way led through Neapolis and crossed the Jordan south of the Sea of Tiberias, and passing through Gadara went north-eastward to Damascus. We have no means whereby to decide by which road Saul and his companions took their way. The caravan road was a distance of one hundred and thirty-six miles, and occupied six days for the journey.

he came near Damascus] The original is more full. Read, “it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus.” The party must have reached the near neighbourhood of the city, for his companions (Act_9:8) “led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus” after the vision.

and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven] In Act_22:6 we are told that the time of the day was “about noon” when the vision was seen, and in Act_26:13, Paul says that “at mid-day” the light was “above the brightness of the sun.” The mid-day glare of an Eastern sun is of itself exceedingly bright, and the hour was chosen, we cannot doubt, in order that “the glory” of this heavensent light should not be confounded with any natural phenomenon. It was in the midst of this glory that Christ was seen by Saul (1Co_15:8), so that he can enumerate himself among those who had beheld the Lord after His resurrection.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus,.... Some say it was a mile from Damascus: though, no mention is made of his obtaining letters from the high priest, only of his desiring them; yet there is no doubt but they were granted him; the design of the historian, under a divine direction, being to give an account of the temper and disposition of Saul; and he having got them, set out on his journey in high spirits, and proceeded on with the same wicked intentions, till he came near the city; where he designed to open and show his commission, and execute his wrathful purposes; but he is not suffered to go into the city with such a Spirit:

and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven; which exceeded the light and brightness of the sun, for it was at midday, Act 26:13 and so the Ethiopic version here inserts this clause, "and it was noon time"; which circumstance shows that the light was very extraordinary; and it was an emblem of that inward and spiritual light which was now quickly communicated to him, light being the first thing in the new, as in the old creation; and of that Gospel light he was hereafter to spread in the world.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

Ver. 3. And as he journeyed] So Petrus Paulus Vergerius, the pope’s nuncio, dum confutationem Evangelicorum meditatur, fit Evangelicus; moved, perhaps, by the fearful example also of Francis Spira, whereof he had been an eyewitness.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And as he journeyed - On his way, or while he was traveling. The place where this occurred is not known. Irby and Mangles say it is “outside the eastern gate.” In the Boat and Caravan it is described as about a mile from the town, and near the Christian burying-ground which belongs to the Armenians. All that we know of it is that it was near to Damascus.

And suddenly - Like a flash of lightning.

There shined round about him ... - The language which is expressed here would be used in describing a flash of lightning. Many critics have supposed that God made use of a sudden flash to arrest Paul, and that he was thus alarmed and brought to reflection. That God might make use of such means cannot be denied. But to this supposition in this case there are some unanswerable objections:

It was declared to be the appearance of the Lord Jesus: Act 9:27, “Barnabas declared unto them how that he had ‘seen the Lord in the way;’” 1Co 15:8, “And last of all he was seen of me also”; 1Co 9:1, “Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?”

(2)Those who were with Saul saw the light, but did not hear the voice, Act 22:9. This is incredible on the supposition that it was a flash of lightning near them.

(3)It was manifestly regarded as a message to Saul. The light appeared, and the voice spake to him. The others did not even hear the address. Besides,

It was as easy for Jesus to appear in a supernatural manner as to appear amidst thunder and lightning. That the Lord Jesus appeared is distinctly affirmed, and we shall see that it is probable that he would appear in a supernatural manner.

In order to understand this, it may be necessary to make the following remarks:

(1) God was accustomed to appear to the Jews in a cloud; in a pillar of smoke, or of fire; in that special splendor which they denominated the Shechinah. In this way he went before them into the land of Canaan, Exo 13:21-22; compare Isa 4:5-6. This appearance or visible manifestation they called the “glory of” Yahweh, is. Isa 6:1-4; Exo 16:7, “in the morning ye shall see the glory of the Lord”; Act 9:10; Lev 9:23; Num 14:10; Num 16:19, Num 16:42; Num 24:16; 1Ki 8:11; Eze 10:4. See the notes on Luk 2:9, “The glory of the Lord shone round about them.”

(2) The Lord Jesus, in his transfiguration on the mount, had been encompassed with that glory. See the notes on Mat 17:1-5.

