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Acts 9
Acts 9 is the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records Saul's conversion and the works of Saint Peter. Early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke. Critical opinion on the tradition was evenly divided at the end of the 20th century.
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 43 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
The purposeful journey to Damascus by Saul (verses 1–2) was abruptly halted (verses 3–4) when a heavenly light blinded him (verse 8) while a heavenly voice made his followers speechless (verse 7), so now Saul had to be 'told what to do' (verse 6) and 'led by the hand' (verse 8). What was the most terrifying for Saul is that the heavenly voice was the voice of 'Jesus, whom you are persecuting' (verse 5), confirming that 'Stephen's vision (Acts 7:56) was not total delusion'.
The words "It is hard for you to kick against goads" are added in some translations, which reflect Saul's (Paul's) later account of the experience in Acts 26:14. A goad is a traditional farming implement, used to spur or guide livestock, usually oxen, who are pulling a plough or a cart. The King James Version has "kick against the pricks".
Just like the story of Cornelius, there were two visions involved in Saul's story, 'each confirming the other'. While Saul was blinded from his vision and in chastened state ('he is praying', verse 11), Ananias, who was a resident of Damascus (verse 13) and a disciple of Christ (verse 10), received instructions with precise directions to Saul's address (verse 11; the 'street called Straight' is still shown in the Old City of Damascus). It also contains 'a divine commission' (in distinctly Pauline language) highlighting the contrast between Saul's dark past and God's 'elective grace' (verse 15: cf. 1 Corinthians 15:9–10; Romans 9:23) for Saul's future career, as prophetically outlined in verses 15–16. Ananias was initially reluctant and argued with 'the Lord' (cf. Moses in Exodus 3:11–4:17), but he obediently followed the instructions with generous response (verse 17) to lay hands (primarily for healing) and to baptize Saul (verse 18).
John Gill suggested in his Exposition of the Bible that these disciples were among those dispersed from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria at the onset of the Christian persecution described in Acts 8:1.
Saul's conversion immediately showed apparent effect, as characteristically recorded in Luke's style to be a 'universal amazement' (verse 21). Luke's narrative here and Paul's own account of his conversion in Galatians 1 are not identical but reconcilable: Paul did not mention that his call was in Damascus, yet in Galatians 1:17 after going to Arabia, Paul wrote that he 'returned to Damascus', implying that the call took place there. Another mention of Damascus in Paul's letters is at 2 Corinthians 11:32 in relation to his escape (being let down over the walls in a basket), which could hardly have happened twice, so it must refer to the same episode. In the epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that the person wanting to capture him was Aretas, the king of the Arabian kingdom of Nabatea, who only had any kind of judicial authority in Damascus between 37 and 39 CE, thus providing a narrow date range for the event.
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Acts 9
Acts 9 is the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records Saul's conversion and the works of Saint Peter. Early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke. Critical opinion on the tradition was evenly divided at the end of the 20th century.
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 43 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
The purposeful journey to Damascus by Saul (verses 1–2) was abruptly halted (verses 3–4) when a heavenly light blinded him (verse 8) while a heavenly voice made his followers speechless (verse 7), so now Saul had to be 'told what to do' (verse 6) and 'led by the hand' (verse 8). What was the most terrifying for Saul is that the heavenly voice was the voice of 'Jesus, whom you are persecuting' (verse 5), confirming that 'Stephen's vision (Acts 7:56) was not total delusion'.
The words "It is hard for you to kick against goads" are added in some translations, which reflect Saul's (Paul's) later account of the experience in Acts 26:14. A goad is a traditional farming implement, used to spur or guide livestock, usually oxen, who are pulling a plough or a cart. The King James Version has "kick against the pricks".
Just like the story of Cornelius, there were two visions involved in Saul's story, 'each confirming the other'. While Saul was blinded from his vision and in chastened state ('he is praying', verse 11), Ananias, who was a resident of Damascus (verse 13) and a disciple of Christ (verse 10), received instructions with precise directions to Saul's address (verse 11; the 'street called Straight' is still shown in the Old City of Damascus). It also contains 'a divine commission' (in distinctly Pauline language) highlighting the contrast between Saul's dark past and God's 'elective grace' (verse 15: cf. 1 Corinthians 15:9–10; Romans 9:23) for Saul's future career, as prophetically outlined in verses 15–16. Ananias was initially reluctant and argued with 'the Lord' (cf. Moses in Exodus 3:11–4:17), but he obediently followed the instructions with generous response (verse 17) to lay hands (primarily for healing) and to baptize Saul (verse 18).
John Gill suggested in his Exposition of the Bible that these disciples were among those dispersed from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria at the onset of the Christian persecution described in Acts 8:1.
Saul's conversion immediately showed apparent effect, as characteristically recorded in Luke's style to be a 'universal amazement' (verse 21). Luke's narrative here and Paul's own account of his conversion in Galatians 1 are not identical but reconcilable: Paul did not mention that his call was in Damascus, yet in Galatians 1:17 after going to Arabia, Paul wrote that he 'returned to Damascus', implying that the call took place there. Another mention of Damascus in Paul's letters is at 2 Corinthians 11:32 in relation to his escape (being let down over the walls in a basket), which could hardly have happened twice, so it must refer to the same episode. In the epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that the person wanting to capture him was Aretas, the king of the Arabian kingdom of Nabatea, who only had any kind of judicial authority in Damascus between 37 and 39 CE, thus providing a narrow date range for the event.