TRACINGS FROM THE ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES
VII. SAUL'S CONVERSION AND
EARLY MINISTRY.
ACTS ix. 1-31.
GOD'S grace was to flow out to Gentiles, for the Gospel
was to be preached among all nations. Two things, however, were needed for
that. The suited and special instrument was to be provided. The kingdom, too,
must be opened by the one foreordained for that service. Of the circumstances
connected with the call of the first we are now to become acquainted (Acts
ix.). After that the service of the second in opening the kingdom will be
detailed. A Hellenistic Jew was to become the Apostle of the Gentiles; and
subsequently, in company with Barnabas, who was also of the same class, was
selected as a missionary pioneer to work in Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia.
To a home-born Jew, of the city of Bethsaida, on the western shore of the Lake
of Galilee, were entrusted the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. He had used
them already to admit Jews into the kingdom on the day of Pentecost. He was
shortly to use them afresh, to admit Gentiles in the house of the centurion
Cornelius at Czesarea. There seems a fitness in this. Hellenistic Jews might be
more suited for evangelising Gentiles, being naturally better acquainted with
their ways and modes of thought. A home-born Jew was the fitting instrument to
open the door of the kingdom to them, acting in this against Jewish teaching,
national feeling, and the habits of a lifetime (Acts x. 28), but guided in what
he did by the Holy Ghost. No one could have suspected Peter of partiality
towards Gentiles. Hence he acted under Divine guidance, and for the carrying
out of the Divine will.
Answered Prayer. And now it was to be
seen that the dying martyr's prayer was not poured forth in vain. The Lord had
asked forgiveness for those who crucified Him, and He had brought on the day of
His resurrection the assurance that His prayer was answered, as He commissioned
His disciples to preach forgiveness in His name, beginning at Jerusalem. A
free, full proclamation should go forth, able to embrace in its merciful
announcement every one alive at that time, as well as all on the face of the
earth whom in subsequent ages these tidings should reach. Stephen, manifesting
the Spirit of Christ, had prayed for His murderers, saying, "Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge." Now one who had been prominent in the proceedings at his
death was to be taken up in Divine grace to obtain mercy, because he did it
ignorantly and in unbelief. And all the longsuffering was to be shown forth in
him, a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on the Lord unto life
everlasting (1 Tim. i. 13-16).
Saul's Conversion. The young man
prominent at the martyrdom of Stephen by keeping the clothes of those that were
stoning him, had risen unto still greater prominence by his relentless
persecution of Christians in Jerusalem. And now, having proved himself a
zealous and a willing instrument in the attempt to stamp out the truth in the
metropolis, he was to be entrusted at his own request with letters from the
high priest to the synagogues at Damascus,* that, if he found any of the way,
whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem (Acts ix. 1, 2).
Such was the purpose of his self-imposed mission.
* Damascus was at this
time under Aretas, King of Arabia Nabataea, granted to him, it is supposed, by
the Emperor Caligula ; for during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius it had
been attached to the province of Syria. "The Jews of the dispersion," writes
Lewin (Life of St. Paul, vol. i., p. 47), "like oil sprinkled upon a waste of
waters, were in daily contact with heathen society without commingling. They
had their own religion and their own laws, their own places of worship and
their own courts. Their eyes were ever turned towards Jerusalem ; and their
allegiance to the high priest was testified, not only by the annual remittance
to him of a contribution towards the Temple service, but by making him the
referee of all their local disputes. Thus the High Priest and Elders of the
Holy City exercised the same sort of spiritual supremacy over the synagogues of
the adjacent countries, as the pope and cardinals have since assumed over the
Churches in communion with Rome. They promulgated edicts, and had a
jurisdiction over their own people to the extent of excommunication, scourging,
and imprisonment. When they had reason to put forth this authority, they
despatched ambassadors, called apostles, with mandatory letters to the local
synagogues.'' In Damascus Jews were very numerous, as is attested by the
slaughter of ten thousand of them in the city in one hour's time in the days of
Nero (Josephus, Wars, II. xx. 2). Their synagogues, therefore, must have been
many.
He went with a company the size of which is wholly unknown to us;
nor is there anything in the narrative to determine whether they were
journeying on horse or on foot. If any word, however, might cast light on this
matter, the statement that the men accompanying him stood speechless (ix. 7),
would lead to the supposition that they were journeying on foot, which would be
further strengthened by that which follows - that they led Saul by the hand and
brought him into Damascus. And since, as Wordsworth notes, Pharisees rarely
used horses, it would be quite in keeping with the narrative to suppose that
Saul, ardent though he was in his work of exterminating that sect, as he viewed
it, which he hated, should have conformed to the general custom, and have
travelled on foot.