(3) He had spoken of similar glory as pertain that with which he had been invested before his incarnation, and to which he would return; Joh 17:5, “And now, Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was”; Mat 25:31, “The Son of Man shall come in his glory.” Compare Mat 16:27; Mat 19:28. To this glory he had returned when he left the earth.

(4) It is a sentiment which cannot be shown to be incorrect, that the various appearances of “the angel of Yahweh,” and of Yahweh, mentioned in the Old Testament, were appearances of the Messiah the God who would be incarnate - the special protector of his people. See Isa 6:1-13; compare with Joh 12:41.

(5) If the Lord Jesus appeared to Saul, it would be in his appropriate glory and honor as the ascended Messiah. That he did appear is expressly affirmed.

(6) This was an occasion when, if ever, such an appearance was proper. The design was to convert an infuriated persecutor, and to make him an apostle. To do this, it was necessary that he should see the Lord Jesus, 1Co 9:1-2. The design was further to make him an eminent instrument in carrying the gospel to the Gentiles. A signal miracle; a demonstration that he was invested with his appropriate glory Joh 17:5; a calling up a new witness to the fact of his resurrection, and of his solemn investment with glory in the heavens, seemed to be required in thus calling a violent persecutor to be an apostle and friend.

(7) We are to regard this appearance, therefore, as the reappearance of the Shechinah, the Son of God invested with appropriate glory, appearing to convince an enemy of his ascension, and to change him from a foe to a friend.

It has been objected that as the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven, it cannot be presumed that his body would return to the earth again. To this we may reply, that the New Testament has thrown no light on this. Perhaps it is not necessary to suppose that his body returned, but that he made such a visible manifestation of himself as to convince Saul that he was the Messiah.

From heaven - From above; from the sky. In Act 26:13, Paul says that the light was above the brightness of the sun at mid-day.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He was near to Damascus before this wonderful vision, that, being struck blind, he might be the sooner led thither; as also, that the miracle might be more easily and publicly known, Damascus being the chief city of Syria; and, though about six days’ journey from Jerusalem, inhabited by many Jews. This was done at noon day, the rather, that the light which Paul saw might appear to be beyond that which the sun gives; and this light was a symbol of that inward light, wherewith his mind was now to be enlightened; as also of the purity of the doctrine he was to preach, and holiness of his life which he was to lead; and most probably it was caused by the glorified body of Christ, which appeared unto him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. He journeyed—Can we trace the probable route of this young hunter of heretics? He probably took the road which we have described in our note on Joh_4:2, to Shechem; thence across the Jordan by the bridge at Scythopolis; thence over Auranitis to the city. It was about a six days’ journey.

Near Damascus—Dr. Tristam thus describes his own approach to Damascus: “At length we came upon the crest of the hill overlooking the wide oasis of Damascus, and an Arabian Nights’ vision was before us. When we were at a slight elevation above the oasis the sudden gush of perfume, chiefly of orange blossom, wafted through the air was almost overpowering. It seemed as though a cloud of scent were floating at a certain height in the atmosphere, for when we were below it was not nearly so strong. The change from the rocky desert to the wilderness of gardens was instantaneous. Tall mud walls extended in every direction under the trees, and rich flowing streams of water from the Barada every where bubbled through the orchard, which was all alive with the song of birds and the hum of bees. The great apricot trees were laden and bent down under strings of ripe golden fruit. The lanes were strewn with apricots. Asses, mules, and camels in long strings carried heaped panniers of these ‘golden apples.’ Walnut, peach, plum, pomegranate, pear, olive, orange, and even apple trees, crowded the maze through which for an hour we wound, till we found our camping-ground in a garden, one tent shaded by an apricot, the other by a walnut tree, surrounded by pomegranates in full blossom, while a rill from the Barada ran past to cool our water bottles.”

3. There shined… a light—The rationalistic solutions of the events of Saul’s conversion, in order to exclude miracle, are valid only on the assumption that there is no supernatural. He who accepts the miracle of Christ’s incarnation, and the whole supernaturalism therewith connected, has no difficulty with the supernaturalism of this one narrative.

