Acts 9:19, commentary and pictures

After three days blind and without food on the way to Damascus, Saul received his sight through Ananias, was filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized, then ate food and regained his bodily strength. He then stayed several days with the disciples at Damascus in his first fellowship with believers, which brought him into connection with the newly organized church there so it was not left unaware of his conversion. The verse marks his change from a zealous and determined persecutor who opposed Jesus to a sincere penitent, fervent believer and follower of Christ, called to be an apostle. Strengthened and remaining with the disciples, he immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues, that Jesus is the Son of God and the promised Messiah who died for sins and rose again. His joining the disciples shows that faith in Christ, repentance, obedience to God's law, baptism, and joining Christ's church belong together, for Christ directed him to the church rather than leaving him to learn independently.

Recovery and First Days

After his baptism Saul took food and his physical strength returned. Eating restored him after the exhaustion of conviction, blindness, and fasting, and strengthened him for what followed.

He then remained certain days, several days, with the disciples who were at Damascus. That stay was his first fellowship with believers after his conversion. By it he was brought into connection with the newly organized church there, so the church was not left unaware of his conversion.

The order was that he was struck blind on the way to Damascus and fasted three days without sight or food. Then through Ananias he received his sight and was filled with the Holy Ghost. He rose and was baptized by Ananias in the river at Damascus, and afterward ate and was strengthened.

The disciples were at first reluctant to receive him because they remembered his persecution of believers and suspected deception. They had heard reports of his conversion but knew little of him after he had gone to Arabia. The Jews knew his position at Jerusalem and his principal errand to Damascus armed with a commission from the high priest to take believers in Jesus as prisoners to Jerusalem, and they were thoroughly surprised and confounded to behold him preaching the gospel.

Persecutor Becomes Disciple

This verse belongs to the turning of Saul from a zealous, determined persecutor who opposed Jesus into a sincere penitent, fervent believer and follower of Christ. Strict in his religion, he became a Christian only after Christ revealed Himself and showed him that he was persecuting Christ in His people, and then he joined the group he had despised. After meeting Jesus and accepting Him as the Christ he was baptized, began preaching Jesus, had his eyes opened to value truths he had once despised, and became wholly devoted to serving the Savior as a devoted and effective worker. The encounter also marked his call to be an apostle by God's will.

After Christ revealed Himself to Saul and convicted him, Saul was sent to the disciples he had persecuted to be their learner and to receive instruction about his duty and the Christian religion. He was to unite with the people he had persecuted, and God used his connection with the church and its appointed workers and representatives as part of his conversion and service to guide him in the way of life. The church served as Christ's channel of light to the world, placing him in communication with it where he was to be instructed. His repentance, faith in Jesus as Saviour, obedience to God's law, baptism, and preaching Jesus mark his change from persecutor to follower.

His humbling was complete, for blinded by the glory of Christ whom he had persecuted while thinking he was doing God service, he spent days and nights in reflection. He no longer saw himself righteous but sinful, with his thoughts, words, and actions condemned by the law, and was filled with bitter remorse and self-abhorrence for his zeal against God's people. Hopeless and helpless he cast himself on Jesus as the only one who could pardon him and clothe him with righteousness, yielding to the convictions of the Spirit and giving up his supposed blameless righteousness by the law. He changed from a proud Pharisee who blasphemed Christ to a humble suppliant whose tongue praised Him who called him out of darkness into light. After encountering the Lord he was humbled by his own unworthiness, received full and free assurance of forgiveness, and arose changed, with seeing the loveliness of God's character transforming him and giving him longing for others to be freed from sin.

He had persecuted Christians conscientiously in ignorance and unbelief, as sincerely as those who now live in error worshipping an idol sabbath while living up to the best light they have. Jesus revealed Himself to him, counted him faithful, put him into the ministry, and showed abundant grace, faith and love to save him as chief of sinners. Stephen's faith, courage, and testimony at his stoning remained in Saul's memory and helped bring about his conversion. That conversion to the faith came from the very circumstance of faithful Stephen being stoned to death by the enemies of Christ, and though permitting wicked men to triumph in that stoning did not appear to strengthen God's cause in the earth, God used it to convert Paul and through his word bring thousands to the light of the gospel.

Beneath hatred and contempt, grace rescued him and made one of the gospel's most determined enemies into Paul, a devoted minister of Christ who would serve Him. Mercy changed persecuting Saul into a chief apostle, proving with the thief on the cross, denying Peter, and Mary Magdalene honored as first witness of the resurrection, that His blood cleanses from all sin. One who casts himself naked and helpless upon that mercy, not resting partly on himself and partly on Christ or patching a robe from the filthy rags of his own righteousness, can stand complete in Him with robe washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. His turning from religious tradition and hostility to the church to faith in Christ is illustrated by Farel, whose heart was turned from the pope and given to Jesus Christ.