The distance to be covered from city to city is
reckoned at about a hundred and twenty or a hundred and thirty miles. Days
therefore, in any case, must have passed, since he issued forth from Jerusalem,
ere his eye could light on the buildings of that ancient city in existence
since the days of Abraham, and the goal to which he was pressing forward. One
tradition has fixed the site of his conversion at a spot close to the city,
just a quarter of an hour's walk distant from it. Willibald, who visited
Damascus A.D. 721 - 727, places it two miles distant. Porter (Giant Cities of
Bashan, p. 350) places it near a village called Kaukab, about ten miles
distant, in accordance with a tradition as old as the time of the Crusades. On
the top of a ridge separating the valleys of the Abana and Pharpar, " the spot
from which the traveller from the south obtains his first view of Damascus," he
locates the scene of the conversion.
Damascus was called by its own
poets "The Pearl of the East." "The view," writes Porter, "of the city and
plain from the brow of Lebanon is unequalled in Syria - probably it is
unsurpassed in the world. One gazes upon it enraptured when before him; and
when far away, though long years have intervened, memory dwells upon it as upon
some bright and joyous vision of childhood's happy days. Forty centuries have
passed over the city, yet it retains the freshness of youth. Its palaces look
as gorgeous, its houses as gay, its gold-tipped minarets and domes as bright,
as if only completed yesterday. Its gardens and orchards and far-reaching
groves, rich in foliage and blossoms, wrap the city round like a mantle of
green velvet powdered with pearls. Its rivers, better yet than all the waters
of Israel, having burst their mountain barriers, send a thousand streams
meandering over its plain, sparkling in the sunlight, and spreading verdure and
beauty along their course." * Such is the effect produced by the view of
Damascus from a little distance. Had Saul just feasted his eyes on it,
enraptured with its beauty? We know not. But another sight he was to behold,
far brighter than anything earth could furnish - a sight confined to himself,
yet one for ever after deeply impressed on his memory.
* Giant Cities of
Bashan, p. 342.
For suddenly, about noon - the sun, we may suppose,
shining on the city in its meridian splendour - a light shone round about him
and his company above the brightness of that sun. All saw the light (Acts xxii.
9), but the rest saw no one. All heard a voice (ix. 7), but Saul only
understood the meaning of it (xxii. 9). It addressed him in the Hebrew tongue.
Speechless the rest stood, hearing a sound, but seeing no man. So writes the
historian. But Paul, recounting the matter before Festus and Agrippa, states
that all had fallen to the earth before he heard the voice speaking to him
(xxvi. 14), - an apparent discrepancy which, had we been present, would
doubtless have admitted of an easy explanation. And we may offer one drawn from
the narrative. Startled by the light, and hearing a voice to them
unintelligible, for which they could not account, the company might well have
stood speechless, as arrested suddenly in their course: the next moment,
prostrate on the ground, the conversation between the Lord Jesus and Saul took
place.*
* What they heard was a voice (ix. 7); but its sound conveyed no
meaning to them, - just as in John xii. 29 the people, who heard the Father's
voice, thought it was thunder. So Acts ix. 7 and xxii. 9 are not
contradictory.
To Saul the sound was not only audible, but intelligible.
"Saul, Saul!" He was addressed by name. One unknown to him was calling to him
out of heaven. He had thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the
name of Jesus of Nazareth, or the Nazarean (xxvi. 9). He was acting in all that
with a good conscience. Did Heaven approve of his zeal? Was he, like Abraham,
to hear words in approbation of his conduct? The critical moment to decide that
had now come. The question of Heaven's approval, or the reverse, was to be
settled once and for ever, by words which must have come like a thunderbolt.
"Why persecutest thou Me?" Who thus spoke to him? Who would suppose that Saul
could be guilty of such folly as to persecute One in heaven? A question from
Saul, "Who art Thou, Lord?" and an immediate reply, "I am Jesus, the Nazarean,
whom thou persecutest" (xxii. 8), left no doubt in his mind as to the
sinfulness of his course. The Lord Jesus indeed was in heaven, and Saul was
prostrate before Him on the ground. Light above the brightness of the sun had
shone round Saul and his company. Light now shone into Saul's soul. His past
course and his purposes stood out as in bold relief, but in a blackness which
nothing that he could say could lessen. As a convicted persecutor of the Lord
Jesus, he lay stretched on the ground. Moreover, he had seen Him. He had heard
Him (Acts ix. 17, 27, xxii. 14, 15, xxvi. 14; 1 Cor. ix. 1). And, as we learn
from the Apostle's address before Festus and Agrippa, he was told, whilst still
on the ground, of the commission with which he was to be entrusted (Acts xxvi.
