Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 26:12

Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

12. Whereupon ] The Greek has “in which things,” and the sense is given well by the margin of R. V. “on which errand.”

with authority ] Rev. Ver. “with the authority.” Saul was the commissioner sent by the Jewish magistrates, and at this particular time Damascus had been assigned as the district where he was to search for the Christians.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

See this passage explained in the notes on Act 9:5, etc.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 26:12-18

Whereupon as I went to Damascus.

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus

I. His character before his conversion.

1. He was a moral man (Php 3:6). Yet he needed conversion. The necessity of conversion arises from the depravity of human nature, and not from a greater or less degree of immorality.

2. He was a Pharisee. He was zealous for his religion, made long prayers, and did many deeds of charity. And have you any better religion?

3. He was a hater of Christ, notwithstanding his morals and his zeal. So still men will attach such undue merit to their own actions, that salvation through Christ alone becomes offensive.

4. He was a persecutor of the people of God. As from love to Christ springs love to His people, so from hatred to Christ springs the spirit of persecution to His people. The spirit of Saul is inherent in the human mind (Gal 4:29). Can you despise and revile the devout spirit of the true believer?

II. The evidences of the truth of his conversion.

1. Penitence. He fasted three days. What a change from the haughty Pharisee! If God the Spirit has changed our hearts, we shall have a deep sense of sin. We shall look on Him whom we have pierced and mourn.

2. Prayer. The prayer which evidences conversion is humble, sincere, fervent, and offered only in the name of Christ.

3. Humility. From this time the man who had previously said I thank God that I am not as other men, felt himself to be the chief of stoners, and less than the least of all saints.

4. Faith. Ananias was sent to baptize him–to initiate him into the Christian faith.

5. Love. We have seen his enmity to Christ and His people. Now they form the objects of his warmest affections. With regard to Christ, he could sincerely say, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, etc. With regard to the people of God, I endure all things for the elects sake.

6. Obedience. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?

III. The ways of God manifested in his conversion.

1. Sovereignty. Was there ever a more unlikely subject? God accounts for his conversion on this principle. He is a chosen vessel unto Me (Act 9:15).

2. Power. What but the power of an almighty arm could have wrought so wonderful a change?

3. Mercy (1Ti 1:12-17). And who shall despair of mercy when Saul of Tarsus obtained it?

4. Wisdom. How were the designs of the devil and the malice of men here defeated? Not by destroying the enemy, but by converting him.

Application:

1. Let the true convert strive to gain more adoring thoughts of Gods ways towards him, and aim to become more holy and live more to the glory of God.

2. Let the unconverted guard against mistaken notions of conversion, and seek the influences of the Spirit, to create within them a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within them.

3. Let the careless and the obstinate be sure that their damnation will be just, if they live and die in the neglect of a God so gracious, and a salvation so great.

4. Let the sceptic consider the unreasonableness of his objections to the gospel. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)

The conversion of Saul: its genuineness

It cannot be explained by the supposition that the account was in any way forged. What motive had St. Paul for inventing it? Was it, as has been supposed, some private pique or annoyance with the Jews, that led him to change his religious profession, and to account for the change in this kind of way? But there is no trace of any feelings of this kind in his early life. It would have been a sin against natural feeling, since the Jewish people had singled Paul out for a place of special confidence and honour; and, as a matter of fact, when the Jews were persecuting him afterwards to death he expressed in more ways than one his deep love for his countrymen. He deplores their blindness; he excuses their conduct as far as he can. Even if, in one place, he paints it in dark colours he would gladly, he says in another, were it possible, he accursed in their place. Was it the spirit of a sensitive independence which will sometimes lead men to assert their own importance at the cost of their party or their principles? That, again, is inconsistent with his advocacy of the duty of subjection to existing authority, in terms and to a degree which has exposed him to fierce criticisms from the modern advocates of social and political change. Was it, then, a refined self-interest? Did the young Jew see in the rising sect a prospect of bettering himself? But Christianity was being persecuted–persecuted, as it seemed, to the very verge of extermination. It had been crushed out by the established hierarchy in Jerusalem itself. It was doomed to destruction, every intelligent Jew would have thought, as well by the might of the forces ranged against it as by its intrinsic absurdity. It had nothing to offer, whether in the way of social eminence or of literary attraction. It was as yet, in the main, the religion of the very poor, of the very illiterate. On the other hand, the young Pharisee had, if any man had, brilliant prospects before him if he remained loyal to the synagogue. The reputation of his great master, his own learning and acuteness, his great practical ability, would have commanded success. If his object was really a selfish one, no man ever really made a greater, or more stupid mistake, to all appearance, for no Jew could have anticipated for a convert to Christianity, within a few years of the Crucifixion, such a reputation as that which now surrounds the name of St. Paul. (Canon Liddon.)

Christs remonstrances

My object is to trace the stages of the process set forth here, and to ask you if you, like Paul, have been obedient to the heavenly vision.

I. The first of these all but simultaneous and yet separable stages was the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation in heart and mind was the main thing of which the revelation to eye and ear were but means. The means, in his case, are different from those in ours; the end is the same. Saul! Saul! why persecutest thou Me? They used to think that they could wake sleep walkers by addressing them by name. Jesus Christ, by speaking his name to the apostle, wakes him out of his diseased slumber. What does such an address teach you and me? That Jesus Christ, the living, reigning Lord of the universe, has perfect knowledge of each of us. And more than that, He directly addresses Himself to each man and woman in this congregation. We are far too apt to hide ourselves in the crowd, and let all the messages of Gods love, the warnings of His providences, as well as the teachings and invitations and pleadings of His gospel, fly over our heads as if they were meant vaguely for anybody. And I would fain plead with each of my friends before me to believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for thee, and that Christ speaks to thee.

II. Secondly, notice, as another stage in this process, the discovery of the true character of the past. Why persecutest thou Me? Saul was brought to look at all his past life as standing in immediate connection with Jesus Christ. Of course he knew before the vision that he had no love to Him whom he thought to be a Galilean impostor. But he did not know that Jesus Christ counted every blow struck at one of His servants as being struck at Him. Above all, he did not know that the Christ whom he was persecuting was reigning in the heavens. If I could only get you, for one quiet ten minutes, to lay all your past, as far as memory brought it to your minds, right against that bright and loving face, I should have done much. One infallible way of judging of the rottenness or goodness of our actions is that we should bring them where they will all be brought one day, into the brightness of Christs countenance. If you want to find out the flaws in some thin, badly-woven piece of cloth, you hold it up against the light, do you not? and then you see all the specks and holes; and the irregular threads. Hold up your lives in like fashion. Again, this revelation of the past life disclosed its utter unreasonableness. That one question, Why persecutest thou Me? pulverised the whole thing. If you take into account what you are, and where you stand, you can find no reason, except utterly unreasonable ones, for the lives that I fear some of us are living–lives of Godlessness and Christlessness. There is nothing in all the world a tithe so stupid as sin. Wake up, my brother, to apply calm reason to your lives while yet there is time, and face the question, Why dost thou stand as thou dost to Jesus Christ? You can carry on the questions very gaily for a step or two, but then you come to a dead pause. What do I do so-and-so for? Because I like it. Why do I like it? Because it meets my needs, or my desires, or my tastes, or my intellect. Why do you make the meeting of your needs, or your desires, or your tastes, or your intellect, your sole object? Is there any answer to that? Further, this disclosure of the true character of his life revealed to Saul, as in a lightning flash, the ingratitude of it. Why persecutest thou Me? That was as much as to say, What have I done to merit thy hate? What have I not done to merit, rather, thy love? But the same appeal comes to each of us. What has Jesus Christ done for thee, my friend, for me, for every soul of man?

III. Lastly, we have here a warning of self-inflicted wounds. The metaphor is a very plain one. The ox goad was a formidable weapon, some seven or eight feet in length, shod with an iron point, and capable of being used as a spear, and of inflicting deadly wounds at a pinch. Held in the firm hand of the ploughman, it presented a sharp point to the rebellious animal in the yoke. If the ox had readily yielded to the gentle prick given, not in anger, but for guidance, it had been well. But if it lashes out with its hoofs against the point, what does it get but bleeding flanks? Paul had been striking out instead of obeying, and he had won by it only bloody hocks. There are two possible applications of that saying, which may have been a proverb in common use. One is the utter futility of lives that are spent in opposing Divine will. There is a great current running, and if you try to go against it you will only be swept away by it. Think of a man lifting himself up and saying to God, I will not! when God says, Do thou this! or Be thou this! What will be the end of that? It is hard to indulge in sensual sin. You cannot altogether dodge what people call the natural consequences. It is hard to set yourselves against Christianity. But there is another side to the proverb of my text, and that is the self-inflicted harm that comes from resisting the pricks of Gods rebukes and remonstrances, whether these be in conscience or by any other means; including, I make bold to say, even such poor words as mine tonight. For if the first little prick of conscience, a warning and a guide, be neglected, the next will go a great deal deeper. And so all wrong-doing, and neglect of right-doing of every sort, carries with it a subsequent pain. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?—

Christ and Paul

I. The question. It was personal. When I preach to you, I am obliged to address you all in the mass. But not so our Master. If He had spoken in general terms, it would have glanced off from the heart of the apostle; but when it came personally–Why persecutest thou Me?–there was no getting off it. I pray the Lord to make the question personal to some of you. There be many of us here present who have bad personal preaching to our souls. Do you not remember, dear brother in Christ, when you were first pricked in the heart, how personal the preacher was? I remember it well. It seemed to me that I was the only person in the whole place, as if a black wall were round about me, and I were shut in with the preacher, something like the prisoners at the Penitentiary, who each sit in their box and can see no one but the chaplain. I thought all he said was meant for me; I felt persuaded that someone knew my character, and had written to him and told him all, and that he had personally picked me out. Why, I thought he fixed his eyes on me; and I have reason to believe he did, but still he said he knew nothing about my ease. Oh, that men would hear the Word preached, and that God would so bless them in their hearing, that they might feel it to have a personal application to their own hearts.

2. It contained some information as to the persecuted one. If you had asked Saul who it was he persecuted, he would have said, Some poor fishermen, that had been setting up an impostor. But see in what a different light Jesus Christ puts it. He does not say, Why didst thou persecute Stephen? but Me? Inasmuch as you have done this unto one of the least of My brethren, you have done it unto Me.

3. It demanded an answer. What have I done to hurt thee? Why art thou so provoked against Me?

II. The expostulation. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. For–

1. You do not really accomplish your purpose. When the ox kicks against the goad, it is to spite the husbandman for having goaded him onward; but instead of hurting the husbandman it hurts itself. If thou thinkest, O man, that thou canst stop the progress of Christs Church, go thou and first bid the universe stand still! Go, stand by the winds, and bid them cease their wailing, or bid the roaring sea roll back when its tide is marching on the beach; and when thou hast stopped the universe, then come forth and stop the omnipotent progress of the Church of Christ. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, etc. But put it as a personal matter, have you ever succeeded in stopping the work of grace in the heart of anyone? Aye, young man, you may laugh at your own shop mate, but he will beat you in the long run. If Christians are but faithful, they must win the day. It is no use your kicking against them; you cannot hurt them.