Shined— Rather περιηστραψεν, flashed round about him like lightning; yet περιλαμψαν, in Act_26:13, shining around, like a lamp or luminary, describes the steady continuance of the splendour after the first flash. This was the Shekinah or divine lustre of the person of the glorified Jesus, beheld also by the dying Stephen, and magnificently described by the Apocalyptist in Rev_1:13-17. (See note Act_7:2.) John, like Saul, fell as dead. The time was mid-day, (Act_26:13,) and the light was above the brightness of the sun at that zenith. It was, as Milton says, “like a new morn risen on mid-noon.” The glory of Jehovah-Jesus outshone the blaze of noon-day. Says Stier: “Jesus on the mount of transfiguration ‘did shine as the sun,’ and at ‘the end of the world’ the righteous, too, shall ‘shine forth as the sun,’ (Mat_17:2; Mat_13:43;) but the revelation of the irresistible One must now flash down ‘above the brightness of the sun.’”

The instant of the light’s flashing about him before he fell was the moment of the visibility of the Lord’s person; the fall, as well as the ocular blinding, being the result of the light radiating from his central figure. After his fall Saul heard, but saw not.

Was this a mere vision, or did the actual person of Jesus appear to Saul’s eyes? Paul himself, we answer, claimed not only that he saw the real person of Jesus, but bases the validity of his apostolate upon that reality. To have seen the real Jesus was one of the requisites for a true apostle, (see note on Luk_1:1); and Paul claims this as the time when he so saw Jesus. “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord Jesus Christ?” (1Co_9:1.) “He was seen… by Cephas… by all the apostles… last of all by me,” (Act_15:8.) And so Ananias, (Act_9:7,) “The Lord hath sent me, even Jesus, who appeared to thee in the way as thou camest.” With all who hold the authority of Paul as an apostle, these words must be conclusive both for the reality of the miracle and of the visible person of Jesus.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And suddenly - When God suddenly and vehemently attacks a sinner, it is the highest act of mercy. So Saul, when his rage was come to the height, is taught not to breathe slaughter. And what was wanting in time to confirm him in his discipleship, is compensated by the inexpressible terror he sustained. By his also the suddenly constituted apostle was guarded against the grand snare into which novices are apt to fall.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Acts

GRACE TRIUMPHANT

Act 9:1 - Act 9:12; Act 9:17 - Act 9:20.

This chapter begins with ‘but,’ which contrasts Saul’s persistent hatred, which led him to Gentile lands to persecute, with Philip’s expansive evangelistic work. Both men were in profound earnest, both went abroad to carry on their work, but the one sought to plant what the other was eager to destroy. If the ‘but’ in Act 9:1 contrasts, the ‘yet’ connects the verse with Act 8:3. Saul’s fury was no passing outburst, but enduring. Like other indulged passions, it grew with exercise, and had come to be as his very life-breath, and now planned, not only imprisonment, but death, for the heretics.

Not content with carrying his hateful inquisition into the homes of the Christians in Jerusalem, he will follow the fugitives to Damascus. The extension of the persectution was his own thought. He was not the tool of the Sanhedrin, but their mover. They would probably have been content to cleanse Jerusalem, but the young zealot would not rest till he had followed the dispersed poison into every corner where it might have trickled. The high priest would not discourage such useful zeal, however he might smile at its excess.

So Saul got the letters he asked, and some attendants, apparently, to help him in his hunt, and set off for Damascus. Painters have imagined him as riding thither, but more probably he and his people went on foot. It was a journey of some five or six days. The noon of the last day had come, and the groves of Damascus were, perhaps, in sight. No doubt, the young Pharisee’s head was busy settling what he was to begin with when he entered the city, and was exulting in the thought of how he would harry the meek Christians, when the sudden light shone.

At all events, the narrative does not warrant the view, often taken now, that there had been any preparatory process in Saul’s mind, which had begun to sap his confidence that Jesus was a blasphemer, and himself a warrior for God. That view is largely adopted in order to get rid of the supernatural, and to bolster up the assumption that there are no sudden conversions; but the narrative of Luke, and Paul’s own references, are dead against it. At one moment he is ‘yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,’ and in almost the next he is prone on his face, asking, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ It was not a case of a landslide suddenly sweeping down, but long prepared for by the gradual percolation of water to the slippery understrata, but the solid earth was shaken, and the mountain crashed down in sudden ruin.