16-18). An Apostle by calling (Rom. i. 1), he received his commission direct
from the Lord, and from Him in glory.
In the first account of his
conversion, that given us by St. Luke (Acts ix), the commission is unnoticed,
and we should really omit from the record the following words : "It is hard for
thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord
what wilt Thou have me to do ] And the Lord said unto him." The passage should
simply run : " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; but arise, and go," etc.
Possibly some copyist inserted those clauses from the two accounts given of his
conversion by the Apostle himself - the one when on the stairs of the castle at
Jerusalem (xxii.), the other when before the Roman governor and officials of
the province at Csesarea (xxvi.). That the Lord did say, "It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks," St. Paul declared at Caesarea. ( So why all
this speculation about "copyists"? - Editor)
That he asked, "Lord,
what wilt Thou have me to do?" we know from his address to the multitude of
Jews, when making his defence unto them from the stairs leading up to the
castle of Antonia. And each has its place suitably where it is found. The
Gentiles at Csesarea would understand the simile of kicking against the
ox-goad, for it is said to be a Greek proverb. The Jews at Jerusalem ought to
have understood how natural was the question, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to
do?" when the Lord had personally appeared to him. And they ought to have felt
how morally impossible it was for Paul, thus arrested in his course, to do
aught else than to obey the One who had spoken to him out of heaven. On the
ground, and in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and with the charge of
persecuting Him twice affirmed, Saul had no excuse to offer, nor anything to
urge in mitigation of punishment. To have been struck off the earth into
everlasting perdition would not have been contrary to the principles of
righteousness. He had been arrested, as we might say, flagrante delicto - i.e.,
in the commission of the crime. Instead, however, of receiving his deserts, he
was to learn, as assuredly he had never learnt, what Divine grace could do, and
what it is to be oneself a subject of that grace, as he now heard from the lips
of the Lord Jesus, in whose presence he really was, of the mercy and of the
grace in store for him, - of the mercy, seeing that he was not to receive the
due reward of his deeds; of the grace, in that he was to be entrusted with
preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And the words,
"But arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do"
(ix. 6), coupled with the further communication, whilst still on the ground, as
related in xxvi. 1G-18, gave him die first but how full an intimation of the
great favour in store for him.
What must it have been to him to hear
that soul-comforting command, "Arise, and go into the city," etc. The penalty
of immediate death, with everlasting perdition to follow, was not to be meted
out to him. Little wonder, then, is it that he could write in after-years, with
this event of his life vividly in remembrance, "This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in
me first Christ Jesus might show forth all the longsuffering, for a pattern to
them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (1 Tim. i. 15,
16), We have said "all the longsuffering," as being more exact than the
rendering of the Authorised Version. Do any ask what was all the longsuffering?
The Apostle's course at this time, as summed up by himself in three significant
words, explains it: "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious" (1 Tim. i. 13).
Significant words, we say. For the first is one of the sins characteristic of
the last days (2 Tim. iii. 2). The second is what specially characterised the
Jews in apostolic times (1 Thess. ii. 15). The last, " injurious," is met with
in the New Testament as a sin of the heathen world (Rom. i. 30), being
translated in the Authorised Version "despiteful," and in the Revised Version
"insolent." None of the heathen in that chapter of Romans are charged with
blaspheming. No one in 2 Tim. iii., where the characteristic marks of the last
days are given, is called "injurious." But all three together characterised
Saul. Clearly, then, could he write of the Lord Jesus showing forth in him "all
the longsuffering."
Obeying the command to rise up, he had strength to
walk, but could not see, having been blinded by the dazzling glory of the light
from heaven. So led by his companions by the hand he entered the city. They had
seen the light, but were not blinded. He only had seen the Lord Jesus on that
occasion. Starting forth as he had done on his journey like an inquisitor, and
thinking doubtless that the Christians at Damascus would fall an easy prey, as
so many in Jerusalem had done, he entered the city as a captive really, and led
by the hand till he reached the house of Judas, who lived in the long street
which then and still traverses the city from east to west, and was then and is
yet called "Straight" He entered with the letters from the high priest
authenticating his commission. He never delivered them, for that commission was
superseded by another just received, and one with which he could not refuse
compliance. And the sheep apparently so helpless, and which had never struck
one blow in their own defence, Saul found had a defender, a guardian, in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was really in heaven.
Divine Guidance.