2. You get no good by it. Kick as he might, the ox was never benefited by it. Suppose you say you dont like religion, what have you ever got by hating it? You have got those red eyes sometimes on the Monday morning, after the drunkenness of the Sunday night. You have got that shattered constitution, which, even if you had now turned it to the paths of virtue, must hang about you till you leave it in your grave. But you are moral. Well, have you ever got anything even then by opposing Christ? Has it made your family any the happier? Has it made you any the happier yourself? Will it quiet your conscience when you come to die that you did your best to destroy the souls of other people?

3. But kick as the ox might, it had to go forward at last. If anyone had told Saul when he was going to Damascus, that he would one day become a preacher of Christianity, he would, no doubt, have laughed at it as nonsense; but the Lord had the key of his will, and He wound it up as He pleased. Then why persecutest thou Me? Perhaps you are despising the very Saviour you will one day love; trying to knock down the very thing that you wilt one day try to build up. Mayhap you are persecuting the men you will call your brothers and sisters. It is always well for a man not to go so far that he cannot go back respectably.

III. The good news. Paul, who persecuted Christ, was forgiven. He says he was the very chief of sinners, but he obtained mercy. Nay, more, he obtained honour. He was made an honoured minister of Christ, and so may you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.—

Kicking against the pricks

I. The conduct with which Saul was upbraided. He was involved in one continuous struggle against the will, the power and the cause of Christ. The expression does not mean striving against the convictions of his own judgment, for Saul acted upon principle, and was most conscientious when he was most bigoted. Hence he says, I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This expression indicates one main ground of the apostles prejudice. Like Nathanael, he was persuaded that no good thing could come out of Nazareth, and that it was his duty to seek the extirpation of the rising sect. In Act 22:8, express notice seems to be taken of this. Hence we discover, not only the amazing grace vouchsafed in the work of his conversion, but the consummate wisdom displayed in its mode. Sauls grand error had been the entertaining low thoughts of Christ; it was essential, therefore, that the new apostle should be possessed with a deep sense of the power of Christ, as risen and received into glory. The conduct thus exposed is not peculiar to Paul. We kick against the goads–

1. When we seek to stifle the convictions of conscience and strive against the constraints of Divine grace. Saul was not guilty in this respect; but are none of us?

2. When we rebel against the dispensations of Gods providence.

3. When we oppose the truth of God, or hinder the work of God.

II. The warning which he received may be considered to characterise his course as–

1. Sinful. Saul might have learned this from the counsel of his master Gamaliel.

2. Foolish; for his resistance was fruitless.

(1) His object was to extirpate the Church of Christ. Little, however, did the oppressor understand that each true disciple was a missionary. They that were scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the Word.

(2) The apostle, at the instant when the text presents him, was made to realise this to the full. Like some rash fencer, who has provoked a stronger and more skilful than he to mortal combat, and is but instantly disarmed, and lies helpless in the dust, with his adversarys weapon pointed at his heart, the self-righteous and infuriated bigot now lay trembling and astonished, completely at the mercy of the despised Nazarene. The power which frustrated this proud Pharisee was exerted in pity; the defeat itself was love; but still, viewed as a defeat, and merely so, nothing could be more entire and abject. (C. F. Childe, M. A.)

The ox and the goad

Jesus even out of heaven speaks in parables, according to His wont. To Paul He briefly utters the parable of the rebellious ox. Note the tenderness of the appeal: it is not, Thou art harming Me by thy persecutions, bat, Thou art wounding thyself. He saith not, It is hard for Me, but hard for thee. Observe–

I. The ox. A fallen man deserves no higher type.

1. You are acting like a brute beast, in ignorance and passion. You are unspiritual, thoughtless, unreasonable.

2. Yet God values you more than a man does an ox.

3. Therefore He feeds you, and does not slay you.

4. You are useless without guidance, and yet you are unwilling to submit to your Masters hand.

5. If you were but obedient you might be useful, and might find content in your service.

6. You have no escape from the choice of either to obey or to die, and it is useless to be stubborn.

II. The ox goad. You have driven the Lord to treat you as the husbandman treats a stubborn ox.

1. The Lord has tried you with gentle means–a word, a pull of the rein, etc. by parental love, by tender admonitions of friends and teachers, and by the gentle promptings of His Spirit.

2. Now He uses the more severe means–

(1) Of solemn threatening by His law.

(2) Of terrors of conscience, and dread of judgment.

(3) Of loss of relatives, children, friends.

(4) Of sickness, and varied afflictions.

(5) Of approaching death, with a dark future beyond it.

3. You are feeling some of these pricks, and cannot deny that they are sharp. Take heed lest worse things come upon you.

III. The kicks against the goad. These are given in various ways by those who are resolved to continue in sin. There are–

1. Early childish rebellions against restraint.

2. Sneers at the gospel, at ministers, at holy things.

3. Wilful sins against conscience and light.

4. Revilings and persecutions against Gods people.

5. Questionings, infidelities, and blasphemies.

IV. The hardness of all this to the ox. It hurts itself against the goad, and suffers far more than the driver designs.

1. In the present. You are unhappy; you are full of unrest and alarm; you are increasing your chastisement, and fretting your heart.

2. In the best possible future. You will feel bitter regrets, have desperate habits to overcome, and much evil to undo. All this if you do at last repent and obey.

3. In the more probable future. You are preparing for yourself increased hardness of heart, despair and destruction. Oh, that you would know that no possible good can come of kicking against God, who grieves over your infatuations!

Conclusion:

1. Yield to the discipline of your God.

2. He pities you now, and begs you to consider your ways.

3. It is Jesus who speaks; be not so brutish as to refuse Him that speaks from heaven.

4. You may yet, like Saul of Tarsus, become grandly useful, and plough many a field for the Lord Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Striving against conviction

This sentence was one of the oldest of Greek proverbs, and being addressed to Saul in the Hebrew language, is an instance of the voice of Religion rightly using the tones of everyday life. That Christ should use a figure here was consistent with His habit, who used His parables to speak to men in figures. And doubtless the statement applied to many of Pauls recent experiences, which were finding their climax in that crisis. Doubtless the reflection of one who knew the Scriptures as Paul did, and who had the warning Gamaliel gave him, and the recollections he must have had of the martyrs he was making, and preeminently his recollection of Stephen, must have brought many misgivings like so many goad thrusts, which found their full force in the vision and voices of that hour. Anyhow, the text tells that, whether for a longer or a shorter time, Paul had been resisting conviction. This is–

I. Common. We see it–

1. In continuance in outward sin which is felt to be evil.

2. In cherishing secret evils known to be wrong.

3. In postponing allegiance to claims of religion felt to be just.

II. Painful. It is hard because a man is–

1. In collision with the best social influences–in church, in godly family, etc.

2. In conflict with his own higher nature. Reason, conscience, have been goad-thrusts.

3. In opposition to God.

III. Wrong.

1. It is fighting against God. So Gamaliel warned.

2. It is persecuting Jesus. The noblest, tenderest, best Being. (U. R. Thomas.)

The sinner his own enemy

The first glance at the words shows us a proverb. Even from heaven, God, if He speaks at all, must adapt His speech to mans usages. The risen and ascended Saviour spake not on earth only in parables. That before us is taken from the very commonest life of man. With a goad in his hand, headed by a long sharp spike of iron, the farmer drives before him the reluctant animal which would loiter or deviate from its way. In the obstinacy of an untamed will, the bullock unaccustomed to the yoke will even kick against his driver; and then the iron, otherwise harmless, enters into the recalcitrant foot. So in human life, in the affairs of the soul, there is a Hand which directs, and there is also a wilt which it seeks to guide. So long as the human will moves along the straight furrow of duty, so long the goad of punishment is unfelt. But if man will refuse the Divine influence, and stop or hedge aside, the guiding impulse must become a painful goad of discipline, and resistance must be coerced and, if necessary, punished into acquiescence.

1. The way of transgressors is hard. So speaks Solomon. He had found it so. And so speaks Christ. The young man thinks it a sign of independence to forget God that made him, and to walk in the way of his own heart. He learns to forsake the rule of his father, and to despise the law of his mother. He forms new associates; his habits become more and more such as a Christian parent would mourn over. Does he find his new life a freedom? Are his new ways ways of pleasantness? He calls them so in his hours of mirth. But somehow he feels to be more in bondage than ever. The old rules of his parents, if they were restraints, at least had no sting in them. But now, these pleasures of sin, not only are they short lived, they are anxious in the indulgence, and torturers in the retrospect. His conscience is ever warning and lashing him. And when sickness comes, when grey hairs are upon him, when death is imminent; how then? Young men–young women–be persuaded of this; that there is a God over you; if you will have it so, a God of love; if you will not have it so, then at least a God of power! It is hard for thee now, as well as dangerous eventually, to kick against the pricks.

2. There are those who are kicking against the goad of a fatherly discipline, who do not understand and love the method by which God is training them for Himself. They are denied many things which they desire: they are subjected to many things which they dislike. When they seemed to have even attained, the prize was wrenched from them. When they did attain, the coveted fruit has turned to ashes in the mouth. By these means the world was made a world of nothingness to them. Perhaps they were too eager for it. They were of that nature which would have been satisfied to sit by the fleshpots and eat bread to the full. And therefore the discipline needful for them was desert life. Sinai, with God speaking from it, was necessary to their souls safety. And yet scarcely were they in it, when they began to find fault. Their soul loathed this light bread, the bread of eternity and of the Spirit. The smitten rock yielded only a spiritual supply; and they were athirst for something more luscious, more earthly. Thus again and again they were rebellious against the hand that guided, and forced it to become a hand that drove. Why? Even because He had a favour unto them. To kick against that Hand, even if it was forced by their waywardness to hold a goad, was rebellion as much against happiness as against strength. I address some tonight who are in definite trouble. My friend, it is the Lord. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus? Humble yourselves rather under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. It is hard for thee, painful now, eventually ruinous, to kick against the goad.

3. There is yet a further use of the proverb, that in which it was originally spoken. St. Paul was moral and conscientious; but be was kicking against the goad because he was refusing the revelation of Christ. He saw not his own sinfulness. He knew not his own want of a Saviour. He was not willing that others should trust in One whom he knew not. Can there be any here whose sin is that of Saul? Certainly there are those who are willing to take everything of the gospel save the very gospel itself; moral, conscientious, earnest men, yet who suffer themselves to repudiate altogether the revelation of the forgiveness of sin through the Atonement, and of renewal by the Holy Spirit. Depend upon it, you are kicking against a goad. You do want a Saviour for forgiveness, cleansing, strength, comfort and grace in daily life. Why, then, will you keep out of your heart that bright light? Why will you compel Him to drive, who would lead and guide? Conclusion: Scripture gives us examples of every kind of direction. Mark the order.