The causes of Saul’s conversion are plain in the narrative, even though the shortened form is adopted, which is found in the Revised Version. The received text has probably been filled out by additions from Paul’s own account in Act 26:1 - Act 26:32 First came the blaze of light outshining the midday sun, even in that land where its beams are like swords. That blinding light ‘shone round about him,’ enveloping him in its glory. Act 26:13 tells that his companions also were wrapped in the lustre, and that all fell to the earth, no doubt in terror.

Saul is not said, either in this or in his own accounts, to have seen Jesus, but 1Co 15:8 establishes that he did so, and Ananias {Act 9:17} refers to Jesus as having ‘appeared.’ That appearance, whatever may have been the psychological account of it, was by Paul regarded as being equal in evidential value to the flesh-and-blood vision of the risen Lord which the other Apostles witnessed to, and as placing him in the same line as a witness.

It is to be noted also, that, while the attendants saw the light, they were not blinded, as Saul was; from which it may be inferred that he saw with his bodily eyes the glorified manhood of Jesus, as we are told that one day, when He returns as Judge, ‘every eye shall see Him.’ Be that as it may,-and we have not material for constructing a theory of the manner of Christ’s appearance to Saul,- the overwhelming conviction was flooded into his soul, that the Jesus whom he had thought of as a blasphemer, falsely alleged to have risen from the dead, lived in heavenly glory, amid celestial brightness too dazzling for human eyes.

The words of gentle remonstrance issuing from the flashing glory went still further to shake the foundations of the young Pharisee’s life; for they, as with one lightning gleam, laid hare the whole madness and sin of the crusade which he had thought acceptable to God. ‘Why persecutest thou Me?’ Then the odious heretics were knit by some mysterious bond to this glorious One, so that He bled in their wounds and felt their pains! Then Saul had been, as his old teacher dreaded they of the Sanhedrin might be, fighting against God! How the reasons for Saul’s persecution had crumbled away, till there were none left with which to answer Jesus’ question! Jesus lived, and was exalted to glory. He was identified with His servants. He had appeared to Saul, and deigned to plead with him.

No wonder that the man who had been planning fresh assaults on the disciples ten minutes before, was crushed and abject as he lay there on the road, and these tremendous new convictions rushed like a cataract over and into his soul! No wonder that the lessons burned in on him in that hour of destiny became the centre-point of all his future teaching! That vision revolutionised his thinking and his life. None can affirm that it was incompetent to do so.

Luke’s account here, like Paul’s in Act 22:1 - Act 22:30, represents further instructions from Jesus as postponed till Saul’s meeting with Ananias, while Paul’s other account in Act 26:1 - Act 26:32 omits mention of the latter, and gives the substance of what he said in Damascus as said on the road by Jesus. The one account is more detailed than the other, that is all. The gradual unfolding of the heavenly purpose which our narrative gives is in accord with the divine manner. For the moment enough had been done to convert the persecutor into the servant, to level with the ground his self-righteousness, to reveal to him the glorified Jesus, to bend his will and make it submissive. The rest would be told him in due time.

The attendants had fallen to the ground like him, but seem to have struggled to their feet again, while he lay prostrate. They saw the brightness, but not the Person: they heard the voice, but not the words. Saul staggered by their help to his feet, and then found that with open eyes he was blind. Imagination or hallucination does not play tricks of that sort with the organs of sense.

The supernatural is too closely intertwined with the story to be taken out of it without reducing it to tatters. The greatest of Christian teachers, who has probably exercised more influence than any man who ever lived, was made a Christian by a miracle. That fact is not to be got rid of. But we must remember that once when He speaks of it He points to God’s revelation of His Son ‘in Him’ as its essential character. The external appearance was the vehicle of the inward revelation. It is to be remembered, too, that the miracle did not take away Saul’s power of accepting or rejecting the Christ; for he tells Agrippa that he was ‘not disobedient to the heavenly vision.’

What a different entry he made into Damascus from what he expected, and what a different man it was that crawled up to the door of Judas, in the street that is called Straight, from the self-confident young fanatic who had left Jerusalem with the high priest’s letters in his bosom and fierce hate in his heart!

