Acts 9:1 - Meaning and Application

We hear Saul mentioned twice or three times in the story of Stephen, because the writer was eager to come to his story. Now we reach it. We are not quite leaving Peter, but from this point on the book is mostly about Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was especially the apostle to the Jews.

Saul was his Hebrew name, which means “desired.” Yet he was, as one old writer says, very small in body, much like King Saul was tall and impressive. His Roman name, used among the citizens of Rome, was Paul, which means “little.” He was born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia and a free Roman city, and he himself was a free man of that city.

Both his father and mother were Jews by birth, so he could call himself “a Hebrew of the Hebrews.” He came from the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe that stayed loyal to Judah. He first studied in Tarsus, a city known for learning, almost like a small Athens. There he learned Greek philosophy and poetry. After that, he was sent to Jerusalem to study theology, that is, the study of God, and the Jewish law.

His teacher was Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee. Paul had unusual natural ability, and he made great progress in learning. He also had a trade, tent-making, which was common among Jewish scholars, as Dr. Lightfoot notes. This helped them earn a living and avoid idleness. This is the young man on whom God’s grace worked the great change described here, about a year after Christ’s ascension, or a little more.

We are told, first, how bad he was before his conversion, and just before it he was very bad indeed. He was a strong enemy of Christianity and did everything he could to destroy it by persecuting everyone who believed. In other respects, he was decent enough. As far as the righteousness taught by the law was concerned, he was blameless. But he was a blasphemer of Christ, a persecutor of Christians, and harsh to both, as 1 Timothy 1:13 says. His conscience was so badly misled that he thought he ought to do what he was doing against Jesus’ name (Acts 26:9), and that he was serving God by doing it, as Jesus had foretold (John 16:2).

Here we see his general hatred and anger against the Christian faith (Acts 9:1). He was still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. The people he persecuted were the disciples of the Lord, and that name alone was enough to make him hate them. The persecution took the form of threats and slaughter. Threats are already a kind of persecution (Acts 4:17, 21), because they frighten people and crush their spirit. If Saul could not frighten them away from Christ, he killed them. He persecuted them to death (Acts 22:4).

The phrase “breathing out” threats and murder shows that this was his habit, almost like his natural way of living. He seemed to breathe it in as his own element. He did it with heat and force, and his very breath was harmful, like that of a poisonous creature. He breathed death toward Christians wherever he went. He hurled his venom at them in rage (Psalm 12:4, 5). Saul was still breathing this way, which means two things. First, he still kept doing it and was not satisfied with the blood he had already spilled. Second, he would soon be a different man, because he could not live long with that kind of breathing.

Second, we see his specific plan against the Christians in Damascus. The gospel had recently reached Damascus through those who fled after Stephen’s death, and the believers there had thought they were safe and undisturbed. The authorities there were letting them alone, but Saul could not rest if he knew Christians were at peace. So when he heard they were in Damascus, he decided to trouble them.

To do this, he asked the high priest for official papers (Acts 9:1) so he could go to Damascus (Acts 9:2). The high priest did not need much urging to persecute Christians, since he was already willing. But this younger persecutor seemed to rush even harder than the older one. Leaders in sin are often the worst sinners, and the followers that scribes and Pharisees make are often far worse than themselves.

Paul says in Acts 22:5 that this authority came from the whole council of elders, and he was proud to carry a commission addressed to him, with the seal of the great Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. The commission gave him power to search the synagogues, or Jewish meetings, in Damascus and find out whether any people there favored this new sect or “way” and believed in Christ. If he found any, men or women, he was to bring them bound to Jerusalem so the great council there could judge them according to the law.

Notice that Christians are called “those of the Way.” That may be because believers used that name for themselves, since Christ is the Way. It may also mean they saw themselves as still on the journey and not yet home. Or their enemies may have used the word to make Christianity sound like a separate path, a side road, a party, or a faction.

The high priest and Sanhedrin claimed authority over Jews in every land, and the synagogues everywhere showed respect for that authority in religious matters, even when they were outside the civil rule of the Jewish nation. In the same way, the Roman pope now claims a kind of rule like that Jewish priest claimed, though he has no real basis for it.