1. There is the sharp iron for the refractory. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

2. There is the bit and bridle for the unreasoning.

3. There is the voice of the Shepherd, known and loved by the docile flock.

4. There is the guidance, not even of voice, but of the eye only, which suits the ready, anticipating will of the entirely tractable and sympathising child.

To kick against the goad is the extreme of disobedience; to watch the guiding eye, to wait not for the word or the sign, much less for the spur of authority, is the perfection of obedience. In all senses, may that last be ours! (Dean Vaughan.)

Opposition to the truth fatal

The swordfish is a very curious creature, with a long and bony beak projecting in front of his head. It is also very fierce, attacking other fishes, and trying to pierce them with its sword. The fish has been known to dart at a ship in full sail with such violence as to pierce the solid timbers. But what has happened? The silly fish has been killed outright by the force of its own blow. The ship sails on just as before, and the angry fish falls a victim to its own rage. But how shall we describe the folly of those who, like Saul, oppose the cause of Christ? They cannot succeed: like the swordfish they only work their own destruction.

Opposition to the truth, self-destructive

Dr. John Hall compares the attacks of infidelity upon Christianity to a serpent gnawing at a file. As he kept on gnawing he was greatly encouraged by the sight of a growing pile of chips; till, feeling pain, and seeing blood, he found that he had been wearing his own teeth away against the file, but the file was unharmed.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 12. Whereupon as I went to Damascus] See the whole account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus explained at large, in Clarke’s notes on “Ac 9:2“, &c.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

With procuratory letters recommending him to the Jews abroad, and deputing him as their agent.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Whereupon as I went to Damascus,…. Being intent, upon the above said things, to punish the saints, compel them to blaspheme, imprison them, and even put them to death on account of these things; upon this errand and business he went to Damascus, the chief city of Syria, where he knew there were many that believed in Christ, who had removed from Jerusalem thither, on account of the persecution, or were settled there before:

with authority and commission from the chief priests; the Jewish sanhedrim, to bring those of them at Damascus bound to Jerusalem, in order to be punished, as in Ac 9:2 and which the Ethiopic version adds here.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Paul’s Fifth Defence.

      12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,   13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.   14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.   15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.   16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;   17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,   18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.   19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:   20 But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Juda, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.   21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.   22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:   23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

      All who believe a God, and have a reverence for his sovereignty, must acknowledge that those who speak and act by his direction, and by warrant from him, are not to be opposed; for that is fighting against God. Now Paul here, by a plain and faithful narrative of matters of fact, makes it out to this august assembly that he had an immediate call from heaven to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentile world, which was the thing that exasperated the Jews against him. He here shows,

      I. That he was made a Christian by a divine power, notwithstanding all his prejudices against that way. He was brought into it on a sudden by the hand of heaven; not compelled to confess Christ by outward force, as he had compelled others to blaspheme him, but by a divine and spiritual energy, by a revelation of Christ from above, both to him and in him: and this when he was in the full career of his sin, going to Damascus, to suppress Christianity by persecuting the Christians there, as hot as ever in the cause, his persecuting fury not in the least spent nor tired, nor was he tempted to give it up by the failing of his friends, for he had at this time as ample an authority and commission from the chief priests to persecute Christianity as ever he had, when he was obliged by a superior power to give up that, and accept another commission to preach up Christianity. Two things bring about this surprising change, a vision from heaven and a voice from heaven, which conveyed the knowledge of Christ to him by the two learning senses of seeing and hearing.

      1. He saw a heavenly vision, the circumstances of which were such that it could not be a delusion–deciptio visus, but it was without doubt a divine appearance. (1.) He saw a great light, a light from heaven, such as could not be produced by any art, for it was not in the night, but at mid day; it was not in a house where tricks might have been played with him, but it was in the way, in the open air; it was such a light as was above the brightness of the sun, outshone and eclipsed that (Isa. xxiv. 23), and this could not be the product of Paul’s own fancy, for it shone round about those that journeyed with him: they were all sensible of their being surrounded with this inundation of light, which made the sun itself to be in their eyes a less light. The force and power of this light appeared in the effects of it; they all fell to the earth upon the sight of it, such a mighty consternation did it put them into; this light was lightning for its force, yet did not pass away as lightning, but continued to shine round about them. In Old-Testament times God commonly manifested himself in the thick darkness, and made that his pavilion, 2 Chron. vi. 1. He spoke to Abraham in a great darkness (Gen. xv. 12), for that was a dispensation of darkness; but now that life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel Christ appeared in a great light. In the creation of grace, as of the world, the first thing created is light, 2 Cor. iv. 6. (2.) Christ himself appeared to him (v. 16): I have appeared to thee for this purpose. Christ was in this light, though those that travelled with Paul saw the light only, and not Christ in the light. It is not every knowledge that will serve to make us Christians, but it must be the knowledge of Christ.

      2. He heard a heavenly voice, an articulate one, speaking to him; it is here said to be in the Hebrew tongue (which was not taken notice of before), his native language, the language of his religion, to intimate to him that though he must be sent among the Gentiles, yet he must not forget that he was a Hebrew, nor make himself a stranger to the Hebrew language. In what Christ said to him we may observe, (1.) That he called him by his name, and repeated it (Saul, Saul), which would surprise and startle him; and the more because he was now in a strange place, where he thought nobody knew him. (2.) That he convinced him of sin, of that great sin which he was now in the commission of, the sin of persecuting the Christians, and showed him the absurdity of it. (3.) That he interested himself in the sufferings of his followers: Thou persecutest me (v. 14), and again, It is Jesus whom thou persecutest, v. 15. Little did Paul think, when he was trampling upon those that he looked upon as the burdens and blemishes of this earth, that he was insulting one that was so much the glory of heaven. (4.) That he checked him for his wilful resistance of those convictions: It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks, or goads, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Paul’s spirit at first perhaps began to rise, but he is told it is at his peril, and then he yields. Or, it was spoken by way of caution: “Take heed lest thou resist these convictions, for they are designed to affect thee, not to affront thee.” (5.) That, upon his enquiry, Christ made himself known to him. Paul asked (v. 15), “Who art thou, Lord? Let me know who it is that speaks to me from heaven, that I may answer him accordingly?” And he said, “I am Jesus; he whom thou hast despised, and hated, and vilified; I bear that name which thou hast made so odious, and the naming of it criminal.” Paul thought Jesus was buried in the earth, and, though stolen out of his own sepulchre, yet laid in some other. All the Jews were taught to say so, and therefore he is amazed to hear him speak from heaven, to see him surrounded with all this glory whom he had loaded with all possible ignominy. This convinced him that the doctrine of Jesus was divine and heavenly, and not only not to be opposed, but to be cordially embraced: That Jesus is the Messiah, for he has not only risen from the dead, but he has received from God the Father honour and glory; and this is enough to make him a Christian immediately, to quit the society of the persecutors, whom the Lord from heaven thus appears against, and to join himself with the society of the persecuted, whom the Lord from heaven thus appears for.

      II. That he was made a minister by a divine authority: That the same Jesus that appeared to him in that glorious light ordered him to go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles; he did not run without sending, nor was he sent by men like himself, but by him whom the Father sent, John xx. 21. What is said of his being an apostle is here joined immediately to that which was said to him by the way, but it appears by Act 9:15; Act 22:15, c., that it was spoken to him afterwards but he puts the two together for brevity-sake: Rise, and stand upon thy feet. Those whom Christ, by the light of his gospel, casts down in humiliation for sin, shall find that it is in order to their rising and standing upon their feet, in spiritual grace, strength, and comfort. If Christ has torn, it is that he may heal; if he has cast down, it is that he may raise up. Rise then, and shake thyself from the dust (Isa. lii. 2), help thyself, and Christ shall help thee. He must stand up, for Christ shall help thee. He must stand up, for Christ has work for him to do–has an errand, and a very great errand, to send him upon: I have appeared to thee to make thee a minister. Christ has the making of his own ministers; they have both their qualifications and their commissions from him. Paul thanks Christ Jesus who put him into the ministry, 1 Tim. i. 12. Christ appeared to him to make him a minister. One way or other, Christ will manifest himself to all those whom he makes his ministers; for how can those preach him who do not know him? And how can those know him to whom he does not by his spirit make himself known? Observe,

      1. The office to which Paul is appointed: he is made a minister, to attend on Christ, and act for him, as a witness–to give evidence in his cause, and attest the truth of his doctrine. He must testify the gospel of the grace of God; Christ appeared to him that he might appear for Christ before men.

      2. The matter of Paul’s testimony: he must give an account to the world, (1.) Of the things which he had seen, now at this time, must tell people of Christ’s manifesting himself to him by the way, and what he said to him. He saw these things that he might publish them, and he did take all occasions to publish them, as here, and before, ch. xxii. (2.) Of those things in which he would appear to him. Christ now settled a correspondence with Paul, which he designed afterwards to keep up, and only told him now that he should hear further from him. Paul at first had but confused notions of the gospel, till Christ appeared to him and gave him fuller instructions. The gospel he preached he received from Christ immediately (Gal. i. 12); but he received it gradually, some at one time and some at another, as there was occasion. Christ often appeared to Paul, oftener, it is likely, than is recorded, and still taught him, that he might still teach the people knowledge.

      3. The spiritual protection he was taken under, while he was thus employed as Christ’s witness: all the powers of darkness could not prevail against him till he had finished his testimony (v. 17), delivering thee from the people of the Jews and from the Gentiles. Note, Christ’s witnesses are under his special care, and, though they may fall into the hands of the enemies, yet he will take care to deliver them out of their hands, and he knows how to do it. Christ had shown Paul at this time what great things he must suffer (ch. ix. 16), and yet tells him here he will deliver him from the people. Note, Great sufferings are reconcilable to the promise of the deliverance of God’s people, for it is not promised that they shall be kept from trouble, but kept through it; and sometimes God delivers them into the hands of their persecutors that he may have the honour of delivering them out of their hands.

      4. The special commission given him to go among the Gentiles, and the errand upon which he is sent to them; it was some years after Paul’s conversion before he was sent to the Gentiles, or (for aught that appears) knew any thing of his being designed for that purpose (see ch. xxii. 21); but at length he is ordered to steer his course that way.

