9:5Saul thought he was pursuing heretics, but he was persecuting Jesus himself. Anyone who persecutes believers today is also Quilty of persecuting Jesus (see Matthew 25:40, 45) because believers are the body of Christ on earth.
Life Application Study BibleActsChapter 9
Acts 9
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1834, 1835, 1836, 1838
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
9Acts 9
Saul’s Conversion
1Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the LORD’s foliowers.* So he went to the high priest. 2He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. 3As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 6Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” 8:32-33 Isa 53:7-8 (Greek version). 8:36 Some manuscripts add verse 37, “You can,” Philip answered, ‘if you believe with all your heart.” And the eunuch replied, “! believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” 9:1 Greek disciples. 5“Wwho are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! ©Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. 10Now there was a believer* in Damascus named Ananias. The LORD spoke to him ina vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, LORD!” he replied. The LORD said, 11Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 171 have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.” 13“But LORD,” exclaimed Ananias, “I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! 14And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” 1SBut the LORD said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.” 17So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the LORD Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18Instantly something like scales fell from Sauls eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul stayed with the believers* in Damascus for a few days. 20And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!” 21All who heard him were amazed. “Isn't this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?” 22Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn't refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. 23After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. 24They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. 25So during the night, some of the other believers* lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall. 26When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! 27Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the LORD on the way to Damascus and how the LORD had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. 28So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the LORD. 29He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. 30When the believers* heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown. 31The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the LORD. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Peter Heals Aeneas and Raises Dorcas
3232Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda. 33There he met aman named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. 34Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly. °5Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the LORD. 36There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas*). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. $7About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. *8But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!” 39So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. 40But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! 41He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive. 42The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the LORD. 43And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.
Textual footnotes
- 9:10 Greek disciple; also in 9:26, 36.
- 9:19 Greek disciples; also in 9:26, 38.
- 9:30 Greek brothers.
- 9:36 The names Tabitha in Aramaic and Dorcas in Greek both mean “gazelle.”
Life Application Notes 15 notes
9:13,14“Not him, LORD; that’s impossible. He could never become a Christian!” In essence, that's what Ananias said when
9:15,16Faith in Christ brings great blessings but often great suffering, too. Paul would suffer for his faith (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-27). God calls us to commitment, not to comfort. He promises to be with us through suffering and hardship, not to spare us from them.
9:17Ananias found Saul, as he had been instructed, and greeted him as “Brother Saul.” Ananias feared this meeting because Saul had come to Damascus to capture the believers and take them as prisoners to Jerusalem (9:2). In obedience to the Holy Spirit, however, Ananias greeted Saul lovingly. It is not always easy to lave others, especially when we are afraid of them or doubt their motives. Nevertheless we must follow Jesus’ command (John 13:34) and Ananias’s example, showing loving acceptance to other believers.
9:17,18Although Acts makes no mention of a special filling of the Holy Spirit for Saul, his changed Sife and subsequent accomplishments bear strong witness to the Holy Spirit's presence and power in him. Evidently, the Holy Spirit had filled Saul when he received his sight and was baptized. See the second note on 8:15-17 for more on the filling of the Holy Spirit.
9:20Immediately after receiving his sight and spending some time with the believers in Damascus, Saul went to the synagogue to tell the Jews about Jesus Christ. Some Christians counsel new believers to wait until they are thoroughly grounded in their faith before attempting to share the Good News. Saul spent time with other believers to learn about Jesus before beginning his worldwide ministry, but he did not wait to witness. Although we should not rush into a ministry unprepared, we do not need to wait before telling others what has happened to us.
9:21,22Saul’s arguments were powerful because he was a brilliant scholar. Even more convincing, however, was his changed life. People knew that what Saul taught was real because they could see the evidence in the way he lived. It is important to know what the Bible teaches and how to defend the faith, but your life should back up your words.
9:23According to Galatians 1:17, 18, Pau! left Damascus and traveled to Arabia, the desert region just southeast of Damascus, where he lived for three years. It is unclear whether his three-year stay occurred between verses 22 and 23 or between verses 25 and 26. Some commentators say that “after a while” could mean a tong period of time. They suggest that when Paul returned to Damascus, the governor under Aretas ordered his arrest (2 Corinthians 11:32) in an effort to keep: peace with influential Jews. The other possibility is that Paul's night escape occurred during his first stay in Damascus, just after his conversion, when the Pharisees were especially upset over his defection from their ranks. He would have fled to Arabia to spend time alone with God and to let the Jewish religious leaders cool down. Regardless of which theory is correct, there was a period of at least three years between Paul’s conversion (9:3-6) and his trip to Jerusalem (9:26).
