The Bible Book

290

I AM JESUS,

WHOM YOU ARE

PERSECUTING

ACTS 9:5, THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

Saul, who has fallen to the ground,

asks who is speaking. The voice

replies, “I am Jesus, whom you

are persecuting. Now get up and

go into the city, and you will be

told what you must do” (9:5–6).

Finding himself blinded, Saul

is taken into Damascus by his

traveling companions. After three

days, the Lord appears to a local

believer named Ananias and tells

him to visit Saul. Ananias does as

the Lord says and baptizes Saul,

who receives the Holy Spirit and

the return of his sight.

According to Luke, Saul is

soon preaching about Jesus in the

Damascus synagogues, arousing

the animosity of local Jews, who

conspire to murder him.

Lowered in a basket from the

city wall by his disciples, Saul

escapes the conspirators and goes

to Jerusalem, where he makes

contact with the initially suspicious

Apostles. Once again, his preaching

earns him the hostility of certain

Jews—probably the very group of

diaspora Jews with whom he had

previously associated—and he has

to flee, this time to his home city of

Tarsus. The conversion of Saul is so

fundamental to the evolution of the

early Church that Luke tells the

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

Acts 9:1–19

THEME

Miraculous conversions

SETTING

c. 33–36 ce The road to

Damascus, Syria, where many

Jews have become Christians.

KEY FIGURES

Saul Better known by his

Latin name Paul, Saul is

initially a fanatical persecutor

of Christian believers.

Ananias A Christian believer

in Damascus who was a

former disciple of Jesus.

Described as a “devout

observer of the Law,” he

was sent to heal Paul and

bring him the Gospel.

T

he conversion of Paul on

the road to Damascus is

one of the most dramatic

episodes in the Book of Acts.

The most fanatical persecutor

of the early Christians has an

overwhelming experience with

the risen Jesus and becomes

a member of the very community

he has previously attacked. Within

a short space of time, Paul became

one of his new community’s most

eloquent preachers, earning him

many converts but also the enmity

of his former allies. Not once but

twice he has to flee for his life.

The arch-persecutor thus joins the

ranks of the persecuted.

Saul’s vision

The story in Acts begins with

Paul, who is then known by his

Hebrew name, Saul, “breathing

out murderous threats against the

Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). Armed

with warrants from the high priest,

he is on his way to Damascus to

hunt down believers and bring them

back to Jerusalem as prisoners. Just

outside the city, however, he has an

extraordinary encounter. A “light

from heaven” flashes around him,

and a voice says, “Saul, Saul, why

do you persecute me?” (9:3–4).

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The drama of Paul’s experience is

captured by Caravaggio’s Conversion

on the Way to Damascus (1601), in

which the blinded Saul is thrown

into a pool of light.

ACTS, EPISTLES, AND REVELATION

story three times (Acts 9, 22, and

26). His aim is clear: to establish

Paul as an apostolic and prophetic

figure, who was called, revealed,

and confirmed as such by God.

God’s prophet

As in the rest of the Bible, God

works through signs and wonders,

but also through suffering. The

fact that Paul is now persecuted

affirms both the power of God and

the status of Paul as God’s prophet,

suffering with Jesus and the

See also: The Word Spreads 288–89 ■ The Council of Jerusalem 292–93 ■

Paul’s Arrest 294–95 ■ The Power of the Resurrection 304–05

Paul, Apostle to

the Gentiles

Paul was born in the city of

Tarsus, in today’s Turkey,

to a family of Hellenistic

(Greek-speaking) Jews. The

well-educated young man

had a knowledge of Greek

thought and studied under

the famous Pharisee Rabbi

Gamaliel in Jerusalem.

Paul makes reference to

his conversion in his letters to

the Galatians and Corinthians.

Paul adds to Luke’s account in

Acts, saying he traveled from

Damascus to Arabia after his

conversion and that it was

three years before he went

to Jerusalem to meet Peter

and the other Apostles.

In the years that followed,

Paul traveled around the

eastern Mediterranean,

preaching the Gospel and

establishing communities

of Christians in the major

cities. The hostility of Jewish

opponents led to his eventual

arrest in Jerusalem and then

transportation to Rome for

trial. The New Testament

gives no account of his death,

but an early tradition asserts

that he died by beheading

during the persecution

unleashed in 64 ce by the

Roman Emperor Nero.

Hebrew prophets who came before

Him. As God reveals to Ananias, He

has selected the former enemy of

His people to become His “chosen

instrument to proclaim My name

to the Gentiles. ... I will show him

how much he must suffer for my

name” (9:15 –16). ■

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