      (1.) There is great work to be done among the Gentiles, and Paul must be instrumental in doing it. Two things must be done, which their case calls for the doing of:– [1.] A world that sits in darkness must be enlightened; those must be brought to know the things that belong to their everlasting peace who are yet ignorant of them, to know God as their end, and Christ as their way, who as yet know nothing of either. He is sent to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light. His preaching shall not only make known to them those things which they had not before heard of, but shall be the vehicle of that divine grace and power by which their understandings shall be enlightened to receive those things, and bid them welcome. Thus he shall open their eyes, which before were shut against the light, and they shall be willing to understand themselves, their own case and interest. Christ opens the heart by opening the eyes, does not lead men blindfold, but gives them to see their own way. He is sent not only to open their eyes for the present, but to keep them open, to turn them from darkness to light, that is, from following false and blind guides, their oracles, divinations, and superstitious usages, received by tradition from their fathers, and the corrupt notions and ideas they had of their gods, to follow a divine revelation of unquestionable certainty and truth. This was turning them from darkness to light, from the ways of darkness to those on which the light shines. The great design of the gospel is to instruct the ignorant, and to rectify the mistakes of those who are in error, that things may be set and seen in a true light. [2.] A world that lies in wickedness, in the wicked one, must be sanctified and reformed; it is not enough for them to have their eyes opened, they must have their hearts renewed; not enough to be turned from darkness to light, but they must be turned from the power of Satan unto God, which will follow of course; for Satan rules by the power of darkness, and God by the convincing evidence of light. Sinners are under the power of Satan; idolaters were so in a special manner, they paid their homage to devils. All sinners are under the influence of his temptations, yield themselves captives to him, are at his beck; converting grace turns them from under the dominion of Satan, and brings them into subjection to God, to conform to the rules of his word and comply with the dictates and directions of his Spirit, translates them out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. When gracious dispositions are strong in the soul (as corrupt and sinful dispositions had been), it is then turned from the power of Satan unto God.

      (2.) There is a great happiness designed for the Gentiles by this work–that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among those who are sanctified; they are turned from the darkness of sin to the light of holiness, from the slavery of Satan to the service of God; not that God may be a gainer by them, but that they may be gainers by him. [1.] That they may be restored to his favour, which by sin they have forfeited and thrown themselves out of: That they may receive forgiveness of sins. They are delivered from the dominion of sin, that they may be saved from that death which is the wages of sin. Not that they may merit forgiveness as a debt of reward, but that they may receive it as a free gift, that they may be qualified to receive the comfort of it. They are persuaded to lay down their arms, and return to their allegiance, that they may have the benefit of the act of indemnity, and may plead it in arrest of the judgment to be given against them. [2.] That they may be happy in the fruition of him; not only that they may have their sins pardoned, but that they may have an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith that is in me. Note, First, Heaven is an inheritance, it descends to all the children of God; for, if children, then heirs. That they may have, kleron—a lot (so it might be read), alluding to the inheritances of Canaan, which were appointed by lot, and that also is the act of God, the disposal thereof is of the Lord. That they may have a right, so some read it; not by merit, but purely by grace. Secondly, All that are effectually turned from sin to God are not only pardoned, but preferred–have not only their attainder reversed, but a patent of honour given to them, and a grant of a rich inheritance. And the forgiveness of sins makes way for this inheritance, by taking that out of the way which alone hindered. Thirdly, All that shall be saved hereafter are sanctified now; those that have the heavenly inheritance must have it in this way, they must be prepared and made meet for it. None can be happy that are not holy; nor shall any be saints in heaven that are not first saints on earth. Fourthly, We need no more to make us happy than to have our lot among those that are sanctified, to fare as they fare; this is having our lot among the chosen, for they are chosen to salvation through sanctification. Those who are sanctified shall be glorified. Let us therefore now cast in our lot among them, by coming into the communion of saints, and be willing to take our lot with them, and share with them in their afflictions, which (how grievous soever) our lot with them in the inheritance will abundantly make amends for. Fifthly, We are sanctified and saved by faith in Christ. Some refer it to the word next before, sanctified by faith, for faith purifies the heart, and applies to the soul those precious promises, and subjects the soul to the influence of that grace, by which we partake of a divine nature. Others refer it to the receiving of both pardon and the inheritance; it is by faith accepting the grant: it comes all to one; for it is by faith that we are justified, sanctified, and glorified. By faith, te eis eme—that faith which is in me; it is emphatically expressed. That faith which not only receives divine revelation in general, but which in a particular manner fastens upon Jesus Christ and his mediation, by which we rely upon Christ as the Lord our righteousness, and resign ourselves to him as the Lord our ruler. This is that by which we receive the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and eternal life.

      III. That he had discharged his ministry, pursuant to his commission, by divine aid, and under divine direction and protection. God, who called him to be an apostle, owned him in his apostolical work, and carried him on in it with enlargement and success.

      1. God gave him a heart to comply with the call (v. 19): I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, for any one would say he ought to be obedient to it. Heavenly visions have a commanding power over earthly counsels, and it is at our peril if we be disobedient to them; yet if Paul had conferred with flesh and blood, and been swayed by his secular interest, he would have done as Jonah did, gone any where rather than upon this errand; but God opened his ear, and he was not rebellious. He accepted the commission, and, having with it received his instructions, he applied himself to act accordingly.

      2. God enabled him to go through a great deal of work, though in it he grappled with a great deal of difficulty, v. 20. He applied himself to the preaching of the gospel with all vigour. (1.) He began at Damascus, where he was converted, for he resolved to lose no time, ch. ix. 20. (2.) When he came to Jerusalem, where he had his education, he there witnessed for Christ, where he had most furiously set himself against him, ch. ix. 29. (3.) He preached throughout all the coasts of Judea, in the country towns and villages, as Christ had done; he made the first offer of the gospel to the Jews, as Christ had appointed, and did not leave them till they had wilfully thrust the gospel from them; and laid out himself for the good of their souls, labouring more abundantly than any of the apostles, nay perhaps then all put together.

      3. His preaching was all practical. He did not go about to fill people’s heads with airy notions, did not amuse them with nice speculations, nor set them together by the ears with matters of doubtful disputation, but he showed them, declared it, demonstrated it, that they ought, (1.) To repent of their sins, to be sorry for them and to confess them, and enter into covenant against them; they ought to bethink themselves, so the word metanoein properly signifies; they ought to change their mind and change their way, and undo what they had done amiss. (2.) To turn to God. They must not only conceive an antipathy to sin, but they must come into a conformity to God–must not only turn from that which is evil, but turn to that which is good; they must turn to God, in love and affection, and return to God in duty and obedience, and turn and return from the world and the flesh; this is that which is required from the whole revolted degenerate race of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles; epistrephein epi ton Theon—to turn back to God, even to him: to turn to him as our chief good and highest end, as our ruler and portion, turn our eye to him, turn our heart to him, and turn our feet unto his testimonies. (3.) To do works meet for repentance. This was what John preached, who was the first gospel preacher, Matt. iii. 8. Those that profess repentance must practise it, must live a life of repentance, must in every thing carry it as becomes penitents. It is not enough to speak penitent words, but we must do works agreeable to those words. As true faith, so true repentance, will work. Now what fault could be found with such preaching as this? Had it not a direct tendency to reform the world, and to redress its grievances, and to revive natural religion?

      4. The Jews had no quarrel with him but upon this account, that he did all he could to persuade people to be religious, and to bring them to God by bringing them to Christ (v. 21): It was for these causes, and no other, that the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me; and let any one judge whether these were crimes worthy of death or of bonds. He suffered ill, not only for doing well himself, but for doing good to others. They attempted to kill him; it was his precious life that they hunted for, and hated, because it was a useful life; they caught him in the temple worshipping God, and there they set upon him, as if the better place the better deed.

      5. He had no help but from heaven; supported and carried on by that, he went on in this great work (v. 22): “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day; hesteka—I have stood, my life has been preserved, and my work continued; I have stood my ground, and have not been beaten off; I have stood to what I said, and have not been afraid nor ashamed to persist in it.” It was now above twenty years since Paul was converted, and all that time he had been very busy preaching the gospel in the midst of hazards; and what was it that bore him up? Not any strength of his own resolutions, but having obtained help of God; for therefore, because the work was so great and he had so much opposition, he could not otherwise have gone on in it, but by help obtained of God. Note, Those who are employed in work for God shall obtain help from God; for he will not be wanting in necessary assistances to his servants. And our continuance to this day must be attributed to help obtained of God; we had sunk, if he had not borne us up–had fallen off, if he had not carried us on; and it must be acknowledged with thankfulness to his praise. Paul mentions it as an evidence that he had his commission from God that from him he had ability to execute it. The preachers of the gospel could never have done, and suffered, and prospered, as they did, if they had not had immediate help from heaven, which they would not have had if it had not been the cause of God that they were now pleading.

      6. He preached no doctrine but what agreed with the scriptures of the Old Testament: He witnessed both to small and great, to young and old, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, obscure and illustrious, all being concerned in it. It was an evidence of the condescending grace of the gospel that it was witnessed to the meanest, and the poor were welcome to the knowledge of it; and of the incontestable truth and power of it that it was neither afraid nor ashamed to show itself to the greatest. The enemies of Paul objected against him that he preached something more than that men should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. These indeed were but what the prophets of the old Testament had preached; but, besides these, he had preached Christ, and his death, and his resurrection, and this was what they quarrelled with him for, as appears by ch. xxv. 19, that he affirmed Jesus to be alive: “And so I did,” says Paul, “and so I do, but therein also I say no other than that which Moses and the prophets said should come; and what greater honour can be done to them than to show that what they foretold is accomplished, and in the appointed season too–that what they said should come is come, and at the time they prefixed?” Three things they prophesied, and Paul preached:– (1.) That Christ should suffer, that the Messiah should be a sufferer—pathetos; not only a man, and capable of suffering, but that, as Messiah, he should be appointed to sufferings; that his ignominious death should be not only consistent with, but pursuant of, his undertaking. The cross of Christ was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and Paul’s preaching it was the great thing that exasperated them; but Paul stands to it that, in preaching that, he preached the fulfilling of the Old-Testament predictions, and therefore they ought not only not to be offended at what he preached, but to embrace it, and subscribe to it. (2.) That he should be the first that should rise from the dead; not the first in time, but the first in influence–that he should be the chief of the resurrection, the head, or principal one, protos ex anastaseos, in the same sense that he is called the first-begotten from the dead (Rev. i. 5), and the first-born from the dead, Col. i. 18. He opened the womb of the grave, as the first-born are said to do, and made way for our resurrection; and he is said to be the first-fruits of those that slept (1 Cor. xv. 20), for he sanctified the harvest. He was the first that rose from the dead to die no more; and, to show that the resurrection of all believers is in virtue of his, just when he arose many dead bodies of saints arose, and went into the holy city,Mat 27:52; Mat 27:53. (3.) That he should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles, to the people of the Jews in the first place, for he was to be the glory of his people Israel. To them he showed light by himself, and then to the Gentiles by the ministry of his apostles, for he was to be a light to enlighten those who sat in darkness. In this Paul refers to his commission (v. 18), To turn them from darkness to light. He rose from the dead on purpose that he might show light to the people, that he might give a convincing proof of the truth of his doctrine, and might send it with so much the greater power, both among Jews and Gentiles. This also was foretold by the Old-Testament prophets, that the Gentiles should be brought to the knowledge of God by the Messiah; and what was there in all this that the Jews could justly be displeased at?