9:26,27{tis difficult to change your reputation, and Saul had a terrible reputation with the Christians. But Barnabas, a Jewish convert (mentioned in 4:36), became the bridge between Saul and the apostles. New Christians (especially those with tarnished reputations) need sponsors, peaple who will come alongside, encourage, teach, and introduce them to other believers. In what ways can you become a Barnabas to new believers?
9:27Galatians 1:18, 19 explains that Paul was in Jerusalem only 15 days and that he met only with Peter and James.
9:29,30In these short sentences we can see two characteristics of Paul, even as a new believer in Christ: He was bold, and he stirred up controversy. These would characterize Paul's ministry the rest of his life.
9:30Saui’s visit to Tarsus helped quiet conflicts with the Jews and allowed him time to prove his commitment. After Saul, the most Zeatous persecutor, was converted, the church enjoyed a brief time of peace.
9:36The important harbor city of Joppa sits 125 feet above sea level overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Joppa was the town into which the cedars of Lebanon had been floated to be shipped to Jerusalem for use in the Temple construction (2 Chronicles 2:16; Ezra 3:7). The prophet Jonah had left the port of Joppa on his ill-fated trip (Jonah 1:3).
9:36-42Tabitha made an enormous impact on her community by “always doing kind things for others and helping the poor,” by making coats and other garments (9:39). When she died, the room was filled with mourners, very likely many of the people she had helped. And when she was brought back to life, the news raced through the town. God uses great preachers like Peter and Paul, but he also uses those who have gifts of kindness like Tabitha. Rather than wishing you had other gifts, make good use of the gifts God has given you.
9:43In Joppa, Peter stayed at the home of Simon, a tanner of hides—a leatherworker. Leatherworkers made animal hides into eather. It is significant that Peter was at Simon's house because eatherworking involved contact with dead animals, and Jewish jaw considered it an “unclean” occupation. Peter was already beginning to break down his prejudice against people who were not of his kind and who had customs that did not adhere to Jewish religious traditions.
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Personality profile · page 1835
Profile: Philip
Jesus’ last words to his followers were a command to take the gospel everywhere, but they seemed reluctant to leave Jerusalem. It took intense persecution to scatter the believers from Jerusalem and into Judea and Samaria, where Jesus had instructed them to go. Philip, one of the men in charge of food distribution, left Jerusalem and, like most Jewish Christians, spread the gospel wherever he went; but unlike most of them, he did not limit his audience to other Jews. He went directly to Samaria—the last place many Jews would go due to age-old prejudice. The Samaritans responded in large numbers. When word got back to Jerusalem, Peter and John were sent to evaluate Phifip’s ministry. They quickly became involved themselves, seeing firsthand God’s acceptance of those who previously were considered unacceptable. In the middle of all this success and excitement, God directed Philip out to the desert for an appointment with an Ethiopian eunuch, another foreigner, who had been in Jerusalem. Philip went immediately. His effectiveness in sharing the gospel with this man placed a Christian in a significant position in a distant country and may well have had an effect on an entire nation. Philip ended up in Caesarea, where events allowed him to be Paul's host many years later. Paul, who, as the leading persecutor of the Christians, had been instrumental in pushing Philip and others out of Jerusalem, had himself become an effective believer. Philip began the conversion of the Gentiles, which was continued across the entire Roman Empire by Paul. Whether or not you are a follower of Christ, Philip’s life presents a challenge. To those still outside the gospel, he is a reminder that the gospel is for you also. To those who have accepted Christ, he is a reminder that we are not free to disqualify anyone from hearing about Jesus. How much like Philip would your neighbors say you are?
Strengths and accomplishments
• One of the seven organizers of food distribution in the early church
• Became an evangelist, one of the first traveling missionaries © One of the first to obey Jesus’ command to take the gospel to all people
• A careful student of the Bible who could explain its meaning clearly
• God finds great and various uses for those willing to obey wholeheartedly © The gospel is universal Good News
• The whole Bible, not just the New Testament, helps us understand more about Jesus
• Both mass response (the Samaritans) and individual response (the man from Ethiopia) to the gospel are valuable
• Occupations: Organizer of food distribution, evangelist
• Relatives: Four daughters.