By this commission, anyone who worshiped God in what they called heresy was to be hunted down, even though their worship matched the original teaching of the Jewish church itself. Men and women alike were to be pursued. Even women, who might have expected some mercy in a matter like this, found none from Saul, just as they found none from later persecutors of the same spirit. He was to bring them all bound to Jerusalem like major criminals. That would likely terrify them more, and it would also increase Saul’s own honor, since he would seem to command the force that carried them away and continue breathing threats and murder.

This was what Saul was doing when God’s grace worked that great change in him. So we should not despair of renewing grace, even for the worst sinners. And those sinners should not despair of God’s pardoning mercy, even for the greatest sin. Paul himself received mercy so he could stand as an example (1 Timothy 1:13).

Second, we see how suddenly and strangely this blessed change came, not through ordinary means, but through miracles. Paul’s conversion is one of the great wonders in the church. Here we are told the place and time of it: as he traveled and came near Damascus, Christ met him there.

He was on the road, traveling on his journey, not in the temple, not in the synagogue, and not with the Christians in a meeting. Conversion is not limited to the church, though public ministry is often used in it. Some people are brought back to God in sleep, lying on their beds (Job 33:15-17), and some while traveling alone on the road. There is room for serious thought there, just as there is on a bed, and the Spirit can meet us there, for he goes where he wants.

Some have noted that Saul was spoken to in the open air so no one could suspect trickery or fraud. He was also near Damascus, almost at the end of his trip, ready to enter the main city of Syria. Some have observed that the man who was to become the apostle to the Gentiles, non-Jewish nations, was converted to Christ in a Gentile land. Damascus had once been known for persecuting God's people, when they beat Gilead with iron tools (Amos 1:3), and it was likely to become known for that again.

Saul was also on a wicked mission, pressing ahead with his plan against the Christians at Damascus and looking forward to destroying this new life of Christianity there. This shows that God's grace sometimes works on sinners when they are at their worst, and deeply involved in their most sinful plans. That gives glory both to God's mercy and to his power.

The cruel orders Saul carried were about to be carried out, and now they were happily stopped. This was a great kindness to the poor believers at Damascus, who had heard he was coming, as Ananias later showed (Acts 9:13-14). They feared him like lambs fear a hungry wolf, and Saul's conversion was their safety for the moment. Christ has many ways to rescue godly people from danger, and sometimes he does it by changing the one who threatens them. He may calm a violent heart for a time (Psalm 76:10), as he once softened the Old Testament Saul toward David more than once (1 Samuel 24:16; 1 Samuel 26:21), or he may completely renew that heart, as he did with Saul here.

It was also a great mercy to Saul himself that he was stopped from carrying out his evil plan. If he had gone on, this may have been the point at which he filled up the full measure of his sin. We should count it a clear sign of God's favor when he keeps us, either by inward grace or by outward events, from carrying out a sinful purpose (1 Samuel 25:32).

Then comes Christ's appearance to him in glory. Here we are only told that a light from heaven shone around him, but what follows shows that the Lord Jesus was in that light and appeared to him on the road (Acts 9:17). He saw that Just One, Jesus (Acts 22:14; Acts 26:13). Whether he saw him far away, like Stephen did in heaven, or nearer in the air, we do not know. It is not against the truth that heaven holds Christ until the end of time (Acts 3:21) to think that, on such an unusual occasion, he made a brief personal appearance in this world. Paul needed to see the Lord in order to be an apostle, and he did see him (1 Corinthians 9:1; 1 Corinthians 15:8).

This light shone on him suddenly, without warning. Christ often shows himself to troubled souls in a sudden and surprising way, going before them with the kindness of his goodness. That is how the disciples he called found it too. "Before I knew it," as the Song of Songs says (Song of Songs 6:12). It was a light from heaven, from the source of all light, from the God of heaven, the Father of lights. It was brighter than the sun (Acts 26:13), since it was visible at midday and outshone the sun in its full strength and glory (Isaiah 24:23).