Blind, and fasting for three days and three nights, he remained in the
house of his host. Of visitors, of condoling friends surrounding him, we read
not a word. To One, however, he could and did open out. Saul, the persecutor,
prayed to God in heaven. Nor was it one solitary petition, poured forth in the
agony of his soul, or wrung from him by great mental torture. "He prayeth," we
learn. Blind as he was, and without food, he was engaged in prayer. What his
feelings were during that never-to-be-forgotten time neither the historian nor
the Apostle himself has thought fit to place on record. But what is of deep
interest and profit to us all is circumstantially detailed. We learn how the
Lord was working with him on the one hand, and with Ananias on the other. Saul
was prepared for the visit of Ananias. Ananias was charged by the Lord to visit
the captive in the house of Judas. We have seen in chap. viii. how the Spirit
provided for the instruction of the eunuch. We shall see in chap. x. how
Cornelius was prepared for the visit of Peter, and how Peter was told of the
journey he should undertake. So was it with Ananias and with Saul. How
interesting and instructive is this - interesting, as it unfolds a little of
the inner working of the movement; instructive, as it teaches us how hearts
were prepared and steps guided in those days. Something analogous to this is at
times, when called for, experienced still.
Ananias. The Lord's
eye was on Saul. Nor was that all. He gave him the hope of shortly regaining
his eyesight. For the very man by whose instrumentality it was to be restored
he had seen coming in, and his name, too, was revealed, though hitherto a
perfect stranger to this stricken one. And now to that servant the Lord spoke
in a vision, addressing him by name, as He had personally addressed Saul. Yet
how great the difference! To Saul it was One previously unknown to him who
spoke. To Ananias it was One with whom that disciple was well acquainted.
"Ananias," said the Lord. "Behold, I am here, Lord," was the ready response.
"Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the
house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus; for, behold, he prayeth, and hath
seen* a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands on him, that he
might receive his sight" (Acts ix. 10-12). Who besides the Lord then knew that
Saul was praying? Which of the Christians in Damascus had heard of his
conversion? Seemingly none. His purpose in visiting the city was well known, as
also his previous conduct at Jerusalem. But probably of the manner of his
entrance into Damascus, led by the hand, and seeing nothing (rather than, no
man), had not been mooted abroad. His sympathisers in his mission would not be
the first to proclaim it. Had he become a disciple of Christ? Could it be said
of him, as of his namesake of old, "Is Saul also among the prophet?" Ananias at
first could not credit it. He answered therefore, reminding the Lord of Saul's
past career and of his avowed purpose in visiting Damascus. Permitted to
express himself fully, the Lord replied, and told him that the former
persecutor was a chosen vessel to bear His name before Gentiles, and kings, and
the children of Israel. Let the reader remark that Gentiles are first named,
constituting as they did Paul's special sphere of ministry (Rom. xi. 13). His
conversion, too, would be attested as real by the sufferings for Christ's sake
that he should thereafter endure.
* "In a vision" v. 12, should be omitted.
The street called Straight still exists, it is said. "The old city is oval in
shape." Its greatest diameter is marked by the Straight St, which is an English
mile in length" (Porter, Giant Cities of Bashan p. 349).
What freedom of
intercourse was permitted between the Lord in heaven and His servants on earth!
Ananias spoke freely of that which he had heard about Saul. Peter at Joppa as
freely expressed himself, when told to "rise, slay, and eat" (Acts x. 14). And
Paul in xxii. 19, 20 without reserve showed surprise at the Lord's command for
him to leave Jerusalem, because the Jews would not receive his testimony to
Christ. Wisdom and knowledge are with Him. His servants, submissive to His
will, in each case carried out the wishes of the Master, though at first in
opposition to their thoughts. Peter went without hesitation with the three men,
bound for Csesarea. Paul left Jerusalem. And Ananias visited Saul of Tarsus in
the house of Judas, in the street called Straight.
What a meeting that
was! Saul, who but lately would have arrested Ananias and have carried him
bound to Jerusalem, was visited by this disciple of Christ, that through him he
might receive the restoration of his eyesight. Scales, as it were, fell from
his eyes. The power of vision was restored. And now he willingly hearkened like
a docile child to Ananias, when told to arise, and be baptised, and wash away
his sins, calling on the name of the Lord (Acts xxii. 16). Without delay, he
was baptised, and called upon the name of the Lord, and so washed away his
sins. We need here scarcely remind the reader that the rite of baptism does not
procure forgiveness of our sins before God. Nothing but the blood of Christ can
do that (Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14 ; Heb. ix. 22). Saul, however, by what he did,
taking his place outwardly as a disciple by baptism, and calling on the name of
the Lord, thus openly confessing Him, thoroughly broke with the past and
condemned his whole course. Had he not called on the name of the Lord, would
his sins have been washed away! That result was closely connected with his open
acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ in that double way.