• Contemporaries: Paul, Stephen, the apostles “So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).
Lessons from his life
Vital statistics Key verse
Philip’s story is told in Acts 6:1-7; 8:5-40; 21:8-10.
God told him of Saul’s conversion. After all, Saul had pursued believers to their death. Despite these understandable feelings, Ananias obeyed God and ministered to Saul. We must not limit God—he can do anything. We must obey and follow God's leading, even when he leads us to difficult people and places.
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Study feature · page 1836
9:25 Greek his disciples.
Study feature · page 1836
SAUL’S RETURN TO TARSUS At least three years elapsed between Acts 9:22 and 9:26. After time alone in Arabia (see Galatians 1:16-18), Saul (Paul) returned to Damascus and then to Jerusalem. The apostles were reluctant to believe that this former persecutor could have become one of them.He escaped to Caesarea, where he caught a ship and returned to Tarsus.
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Personality profile · page 1837
Profile: Paul
No person, apart from Jesus himself, shaped the history of Christianity like the apostle Paul. Even before he was a believer, his actions were significant. His frenzied persecution of Christians following Stephen’s death got the church started in obeying Christ’s final command to take the gospel worldwide. Paul’s persona! encounter with Jesus changed his fife. He never lost his fierce intensity, but from then on it was channeled for the gospel. Paul was very religious. His training under Gamaliel was the finest available. His intentions and efforts were sincere. He was a good Pharisee who knew the Bible and sincerely believed that this Christian movement was dangerous to Judaism. Thus, Paul hated the Christian faith and persecuted Christians without mercy. Paul got permission to travel te Damascus to capture Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem. But God stopped him in his hurried tracks on the Damascus road. Paul personally met Jesus Christ, and his life was never the same. Until Paul's conversion, little had been done about carrying the gospel to non-Jews. Philip had preached in Samaria and to an Ethiopian man; Cornelius, a Gentile, was converted under Peter; and in Antioch of Syria, some Greeks had joined the believers. When Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to check on this situation, he went to Tarsus to find Paul and bring him to Antioch, and together they worked among the believers there. They were then sent on a missionary journey, the first of three Paul would take that would carry the gospel across the Roman Empire. The thorny issue of whether Gentile believers had to obey Jewish laws before they could become Christians caused many problems in the early church. Paul worked hard to convince the Jews that Gentiles were acceptable to God, but he spent even more time convincing the Gentiles that they were acceptable to God. The lives Paul touched were changed and challenged by meeting Christ through him. God did not waste any part of Paul—his background, his training, his citizenship, his mind, or even his weaknesses. Are you willing to let God do the same for you? You will never know all he can do with you until you allow him to have all that you are!
Strengths and accomplishments
• Transformed by God from a persecutor of Christians to a preacher for Christ
• Preached for Christ throughout the Roman Empire on three missionary journeys
• Wrote letters to various churches, which became part of the New Testament
• Was never afraid to face an issue head-on and deal with it
• Was sensitive to God’s leading and, despite his strong personality, always did as God directed ¢ ls often called the apostle to the Gentiles
Weaknesses and mistakes
• Witnessed and approved of Stephen’s stoning
• Set out to destroy Christianity by persecuting Christians
Lessons from his life
• The Good News is that forgiveness and eternal life are available to all people and are gifts of God’s grace through faith in Christ
• Obedience results from a relationship with God, but obedience will never create or earn that relationship
• Real freedom doesn’t come until we no longer have to prove our freedom
• God does not waste our time; he will use our past and present so we may serve him with our future
• Where: Born in Tarsus but became a world traveler for Christ © Occupations: Trained as a Pharisee, learned the tentmaking trade, served as a missionary © Contemporaries: Gamalie!, Stephen, the apostles, Luke, Barnabas, Timothy
Vital statistics
“For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I'm torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live” (Philippians 1:21-24).
Key verses
Paul's story is told in Acts 7:58-28:31 and throughout his New Testament letters.
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Study feature · page 1838
PETER’S
PETERS MINISTRY Peter traveled to the ancient crossroads town of Lydda, where he healed crippled Aeneas. The believers in Joppa, an old port city. sent for him after a wonderful woman died. Peter went and brought her back to life. While in Joppa, Peter had a vision that ted him to take the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile, in Caesarea.
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