The light shone all around him, not just in his face. No matter which way he turned, he was surrounded by it. This was meant not only to startle him and get his attention, but also to picture the lighting up of his mind with the knowledge of Christ. The devil comes to the soul in darkness and uses darkness to keep control. Christ comes in light, because he is himself the light of the world, bright and glorious to us as light. In this new creation, as in the first creation of the world, light comes first (2 Corinthians 4:6). That is why all Christians are called children of light and children of the day (Ephesians 5:8).

Then Saul was brought low and thrown to the ground. He fell to the earth (Acts 9:4). Some think he was walking on foot, and that the sudden light, perhaps joined by thunder, frightened him so much that he could not stay standing and fell on his face. That is usually a posture of worship, but here it was one of shock. It is more likely that he was riding, like Balaam when he went to curse Israel, and perhaps on a better mount than Balaam had. Saul was on official business, in a hurry, and the trip was long, so he probably was not walking.

The sudden light would have startled the animal and thrown him off. It was God's kind providence that he was not badly hurt in the fall. Angels had a special charge to guard him, so that not one of his bones was broken. Acts 26:14 shows that everyone with him also fell to the ground, though the main aim was Saul. This may be seen as the effect of Christ appearing to him and of the light around him. Christ's coming to poor souls humbles them. It makes them think less of themselves and submit more fully to God's will. Job said, "Now my eyes see you," and then he hated himself. Isaiah said, "I saw the Lord" on his throne, and then he cried, "Woe is me, for I am undone."

It was also a step toward Saul's future honor. He was going to be not only a Christian, but a minister, an apostle, and a great apostle, so he first had to be brought down. Those Christ plans to honor most are often humbled first. Those meant to grow deepest in knowledge and grace are often first made aware of their own ignorance and sin. Those God plans to use are first made to feel that they are unworthy to be used.

Then Saul was called to account. Being, as it were, taken into custody by the fall and brought before the Judge, he heard a voice speaking to him, and the voice was meant for him alone. The others heard the sound (Acts 9:7), but they did not understand the words (Acts 22:9). "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Observe here,

Saul heard not only a light from heaven, but also a voice from heaven. Wherever God showed his glory, he also spoke his word (Exodus 20:18); he did the same for Moses (Numbers 7:89) and for the prophets. God never showed himself in silent signs alone, because he gives his word greater honor than any visible display. What people saw was always meant to lead them to what God said.

Saul heard a voice, and faith comes by hearing. That is why the Spirit is said to be received by hearing with faith (Galatians 3:2). The voice he heard was Christ’s voice. When Saul saw that righteous One, he also heard the voice of his mouth (Acts 22:14). The word we hear is most helpful when we hear it as Christ’s voice (1 Thessalonians 2:13). It is the voice of my beloved, and no other voice can reach the heart in the same way. Seeing and hearing are the two main ways we learn, and Christ used both to enter Saul’s heart.

What Saul heard was deeply awakening. He was called by name, and the name was repeated: “Saul, Saul.” Some think this also hinted at the great enemy of David whose name he bore. Saul really was a second Saul, just as hostile to the Son of David as the first Saul had been to David. Calling him by name showed Christ’s personal attention to him, as if to say, “I have named you, though you do not know me” (Isaiah 45:4; see Exodus 33:12). It brought the conviction home to his conscience and left no doubt who was speaking. What God says in general does good to us when we apply it to ourselves, as if he had spoken our own name. When he says, “Ho, every one,” he has also said, “Ho, such a one.” So it was with Samuel, Samuel, and Saul, Saul.

The doubled name also shows, first, how deeply asleep Saul was. He needed to be called again and again, like the land in Jeremiah 22:29, “O earth, earth, earth.” Second, it shows Christ’s tender concern for his recovery. He speaks urgently, like Martha, Martha (Luke 10:41), Simon, Simon (Luke 22:31), or “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem” (Matthew 23:37). He speaks to Saul as to someone in grave danger, standing at the edge of a pit and about to fall in. It is as if he says, “Saul, Saul, do you know where you are going, or what you are doing?”

