SAULS CONVERSION PART 3

by John Thomas Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

PART 3
This account describes the two complementary divine visions Ananias and Saul received. Ananias’s vision was intended to direct him to the house of Judas and Saul. Saul’s vision prepared him for the arrival of Ananias, clearly indicating that he was the one God had appointed to reveal His will for him. There is more space devoted to convincing Ananias than to the conversion of Saul. It is difficult to estimate the amount of resistance Ananias would have had to this di-vine instruction to receive Saul as a brother in the Lord. Perhaps An-anias called a church meeting to discuss how they would deal with Saul’s arrival. He was a man of great respect and influence, and thus he realized that his actions would have broad ramifications. The ulti-mate issue was God’s ability to save—even the most committed unbe-liever. How humorous it seems to hear Ananias informing the Lord that Saul was an enemy who had caused many Christians great suf-fering and adversity, as though He was unaware of this! Rather than attempt to pacify Ananias or alleviate his apprehension, God told him that Saul would not only be a brother but he would also be His in-strument for bringing the Gospel to Gentiles. Now, this would have been a very bitter pill to swallow for many Jewish Christians. Never-theless, Ananias obeyed.
The Meeting of Ananias and Saul (9:17-19a)
17 And Ananias departed and entered the house and, after lay-ing his hands on him, said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who ap-peared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he arose and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.
The words and actions of Ananias are evidence of his faith and obedience to the divine commission he was given, as outlined by Luke in the verses above. They are also very significant in what they con-vey to Saul. The words “Brother Saul” must not have come easily to Ananias. They were based, as I understand it, on what the Lord had revealed to Ananias and not on any confession or actions of Saul, for these seem to follow Ananias's initial actions and words. Saul was re-ceived as a true believer, as a brother.146 The laying on Ananias’s hands, however, was a distinct act of identification with Saul. The result was the restoration of Saul’s sight and, and it would seem, Saul’s reception of the Holy Spirit. Saul’s baptism followed, accompa-nied by his profession of faith, his “calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). After this, Saul broke his fast and was strengthened.
The Consequences of Saul’s Conversion (9:19b-25)
Now for several days, he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the syn-agogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jeru-salem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding147 the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
23 And when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted togeth-er to do away with him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. Fur-thermore, they were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a bas-ket.
The remaining verses of this account describe the results of Saul’s conversion, which are dramatic proof of his radical transfor-mation due to his encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Da-mascus. The first evidence of Saul’s conversion was his immediate identification with the Church in Damascus. He who had wanted to kill these saints now wanted to fellowship with them. God undoubted-ly used Ananias to serve as Saul’s “first Barnabas.” Just as Barnabas would vouch for Saul with the apostles in Jerusalem, Ananias, a highly respected Jewish Christian, would vouch for Saul here.
The second evidence of Saul’s conversion was his bold procla-mation of his newly found faith in Jesus as the Messiah. This man who had formerly cringed at the preaching of the gospel148 was now proclaiming the same message. The man who, days before, was perse-cuting Christ was now preaching Christ. Saul proclaimed Jesus to be the “Son of God” (9:20), a designation understood to refer to Isra-el’s awaited Messiah.149
The results of Saul’s preaching were predictable, very much like the response Saul would have had (or did have) to the preaching of the Gospel before his conversion. Some were amazed, taking note of the dramatic turn-about in Saul’s faith and practice (9:21). But as Saul grew in strength and as his arguments were irrefutable, just as Stephen’s had been (Acts 6:10), his opponents realized that the only way to silence Saul was to kill him. They could not out-argue him. They could not prove him wrong from the Scriptures. They could only kill him, and they were determined to do it (9:23). When the plot be-came known to Saul, he made a successful, though undignified, escape from the city of Damascus. His disciples150 lowered him in a basket from the window of a room in the city's wall (9:25).
Saul’s Journey to Jerusalem(9:26-30)
26 And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 And he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death. 30 But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.
There may have been a long time between Saul’s conversion and his arrival at Jerusalem. This conclusion could be based upon Paul’s argument in Galatians 1 and 2, along with the expression, “when many days had elapsed” in Acts 9:23. Nevertheless, at some point in time, Saul did arrive in Jerusalem. One thing was sure; no matter how much time had passed, the apostles were not yet convinced of Saul’s con-version. They, not unlike Ananias, were very reluctant to have any-thing to do with this Christian killer. Due to the intervention of Bar-nabas, a man who would prove to be a lifetime friend of Paul, the apostles risked a meeting with him and then granted him the free-dom to associate with the saints in Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem, as in Damascus, Saul spoke out boldly, proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, the promised Messiah. Like Stephen, Saul seemed to gravitate toward preaching to the Hellenistic Jews (9:29). Some of the Hellenistic Jews responded to the preaching of Saul as they had to Stephen’s preaching; they wanted to kill him (9:29). He was, indeed, Stephen’s replacement. As at Damascus, Saul eventually had to leave the city of Jerusalem to save his life. The Church sent him on his way to Tarsus by Way of Caesarea. Those whose lives Saul would gladly have taken in his unsaved days now sought to save his life by sending him away.
Peace Returns When Saul is Removed (9:31)
31 So the Church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.
There is undoubtedly a connection between Saul and persecu-tion and Saul and peace. Saul seems to have been the instigator of the persecution of the Church, which began at the death of Stephen in Jerusalem and worked outward from there. With the conversion of Saul, persecution of the Church did not stop; for now, some of the Hellenistic Jews opposed his preaching (and, no doubt, the Church at large as well). It was only with the exit of Saul from the Holy Land, back to his native land (Tarsus), that peace again returned. As perse-cution was no longer needed to disperse the Church and the Gospel, peace was restored to the land. In peace, as in persecution, the Church was comforted and continued to increase.