Saul was the
first of those numbered among the Apostles of whose baptism we read. Aleady a
quickened soul before Ananias visited him, he was to be enrolled amongst the
disciples of Christ in the appointed way for all who should believe on Him
subsequent to His death. As baptised, Saul was now buried with Christ (Rom. vi.
4), and thus was professedly in His company who had really died. Further, as
Ananias told him, he was to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and so be fitted for
the special service to which he was called. What passed between the two, beyond
the few words recorded in Acts ix. 17, supplemented as they are by the
Apostle's account of the interview in xxii. 13-16, we shall never know on
earth. Yet that interview, we may be sure, must have been one of intense
interest to both. Ananias for the first time saw and conversed in peace with
the formerly notorious persecutor of the Church of God. Saul, when his sight
returned, saw before him one of that hitherto hated sect on the extermination
of which he had been bent. And with the facts and the experience of the past
few days fresh in his recollection, we may well suppose that he spoke of his
remarkable conversion, and of the grace of which he was so striking an example,
opening up his mind to Ananias, with whom, as a disciple of their now common
Master, he was henceforth to be openly associated. A change indeed had passed
over him. What he had seen and heard had wrought a mighty revolution within. He
was converted.
Here, ere pursuing the history, we must pause to notice
two points : the Lord's question to Saul, and the Lord's announcement to
Ananias, foretelling Saul's future service.
The Body of Christ.
"Why persecutest thou Me?" was the question. But Saul had never seen Him. How
could he on earth persecute One in heaven? A truth, a revelation, was contained
in that question. It was the first inkling of the existence of the Body of
Christ, and came, as was fitting, from the Head Himself. Me, He said - not My
people, My saints, but Myself. For now was to be known that all believers on
the Lord Jesus, recipients of the Holy Ghost, are members of His Body. To Saul
this revelation was first vouchsafed (Eph. iii. 3). And in his writings, and in
them alone, do we learn about it. The Church is Christ's Body (Eph. i. 23, v.
30; Col. I 24), which is formed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. xii.
12, 13). It grows, it increases, by the different members performing each their
proper functions (Eph. iv. 16 ; Col. ii. 19); and it is built up (or, edified)
by the ministry of the Word, through the individuals given as gifts from Christ
to men (Eph. iv. 11, 12). And those once Gentiles, with those once Jews, but
all believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, together compose it. This was part of
the mystery made known to the Apostle Paul (Eph. iii. 6). Saints of the Old
Testament were viewed as the Apple of Jehovah's eye (Deut. 32 10). Saints of
the New Testament, composing the Church, are all members of the Body of Christ.
Christ, then, was persecuted because His members were persecuted, just as an
injury to any part of one's own body is an injury to oneself. Over His members
the Head in heaven had now thrown His shield. And Saul learnt, and all should
learn, that the persecution of Christians, helpless as they may be, is no light
thing in the Lord's eyes. They are part of His Body.
Saul's Special
Service. Saul had profited (or, advanced) in the Jews' religion above many
his equals (or, of his own age) in his own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous for the traditions of his fathers (Gal. i. 14). No one would have
credited him with any predilection for Gentiles. His zeal for the Law and for
Jewish traditions was unquestionable. Yet he was the vessel chosen to bear
Christ's name before the Gentiles and kings, as well as the people of Israel.
He had thus the widest field of service appointed him. Old Simeon had sung of
the revelation of Gentiles - i.e., the bringing them out of obscurity - as part
of the fruit of the Lord's incarnation (Luke ii. 32). The Lord had told His
disciples of other sheep which He had, not of the Jewish fold, and them also He
should bring, that there should be one flock and one Shepherd (John x. 16). The
man especially selected to forward the work had now near Damascus been
converted. Later on the Apostles at Jerusalem recognised Saul's special call,
in company with Barnabas, to that field of labour (Gal. ii. 7-9). And he writes
of himself as an Apostle of Gentiles (Rom. xi. 13). To his own countrymen he
could and did preach; but service to them is mentioned last in the Lord's word
to Ananias (Acts ix. 15), though Saul always first addressed himself where
possible to those of his own nation. To work amongst the Gentiles was he
delivered (or, taken out) from both Jews and Gentiles, and to the last
mentioned he was specially sent, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive
remission of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in
Christ (Acts xxvi. 17, 18) The great champion for the faith now stands out
before us.