Ananias was probably not one of the fugitives, as his language about Saul implies that he knew of his doings only by hearsay. The report of Saul’s coming and authority to arrest disciples had reached Damascus before him, with the wonderful quickness with which news travels in the East, nobody knows how. Ananias’s fears being quieted, he went to the house where for three days Saul had been lying lonely in the dark, fasting, and revolving many things in his heart. No doubt his Lord had spoken many a word to him, though not by vision, but by whispering to his spirit. Silence and solitude root truth in a soul. After such a shock, absolute seclusion was best.

Ananias discharged his commission with lovely tenderness and power. How sweet and strange to speaker and hearer would that ‘Brother Saul’ sound! How strong and grateful a confirmation of his vision would Ananias’s reference to the appearance of the Lord bring! How humbly would the proud Pharisee bow to receive, laid on his head, the hands that he had thought to bind with chains! What new eyes would look out on a world in which all things had become new, when there fell from them as it had been scales, and as quickly as had come the blinding, so quickly came the restored vision!

Ananias was neither Apostle nor official, yet the laying on of his hands communicated ‘the Holy Ghost.’ Saul received that gift before baptism, not after or through the ordinance. It was important for his future relations to the Apostles that he should not have been introduced to the Church by them, or owed to them his first human Christian teaching. Therefore he could say that he was ‘an Apostle, not from men, neither through man.’ It was important for us that in that great instance that divine gift should have been bestowed without the conditions accompanying, which have too often been regarded as necessary for, its possession.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The miraculous vision:

v. 3. And as he journeyed, he came near to Damascus; and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven;

v. 4. and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?

v. 5. And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

v. 6 And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Saul, having readily obtained the letters which he desired, lost no time in leaving Jerusalem. To reach his destination, he had about 140 miles to travel in a general northeasterly direction. For Damascus was the ancient capital of the province of Syria, situated about seventy miles from the Mediterranean, from which it was separated by the Lebanon and Antilebanon ranges. The Abana River flowed through it, and the Pharpar ran a few miles south of its walls. Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world, said to have been founded by Uz, the grandson of Shem, and known to Abraham, Gen 15:15. It has always been an important trade center and was also known for its manufactories, The journey, by either the caravan road through Samaria and Galilee, or by the Roman road over Jericho and through Perea and Decapolis, occupied some seven or eight days. One fact stands out with a certainty which cannot be denied, namely, that a state of mind less favorable for conversion than that of Saul when he started out on his mad expedition can hardly be imagined. He was in the very midst of Pharisaic darkness and unbelief, abhorring the very name of Christ and full of resentment and hatred toward those that confessed belief in this name. But the Lord’s manner of dealing with even the most hopeless cases and obstinate enemies passes human understanding. For it was at midday of the last day of the trip, when the travelers had left the snow-capped peak of Mount Hermon behind them, and may have been able to see the city of Damascus in the distance before them, that suddenly, without warning, an extremely bright light from heaven shone round about Saul, so bright as to render him blind. Perceiving that a miracle was happening, he fell to the ground in helpless terror. In that light, and before darkness fell upon him, Saul saw Christ, the Crucified, 1Co 9:1. And when he had fallen, he heard and plainly understood a voice, which solemnly called to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? With fear and trembling, Saul asked: "Who art Thou, Lord?" either because he could not distinguish from the voice whether it was Stephen or some other victim speaking, or because he wanted to be certain that he was not beset by a hallucination. The Lord now fully revealed Himself to Saul as Jesus, whom he was persecuting by his present treatment and by his proposed measures against the believers in His name. Two facts were thus impressed upon the mind and heart of Saul, that the union between Christ and His Church is perfect and lasting, and that therefore the persecution of the believers was a persecution of Christ Himself. And the searching love of Jesus was immediately made manifest in His warning and pleading cry: It will be hard for thee to strike out against the goads, a figure taken from the driving of oxen by means of pointed sticks, against which they will sometimes attempt to kick. Here the hour of conversion was come. "For there is no heart so strong, though it were nothing but flint diamond, which could hold out and must not break. " The enemy was vanquished, be. cause the Stronger had come over him and had changed his mind and heart; the Lord had revealed Himself to him, Gal 1:16. Saul now, full of trembling and astonishment, has only one purpose in mind, to do the will of his Lord, and asks what the Lord wants him to do. "In this way we should also learn to fit ourselves properly, confess our sins and desist from them, believe on Jesus Christ, and find comfort in His sufferings, and finally yield to the right obedience to God, in order that we may not again by disobedience fall from the great grace and into the wrath of God by an unrepentant life. That means to follow the example of Paul properly, which is written for our comfort and doctrine. " And then the Lord gave this new convert directions as to his behavior, namely, to arise and go into the city, where he would receive such information as he needed to direct his future course. "Here we should mark especially: Although God from heaven speaks with Paul, yet He does not want to annul the office of preaching, nor make this an extraordinary case; but He directs him into the city to the pulpit and preacher; there he should hear and learn what is to be learned. For God, our Lord, wants to establish something special for no one, but gives His Baptism and Gospel to the whole world, to one as well as to the other. There one may learn how to be saved, and not wait whether God will make something new and send us an angel from heaven. For it is His will that we go and hear the Gospel from those that preach it; there we should find it, and nowhere else."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saul was now onward of his journey to Damascus (the worst journey that ever he intended, but the best that ever he undertook,) a journey most maliciously purposed by him, but most mercifully disposed by God. Heaven had designed him for better service, and work of another nature; and accordingly he is stopped in his way, knocked off his horse, a sudden beam of light beyond the brightness of the sun darts upon him, dazzles him, and he hears a voice, saying Saul, Saoul, why persecutest thou me? that is, me in my members. Whatever is done against Christians for anything that Christ commandeth them, he takes it as done against himself. Such as persecute the saints for their sancity, persecute Christ himself; and he can no more endure to see them wronged, than himself. As the honour of Christ, the Head, redounds to the members, so the sorrows of the members are resented by the Head. Christ said not thus to his murderers on earth, Why bind ye me? Why buffet ye me? Why scourge ye, and why crucify ye me? But here, when the members suffer, he cries out from heaven, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Lord! thou art more tender of thy body mystical, then thou was of thy body natural; more sensible of thy members sufferings, than of thine own.