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Whereupon ( ). “In which things” (affairs of persecution), “on which errand.” Cf. 24:18. Paul made them leave Palestine (11:19) and followed them beyond it (9:2).

With the authority and commission (‘ ). Not merely “authority” (), but express appointment (, old word, but here only in N.T., derived from , steward, and that from , to turn over to, to commit).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Whereupon [ ] . See on ch. Act 24:18. Better, on which errand; in which affairs of persecution.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Whereupon as I went to Damascus,” (en hois poreuomenos eis ten Damaskon) “in which journeying persecution I went into Damascus,” as previously recounted, keeping the record straight, witnessing of his conversion, as on previous occasions, Act 9:3 or “while I was engaged” in this deposition, I went as far away as to Damascus, the last foreign city before his total conversion.

2) “With authority and commission,” (met’ eksousias kai epitropes) “With administrative and executive power to decide,” Act 9:1-3, with a deposition for seizure and persecution against disciples of the Lord and His church, 1Co 15:9.

3) “From the chief priests,” (tes ton archiereon) “Of the kind mandated of the high priests,” Act 9:1-3; Act 22:5-6. He received deposition papers and persecution rights granted under signature of the high priests, to treat Christians as termites, pests, heretics, religious saboteurs, and renegades, a matter with which he was now being charged, Act 22:4; 1Ti 1:13.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(12) With authority and commission.The former word implies the general power delegated to him, the latter the specific work assigned to him, and for the execution of which he was responsible.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. Whereupon The description of the Christophany which follows is far more vivid and abounding in individual touches and rounded periods than either of the parallel passages.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and those who journeyed with me, and when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’ ”

And then it had happened. He describes how as he was travelling, with authority and commission from the highest in the land, an even higher Authority had intervened. He had seen a light from heaven at midday, a light brighter than the burning sun, and it had shone round him, and a voice had spoken to him, and all of those present had been humbled before this light, and they had fallen to the ground. All had had to fall before that glorious light. (This was not mentioned in the previous testimony, but there Paul was emphasising the personal nature of his experience as a Jew, and the Jewishness of the whole experience. He had not wanted to over-emphasise the actual experience as a spectacle. But here before this great crowd of notables he wants to bring out the glory and the worship and submission to the Lord of all, for he wants these people also to fall before Him.

And then the voice had asked why he was persecuting the One Who spoke, and declared that it was a hard thing that he was doing, kicking against the nails in the ox-yoke which were designed to prevent such kicking. For he was a man on whom the Lord had put His yoke, and to struggle in the light of this was foolish. Many of his listeners here had their slaves and their cattle. They would understand exactly what kicking against the goads meant.

Thus a Heavenly Authority had spoken to him, and had informed him that he was taking him for His servant, for His ox, so that he might serve Him. But the leading question then was, Who was this One Who made this demand?

‘In the Hebrew language’, probably meaning in Aramaic. He did not want his audience to think in terms of Greek or Roman gods.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Paul’s recital of his miraculous conversion:

v. 12. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

v. 13. at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

v. 14. and when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

v. 15. And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? and he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

v. 16. But rise and stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

v. 17. delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

v. 18. to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.

Paul here relates the story of his conversion substantially as it has been told by Luke, chap. 9, and by himself in his speech before the Jews, chap. 22. It was on this errand, on this business of enmity against Jesus, that he was traveling to Damascus, being armed with the authority and power of the high priests themselves; he was acting as their commissioner, as their authorized representative, and was given practically free rein to show his hatred in any way he would choose. in the middle of the day, in the clear bright light of full day, he had seen a light from heaven, brighter and more dazzling than the sun that shone round about him and those that traveled with him, that enveloped them all in its blinding brilliance. And when they had all fallen to the ground, Paul first and his companions also after a few moments of dumb and rigid astonishment, he had heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew, that is, the Aramaic dialect, asking him why he was persecuting Him, and telling him that it would be hard for him to kick against the goads. In the Orient the ox-goad consisted, as it does today, of a long stick, into the end of which a sharp iron point was fixed. Paul was like an unruly ox, kicking when goaded, and thereby adding to his own pains while he persecuted the Church, for the worse his mad enmity became, the less satisfaction did he get out of the gratification of his lust for the blood of Christians. It was a foolish and useless effort for him to try to persecute Jesus in His followers, “an effort which only inflicted deeper wounds upon himself, an effort as idle as that described by the Psalmist, Psa 2:3-4. ” Upon Paul’s anxious and fearful question as to the exact identity of the Lord that was speaking to him, he had received the answer that it was Jesus whom he was persecuting. The Lord had then given him the command to get up and to stand on his feet, since He had appeared to him for this purpose, to select and thus employ him as a man whom the hand of God had torn out of the midst of dangers threatening his soul to be His servant and witness of the things which he had seen, as well as of the things which the Lord still intended to show him. This the Lord had further explained by telling him that He was lifting him out, rescuing him, from the midst of his own people as well as from the Gentiles. And to the latter the Lord was now sending His apostle, to open their eyes, which were blind in spiritual matters, to turn them away from the darkness of their spiritual blindness and unbelief to the light of the Gospel and from the power of Satan, in whose dominion they were kept by nature, to God, their Savior, to receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance in the midst of those that are sanctified by faith in the Redeemer. Thus the Scriptures in this passage call natural man, so far as spiritual and divine matters are concerned, nothing but darkness. The way of salvation, the method by which God leads sinners to His mercy, is here plainly and explicitly taught. Through the preaching of the Gospel the eyes of the sinners are opened that they might know Christ, their Savior; through the Gospel the sinners are converted that they turn away from darkness, from the service of sin, from the power of Satan, to God and to the light and salvation in Christ, so that all heathenism and superstition is left behind, and nothing but the knowledge, worship, and service of the blessed Redeemer engages their attention. Note that the faith which has worked trust in the salvation of Jesus incidentally consecrates the believer, sets him apart, sanctifies him for the service of the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Act 26:12. Whereupon That is, In this view as I was going to Damascus, &c.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

XVII

SAUL’S CONVERSION, HIS CALL TO THE APOSTLESHIP AND HIS COMMISSION

Act 9:1-19 ; Act 22:5-16 ; Act 26:12-20 ; 1Co 1:1 ; 1Co 9:1 ; 1Co 15:7-10 ; Rom 7:7-25 .

In commencing this chapter, I call attention to my address called, “The Greatest Man in History,” which you will find in The Southwestern Theological Review, Vol. I, No. II. There are ten special scriptures which bear upon the conversion of Saul, and most of them upon his call to the apostleship. The accounts given are as follows: (1) By Luke, Act 9:1-9 , A.D. 36; (2) by Barnabas, Act 9:26-28 , A.D. 39; (3) by Paul at Corinth, Gal 1:15-16 , A.D. 57; (4) by Paul at Ephesus, 1Co 15:8-10 , A.D. 57; (5) by Paul at Corinth, Rom 7:7-25 , A.D. 58; (6) by Paul at Jerusalem, Act 22:1-16 , A.D. 59; (7) by Paul at Caesarea, Act 26:1-19 , A.D. 60; (8) by Paul at Rome, Phi 3:4-14 , A.D. 62; (9) by Paul in Macedonia, 1Ti 1:12-16 , A.D. 67; (10) by Paul at Rome, 2Ti 1:9-12 , A.D. 68. In order to understand the conversion of Saul of Tarsus we must be able to interpret these ten scriptures.

To prove that Paul was under conviction before his conversion I submit two scriptures: (1) The words that Jesus said to him when he met him, “It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.” (2) What he says about his experience in Rom 7:7-25 , that he was alive without the law until the commandment came, when sin revived and he died.

As to the time and place of Paul’s conversion, the argument is overwhelming that he was converted outside Damascus. In the first place, the humility with which he asked the question, “Who art thou, Lord?” Second, the spirit of obedience which instantly followed: “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, Is was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” Again he says, “When God called me by his grace, he revealed Christ in me.” So we may count it a settled question that Paul was converted out there on the road, when the light above the brightness of the midday sun shone about him, and he fell to the ground.

The proof that his vision of Jesus was real, and not a mere mental state, is found in 1Co 9:1 , and also 1Co 15:8 , in which he expressly affirms that he had seen Jesus, and puts it in the same class with the appearances of Jesus to the other disciples, after his resurrection from the dead. It was not simply an ecstasy, nor a trance, nor a mere mental state, but he actually met Jesus, and saw him. Jesus appeared to him, not in the flesh, as on earth before his death, but in the glory of his risen body. He and Paul actually met. There was a necessity for his actually seeing the Lord. He could not otherwise have been an apostle, for one of the main functions of the apostolic office was to be an “eyewitness” that Jesus had risen from the dead. So Peter announces when Matthias was chosen to fill the place of Judas that he must be one who had continued with them from the time of the baptism of John until the Lord was taken up into the heavens, and that he must be one eyewitness of the resurrection of Christ. Other passages also bearing on his apostolic call, are, one particularly, 1Co 9:1-9 , and then what he says in the beginning of his letters: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, not of man.” I need not cite all of these beginnings. You can trace these out yourself. The second particular passage that I cite, to be put by the side of 1Co 9:1-9 , is Gal 1:15-16 .

Let us distinguish clearly between his conversion and his apostolic call, and show what part of this point experience may not be expected in conversions today, and was not a part of his Christian experience, and what the elements of his Christian experience. When I was interested in the subject of my salvation, to me, a sinner and an outsider, the distinction between Saul’s conversion and his call to the apostleship was very clear. You must understand that the light above the brightness of the midday sun was the glory of the appearance of the risen Lord to Saul, in order that he might see him to become an apostle, and the shock which Paul experienced by thus seeing the risen Lord was the shock that knocked him down, but it was not a part of his Christian experience it was a part of his call to the apostleship. You must not expect anything of that kind in order to your conversion, nor must you teach other people to expect it. But the elements of his Christian experience were these: (1) He was convicted that he was a sinner; (2) Christ was revealed to him; (3) he did believe on the Christ thus revealed as his Saviour; (4) he did then and there receive the remission of his sins, which remission was pictorially set forth in his baptism three days later.

Here it is well for us to define a Christian experience. I was once present when a man came to unite with the church, and the first question propounded to him was, “Please tell us in your own way why you think you are a Christian.” “Well,” he commenced in a sort of “sing-song” manner, “one day ah, about five o’clock ah, I just took a notion to walk around the work-fence ah, and I thought maybe I’d better take my rifle along ah, for I might see a squirrel ah,” and he went on just that way. I myself have heard, in a Negro protracted meeting on the Brazos, about eight miles below Waco, candidate after candidate tell their experiences. They commenced this way: “Well, about last Sunday night ah,” following the same “sing-song” manner, “something seemed to drop down on me like a falling star ah, and I heard the angel Gabriel toot his horn ah; I went down in the valley to pray ah,” and so on.

