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Acts 9:19b–22
“Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ” (v. 22).
God loves to do the unexpected, including choosing for His service those whom we might least suspect Him to pick. We could point to many examples of this from the history of salvation, such as David, whom the Lord chose to be king even though he was the youngest of Jesse’s sons (1 Sam. 16:1–13). Yet perhaps no figure better exemplifies how God chooses the least likely candidates for His service than Saul of Tarsus. Saul thought he was going to Damascus to arrest Jewish Christians there and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial. Yet he ended up meeting the Lord Jesus Christ and being converted to Christianity (Acts 9:1–19a).
Today’s passage tells us that it was not long before Saul, the former enemy of Jesus, began proclaiming Jesus as the only hope for the world. Luke tells us in Acts 9:19b–20 that Saul ministered in the synagogues, where he would have found an audience already familiar with the Scriptures of Israel. It is not entirely clear how Saul’s Damascus ministry fits into the chronology of his conversion as Paul narrates it in Galatians 1:11–17. There, Paul says that he went into Arabia before returning to Damascus and ministering there for three years. It could be that today’s passage describes a very short period in Damascus before he went to Arabia, but it is perhaps more likely that today’s passage summarizes the three years of ministry in Damascus after the return from Arabia that Paul mentions in Galatians 1. Either way, Luke tells us that Saul did much work among the Jews in Damascus, proclaiming that Jesus is “Son of God” and confounding them from the Scriptures by proving that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. The people in Damascus were amazed by Saul’s change from mortal enemy of the church to its greatest advocate (Acts 9:19b–22).
As a trained Pharisee (Phil. 3:5), Saul knew the Old Testament well. Preaching that Jesus is the Son of God no doubt involved explaining the unique relationship of Jesus to Yahweh, the God of Israel—namely, that Jesus is Yahweh incarnate. It would have also included a stress on Jesus as the promised King of Israel whom God would install to rule at His right hand. “Son of God,” after all, was a title sometimes used in a special way for the kings of Israel (see Ps. 2). We find confirmation that Paul stressed Jesus’ kingship in his proclamation that Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah or anointed King and Deliverer of God’s people (Acts 9:22).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
As we share the gospel with others, it is imperative that we stress that Jesus is King. His call to faith and repentance is not merely an invitation that we are free to accept or reject, but it is a command from the very Sovereign of the universe. Because Jesus is the Christ, He demands our full allegiance.
For further study
- Psalm 10:16
- Jeremiah 10:10
- Romans 1:1–4
- Revelation 17:14
The bible in a year
- 1 Samuel 22–23
- Luke 16:1–13