Observe, 2. The wonderful power of the heart-changing grace of God. Saul cries out, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Saul is no longer a lion, but a lamb; the wolf that hunted before for his prey, now gently couches like a sheep; hears and obeys the voice of Christ the great Shepherd; and of a persecutor of the church, becomes the great doctor of the Gentiles.

Behold! the tare is become wheat; the child of wrath, a chosen vessel; the prodigy of nature, the miracle of grace.

Lord! who can enough admire and magnify the sovereignty and omnipotent prevalency of divine grace, which could refine and did extract very precious gold from so rough, so coarse, and so base a metal?

Conversion is a work of wonder in all men, but a miracle in this man, and extraordinarily strange, and instantaneously sudden; and therefore is by no means to be made the measure and standard of every man’s conversion.

Shall we think no man converted, unless he be struck down with a light and power immediately from heaven, and be taken with a fit of trembling, and frighted almost out of his wits?

How many by the benefit of a good education, others by the blessing of God upon some affliction, and upon calm consideration, without any great terrors and amazement, have been visibly changed and converted?

The effects and fruits of conversion are very visible in all, but the manner of conversion is not alike in all. Things may be very visible in their effects, which yet are not visible in their cause. If the fruits of our conversion be visible, the certainty of it is unquestionable, and the advantage of it will be unspeakable, although we cannot tell the time when, or the manner how, the Holy Spirit wrought it in us.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The storm of passion with which Saul started from Jerusalem would naturally subside, in some degree, in the course of the five or six days necessary to perform on foot the journey of one hundred and forty miles, leaving him in a calmer mood, and better prepared for the scenes which transpired near the close of the journey. (3) " And as he journeyed, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly there flashed around him a light from heaven. " This occurred at noon, when the sun was shining with full meridian strength upon the sandy plain which he was traversing, yet the light from heaven was "above the brightness of the sun."

We are now fairly introduced to the history of Saul's conversion, and must note carefully the entire process, both with reference to the specific changes effected, and the influences which produced them. In order that we may have the case fully before us, we will draw upon the parallel passages in the twenty-second and twenty-sixth chapters for such additional facts as they furnish.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. And as he journeyed. It would require six or seven days to make the journey. It was probably made on foot. There shined round about him a light. Brighter than the sun (Acts 26:13). It was the splendor of the glorified Savior as seen at the Transfiguration, or by John at Patmos. In order to get the full history of this revelation of Christ and Paul's conversion, we must compare the accounts given by Paul himself in chapters 22 and 26 with Luke's account here.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

After the high priest gave Saul the letters, Saul left for Damascus.