Therefore, I say that we ought to define accurately the Christian experience. This is a Christian experience: All those convictions, emotions, and determinations of the soul wrought by the Spirit of God in one’s passage from death unto life. That may sound like a strange definition of a Christian experience. It has in it a conviction and certain emotions, also certain determinations, or choices, and those convictions and emotions are not excited by seeing a squirrel, not in imagining that you heard Gabriel blow his horn, for it is not Gabriel that is going to blow the horn. Michael is the horn-blower. But this conviction, this emotion and the determinations of the will, are all Spirit-wrought. And a Christian experience covers every one of those in the passage from death unto life.

There are varied uses which the New Testament makes of Paul’s experience:

1. As soon as he was converted, and yet outside Damascus or at least as soon as he had entered Damascus, the Lord tells Paul’s Christian experience to Ananias in order to induce that disciple to go to him. That disciple says, “Lord, I know this man. Why, he is a holy terror! He just kills us wherever he finds us.” But the Lord says, “I tell you he is a chosen vessel unto me, and you go to him.” So the Lord made use of Paul’s experience to prepare Ananias to accept Paul, and to minister to him what ought to be ministered to him, just as God made use of the experience of Cornelius related by himself to Peter in order to prepare Peter to perceive that God was no respecter of persons.

2. The second use made is by Barnabas in Act 9:26-28 . Paul came to Jerusalem three years after his conversion, and essayed to join himself to the disciples, but they would not receive him: “You? Take you? Accept you? Why, this whole city is full of the memories of your persecutions.” But Barnabas took up for him, and related how this Saul had met Jesus, and how he was a believer in this gospel, and a preacher. And the relating of Saul’s experience to the Jerusalem church removed all of their objections to him, and prepared them to receive him among them, so the record says, “he went in and out among them.”

It is for such objects that the Christian experience should be related to the church. God requires it as the second ceremonial act that the man shall publicly confess the change that has taken place in him before he can be received into the church, and I will be sorry whenever, if ever, the Baptists leave that out. A man must not only be converted inside, but in order to join the church there must be a confession of that conversion.

In this particular case it was exceedingly appropriate for Barnabas to relate it, as they would not be disposed to believe Paul. The general rule should be that each candidate tell his own experience. It is better to let the candidate just get up and tell the church why he thinks he is a Christian, in his own way. Some people object to it. They say it is too embarrassing to the women. I have never found it so, but Is have seen men so “shaky” when they went to get married that they answered so low I could hardly hear them. But women are always assertive. A woman knows she loves him. She knows what she is doing, and she doesn’t mind saying so.

I remember a Christian experience related to our old First Church at Waco. A Mrs. Warren gave it. I talked with her privately, saying, “When you come before the church, don’t let anybody suggest to you what you are to say, and don’t you say anything because somebody else has said it; you just simply say what has happened to you.” When I put the question to her, she opened her Bible and put her finger on the passage from which she heard a sermon, and showed how that sermon took hold of her; told how it led her to pray; she then turned to another passage, showing that through faith she believed in Jesus Christ; and she thus turned from passage to passage. I considered her’s the most intelligent and the most impressive Christian experience I had ever heard. That kind of testimony does a world of good.

3. The third use of it Paul himself makes in his letter to the Galatians. He says, “God, who separated me even from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me.” Thus he goes on to make use of his Christian experience. He says, “Therefore, now first I was converted, and then called as an independent apostle. That is why I do not go to Jerusalem to submit my experience to Peter or John, having derived this direct authority from God, from Christ, who alone can call an apostle. That is why I did not submit to the instruction of man.”

4. The next use he makes of it is what is told in Rom 7 , and he there tells his experience in order to show the use of the law in the conversion of a man that the law does not convert the man; that it discovers sin to him: “I had not known sin except the law said, Thou shall and shalt not do this or that. I was not even conscious that I was a sinner until the law showed me I was a sinner. Apart from the law I felt all right, about as good as anybody, but when the law came, sin revived and I died.” And then he goes on to show that this mere sight of sin through the law cannot put one at peace with God, neither can it deliver one; it does not enable one to follow the right that he sees in order to evade the wrong that he would not; that it leads one to cry out, “Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” But when he says, “I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord,” he then shows how his conversion, through faith in Jesus Christ was led up to by the law: the law was a schoolmaster to lead him to Christ.

5. In the letter to the Corinthians he makes another use of it. He explains that he is so different from what he was, saying, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” In other words, “You need not come to me and say, ‘Why, Paul, when did you commence to do better, to work out your own righteousness? You are so different from what you were when I first heard of you; you then were breathing out threatenings,’ for I say to you, By the grace of God I am what I am.”

6. We see another when he stands on the stairway in Jerusalem, giving an explanation as to why he quit one crowd and then went to another crowd. They were howling against him for going over to the Christians after being so zealous as a Jew, and he asked the brethren to hear him. He admits all that they said as to what he had been, and to justify his occupying the position he now occupies, he says, “I will tell you my Christian experience,” and he proceeds to do it. If a leader of wild young men, up to all sorts of mischief and devilment, should go off for a few days, and come back changed, and the boys say, “Come down to the saloon tonight, and let us have a good time,” and he would then say, “No,” they would wonder what had come to him and would ask, “What has come over you lately? Come and let us have a game of cards.” But, “No,” he says, “boys, I will tell you why I cannot do that.” Then he explains why, and he leaves that crowd because he can’t stay with it any more. So Paul explained why he left the persecuting crowd, and could not go with them any more. He had had a Christian experience.

7. In Act 26 there is another instance recorded in which he made use of it. He was at Caesarea, arraigned on trial for his life, before Festus and King Agrippa. He is asked to speak in his own defense. In defending himself against the accusations of his enemies he relates his Christian experience.

8. In the letter to the Philippians he relates his Christian experience in order to show the impossibility of any man’s becoming righteous through his own righteousness, and to show that Christ laid hold of him. He uses his own experience now to show that his righteousness can never save him, and that though regenerate, he cannot claim to be perfectly holy and sinless.

9. In 1Ti 1:12-16 he relates his Christian experience in order to explain two poles of those who are salvable: (a) “God forgave me because I did it through ignorance,” and (b) to show that any man who has not committed the unpardonable sin, may be saved, since he, the chief of sinners, was saved.

10. Then, in the last letter to Timothy, and just before he died, he recites his Christian experience. He says, “I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day,” i.e., “I committed my soul to him on that day when he came to me and met me; I knew him before I committed it to him, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep it.” He made that use of his Christian experience because he was under the sentence of death, expecting in a few hours to be executed. This is his farewell to earth and to time, so he closes his letter with the statement that the time of his exodus is at hand; that he is ready to be poured out as a libation; that he has fought a good fight, has kept the faith, and that he feels sure that there is laid up for him a crown which God the righteous Judge will give to him at his appearing, i.e., the appearing of Jesus. The relating of that experience came from the lips of a dying man, showing that the ground of his assurance gives calmness the calmness of God’s peace.

A startling fact confronts us in these many uses of his experience. We do not find many uses of Peter’s experience, or John’s, or Matthew’s, or Mark’s, or Luke’s. Paul is the only man in the New Testament whose experience is held up before us in ten distinct passages of scripture. To account for the fact, let us expound the two reasons for this particular man’s conversion (1Ti 1:13-16 ), in which he says, “Howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief . . . howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as the chief [of sinners] might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an ensample, . . .” the conclusion of which is this: All these uses are made of Paul’s experience because as Abraham had the model faith, which is the pattern for all generations, so Paul is a model in Christian experience he is the pattern. If you preach on the faith of Abraham you have the model faith of the world; if you preach on the experience of Saul of Tarsus you have the model experience of the world.

The principal lesson to us is that as it was in the particular case of Paul, so it is in our case, that the most stupendous fact in our history is not when we were born according to the flesh, but when we were born according to the Spirit. That is our real birthday. It is the most significant and the most far-reaching fact of anybody’s lifetime and an abundant use may be made of it.

For instance, John Jasper, the Negro preacher, with his Christian experience could always reply to any atheist even to President Eliot, of Harvard, about a new religion. He would say to President Eliot, “When you say there is no such thing as the religion that has been preached, you ought to say, ‘Not as you knows of.’ I have it, and since I have got it and you haven’t, I am higher authority on that than you.”

In Edward Eggleston’s Circuit Rider is the story of a fighting preacher, who was going to his appointment, and certain rough men stopped him on the way and told him that he must turn round and go home, and not fill that appointment. “No,” he said, “I am going to fill it; I’m not going home.” “Well, then, we will take you down from your horse and give you such a beating that you will not feel like preaching.” “Well, you ought not to do that,” he said. “You get down,” they said. He got down and whipped both of them outrageously, but in the fight he got his jaw badly bruised and marred, and when he got to where he was to preach he could not preach. There was a big crowd, and no preacher who could preach. So he looked around and took a poor, thin, long-haired, black-eyed young fellow who had been very wild, but who had just been converted just a boy. The preacher said, “Ralph, get up here and preach.” “Why,” he says, “I am no preacher; I have not been a Christian long; I have not been licensed, nor ordained.” “But,” said the preacher, “get up here and preach.” “Why,” said the boy, “I do not know any sermons.” “Well, if you try to make a sermon and fail, then throw your sermon down, and tell your Christian experience before this crowd.” So that boy got up and made a failure of trying to preach a sermon like preachers preach. Then, weeping, he said, “Brethren, I can tell you how God for Christ’s sake forgave my sins,” and he became more eloquent in telling his experience than Demosthenes or Cicero, and that whole crowd was weeping under the power of the boy’s simple recounting of the salvation of his soul. He could not possibly have done any better than just what he did that day.

There is a myth that when Jupiter made a man he put a pair of saddlebags on his shoulders. In one of the saddlebags was the man’s own sins and in the other were the sins of his neighbors, and when the man threw the saddlebags on his shoulder the sins of his neighbors were in front of him and the other saddlebag with his own sins was behind him so that he could not see them, but his eyes were always on the sins of his neighbors. But when conversion comes God reverses the saddlebags, and putting the man’s own sins in front, he places the sins of his neighbors behind him, so that he never thinks about what a sinner A, B or C is, but, “Oh,” he says, “what a sinner I am!” That is the way of it in the Christian experience. Some think that it was the thought underlying this myth which caused Paul to call himself the chief of sinners, i.e., that it was because he saw his own sins, but not the sins of other people. My belief is that all of us feel that way the first time we quit looking at our neighbors’ sins and begin looking at our own sins, but it is not the explanation of Paul’s statement, because that does not make a pattern of the case. He says, “Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life.” Note that his case was a pattern to them that should thereafter believe. That was the reason, and not simply that of looking at his own sins instead of his neighbors.

