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Acts 9:6–14
“Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name’” (vv. 13–14).
Saul of Tarsus’ conversion is such a significant part of Christian history that we find it narrated three times in the book of Acts. In Acts 9, we have a third-person account given by Luke of how Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus. In Acts 22 and 26, we read Paul’s description of this same conversion in his own words. Paul is the Roman name of Saul, and eventually in the Acts narrative, Luke switches from referring to the Apostle as Saul to calling him Paul.
The three records of Saul’s conversion in the book of Acts are not completely identical. This is due largely to the fact that one account is given by Luke as the narrator while the others come from Paul himself. The only significant difference between these records is between Acts 9:7 and 22:9, with Acts 9 saying that the men traveling with Paul heard the voice of Jesus but Acts 22 saying that they did not “understand” (lit., “hear”) the voice. Some have seized on this difference as an example of a contradiction or have said that Luke used different, contradictory sources for his history of the church. Yet the accounts are easily reconciled. What seems to have happened is that the men with Saul heard something, but they could not make out what the voice was saying, much as the crowd of Jews in Jerusalem heard thunder when God the Father addressed Jesus from heaven, but they could not discern the words that were actually spoken (see John 12:27–28).
After knocking Saul to the ground, Jesus told him to rise and go into the city of Damascus. Saul then found himself struck blind. Jesus gave him a sign to demonstrate that he had suffered no hallucination. Rather, divine power was at work to make Saul a Christian. The men with Saul led him into Damascus, where he spent three days in his blindness. Saul neither ate nor drank, probably because he was in shock regarding all that had just happened to him (Acts 9:6–9).
Saul had come to Damascus, but more was needed for him to understand why God had converted him. So the Lord spoke to another Christian named Ananias, telling him to go and find Saul at the house of Judas and to lay hands on him so that his blindness would be cured (vv. 10–12). Understandably, Ananias was reluctant to go, given the history of Saul’s persecution of the church (vv. 13–14). We will read a little more about Ananias in our next study, but truthfully, we don’t know much about him. Nevertheless, God would use him to help position Saul for his great missionary work.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Ananias is one of the many figures in Christian history who played significant roles without our knowing much about them. In reality, we do not know much about most Christians in history, and most people will not know much about us on this side of heaven. Nevertheless, God can use us to do significant things for His glory. The Lord will surely use our simple faithfulness to Him to expand His kingdom.
For further study
- Isaiah 50:10
- 1 Corinthians 1:26–31
The bible in a year
- 1 Samuel 13–14
- Luke 14:1–24
- 1 Samuel 15–19
- Luke 14:25–15:10