Saul Is Converted

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Introduction

As we have been looking at the persecution of the early church, we have seen how that persecution actually brought about the spread of the gospel. What man meant for evil, God used for good. We were introduced to Saul as we read about the stoning of Stephen, and last week we recognized Saul’s role in the early persecution of the church. Today, we are going to focus on Saul’s conversion. Jesus told his disciples that he would build his church, and the actions of a zealous, young Jew who thought he was doing the work of God was not going to stop those plans.

To remind us of what we heard last week, listen as I read Acts 8:1–3. Read the passage for the students.

Saul Encounters Jesus

Now let’s read Acts 9:1–9 together. As we read, we will be referring to Saul as the main subject of the passage, but remember that this is the same man who wrote most of the New Testament—the Apostle Paul. Saul was his name as a Hebrew; Paul was his name as a citizen of Rome. It is not until Acts 13 that Luke shifts from using Saul to using Paul. Have someone read the passage aloud.

• Where have we seen Saul before? He was consenting to Stephen’s stoning and throwing Christians in Jerusalem into prison.
• Whom was Saul threatening? He was threatening the disciples of the Lord, the Christians.
• How are Saul’s threats described? He was breathing threats and murder against them. This gives the imagery that every breath Saul took was focused on threatening and murdering the Christians.
• Who gave Saul permission to pursue the Christians? The high priest.
• Where was Saul going to look for the Christians? Damascus, in Syria.
• What form did his credentials take? Letters to the Jewish leaders in the synagogues at Damascus.
• What label is given to the Christians? They are called members of the Way. This is likely drawn from Jesus’ identification as the only way to the Father and the Christians’ call for all to follow Christ as the Way.
• What did Saul plan to do with the Christians? He intended to bring them back bound (chained) to Jerusalem.
• Was Saul only concerned with some or all of the Christians? The phrase “men or women” indicates a broad intent to arrest as many as he could.
• When did this event take place? It happened as Saul was heading toward Damascus, as he approached Damascus.
• What did Saul see? A light shone around him.
• Where did this light come from? It was from heaven.
• What happened to Saul as he saw the light? He fell to the ground and heard a voice.
• What did the voice say? “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
• Did Saul recognize the voice? It seems there was some confusion as Saul asked who was talking, but also said “Lord.” This could have been a general use of the word, referring to someone important.
• Who was actually speaking? Jesus.
• How could Jesus say Saul was persecuting him? While Jesus was not on the earth, his disciples were. Jesus was very strongly identifying with his disciples to the point that persecuting them was the same as persecuting him.

  Note that students using KJV or NKJV may have an additional exchange at the end of verse 5 and beginning of 6, where Jesus said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads,” and Saul responded, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” In Acts 26, when Paul recounted his conversion to King Agrippa, he did include this comment by Jesus.

• What did Jesus command Saul to do? He was to go into the city and wait for instructions.
• How did Saul get to Damascus since he was blind? The men who were with him, who heard the voice but did not see Jesus, led him by the hand into Damascus.
• What did Saul do once he was there? He waited for three days, while blind, without eating or drinking anything.

In Acts 26:9–18, Saul (Paul) recounted his experience on the road to Damascus to King Agrippa. Let’s read through that together. Have someone read the passage aloud.

• What does this passage add to our understanding of chapter 9? This section affirms the persecution Saul was committing, adding that some of the Christians had been stoned for their faith (v. 10). Further, Saul described the appearance at midday and gave more detail about what Jesus told him he was to do.
• What does the phrase “kick against the goads” mean? A goad was a sharp stick used to prod cattle along or placed on a cart to deter the animals from kicking back at the cart.
• How does that phrase apply to Saul’s actions? Saul was fighting against the truth.
• What is interesting about the phrase in verse 18 in light of Saul’s circumstances? Saul was blinded as Jesus said this to him, so telling him that he would preach and minister so that the people’s eyes would be opened, turning them from the darkness of sin to the light of forgiveness, is ironic.

Discover the Truth

If there ever was a radical encounter with the resurrected Jesus, this was it. Whether Saul was traveling by foot or horse, the Lord appeared and overwhelmed him with his glorious light. Saul fell to the ground. This was a demonstration of absolute authority.

• What attributes of God were displayed in Saul’s encounter with Jesus? Refer to the Attributes of God poster. Jesus was demonstrating his sovereignty and omnipotence in shining a blinding light during midday and blinding Saul. This is especially apparent in his command to Saul and Saul’s obedience.

  Saul had intended to fight against Jesus and his disciples, but God’s will is always greater than man’s will. Jesus had ordained for Saul to follow him, and Saul submitted to God’s will under the extreme circumstances. Saul had been struck blind and given a command from the Creator and Savior, and he obeyed the command. But was Saul just reacting to the circumstances, or had he been changed in the way Peter and John had been?

Saul Preaches the Gospel

Let’s continue to look at what happened to Saul after his encounter with Jesus. Will someone please read Acts 9:10–30. Have someone read the passage aloud.

