Saul’s Conversion
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture] but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
Aeneas and Dorcas
32 As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”
39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
NOTES:
9:1–19 This is the first of three accounts of Paul’s
conversion (with Acts 22:3–16 and Acts 26:2–18) with some differences of detail
owing to Luke’s use of different sources. Paul’s experience was not visionary
but was precipitated by the appearance of Jesus, as he insists in 1 Cor 15:8.
The words of Jesus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” related by Luke with
no variation in all three accounts, exerted a profound and lasting influence on
the thought of Paul. Under the influence of this experience he gradually
developed his understanding of justification by faith (see the letters to the
Galatians and Romans) and of the identification of the Christian community with
Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 12:27). That Luke would narrate this conversion three
times is testimony to the importance he attaches to it. This first account
occurs when the word is first spread to the Gentiles. At this point, the
conversion of the hero of the Gentile mission is recounted. The emphasis in the
account is on Paul as a divinely chosen instrument (Acts 9:15).
9:2 The Way: a name used by the early Christian community
for itself (Acts 18:26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). The Essene community at
Qumran used the same designation to describe its mode of life.
9:8 He could see nothing: a temporary blindness (Acts 9:18)
symbolizing the religious blindness of Saul as persecutor (cf. Acts 26:18).
9:13 Your holy ones: literally, “your saints.”
9:19–30 This is a brief resume of Paul’s initial experience
as an apostolic preacher. At first he found himself in the position of being
regarded as an apostate by the Jews and suspect by the Christian community of
Jerusalem. His acceptance by the latter was finally brought about through his
friendship with Barnabas (Acts 9:27).
9:20 Son of God: the title “Son of God” occurs in Acts only
here, but cf. the citation of Ps 2:7 in Paul’s speech at Antioch in Pisidia
(Acts 13:33).
9:26 This visit of Paul to Jerusalem is mentioned by Paul in
Gal 1:18.
9:29 Hellenists: see note on Acts 6:1–7.
9:31–43 In the context of the period of peace enjoyed by the
community through the cessation of Paul’s activities against it, Luke
introduces two traditions concerning the miraculous power exercised by Peter as
he was making a tour of places where the Christian message had already been
preached. The towns of Lydda, Sharon, and Joppa were populated by both Jews and
Gentiles and their Christian communities may well have been mixed.
9:36 Tabitha (Dorcas), respectively the Aramaic and Greek
words for “gazelle,” exemplifies the right attitude toward material possessions
expressed by Jesus in the Lucan Gospel (Lk 6:30; 11:41; 12:33; 18:22; 19:8).
9:43 The fact that Peter lodged with a tanner would have
been significant to both the Gentile and Jewish Christians, for Judaism
considered the tanning occupation unclean.
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