The changes that took place in Saul were important because of his subsequent activity. Luke wrote this pericope to note those changes so his readers would understand why Saul behaved as he did. Luke stressed the genuineness of Saul's conversion by showing the radical change it made in him.
9:19b-20 How verses 19b-20 fit into the chronology of events in Saul's life is not perfectly clear. They could fit in any number of ways. We should probably understand "immediately"in a general sense. As soon as Saul became a Christian he began to contend that Jesus was the Messiah when he attended synagogue worship, which he did regularly (cf. 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8). This proclamation was the result and evidence of his being filled with the Holy Spirit (v. 17) as well as the result of his conversion.
Saul later wrote that immediately following his conversion he did not consult with others about the Scriptures but went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus (Gal. 1:15-17). "Arabia"describes the kingdom of the Nabateans that stretched south and east from Damascus. Damascus was in the northwest sector of Arabia. After Saul's conversion and baptism he needed some time and space for quiet reflection and communion with God. He had to rethink the Scriptures, receive new understanding from the Lord, and revise his Pharisaic theology. So as Moses, Elijah, and Jesus before him, he retired into the wilderness.
This is the only mention in Acts of someone proclaiming Jesus as the "Son of God"(but cf. 13:33). This fact reflects the clear understanding of Jesus that Saul had even shortly after his conversion. As used in the Old Testament, this title referred to Israel (Exod. 4:22; Hos. 11:1), Israel's anointed king (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:26), and Messiah (Ps. 2:7). Saul recognized that Jesus was the Son of God predicted there. He used this title of Jesus frequently in his epistles (Rom. 1:3-4, 9; 5:10; 8:3, 29, 32; 1 Cor. 1:9; 15:28; 2 Cor. 1:19; Gal. 1:16; 2:20; 4:4, 6; 1 Thess. 1:10).
9:21-22 Saul's conduct understandably bewildered the Jews who lived in Damascus. Instead of persecuting the Christians he was proving that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. This is what people then and now need to believe to obtain salvation. Saul had made a 180 degree change in his thinking and in his conduct; he had truly repented. Saul's understanding and commitment kept growing as he continually sought to convince the Damascus Jews that Jesus was their Messiah. Perhaps Saul's sojourn in Arabia occurred between verses 21 and 22 or between verses 22 and 23.
Luke included this incident to prove the genuineness of Saul's conversion. He who had been persecuting to the death believers in Jesus had now become the target of deadly persecution because of his changed view of Jesus.
9:23-24a It is hard to determine how "many days"had elapsed, but evidently Saul remained in Damascus several months. F. F. Bruce dated his return to Jerusalem about 35 A.D. and his conversion in 33.405I think it is more probable that he became a Christian in 34 and returned to Jerusalem in 37 A.D.406Regardless of the dates, we know that he finally left Damascus for Jerusalem three years after his conversion (Gal. 1:18).
"No one persecutes a man who is ineffective and who obviously does not matter. George Bernard Shaw once said that the biggest compliment you can pay an author is to burn his books. Someone has said, A wolf will never attack a painted sheep.' Counterfeit Christianity is always safe. Real Christianity is always in peril. To suffer persecution is to be paid the greatest of compliments because it is the certain proof that men think we really matter."407
9:24b-25 It would have been natural for Saul's enemies to watch the gates of Damascus since he would have had to pass out of one of them to leave the city under normal circumstances. "Disciples"everywhere but here in Acts refers to followers of Jesus. Here it describes followers of Saul probably to indicate that his preaching had resulted in some people coming to faith in Christ. Perhaps it was one of these disciples who owned the house on the wall from which Saul escaped the city.
Paul described his escape from Damascus in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, and it is there we learn that someone lowered him in a basket from a house built on the city wall. The fact that Paul did not minimize this ignominious exit in his writings says a lot for his humility and the transformation God affected in this once haughty Pharisee. The local Jews arranged this attempt on his life, and their Nabatean governor supported them.
"Saul's plans for persecuting Christians in Damascus took a strange turn; he had entered the city blind and left in a basket! Ironically hebecame the object of persecution."408
Luke concluded each of his narratives of the Samaritans' conversion (8:4-25), Saul's conversion (9:1-31), and Cornelius' conversion (10:1-11:18) with references to the mother church in Jerusalem. He evidently wanted to stress the fact that all these significant advances were part of one great plan that God orchestrated and not just independent occurrences (cf. Matt. 16:18; Acts 1:8).
9:26 Perhaps the fact that Saul had not sought out the apostles and other Christians in Jerusalem for three years following his conversion made the believers there suspicious of him (cf. Gal. 1:18). They had not met him personally, and since they were being persecuted they may have wondered if Saul had adopted clandestine methods to oppose them.
9:27 Barnabas willingly reached out to the new convert in Jerusalem, as Ananias had done in Damascus. His behavior here is consistent with what we read of him elsewhere in Acts (cf. 4:36-37; 11:22-30; 13:1-14:28; 15:2-4, 12, 22). Barnabas proved to be a true "Son of Encouragement"(4:36) for Saul.
"First, the Church owed Paul to the prayer of Stephen. Then the Church owed Paul to the forgiving spirit of Ananias. And now we see that the Church owed Paul to the large-hearted charity of Barnabas. . . . The world is largely divided into people who think the best of others and people who think the worst of others; and it is one of the curious facts of life that ordinarily we see our own reflection in others, and we make them what we believe them to be."409
The apostles whom Saul met were Peter and James, the Lord's half brother (Gal. 1:17-19). Paul wrote later that he stayed with Peter for 15 days (Gal. 1:15), but he may have been in Jerusalem somewhat longer at this time. James was an apostle in the general sense of that term. He was not one of the Twelve.410
Barnabas pointed out three indications that Saul's conversion was genuine for the benefit of the Christian skeptics. Saul had seen the Lord, he had talked with Him, and he had witnessed boldly in Damascus in Jesus' name. Imagine how difficult it must have been for those Christians who had relatives whom Saul had persecuted to sit down with him in church meetings and share the Lord's Supper.
9:28-29 While Saul was in Jerusalem he resumed Stephen's work of debating the Hellenistic Jews. He was himself a Hellenist, as Stephen apparently was, having been born and reared in Tarsus.411At first he enjoyed freedom in the city, but soon the unbelieving Jews tried to silence him too. Evidently Saul continued evangelizing in Jerusalem until it became obvious to the other believers that he must leave immediately or suffer death as Stephen had. They probably envisioned a recurrence of the persecution of the disciples that followed Stephen's martyrdom.
9:30 Saul's concerned Christian brethren travelled with him to Caesarea. We do not know how long he stayed there, but Luke's account gives the impression that it was not long. Saul then departed, apparently by ship, to Tarsus in Cilicia, his hometown (21:39; Gal. 1:21), probably to tell his family and others about Jesus.
In 22:17-21 Paul testified that during this visit to Jerusalem he received a vision of Jesus who told him to leave Jerusalem because God wanted to use him to evangelize the Gentiles. Thus his departure from Jerusalem was willing rather than forced.
Saul remained in the province of Cilicia until Barnabas sought him out and brought him to Syrian Antioch (11:19-26). This was some six years later. We have no record of Saul's activities during this period (probably 37-43 A.D.) except that many of his experiences that he described in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 and 12:1-9 seem to fit into these silent years. If they do, we know that Saul was active in ministry gaining experience that fitted him for what we read he did later in Acts.
