Acts 9:23 - Meaning and Application

Luke does not mention Paul’s time in Arabia, though Paul says it happened right after his conversion (Galatians 1:16-17). Once God revealed his Son in Paul so that he could preach him, Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to learn from the apostles, as other new preachers might have done. Instead, he went to Arabia, where there was new ground to reach and where he could teach, not be taught. Then he returned to Damascus, and three years after his conversion, the events here took place.

Paul first faced serious trouble in Damascus, where he nearly lost his life. The Jews planned to kill him, and they were more angry with him than with any other gospel preacher. They were especially enraged because he had been such a strong supporter of their cause before, and now his conversion stood as a witness against them. They watched the city gates day and night to kill him, and they even stirred up the governor against him as a dangerous man. So the city was guarded to arrest him if he tried to leave or enter (2 Corinthians 11:32). Christ had already shown Paul that he would suffer great things for his name (Acts 9:16), and now government power turned against him almost at once. Saul was no sooner a Christian than a preacher, and no sooner a preacher than a sufferer. Where God gives great grace, he usually tests it with great trials.

Paul was delivered in a careful and unexpected way. The plan against him became known, though we are not told whether the warning came from heaven or from people. Then the disciples helped him escape. They likely hid him by day, and at night, when the gates were watched, they lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall, as Paul later says himself (2 Corinthians 11:33). So he escaped from their hands. This story teaches us that when we enter God’s way, we should expect temptation and be ready for it. It also shows that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and will always provide a way of escape, so we are not discouraged or driven away from his path.

Paul then met trouble again when he first went to Jerusalem. He came to Jerusalem, and many think this was the visit he mentions in Galatians 1:18, when he says he went up after three years to see Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. But it may have been an earlier visit, because his coming and going, and his preaching and debating, seem to require more time than fifteen days. Also, on this visit he came as a stranger, while in Galatians he seems to describe a more personal meeting with Peter. Still, it could possibly be the same journey.

At Jerusalem, his friends were at first wary of him. He did not go to the chief priests and Pharisees, for he had long since left them behind. Instead, he tried to join himself to the disciples. Wherever he went, he openly sided with that despised and persecuted people, because he now saw them as the truly excellent people of the earth. He wanted to know them and share fellowship with them, but they treated him suspiciously and would not trust him. They were afraid of him, and they kept their distance. Paul could easily have felt trapped, rejected by the Jews and then refused by Christians too. In that kind of pressure, he needed the righteousness that protects and strengthens a believer, just as we all do, so we are not crushed by unfair treatment from enemies or cold treatment from friends.

The reason for their suspicion was that they did not believe he was really a disciple. They thought he might be pretending, or perhaps acting as a spy or informer. They knew how fierce a persecutor he had been, and they had heard nothing of him since his trip to Damascus, so they thought he might still be dangerous. Christians need to be careful about whom they welcome into fellowship. We should not believe every spirit. Wisdom is needed to avoid two mistakes, being suspicious of everyone on one side and too trusting on the other. Yet it is usually safer to lean toward charity, since it is better for weeds to be found among the wheat than for any wheat to be pulled up and thrown out.

The problem was removed when Barnabas, a trusted believer known for encouragement, brought Paul to the apostles themselves. The apostles were less guarded than the ordinary disciples, to whom Paul had first tried to join himself. Barnabas explained what Christ had done for Paul, how Jesus had appeared to him on the road and spoken to him, and what Paul had since done for Christ, namely, that he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. We are not told how Barnabas learned all this, whether from Damascus, from letters, from conversation, or from earlier personal acquaintance with Paul. But he was convinced, and he gave the apostles confidence in Paul too, even though Paul had brought no letters of recommendation from Damascus (2 Corinthians 3:1). Helping a new convert into fellowship with believers is a very good work, and one we should gladly do when we have the chance.

Paul’s enemies were stirred up even more. His admission into fellowship with the disciples angered them, because it showed Saul as a trophy of Christ’s victory and a captive of grace, after he had once been one of their strongest champions. They were also provoked to see him going in and out with the apostles, and to hear the apostles glorifying God in him (Acts 9:28). Then he became even more offensive to them by speaking boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 9:29). Those who speak for Christ have good reason to speak boldly, because they stand for a worthy cause and for one who will one day speak for himself and for them too.

The Grecian Jews, or Hellenistic Jews, were especially offended at Saul because he had once been one of them. They drew him into argument, and no doubt he was more than a match for them, just as he had been for the Jews in Damascus. As one martyr said, “She could not argue for Christ, but she could die for Christ.” Paul could do both. In Saul, the Lord Jesus took the strong man’s weapons and turned them against him.

That same quick, fiery spirit that once made Saul a fierce, stubborn enemy of the faith now made him a bold, eager defender of it. But this also put his life in danger, and he barely escaped. When the Grecian Jews saw that they could not beat him in debate, they tried to silence him another way. They planned to kill him, just as they had done with Stephen, when they could not resist the Spirit by which he spoke (Acts 6:10). It is a bad cause that turns to persecution as its last argument.

The believers learned of the plot and took careful steps to protect this young champion of the faith (Acts 9:30). They brought him down to Caesarea. They remembered that Stephen’s death, after his dispute with the Grecian Jews, had started a severe persecution. So they were afraid of opening that wound again, and they hurried Paul out of the way. He who flees may fight again. Saul who fled from Jerusalem could still serve well at Tarsus, his hometown, and they wanted him there, hoping he could continue his work with more safety than in Jerusalem.

This was also guided by heaven. Paul later says that Christ appeared to him then and told him to leave Jerusalem quickly, because he was to be sent to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations (Acts 22:17, Acts 22:18; Acts 9:15). Those whom God has work for will be protected from every plan of their enemies until that work is done. Christ’s witnesses cannot be killed until they have finished their testimony.

The churches now had a welcome season of rest (Acts 9:31). Some think this happened when Saul was converted, since the one who had stirred up trouble was taken away. Others think it was when he left Jerusalem, because the anger of the Grecian Jews had cooled a little, and the other preachers were less likely to be disturbed now that Saul was gone. In either case, the churches had rest. After a storm comes a calm, and though hard times will come, they will not last forever. This was a breathing space, a chance to prepare for the next trial.

Most of these churches were in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, within the borders of the promised land. These were the first Christian churches, where Christ himself had laid the foundation. They used this quiet time well. Instead of becoming careless or proud in good times, they grew stronger in their duty and made the most of their peace.

They were built up in their most holy faith. The more freely and steadily they enjoyed the means of knowledge and grace, the more they grew in both. They also walked in the fear of the Lord, meaning they lived in a way that showed reverence for God and made others say, “Surely the fear of God rules in these people.” They walked in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, so they were not only faithful, but also joyful in religion. They kept to the Lord’s ways and found gladness in them.

The comfort of the Holy Spirit was their consolation and their chief joy. They relied on that comfort not only in trouble, but also in times of peace and prosperity. Even when they had the comforts of this life in full measure, those things could not satisfy them without the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Notice the connection here: when they walked in the fear of the Lord, they also walked in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Those who walk carefully and reverently are most likely to walk cheerfully.

God blessed this season, and they increased in number. Sometimes the church grows more when it suffers, as Israel did in Egypt. But if that were always the case, God’s people would soon be worn out. At other times, peace helps the church grow because ministers have more room to work, and some who fear suffering are willing to come when danger eases. Or, as the verse suggests, when they walked in the fear of God and enjoyed his comforts, they multiplied. In this way, those who will not be won by the word may still be won by the way believers live.