Acts 9:1-9 Jesus confronts Saul

Acts 9:1-9 Saul of Tarsus is confronted by Christ on the road to Damascus and is blinded. Acts 8:1-3 recount Saul's attacks on the church members in Jerusalem. In Acts 9:1-2 Saul expands his assault on the followers of the Way, following on the heels of those who had scattered carrying to gospel outside of Jerusalem. If the gospel spread, he was determined to follow it and snuff it out. So great was his devotion to his cause that he would not listen to and hear the gospel. And so it was that Jesus appeared to him on the road, being perceived as a blinding light from heaven.

          Why was Saul uniquely confronted by Jesus in this fashion - maybe it's not one of a kind, but rare? The primary answer is that God is sovereign and does not explain to use the why's and wherefore's of what He chooses to do. But there are hints. Among them, as Paul later reminisces about his encounter with Christ on the Damascus road (Acts 22:4-21) in explaining to the Jews in Jerusalem about his life, he recounts (Acts 22:20) that he stood by holding the cloaks of those who were executing Stephen. Clearly, years later, this still weighed on him as one of the principle things that pierced his heart. Was it Stephen's final words that he could not deal with? The version he tells Agrippa (Acts 26:12-18) includes additional things that Christ told him. One was that it was hard to kick against the goads (kentra - often rendered pricks, also translated as a sting). Stephen's forgiveness of his murderers as he died must have stung Paul's conscience.

          Another addition in Paul's description to Agrippa (Acts 26:16-18) is Jesus' commission to him at that time, that He would send Paul to witness to the Gentiles so that they would receive forgiveness of sins and obtain an inheritance among those who have faith in Him. So there is a hint that Jesus chose Paul as His emissary, a chosen instrument (Acts 9:15), to carry the gospel to the gentiles, because the Jewish apostles were struggling to break free of their cultural background (Galatians 2:11-14).

          Paul's ultimate impact on Christianity cannot be measured simply by the fact that he wrote 2032 of the 7956 verses in the New Testament. Paul's spiritual depth and intellectual rigor enabled him to uniquely articulate the fundamental truths of Christianity. Although it is likely true that every fundamental truth of Christianity has its basis in the words of Jesus as recorded in the gospel, they are there embedded in a single cultural context, i.e., Judaism. Paul recast these truths in a conceptual framework that is both comprehensible by and acceptable to Gentiles, specifically drawing on the Greek philosophical tradition of the eastern Mediterranean. In other words, is it possible that the primary reason Jesus went to such extraordinary lengths to confront Saul and reveal Himself to him is that Saul was uniquely capable of uniting Jewish learning (from studying under Gamaliel per Acts 22:1) with Greek intellectual rigor (2 Peter 3:15-16) and also receiving direct revelation from God via the Holy Spirit (Galatians 1:11-12) leading uniquely to knowledge of Christ in all His power (Philippians 3:8-11)?

          For each of us, God has a plan to get our attention, to present His truth and invite us to join Him. We cannot judge it fair or unfair that He uniquely plans each person's opportunities. What we can do is purpose in our hearts to have the same zeal that Saul had when opposing Christianity, and then that Paul had in advocating and advancing Christianity.

          Throughout the Bible, when God chooses to directly reveal Himself to mankind, there is an overwhelming sense of God's transcendence. In this case, Saul did not argue with Jesus. He simply asked, "Who are You, Lord?" Saul knew without asking that this was God, The Lord, YHWH. He didn't argue about what he was supposed to do. He fasted three days and nights, awaiting the next step. When God pursues us, for many and perhaps for most, there is a season where we know beyond any doubt that it is God that is at work. Is our response as straightforward as Paul's? Once Jesus had revealed Himself as God, Saul simply awaited direction. Later we will see he took the initiative to spread the gospel and carry out his commission, but in this initial phase, he knew only that this was God and he needed to find out what God required of him.