Early Preaching at Damascus

Strengthened by food and remaining with the disciples at Damascus, he immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues. His message was that Jesus is the Son of God and the promised Messiah, who died for sins, rose again, and appeared to witnesses. His own conversion and early experience among the disciples became part of the testimony about Jesus that he related to others. He preached Jesus to the believers in Damascus, including the very people he had come from Jerusalem to destroy. In doing so he became a help that strengthened those already disciples and continually made new converts to the faith he had once opposed.

He taught in the synagogues that Jesus who had been put to death is indeed the Son of God, proving it from prophecy. His arguments were so conclusive and attended with such power of God that the opposing Jews were confounded and unable to answer. His growth in strength enabled him to confound his Jewish hearers. His rabbinical and Pharisaic education and learning were then used to sustain the gospel cause he had tried to destroy. As a chosen messenger to preach Jesus' name and strengthen the disciples he took up the work left by Stephen, and his course demonstrated to all who heard him that his change of faith was brought about by overwhelming evidence and not from impulse nor fanaticism.

His early days as a disciple marked the beginning of his new life, and afterward his visits to Jerusalem brought anxiety and remorse as he remembered his former persecution of Christ's followers. The encounter with Christ near Damascus and the circumstances of his conversion made clear to him the mission of Christ and his own work, helping prepare him to turn to the Gentiles and preach Christ to them.

Church and Doctrine Learned

Acts 9:19 belongs to Saul's turning to Christ and then joining the disciples at Damascus, and that joining shows that faith in Christ, repentance, obedience to God's law, baptism, and uniting with Christ's church belong together. Christ directed him to the church rather than leaving him to learn independently, making him a learner among the disciples after his conversion. His repentance, faith in Jesus as Saviour, obedience to God's law, baptism, and then preaching Jesus mark his change from persecutor to follower.

Christ brought him to salvation through agents He had appointed, requiring him to face those whose destruction he had intended. The men authorized to act for Christ had a responsible part in his restoration, and he was to unite with the very people he had persecuted. He was placed in communication with Christ's church, where he was to be instructed in the Christian religion, since the church serves as Christ's channel of light to the world. God used that connection with the church and its appointed workers as part of his conversion and service.

Spending certain days with the disciples as their learner, he came to see that Jesus, whom in ignorance he had counted an impostor who made God's law of none effect, is indeed the Author and foundation of all the religion of God's chosen people from Adam's day. He came to see Christ as the Finisher of the faith now clear to his enlightened vision, the vindicator of the truth, and the fulfiller of all prophecies. He learned that Christ did not make void the law of God but was the originator and foundation of the entire Jewish system of sacrifices, that Christ came into the world for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law, and that in Christ's death type met antitype. In the light of the law he saw himself a sinner and transgressor, even a sinner of sinners, despite his former zeal in which he had believed he was keeping the moral law. He died to sin, became obedient to the claims of God's law, repented of his sins, had faith in Jesus Christ as his Saviour, was baptized, and then preached Jesus as earnestly and zealously as he had once condemned and denounced Him.

Example and Present Warning

The account of Saul's change stands as a lesson for everyone, and his conversion is the pattern of the thorough conversion that ministers themselves require. Before that change he was employed to hunt out souls to persecute, and without the converting power of God reaching the soul, men will carry on the same persecuting work with all their power, just as satanic agencies did when they crucified Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. That history is to be repeated, for the self-exalting act of Lucifer will exert its power upon just such unconverted men in present and future experience. Great education and experience avail nothing unless they perfect the knowledge of the glory of God so as to exalt the Lord Jehovah and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

Blinded by the glory of Christ whom he had persecuted while supposing he was doing God service, Saul spent days and nights in reflection, no longer counting himself righteous but seeing his thoughts, words, and actions condemned by the law, filled with bitter remorse and self-abhorrence for his zeal against God's people. Hopeless and helpless he cast himself on Jesus as the only one who could pardon him and clothe him with righteousness, yielding to the convictions of the Spirit, surrendering his supposed blameless righteousness by the law, and turning from a proud Pharisee who blasphemed Christ into a humble suppliant whose tongue praised Him who called him out of darkness into light. Strengthened and joined to the disciples at Damascus, his completed humbling proves that those who despise God's messages and turn their abilities against His work must likewise repent, confess, and be forgiven, or they cannot be saved.

His conversion and the beginning of his new life are to be looked at and traced out together with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and the shame of Christ crucified on the cross as a criminal. Though religious before the risen Saviour revealed Himself to him, afterward he became a Christian, humbled by his own unworthiness, receiving full and free assurance of forgiveness, and arising changed. Beholding the loveliness of God's character transformed him, made Christ his supreme delight, and gave him a longing for others to be freed from sin. That personal knowledge of Christ and the assurance given at the start of his ministry gave him confidence and encouraged him throughout his later work.