Preparation for Service. Enrolled by baptism as a
disciple of the Lord Jesus, and strengthened by food after the long time of
abstinence, a season of quiet and retirement would come very opportune. This
was provided by a short sojourn in Arabia. At this point the chronological
arrangement of his history has been questioned. He certainly visited Arabia
before he went up to Jerusalem, and as certainly returned to Damascus after the
sojourn in retirement in Arabia. Viewing the account he gives us of this
chapter in his life, we would place it just after his conversion, and before
any public ministry, or even intercourse with the disciples in Damascus. For we
read, "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called
me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up
to Jerusalem to them that were Apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and
returned again to Damascus" (Gal. i. 15-17). His Gospel was not received from
man, neither was he taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal. i.
11, 12). Alone, then, with God, he was prepared for his remarkable service, and
from the Lord Himself he received by revelation the Gospel which he preached.
Now silence on the part of Luke as to this visit to Arabia need excite no
surprise. He must have been aware of it as an historical fact; for the Apostle
had, several years before the Acts was compiled, notified this to the
Galatians. But as it furnished no record of evangelistic labours, though a
prelude to them, the historian may well have passed it over.
Earliest
Labours. Returning, as we believe, from Arabia, Saul consorted with the
disciples in Damascus, and that apparently before he preached in the synogogues
(Acts ix. 19).* Now this would be quite in character with his private interview
with the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem fourteen years later, when, in
company with Barnabas, he communicated privately to them of reputation the
Gospel which he preached. The active and notorious persecutor as he had been,
intercourse with the disciples, to convince them of his conversion, and it may
be to communicate to them the Gospel he was about to preach, would have been
but consistent conduct. Soon, however, he was to stand forth openly and
manfully for Christ. In Damascus, where his vigilance as an inquisitor was to
have been displayed, there his first attempts in preaching the Gospel were
made. Attempts shall we call them? Evidently from the outset of his new career
the Jews felt they had an antagonist to cope with of no mean order. All his
energies, hitherto directed to the stamping out, if possible, of the truth,
were now put forth, under the guidance and in the power of the Spirit, to
preach that faith amongst the confessors of which he had once made such havoc.
A powerful champion he must indeed have been - a Goliath in spiritual power,
whom no one in Israel could overthrow or even answer.
* Reading this verse
aright, it runs, "And [not, then] was Saul certain days," etc. The fact is
stated, but the time is left indefinite.
The Son of God. Taught
of the Spirit and guided by the Spirit, he preached in the synagogues of
Damascus. How many there were we know not. There were clearly several. And Saul
in his zeal visited them, seeking out his countrymen where they could best be
found. All might hear and learn that a preacher had appeared such as people in
Damascus had never before listened to. Power, not eloquence, characterised him
(2 Cor. x. 10). And he preached that which, as far as we know, had never been
proclaimed by an Apostle before - that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts ix. 20),
as well as proving that He is the Christ (22). Peter had proclaimed Him as Lord
and Christ at Pentecost (ii.); subsequently he had preached Him as the Prophet
of Deut. xviii., as the Servant, as the chief corner stone, as a Prince and
Saviour, as well as the Prince of life (iii., iv., v.). Saul now preached Him
as the Son of God. The very thing for which the Sanhedrin condemned the Lord to
death, Saul at Damascus averred was the simple truth. Moreover, that which no
other Apostle could say, he could there affirm. He had seen the crucified One
in heavenly glory, and had heard words from His mouth. He could therefore
present himself to the audience in the different synagogues as the messenger,
the Apostle of the Lord Jesus who is in glory. God, he tells us, had revealed
His Son in him (Ga i 16). As Son of God he therefore proclaimed Him, though as
yet only to Jews.
Opposition. The Apostle of the Gentiles was
indeed in Damascus, but the kingdom of heaven was to be opened to them by
Peter. Till that took place the work went on amongst Jews and proselytes. And
now Saul's powerful preaching was of that positive kind which affected his
hearers. Amazement at first took possession of them. All knew his course in
Jerusalem, and the intent for which he had started for Damascus. All had to
witness of the marked and mighty change wrought in him. But as his preaching
proceeded amazement gave place in some to intense hostility; so, after many
days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him, and they watched the
city gates day and night for that purpose. All their enmity went out against
him; none else were molested nor their lives threatened. But he, the renegade
as they must have viewed him, and the pungent preacher, whose teaching that
Jesus was the Christ they could not successfully controvert, must be silenced
in some way or another. His life must be taken, if nothing could stop
him.