Then comes the charge: “Why do you persecute me?” Before Saul was made a saint, he had to see that he was a sinner, and a great one, a sinner against Christ. Now he saw a fault in himself that he had never seen before, and sin came alive while he himself was brought low. A humbling sense of sin is the first step toward a saving change from sin. He is convicted of one particular sin, the one he was most openly guilty of and had even defended. That makes way for conviction of the rest.

The sin named is persecution: “Why do you persecute me?” It is a loving but searching question, enough to break a hard heart. Notice, first, the sinner. It is you, one who is not merely among the ignorant crowd that follows whatever is popular, but one who has had a good education, strong gifts, and knowledge of the Scriptures. That makes the sin worse. Second, notice the one sinned against. It is Christ, who never harmed Saul, who came from heaven to earth to do him good, and who had recently been crucified for him. Was that not enough, that he must be crucified again by Saul? Third, notice the nature of the sin and how long it had continued. It was persecution, and Saul was still bent on it. He was not at that moment dragging anyone to prison or killing them, but that was the very purpose of his trip to Damascus. He was already planning it and enjoying the thought of it. Those who are planning evil are counted by God as doing evil.

The question also rebukes him: “Why do you do this?” It is a complaint. “Why do you deal so unfairly and unkindly with my disciples?” Christ did not complain so much about those who persecuted him in his own body as he did here about those who persecuted him in his people. He treats it as Saul’s own sin: “Why are you such an enemy to yourself, and to your God?” The sins of sinners are a heavy burden to the Lord Jesus. He is grieved by them (Mark 3:5), and they press him down (Amos 2:13).

It is also a convicting question. “Why do you do this? Can you give any good reason for it?” It is wise for us to ask ourselves often why we do certain things. That helps us see how unreasonable sin is. Of all sins, persecution of Christ’s followers is one of the most unreasonable. It is even more shameful when people do not realize that they are persecuting Christ himself. Those who destroy God’s people have no understanding (Psalm 14:4). Saul thought he was attacking only a group of weak, foolish people who annoyed the Pharisees. He did not realize he was insulting one who was in heaven. If he had known, he would not have persecuted the Lord of glory. Those who persecute the saints persecute Christ himself, and he counts what is done to them as done to him. That will be the standard in the great judgment (Matthew 25:45).

Saul then asks, “Who are you, Lord?” He gives no direct answer to the charge, because his conscience has already convicted him and left him with nothing to say. When God confronts us with our sins, we cannot answer for even one of a thousand, especially a sin like persecution. When conviction is pressed firmly on the conscience, it silences excuses and self-defense. Though I were righteous, yet I would not answer.

Still, Saul wants to know who is judging him. His address is respectful: “Lord.” The man who had once blasphemed Christ’s name now speaks to him as Lord. The question itself is fitting: “Who are you?” It shows that Saul does not yet know Christ. He does not know his voice as the sheep do, but he wants to know him. The light around him has convinced him that the speaker has come from heaven, and he honors anything that seems to come from heaven. So he asks, “Lord, who are you? What is your name?” (Judges 13:17; Genesis 32:29). There is hope for people when they begin to ask after Jesus Christ.

At once Christ answers, and in his answer we see his gracious self-revelation. He is always ready to answer serious seekers who want to know him: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” The name Jesus was not unfamiliar to Saul. His heart had often risen against that name, and he would gladly have erased it from memory.

He knew the name he had been persecuting, but he little expected to hear it from heaven, and from such a blazing glory. Christ brings people into fellowship with himself by showing himself to them. He said, first, “I am Jesus, a Savior,” or, as Acts 22:8 puts it, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Saul had used that name in scorn, but now Christ says, in effect, “I am that same Jesus.” Even in glory, Christ is not ashamed of the shame he once bore.

Second, Christ says, “I am the Jesus whom you are persecuting, so keep going on this path at your peril.” Nothing wakes and humbles the heart more than seeing that sin is against Christ himself, a personal insult to him and a fight against his plans. Christ’s words cut Saul down because they showed him his guilt in its true light.

