Acts 9

     9:1-9,  Here is recorded what is surely the most dramatic and momentous Christian conversion in history.  Effectual calling comes in many ways.  It can come in the womb, as with John the Baptist (Luke 1:15, 45), or at the point of death, as with the repentant thief at the crucifixion.  It can seem to be a slow gradual process, or come suddenly and without warning, as with Saul.  The Lord chose Saul, and completely turned his life upside down.  Because of this, Saul came to understand fully that salvation is completely from God, by grace alone.  As much as he thought otherwise, he did nothing to please God, but God transformed his heart and mind from an enemy into a friend.  So great was the change, that no one could believe at first that this man had become a follower of “the Way,” (an idiom for Christianity, v.2). 

     9:4-5.  Jesus identifies with his people.  When they are persecuted, he is persecuted.

     9:7.  Though the others heard the sound (margin) of the voice, they did not hear with comprehension, according to 22:9.

     9:10-22.  In a meaningful picture of conversion, the veil of blindness was taken from Paul’s eyes, and he could see.  All his former training would now become useful to the Lord.  He could debate powerfully, both from Scripture and experience, to prove that Jesus was the Christ, the promised One.

     9:23-25.  It would be three years before Paul went to Jerusalem (26).  For much of this period he was in the wilderness, and received direct revelation from the Lord.  Most of what we know about this he has told us in Gal.1:11-19 and 2 Cor.11:32-12:4.

     9:26-31.  In Jerusalem, he was fifteen days with Cephas (Peter), and also saw James, the Lord’s brother, but no other apostles (Gal.1:18-19).  After Paul was sent to his hometown of Tarsus (30), the persecution once led by him died down, and the church in the region enjoyed a period of peace (31).

     9:32-43.  Thus far no one, not even Saul, had taken the gospel to the Gentiles.  Peter continued to spread the gospel to the Jews scattered in many places, both by his preaching and by the miracles the Lord worked through him.