In some, we have said, intense hostility was engendered. Others who
had listened had profited by his labour, and were now ranked as "his disciples"
as we should read (Acts ix. 25). These rallied round him, and by them being let
down in a basket from a window on the wall at night he defeated the vigilance
of his enemies. How soon he had to learn something of the great things he was
to suffer for Christ's sake! "If they have persecuted me, they .will also
persecute you," had been the Lord's words to the Eleven (John xv. 20). Saul
early proved their truth, yet surely his feelings must have differed in measure
from those of the Eleven in like circumstances. He could not forget what he had
been, nor the sorrow and the havoc he had caused by persecutions, which on
earth could never be repaired. Leaving Damascus like a fugitive, thus escaping
apprehension at the hands of the Ethnarch,* the governor under Aretas (2 Cor.
xi. 32, 33), he made, his way to Jerusalem, desirous, as he tells vis, to visit
Peter, of whom he must often have heard, but as yet knew him not. Three years,
we learn (Gal. i. 18), had passed since he had issued forth from the
metropolis, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of
the Lord. What eventful years to him! Now he re-entered the city very likely
alone, but a Christian and an ardent champion for the faith. He returned with
the mission on which he started unfulfilled, but he returned with a far grander
mission. He had sought letters from the high priest. He received them. He
returned with a mandate from One in glory. To discover Christians in Damascus,
and to bring them bound to Jerusalem, had been his mandate, the range of his
commission being confined to that city. To open men's eyes, to turn them from
darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God - these were the purposes
for which he was now commissioned. And world-wide was to be his sphere. Was he,
then, returning as a discredited messenger, or Apostle.** He was coming back an
Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned, as no one else ever was,
directly from the Lord Himself in glory, though at first an object of suspicion
to the disciples in Jerusalem. For it would seem as if no word of his
conversion had reached the ears of the Apostles. Of his labours, too, in
Damascus they seem to have been in profound ignorance, till Barnabas, taking
him by the hand, made them acquainted with his conversion, and with the proofs
of it in his evangelistic labours and controversial encounters; for he had seen
the Lord who had spoken to him, and he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus
at Damascus (Acts ix. 27).
* Who was the Ethnarch? According to Lewin (vol.
i., p72), he was the chief officer of the Jews in the city, to whom Aretas,
King of Arabia, had delegated supreme power over that people. According to
others, he was Procurator under Aretas, but not a Jew. The conduct of the Jews,
watching the gates day and night, would favour the first supposition. Were the
guards (2 Cor. xi. 32) the Jews mentioned in the Acts?
** Messengers from
the high priest on ecclesiastical matters were called Apostles, readers may
remember. Note, p. 119.
The testimony of Barnabas was enough.
Satisfied, then, as to the reality of his conversion, Saul was admitted freely
to the company of the Christians in the city. He who had once entered houses as
an inquisitor was now received as a brother in the faith. But between him and
Barnabas there was thus early formed a special tie ; and the latter evidently
was conscious of the teaching powers of the former, and highly valued them (xi.
25, 26). Only a short stay did he make - just a fortnight abiding with Peter.
It was, however, a time of active service. For he preached boldly in the name
of the Lord, as well as disputed against the Hellenists - i.e., the Grecian
Jews - just the class against whom Stephen had witnessed. But as with Stephen,
so with Saul : when argument availed not, force was to be used. So they went
about to kill him. This coming to the cognisance of the disciples, they brought
him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus. What love did they manifest
- his past hostility all forgiven! Many years later he must have travelled
probably the same road to Csesarea, to escape again death at the hand of the
Jews. On this first occasion he was escorted by disciples; on the second he was
carried by Roman troops, and as their prisoner. How he went from Caesarea to
Tarsus is not told us. That he reached it, his native city, we learn from Acts
xi. 25. Judging, however, from Gal. i. 21, he traversed Syria to reach Cilicia.
Much more might we have learnt had it been profitable for us to know it. The
fortnight with Peter (Gal. i. 18), full surely of interest, these two making
acquaintance whose labours figure so largely in the Acts, might have furnished
a chronicler with much to record. Had Luke been a chronicler he might have
dilated on it. But, the penman of the Holy Spirit, he presents rather the
features of the great movement of his day, than details, interesting as they
might have been.