Christ also gives Saul a gentle rebuke: “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” A goad was a sharp stick used to drive animals forward, so kicking against it only hurt the animal more. This describes people who resist conscience, rebel against God’s truth and commands, fight against his providence, or oppose his servants because they have been rebuked. When people keep hardening themselves after God strikes them with his word or discipline, they are kicking against the goad and storing up trouble for themselves.

At last Saul gives himself up to the Lord Jesus (Acts 9:6). After Christ had dealt with him, he trembled, as a person deeply frightened would. Strong conviction, when the Holy Spirit presses it home, will make an awakened soul tremble. It is hard to do otherwise when a person sees God against him, all creation at odds with him, and his own soul near ruin.

He was also astonished, as if he had been brought into a new world. The work of Christ in convicting and converting a sinner is full of wonder to the awakened heart. The soul asks, “What has God done with me, and what will he do next?”

Then Saul says to Jesus, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” This can be understood as a sincere request to be taught. He is saying, “Lord, I have been in error. You have shown me my wrong, and now teach me the way to pardon and peace.” It is like the cry in Acts 2:37, “Men and brothers, what must we do?” A real desire to be taught by Christ in the way of salvation is a good sign that grace has begun its work in the soul.

It can also be taken as a full surrender to Christ’s rule. This is the first thing grace said in Paul, and with it his new spiritual life began. He is no longer asking what the high priest and elders want, or what his own passions want, but what Christ wants. The great change in conversion happens in the will, when it is handed over to the will of Christ.

Christ answers with a general direction: “Get up and go into Damascus, and you will be told what you must do.” It was encouragement enough to be promised more instruction, but he was not to have it all at once. First, he must pause and think about what he had already heard, and he must be deeply humbled for persecuting Christ. Then he would be told what else he should do. Christ was also giving him the rest in a gentler way. He would not receive it again by a voice from heaven, for he could not bear that terror just then. He would be told by a man like himself, one whose presence would not overwhelm him. Christ often reveals himself to his people little by little, and what he does and what he asks of them, they may not know now, but they will know later.

Paul’s fellow travelers were also affected by the event. They fell to the ground as he did, but they got up without being told, unlike Paul, who stayed down until Christ told him to rise. Paul had the heavier burden. Once they were up, they stood speechless, confused and stunned. They had been going on the same evil mission as Paul, and perhaps shared his hatred as far as they could. Yet none of them seem to have been converted, even though they saw the light and were struck down and silenced by it. Outward signs by themselves do not change the heart without the Spirit and grace of God.

They heard a sound, but they saw no one. They heard Paul speak, but they did not see the one he was speaking to, nor hear the message clearly. This matches Acts 22:9, where it says they saw the light and were afraid, which they could do without seeing anyone in it. It also says they did not hear the voice in the sense of understanding its words, though they did hear a sound. So these men, who had come to help Paul’s rage against the church, ended up as witnesses to God’s power over him.

Saul then got up from the ground, when Christ told him to do so, though he likely needed help because the vision had left him weak and faint. When his eyes were opened, he found he could not see. He could not even see the men who were with him, and they had to begin guiding him. This was not simply from the brightness of the light, since that would likely have blinded them too. Rather, it was the sight of Christ, whom the others did not see, that left Saul blind for the moment.

When Paul saw the glory of God in the face of Christ, everything else on earth seemed dim beside it. To know Christ more fully and to receive his gospel more deeply, Christ first turned Paul away from other sights. Paul had to look away from lesser things so he could fix his eyes on Jesus alone.

They led him by the hand into Damascus. We do not know whether they took him to a public house or to a friend’s home. The man who had planned to drag Christ’s disciples away as prisoners was now himself led like a prisoner into Damascus. In this way, he learned how much he needed the grace of Christ to guide his soul, since by nature he was blind and likely to make mistakes.

He stayed without sight and without food. For three days he neither ate nor drank (Acts 9:9). I do not think, as some do, that this was the time when he had his vision of the third heaven, which he later mentions (2 Corinthians 12). Far from that, it seems more likely that he was under deep distress, feeling God’s terrors over his sins, which were now brought before him in order. He was unsure of his own spiritual condition, and he was so wounded in spirit that he could take no comfort in food or drink.