As he was traveling

Saul left Jerusalem and now travels to Damascus.

it happened that

This is an expression that marks a change in the story to show something different is about to happen. (See: Introduction of a New Event)

there shone all around him a light out of heaven

"a light from heaven shone all around him"

out of heaven

Possible meanings are 1) heaven, where God lives or 2) the sky. The first meaning is preferable. Use that meaning if your language has a separate word for it.

he fell upon the ground

Possible meanings are that 1) "Saul threw himself to the ground" or 2) "The light caused him to fall to the ground" or 3) "Saul fell to the ground the way one who fainted fell." Saul did not fall accidentally.

why are you persecuting me?

This rhetorical question communicates a rebuke to Saul. In some languages a statement would be more natural (AT): "You are persecuting me!" or a command (AT): "Stop persecuting me!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

Damascus

light

heaven

Paul

persecute

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

3. ἐκ for ἀπὸ with אABCL. Vulg. ‘de.’

3. ἐν δὲ τῷ πορεύεσθαι, and as he journeyed. There were two roads by which Saul could make his journey, one the caravan road which led from Egypt to Damascus, and kept near the coast line of the Holy Land till it struck eastward to cross the Jordan at the north of the Lake of Tiberias. To join this road Saul must have at first turned westward to the sea. The other way led through Neapolis and crossed the Jordan south of the Sea of Tiberias, and passing through Gadara went north-eastward to Damascus. We have no means whereby to decide by which road Saul and his companions took their way. The caravan road was a distance of 136 miles, and occupied six days for the journey.

ἐγένετο αὐτὸν ἐγγίζειν, it came to pass that he drew nigh. This accusative and infinitive after ἐγένετο is frequent in St Luke’s writings, but it also occurs in other parts of N.T.; cf. Mar 2:23, καὶ ἐγένετο παραπορεύεσθαι αὐτὸν διὰ τῶν σπορίμων. Cf. Winer-Moulton, p. 406.

The party must have reached the near neighbourhood of the city, for his companions (Act 9:8) ‘led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus’ after the vision.

φῶς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, a light from heaven. In Act 22:6 we are told that the time of the day was ‘about noon’ when the vision was seen, and in Act 26:13 Paul says that ‘at mid-day’ the light was ‘above the brightness of the sun.’ The mid-day glare of an Eastern sun is of itself exceedingly bright, and the hour was chosen, we cannot doubt, in order that ‘the glory’ of this heaven-sent light should not be confounded with any natural phenomenon. It was in the midst of this glory that Christ was seen by Saul (1Co 15:8), so that he can enumerate himself among those who had beheld the Lord after His resurrection.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3.] The journey from Jerusalem was probably made on the Roman road, i.e. that of the Itineraries, by Neapolis (Sichem) and Scythopolis, crossing the Jordan S. of the lake Tiberias,—Gadara, and so to Damascus. Or he might have joined,—either the Petra road, by Jericho and Heshbon, and so by Botsrah to D.,—or the Egyptian caravan-track, which passes to the north of the lake of Tiberias, and near Cæsarea Philippi. In either case the journey would occupy from five to six days, the distance being 130 to 150 miles.

περιήστρ. κ.τ.λ.] It was (ch. 22:6) περὶ μεσημβρίαν,—and from ch. 26:13, the light was ὑπὲρ τὴν λαμπρότητα τοῦ ἡλίου. These details at once cut away all ground from the absurd rationalistic attempt to explain away the appearance as having been lightning. Unquestionably, the inference is, that it was a bright noon, and the full splendour of the oriental sun was shining.

His companions saw the light, and were also cast to the ground, ch. 26:13, 14; 22:9, see below on ver. 7.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There shined round about [περιηστραψεν] . Only here and ch. 22 6. Flashed. See on Luk 11:36; Luk 24:4.

A light. Compare ch. Act 22:6; Act 26:13.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.