What particular act, or series of acts, or state of mind constituted him the chief of sinners, is e., was it because he was a persecutor, blasphemer, or injurious? No. I have showed in a previous chapter that Louis XIV and Alva in the lowlands persecuted worse than all. Others have gone before him in blaspheming, and there have been more injurious men than he. The answer is this: He was a “Pharisee of the Pharisees,” that is, he was an extremist, going to the fine points of Pharisaism, the acme, the pinnacle, the apex of Pharisaism, which is self-righteousness, and Paul was the most self-righteous man in the world. What is the sin of self-righteousness? It says, “I am not depraved by nature; I do not need the new birth, the re-birth of the Holy Spirit; I need no atonement; I am the ‘pink of perfection.’ ” That is the greatest sin that man ever committed, because it rejects the Father’s love. It rejects the Saviour’s expiatory death, and his priesthood. It rejects the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification. Hence it is the culmination of sin. While other people are self-righteous, Paul was the outside man, which means that if all the sinners from Adam to the end of the world were put in a row and graded according to their heinousness, this one a sinner) this one more a sinner, that one even more, and to the outside man, the worst, the one next to hell, that man was Saul of Tarsus. That is what is meant by being the outside man as a pattern. He topped them all, to be held up before other sinners, so as to say, “If the outside man was saved, you need not despair.” The value of this man’s conversion to the church and to the world is very great. It marked the turning point in the direction of the labors of the church in a worldwide way, and it established forever the foundations of the new covenant as against the old covenant.

His apostolic call and independent gospel knocks the foundation out from under the Romanist claim that Peter was the first Pope, because it shows that he did not derive from Peter his apostolic authority; that he did not even go to see Peter before he commenced exercising his call; that he did not get from Peter one syllable of his gospel; and whenever an issue came up between him and Peter the latter went down and not Paul. That one fact destroys the entire claim of the papacy that Peter was the first Pope.

There are some things in this connection that need explanation. First, the falling of the scales from his eyes. Literally, there was no falling of the scales from his eyes, but the glory of Christ blinded him. His physical eyes could not see. It was not his soul that was blinded, but his physical eyes; and “the scales” that fell from his eyes was this temporary suspension of sight caused by this glory of the Lord. If you hold your eye open a little and let me put a red hot iron, not against your eye, but close to it, it will make you as blind as a bat, but if you shut your eye it won’t do it, because the tears in your eyes will break the conduction of the heat. Paul’s case is just as when you are standing out of doors on a dark night and there comes an intense flash of lightning. When it is gone you cannot see for a moment. That is the scales.

Second, Paul was unable to eat and drink for three days. The experience that had come to him was turning the world upside down. He had meat to eat that the ordinary man knows not of. The disciples were astonished that Jesus, sitting at the well of Sychar, was not hungry. He says, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” Hundreds of times I have been in that condition, after a great illumination in God’s work, and some powerful demonstration in a meeting, that I could not eat anything. The things of heaven tasted so much better than the things of earth. No man eats for a while in the shock of such tremendous experience as that Paul passed through.

Third, the Lord said to Ananias, “Behold, he prayeth.” The question arises, What was he praying for? What do you pray for? You are converted. The Lord said to Ananias, “Paul prayeth.” It was used as a proof that he was converted, and, “therefore Ananias, you may go to him.” Ananias was afraid to go. So the Lord said, “Why, you need not be afraid to go; he is not persecuting now, he is praying; there has a change come over him.” I do more praying and quicker praying after an extraordinary visitation of God’s grace than at any other time.

QUESTIONS 1. What address commended for study in connection with this chapter, and have you read it?

2. What the scriptures bearing on the theme, and what the corresponding date of each?

3 Prove that Paul was under conviction before his conversion?

4. Through whose ministry was Paul convicted?

5. At what point in the story was he converted when he met Jesus outside Damascus, at the end of three days in Damascus, or at his baptism?

6. What the proof that his vision of Jesus was real, and not a mere mental state?

7. What was the necessity for his actually seeing the Lord?

8. Cite other passages also bearing on his apostolic call.

9. Distinguish clearly between his conversion and his apostolic call, and show what part of this joint experience may not be expected in conversions today, and was not a part of his Christian experience.

10. Define a Christian experience.

11. What varied uses does the New Testament make of Paul’s experience?

12. What startling fact confronts us in these many uses of his experience?

13. To account for the fact expound the two reasons for this particular man’s conversion (1Ti 1:13-16 ) in which be says, “Howbeit Is obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; . . . howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as the chief of sinners] might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an ensample, etc.”

14. What the lessons to us of the use to be made of our experience, and what illustration of it?

15. Cite the myth of Jupiter concerning the man and the saddlebags.

16. Was it the thought underlying this myth which caused Paul to call himself the chief of sinners, i.e., was it because he saw his own sins, but not the sins of other people? Explain fully.

17. What particular act, or series of acts, or state of mind constituted him the chief of sinners, i.e., was it because he was a persecutor, blasphemer, or injurious?

18. What is the value of this man’s conversion to the church and the world?

19. What is the bearing of his apostolic call and his independent gospel on the Romanist claim that Peter was the first Pope?

20. Explain the falling of the scales from his eyes.

21. Explain his not eating and drinking for three days.

22. The Lord said to Ananias, “Behold, he prayeth.” What was he waiting for?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

Ver. 12. See Trapp on “ Act 9:2 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

12. ] In which things (being engaged) .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 26:12 . , i.e. , as I was thus engaged, inter qu , “on which errand,” R.V. margin, see Act 24:18 . , 2Ma 13:14 , Polyb., iii., 15, 7, “commission,” A. and R.V. “Paulus erat commissarius ,” Bengel, the two nouns show the fulness of the authority committed to Paul.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 26:12-18

12″While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. 14And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16’But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; 17rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, 18to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'”

Act 26:12 Luke records Paul’s personal testimony three times in Acts, Act 9:1-31; Act 22:3-21, and here. God’s mercy and election towards Saul are so obvious. If God in Christ can forgive and use this man, He can forgive and use anyone!

Act 26:13 See full note in Act 9:3.

The fact that there is variation in details in all three places where Paul shares his conversion speaks to the accuracy of Luke’s recording of Paul’s legal defenses (and, thereby, also the sermons) in Acts!

Act 26:14 See full note at Act 9:4.

Frank Stagg, New Testament Theology, has a great paragraph on the vital connection between Jesus and His church.

“The most important fact about judgment is that we are judged in relation to Christ. In turn, this is a judgment in relation to his people. Our true relationship to him is reflected in our relationship to his people. To serve them is to serve him and to neglect them is to neglect him (Mat 25:31-46). Never does the New Testament allow one to divorce his relationship to Christ from that to other people. To persecute them is to persecute him (Act 9:1-2; Act 9:4-5; Act 22:4; Act 22:7-8; Act 26:10-11; Act 26:14-15). To sin against the brethren is to sin against Christ (1Co 8:12). Though we are not saved by our works, we are judged by them; for they reflect our true relationship to Christ and his grace. Judgment is merciful toward them that accept judgment, and judgment is merciful toward them who are merciful (Mat 5:7)” (p. 333).

“Hebrew dialect” In Paul’s three personal testimonies in Acts, this is the only one in which the detail of Jesus speaking Aramaic is mentioned. See full note at Act 22:2.

“Saul, Saul” This last half of Act 26:14 and the last part of Act 26:15, as well as Act 26:16-18, are a quote from Jesus to Paul on the Damascus road.

“It is hard for you to kick against the goads” This phrase is unique to this context, possibly because it was a Greek/Latin proverb, not Jewish. Paul always knew to what audience he was speaking and how to communicate to them! This is referring to

1. a pointed stick used by those who directed oxen to pull carts and plows

2. projections on the front of the cart or wagon to keep the animals from kicking backward

This proverb was used to denote the human futility of resisting divine initiatives.

Act 26:15 See complete note at Act 9:5.

“Jesus whom you are persecuting” This shows the close connection between Jesus and His church, (cf. Mat 10:40; Mat 25:40; Mat 25:45). To hurt them is to hurt Him!

Act 26:16 “‘But get up and stand on your feet'” These are both aorist active imperatives. This sounds very familiar to the prophetic call of Jer 1:7-8 and Eze 2:1; Eze 2:3.

“‘for this purpose I have appeared to you'” God had a specific assignment for Paul. Paul’s conversion and call are not typical, but extraordinary! God’s mercy is powerfully demonstrated as well as God’s election for Kingdom service and kingdom growth.

“I have appeared to you. . .I will appear to you” These are both forms of hora. The first is aorist passive indicative and the second is future passive indicative. In a sense Jesus is promising Paul future personal encounters. Paul had several divine visions during his ministry (cf. Act 18:9-10; Act 22:17-21; Act 23:11; Act 27:23-24). Paul also mentions a training period in Arabia in which he was taught by Jesus (cf. Gal 1:12; Gal 1:17-18).

“to appoint” This is literally “to take into the hand.” It was an idiom of destiny (cf. Act 22:14; Act 26:16).

“a minister and a witness” The first term literally referred to an “under-rower” on a ship. It came to be used idiomatically for a servant.

From the second term, martus, we get the English term “martyr.” It had a double meaning:

1. a witness (cf. Luk 11:48; Luk 24:48; Act 1:8; Act 1:22; Act 5:32; Act 10:39; Act 10:41; Act 22:15)

2. a martyr (cf. Act 22:20)

Both connotations were the personal experience of most of the Apostles and many, many believers throughout the ages!

Act 26:17 “rescuing you” This is a present middle participle. In the middle voice this word usually means to select or choose. Normally it is translated “rescue or deliver” (cf. Act 7:10; Act 7:34; Act 12:11; Act 23:27). God’s providential care is evident here. Paul received several of these visions during his ministry in order to encourage him. This possibly alludes to the Septuagint’s reading of Isa 48:10 or possibly Jer 1:7-8; Jer 1:19.

“from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles” Paul will suffer opposition from both groups (cf. 2Co 11:23-27).

“to whom I am sending you” The “I” is emphatic (eg) here as in Act 26:15. The verb is apostell (present active indicative), from which we get the term “Apostle.” As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends His witnesses, apostles (cf. Joh 20:21).

Act 26:18 “to open. . .turn” These are both aorist infinitives. This may be an allusion to Isa 42:7. The Messiah will open blind eyes as a metaphor for opening spiritual eyes (cf. John 9). Gospel knowledge and understanding must precede the call to a volitional response (repentance and faith). Satan tries to close our minds and hearts (cf. 2Co 4:4) and the Spirit tries to open them (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65; Joh 16:8-11).

“from darkness. . .from the dominion of Satan” Notice the parallelism. “Dominion” is the Greek term exousia, usually translated authority or power (cf. NKJV, NRSV, TEV). The world is under the influence of personal evil (cf. Eph 2:2; Eph 4:14; Eph 6:10-18; 2Co 4:4; Col 1:12-13, see Special Topic at Act 5:3).

In the OT, particularly the prophecies of Isaiah, the Messiah (see Special Topic at Act 2:31) was to bring sight to the blind. It was both a physical prediction and also metaphorical for truth (cf. Isa 29:18; Isa 32:3; Isa 35:5; Isa 42:7; Isa 42:16).

