Acts · chapter 9 of 28
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Acts 9 tells how Saul, on his way to Damascus to arrest believers, is stopped by a light from heaven and the voice of Jesus, is left blind and is healed and baptized by Ananias. Saul begins to preach that Jesus is the Son of God, escapes a plot and reaches Jerusalem with Barnabas's help. The chapter ends with Peter healing Aeneas in Lydda and raising Dorcas in Joppa.
Saul appeared in Acts 7 approving of Stephen's death and in Acts 8 ravaging the church. This chapter tells the most surprising turn in the book: the persecutor is seized by the risen Lord. Saul, later known as Paul, will become the chief messenger to the Gentiles.
Saul, still breathing threats against the disciples, asks the high priest for letters so that any followers of the Way he finds in Damascus can be brought bound to Jerusalem. Near the city a light from heaven flashes around him, he falls to the ground and hears a voice: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He asks who is speaking, and the voice answers: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He is told to go into the city, where he will be told what to do. Saul gets up blind and is led by the hand into Damascus, where he spends three days without sight, food or drink.
The Lord speaks in a vision to a disciple named Ananias and tells him to go to the house of Judas on Straight Street to look for Saul of Tarsus, who is praying and has seen a man lay hands on him to restore his sight. Ananias objects because of the harm Saul did, but the Lord answers that Saul is a chosen instrument to carry his name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel, and that he will suffer for that name. Ananias goes, lays his hands on him and calls him brother Saul; scales fall from his eyes, he regains his sight, is baptized and eats.
Saul at once preaches in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. The Jews plot to kill him, but his disciples let him down by night through an opening in the wall in a basket. In Jerusalem the disciples fear him, until Barnabas brings him to the apostles and tells what happened; the Hellenists try to kill him and the brothers send him off to Tarsus. The church has peace throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and it grows.
Peter, visiting Lydda, heals Aeneas, paralyzed for eight years, and many turn to the Lord. In Joppa, Tabitha, called Dorcas, a disciple full of good works, dies. Peter, sent for by the disciples, kneels and prays and says, Tabitha, arise. She opens her eyes and sits up, and many believe in the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus asks Saul why he is persecuting him and identifies himself as Jesus, whom Saul persecutes. Persecuting believers is persecuting Christ himself, because the church is his body.
The Lord tells Ananias that Saul is a chosen instrument to carry his name before Gentiles, kings and the people of Israel, and that he will suffer for it. Saul's call is grace and also a life of cost.
Saul immediately begins to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. The very man who had come to arrest believers now announces the faith he wanted to destroy.
Tabitha, called Dorcas, was a disciple in Joppa full of good works and acts of charity. Her life was so valuable to her community that her death moved everyone, and her story highlights the worth of practical mercy.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To Damascus, with letters to bring followers of the Way bound to Jerusalem. — Acts 9:1-3
Answer: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? — Acts 9:4
Answer: Three days. — Acts 9:9
Answer: A chosen instrument to carry his name before the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. — Acts 9:15
Answer: The disciples let him down by night through an opening in the wall, in a basket. — Acts 9:23-25
Answer: He knelt and prayed and told her to arise; she opened her eyes and sat up. — Acts 9:40
Saul's conversion teaches that no one is beyond the reach of grace. You can think of someone who seems impossible to reach and pray for that person with hope. In your group or Sunday school class, remember that God changes the direction of an entire life with one encounter with Christ.
Ananias and Barnabas show the value of those who welcome another into the faith. Ananias was afraid and obeyed anyway; Barnabas risked trusting Saul. Ask whom you can accompany in their first steps of faith, and how you can be someone's Ananias or Barnabas this week.
Acts 9 ends with Peter in Joppa, in the house of a tanner, where God prepares him for an unexpected step. In Acts 10 Peter receives a vision, and the gospel reaches a Gentile household for the first time, that of Cornelius.
The text says he fell to the ground but does not mention a horse. That image comes from later artistic tradition. What the passage tells is the light from heaven, the voice of Jesus and Saul's blindness.
The chapter says they heard the voice but saw no one, while Saul saw Jesus. Paul will retell the scene at other times with complementary details. The encounter was directed personally to Saul.
No. In this chapter he is called Saul. Acts 13 will show that he is also called Paul, the Roman name he will use in his ministry among the Gentiles. There was no name change at his conversion.