A Pause. Of a breathing-time in the midst of
conflict we next learn. "The Church [not, Churches] had rest [or, peace]
throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, being edified; and, walking in
the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, was multiplied"
(Acts ix. 31). The efforts of the ecclesiastical power seemed exhausted. Of
such we hear no more for a long time. And now, with Saul away from Jerusalem,
the enmity of the Jews became somewhat dormant. Rest or peace the Church knew,
and progress was made in the work. Here for the first time do we read of
Christian work having gone on in Galilee. The Church, first planted in the
metropolis of Judaism, and amongst the most bigoted and determined opponents of
the faith in the land, had nevertheless spread throughout it from south to
north, and had already penetrated into Syria. Companies of believers were
therefore already found in different towns and villages, each an assembly in
itself (Gal. i. 22); yet the whole collectively formed but one assembly, or
Church, as the historian carefully records, writing, as we have remarked above,
"Then had the Church," etc. For in two aspects can the Church be viewed as
wholly on earth, - in a local aspect, comprising then only the professing
Christians in any given place ; and also in a general aspect, embracing all
believers here below irrespective of their different localities. In a still
wider aspect is it also viewed - viz., as embracing the whole number of
Christians who will compose the Body of Christ. In this last aspect it can
never, of course, be fully seen on earth. Kest enjoyed, increase followed.
Outward persecution ceasing, by the enemy for a time laying aside that weapon,
the Spirit of God, however, did not pause in His work. For the assembly,
walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, was
multiplied. Persecution had failed to uproot the Church. Now, of the conditions
under which it multiplied we are informed. Christian life was active in its
members. The truth worked on them and in them. Ministry in the power and under
the guidance of the Spirit was in exercise, and increase was the happy result.
And surely there must have been then exhibited, what should still be displayed,
the fruits of real ministry in the edifying of the assembly, and the increase
of the whole by each member of the Body performing its appointed function (Eph.
iv. 11-13, 16; Col. ii. 19).
A Crisis. A crisis had been reached,
and peace and increase took the place of harassing persecution and scattering
of the disciples. Critical times there have been in the history of the
movement. The first was experienced on the day of the Lord's crucifixion. All
hopes formed by the disciples of the redemption of Israel, by Him whom they had
regarded as the Messiah, were dashed to the ground. But God raised Him from the
dead, and their hopes revived, accompanied, through the coming of the Holy
Ghost, with an intelligence about matters to which they had been hitherto
strangers. A second crisis in the history of the movement arrived. The
Christians, like defenceless sheep, seemed at the mercy of the persecutor, now
bent on stamping out, if possible, the truth committed to them to maintain. But
had God given His saints over to destruction? Just when the persecutor must
have thought himself sure of his prey in Damascus, the Lord converted him, and
the great opponent on earth became a most gifted and earnest champion for the
faith. Later on another crisis was reached, when in a different way the work
was imperilled. Judaising principles were at work. Peter was led away ; and
even Barnabas, who had hitherto stood firm, was drawn aside by dissimulation.
The true Gospel of the grace of God hung in the balance. Was it to be
surrendered altogether or not? The steadfastness of one man - Paul - preserved
the faith then, and for succeeding generations; so that the truth, of the
Gospel continued (Gal. ii.). Critical times those were. Critical times, too,
have since the Apostles' days been known. But as then, so still, God has come
in, and preserved that which was in danger of being surrendered. To one other
instance will we just advert. At one time it seemed as if the error of Arius
concerning the Person of the Lord Jesus were prevailing, but the faithfulness
of Athanasius, notwithstanding the defection of some who had once stood firm,
never wavered, and thus the truth was preserved. To quote the words of Hooker,
"The whole world against Athanasius, and Athanasius against it; half a hundred
of years spent in doubtful trial which of the two in the end would prevail -
the side which had all, or else the part which had no friend but God and death
; the one a defender of his innocency, the other a finisher of all his
troubles" (Eccles. Polity, V. xlii. 5). By Athanasius under God the truth then
attacked was preserved to the Church of God. Critical times do arrive. But the
watchfulness of our God is unceasing. Such crises show the determination of the
enemy on the one hand, but the faithfulness of God and the presence and power
of the Spirit on the other. Let us be faithful to the teaching of the Word, for
the truth will assuredly prevail, and what may seem to be a losing fight will
turn out to be a winning one.
The lull in the storm noted affords us a
moment to survey what had been achieved. In Jerusalem the work began by the
preaching of Peter. In Galilee, Judasa, Samaria, it was carried on. Assemblies
in different places existed. To Syria and Cilicia it was spreading, and a
convert had returned to Ethiopia with a knowledge of Christ and of the Gospel
of God. The movement was taking root wherever it had spread. But would it hold
its own when brought against Gentile culture and civilisation? Would it change
the current of many a life in heathen lands, and, face to face with that great
centre of idolatry at Ephesus, have to record a march of triumph unparalleled
in the history of Judaism? We shall see. Meanwhile we may note that neither
fanaticism nor religious zeal could arrest its course. It rolled on like a
mighty river, which mocks at puny efforts to stem its tide or divert its
current.
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