SPECIAL TOPIC: AUTHORITY (EXOUSIA)

“to light. . .to God” Notice the parallelism. Ancient humans feared darkness. It became a metaphor for evil. Light, on the other hand, became a metaphor for truth, healing, and purity. A good parallel passage on the light of the gospel is Joh 3:17-21.

“that they may receive” The verbal in this phrase is another aorist infinitive. There is no “may” in the Greek text (cf. TEV, NJB). The only condition in this context is “by faith in Me” clause, which is put last in the Greek sentence for emphasis. All of God’s blessings are contingent on a faith response (i.e., receive, cf. Joh 1:12) to His grace (cf. Eph 2:8-9). This is the NT counterpoint of conditional covenants in the OT.

“forgiveness of sins” Luke uses this term (aphesis) often.

1. In Luk 4:18 it is used in an OT quote from Isa 61:1, where it means release, which reflects the LXX usage of Exo 18:2 and Lev 16:26.

2. In Luk 1:77; Luk 3:3; Luk 24:47; Act 2:38; Act 5:31; Act 10:43; Act 13:38; Act 26:18, it means “the removal of the guilt of sin,” which reflects the LXX usage of Deu 15:3, where it is used of the cancellation of a debt.

Luke’s usage may reflect the New Covenant promise of Jer 31:34.

“and an inheritance” This is the Greek term klros, which denotes the casting of lots (cf. Lev 16:8; Jon 1:7; Act 1:26) to determine an inheritance, as in Gen 48:6; Exo 6:8; and Jos 13:7-8. In the OT the Levites did not have a land inheritance, only the 48 Levitical cities (cf. Deu 10:9; Deu 12:12), but the Lord Himself was their inheritance (cf. Num 18:20). Now in the NT all believers are priests (cf. 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6). The Lord (YHWH) is our inheritance; we are His children (cf. Rom 8:15-17).

“those who have been sanctified” This is a perfect passive participle. Believers (faithers) have been and continue to be sanctified by faith in Christ (cf. Act 20:21). See Special Topic at Act 9:32. Neither Satan nor the demonic can take this away (cf. Rom 8:31-39).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Whereupon = In (Greek. en) which (circumstances).

went = was going.

to = unto. Greek. eis. App-104.

commission. Greek. epitrope. Only here. Compare the verb epitrepo (Act 26:1).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

12. ] In which things (being engaged).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 26:12. , with the order, permission) Paul was a commissary. , Commission: whence , See Est 9:14, in the LXX.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Obedient to His Heavenly Vision

Act 26:12-21

Nowhere else is there such deliverance from the glare and cross-lights of earth as is afforded by a vision of the face of Jesus, brighter than the sun at noon. To everyone there comes the opportunity of catching a vision of that face, sometimes reflected in a human one, as Paul first saw it in the countenance of Stephen. It confronts us when we go on forbidden paths, and summons us to arise and follow the life which is life indeed.

Act 26:16 : What we have seen is only a part of the great unveiling. He will show us other and greater things than these. Act 26:17 : We shall be delivered, even as we are sent. The Master holds Himself responsible for our safety while we are engaged in His work. Act 26:18 : We have here an anticipation of Col 1:19.

We must not disobey the heavenly visions that visit us. When Paul in his dream beheld the beckoning Macedonian, he made a straight course for Europe. Sometimes, in obeying, the first appearances are discouraging, as when the missionaries, on landing at Philippi, met only a few women beside the little river; but the final results will justify the first stepping-out of faith.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

as: Act 9:1, Act 9:2, Act 22:5

with: Act 26:10, 1Ki 21:8-10, Psa 94:20, Psa 94:21, Isa 10:1, Jer 26:8, Jer 29:26, Jer 29:27, Joh 7:45-48, Joh 11:57

Reciprocal: Act 9:3 – as Act 22:6 – that

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

3

Act 26:12-13. At midday the sun would be straight over them, hence a light that would be above the brightness of the sun would indeed be a strong one.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 26:12. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. This is the third account contained in the Acts of St. Pauls conversion (see the general remarks and comment on chap. Act 9:3-18). Of these three, the first is woven into the general history of the first days of the faith; the second is an abbreviated report of Pauls speech on the occasion of the tumult in the temple, and was spoken from the stair leading from the temple court into the castle of Antonia (chap. 22). This is the third, and it occurs in the argument of his defence of Christianity before Agrippa and Festus at Csarea. It contains four noticeable details which do not appear in the two other accounts of the appearance of the risen Lord: (1) The overpowering glory of the light is here dwelt upon in a special manner. We are told how it exceeded even the brightness of an oriental sun at noon. The brightness was so awful, that all, including Saul, fell to the ground prostrate through fear. (2) The voice, we are told here, spoke to Saul in the Hebrew tongue [in one of the other narratives of the appearance, this could not have been referred to; for Paul, on the steps leading to Antonia, spoke to the people in the Hebrew language. Here, however, before Agrippa and Festus, of course he spoke Greek]. (3) The addition of the proverb so well known in classical literature, It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. These words must be struck out of the text of the account of the appearance in chap, 9, as they only occur in one of the ancient authorities. (4) The mission of Paul to the Gentiles is here alluded to as forming part of this first communication of the Lord from heaven to the man chosen to be the servant of the Most High (see notes on this further). The other accounts of the conversion are silent as to this most important part of the command of the blessed One when He appeared to Paul on the way to Damascus. Thus the four special additions here made are(1) the reference to the unearthly glory of the light and its effect; (2) the mention of the language (Hebrew) in which the Lord spake; (3) the quotation of the Heathen proverb; (4) the command respecting his mission to the Gentiles. See the notes on chap. Act 9:3-8 and chap. Act 22:6-10, where, especially in the first narrative, the varied circumstances related in each of the accounts are discussed at length.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our apostle having declared his manner of life before conversion, proceeds next to declare the extraordinary manner of his conversion: He tells Agrippa, that as he went with a persecuting purpose towards Damascus, at mid-day, a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shined, round about him, and when they were all fallen prostrate on the earth, he heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Here note, 1. How restless and unwearied persecutors are in the execution of their bloody designs and purposes: Paul, as he thought had swept and cleansed Jerusalem of saints before; after which he resolves to ransack Damascus, and undertakes a long journey, of five or six days, in order to that end: the worst journey that ever he undertook; a journey most maliciously purposed by him, but most mercifully disposed by God; and accordingly he is met with in the way: Christ appears to him, a sudden beam of light shines round about him, and a voice is heard by him, saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? that is, me in my members.

Such as persecute saints for their sanctity, persecute Christ himself, and he can no more endure to see them wronged than himself; as the honour of the head redounds to the members, so the sorrows of the members are resented by the head: Christ said not thus to his murderers on earth, “Why bind ye me? Why buffet ye me? Why scourge ye and crucify me?” But here, when his members suffer, he cries out from heaven, Saul, why persecuted thou me?

Lord, thou art more tender of thy body mystical, than thou wert of thy body natural; more sensible of thy members’ sufferings than of thine own.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Paul’s Account of His Conversion and Life Following

On his way to Damascus in pursuit of more Christians, Paul reported that he saw a great light, which was brighter than the sun, coming out of heaven at midday and surrounding the persecutor and his companions. After the group had fallen to the ground, a voice spoke to him in Hebrew, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Naturally, Paul asked the Voice to identify Himself. He identified Himself as Jesus of Nazareth and told Paul to stand up because He intended for him to minister and witness for Him both as to the things he had seen and would see. The Lord promised to protect Paul from harm coming either from the Jews or the Gentiles, to whom he was being sent. The apostle’s purpose was going to be to open their eyes to their own sinfulness, means of receiving remission and the great inheritance available to those set apart by their faith in Jesus ( Act 26:12-18 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Act 26:12-15. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus, &c. See notes on Act 9:3-9, and Act 22:5-11; where the substance of this paragraph occurs, and is explained. At mid-day, O king Most seasonably, in the height of the narration, does he thus fix the kings attention; I saw a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun And no marvel, for what is the brightness of the created sun to the Son of righteousness, the brightness of the Fathers glory? I heard a voice speaking in the Hebrew tongue Paul observes this, because he was not now speaking in Hebrew: when he was, (Act 22:7,) he did not add, in the Hebrew tongue. Christ used this tongue, both on earth and from heaven.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

12-18. (12) “Whereupon, as I was going to Damascus, with authority and commission from the high priests, (13) at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining around me and those who were journeying with me. (14) And when we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me, and saying, in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. (15) And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. (16) But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to choose you for a minister and a witness of the things which you have seen, and of those in which I will appear to you; (17) delivering you from the people and the Gentiles, to whom I now send you (18) to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins, and inheritance among the sanctified by faith in me.” On the supposition that Paul here spoke the truth, Agrippa saw that no prophet of old, not even Moses himself, had a more authoritative or unquestionable commission than he. Moreover, the same facts, it true, demonstrated, irresistible, the resurrection and glorification of Jesus. As to the truth of the narrative, its essential features consisted in facts about which Paul could not be mistaken, and his unparalleled suffering, for more than twenty years, together with the chain even now upon his arm, bore incontestable evidence of his sincerity. But being an honest witness, and the facts such that he could not be mistaken, the facts themselves must be real. It is difficult to conceive what stronger evidence the audience could have had in favor of Jesus, or what more triumphant vindication of the change which had taken place in Paul.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Luke recorded that Paul added two new bits of information that he had not mentioned in his previous testimonies (Act 26:14). On the Damascus road all of his companions had fallen to the ground as a result of the bright light. This shows that the event was real and not a vision that Paul had. Also, the Lord had spoken to him in Aramaic, probably to confirm to Paul that the One addressing him was the God of the Jews.

Goads were sharp sticks used to drive cattle. The figure of kicking against goads was and is a common rural metaphor that describes opposing the inevitable (like "banging your head against a wall"). Such action only hurts the one doing it, not the object of his hostility. This was the case in Paul’s antagonism to God that his persecution of Christians expressed.

"In the Greek world this was a well-known expression for opposition to deity (cf. Euripides Bacchanals 794-95; Aeschylus Prometheus Bound 324-25; Agamemnon 1624; Pindar Pythia 2.94-95; Terence Phormio 1.2.27). Paul may have picked it up in Tarsus or during his missionary journeys. He used it here to show his Greek-oriented audience the implications of the question ’Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ Lest he be misunderstood as proclaiming only a Galilean prophet he had formerly opposed, he pointed out to his hearers what was obvious to any Jew: correction by a voice from heaven meant opposition to God himself. So he used a current expression familiar to Agrippa and the others . . ." [Note: Longenecker, "The Acts . . .," pp. 552-53. See also idem, Paul . . ., pp. 98-101.]

Paul related his conversion experience on this occasion very graphically, and he stressed the significance of these events.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)