• How did Jesus communicate with Ananias? He talked to him in a vision.
• How did Ananias respond to the voice in the vision? He immediately submitted, saying, “Here I am, Lord.”
• What did Jesus command Ananias to do? He was to go to Straight Street, find Saul of Tarsus, and lay his hands on Saul so he could regain his sight.
• What was Saul doing at that time? He was praying.
• Was Saul expecting Ananias? Yes, he had received a vision of Ananias coming to him.
• How did Ananias respond to Jesus’ command? He did not want to do it.
• Why was Ananias hesitant? He had heard about Saul’s persecution of the believers in Jerusalem and his intent in Damascus.
• How did Jesus answer Ananias? He told Ananias to go!
• What did Jesus reveal about Saul’s future? Saul would be a witness for Jesus before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel.
• What would Saul’s witnessing involve? He would suffer many things for the name of Jesus.
• How did Ananias refer to Saul? He called him “Brother Saul.”
• What two things did Ananias do for Saul in the name of Jesus? Saul’s sight was restored, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
• What physical sign marked the end of Saul’s blindness? Something like scales fell from his eyes.
• What did Saul do next? He was baptized.
• How would you describe what had happened to Saul? He had been born again, receiving the filling of the Holy Spirit and participating in baptism.
• Whom did Saul stay with? He stayed with the disciples in Damascus, the very people he had come to arrest.
• What does this say about the unity of the Holy Spirit? There was instant unity between Saul and the other disciples, even though he had intended to arrest and possibly kill them.
• What did Saul do that demonstrated the conversion he had undergone? He went to the synagogue and preached that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah.
• What response did this elicit in the Jews in Damascus? They were amazed since they knew this was the man who had come to persecute the Christians in Damascus, just as he had done in Jerusalem.
• Were the Jews in Damascus able to prove Saul wrong? It seems that they could not refute Saul’s explanation that Jesus is the Christ. They were confounded by his proofs.
• What did this lead the Jews to do? They plotted to kill Saul, watching the city gates to capture him.
• How did Saul escape this threat? The other disciples let him out of the city through the wall at night.
• Where did Saul go? To Jerusalem. Note that when we consider other passages like Galatians 1:11–18, it seems that this may not have been an immediate trip.
• How did the disciples in Jerusalem respond to Saul? They were all afraid of him and did not believe he had really been converted.
• Who was willing to accept Saul as a fellow disciple of Christ? Barnabas.
• What testimony about Saul did Barnabas bring to the disciples? He explained how Jesus had appeared to Saul on the road and how he had preached Jesus boldly in Damascus. Saul’s testimony demonstrated that his heart had been truly changed.
• Did the apostles receive him? Yes. He went in and out among the disciples in Jerusalem.
• What did Saul do to demonstrate his sincerity? He spoke boldly of Christ, disputing with the Hellenistic Jews. The Hellenists were Jews who had embraced certain aspects of Greek culture.
• How did the Hellenists respond? They tried to kill Saul.
• How did Saul avoid being killed by them? He was escorted to Caesarea, a seaport, by the disciples to go away to his hometown of Tarsus.
• What does 2 Corinthians 5:16–19 add to our understanding of Saul’s conversion? This passage reminds us of the radical transformation that happens as Christians become a new creation and the old things pass away. In response to being reconciled to God, Saul boldly called others to the same reconciliation.

There are many passages of Scripture that we could look at to see how boldly Saul proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we will see many of those accounts as we continue through our study of the New Testament. But for now, let’s take a look at 2 Corinthians 11:23–28. Have someone read the verses.

• What was Saul recounting in this passage? He was listing many of the ways he had suffered.
• Why did he suffer these things? He had suffered these things on account of Christ.
• Why was he listing these things? He was writing to the church at Corinth to expose false apostles. He was pointing to these sufferings as proofs of his apostleship.
• What types of things had he suffered as an apostle? He had been persecuted (i.e., imprisoned, beaten, flogged, stoned), been in danger (i.e., shipwrecked, in danger from various things), suffered hardship (i.e., toil, hardship, hunger, thirst, cold), and felt the stress of caring for the churches.

  Saul, as we’ve been referring to him today, preached the gospel boldly in many regions, and he often faced persecution for his devotion to Jesus. As he served the Lord and the churches, he often encountered danger and hardships of various sorts. He faced many of the same threats he had breathed against the Christians.

Discover the Truth

And here is how this scene in Acts 9 ends: “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (Acts 9:31).

Whether he wanted to or not, Saul had been chosen by Jesus to spread his name and to suffer many things. Within the first city where he was preaching, they wanted to kill him. He went to be with the other disciples in Jerusalem, and they wanted nothing to do with him. Even after he was accepted by the believers, the Hellenists wanted to kill him for preaching Christ in a powerful and irrefutable way.

A man who had been a murderer was now preaching eternal life and joining those he once sought to kill. Saul had been a source of the spread of the gospel through his persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem, and now he was spreading that gospel with his own lips and at the peril of his own life. What a radical change—a heart of stone being turned into a heart of flesh—guided by the indwelling Spirit of God.

Testimony of Mercy Activity

In your Student Guide you will find the Testimony of Mercy activity. You are going to look at some of the later accounts where the “new Saul” tells us about the “old Saul”—the man he used to be—and what God had done for him. Then there are some questions for you to consider. We will talk about what you found in a few minutes. Have the students work through the questions in small groups.

Connect to the Truth

We cannot help but be amazed at God saving a man like Saul, but we also must remember why it was so amazing. Let’s talk about what you discovered in these verses. Use the answers below to guide discussion.

If the question arises, there is no contradiction between this passage and the events outlined in Acts 9. The account in Acts gives us some initial details, but it also summarizes and telescopes the timeline. Further, the text jumps to his time in Jerusalem, not indicating how much time (or travel) had passed. Clearly, his trip to Jerusalem was not immediately after his conversion.

When someone gives you an opportunity to share your testimony of salvation, don’t waste that opportunity to tell others about the mercy and grace of God in your life to call you to salvation. Don’t think that they will not be impressed with your conversion because you were not a vile and immoral person on the outside before you were saved. You don’t want them to be impressed with your change; you want them to be impressed with what your Savior has done for you and in you. You want them to know that you were an enemy of God, and yet he adopted you, redeemed you, and has given you an eternal inheritance when you deserved only hell and judgment. That should be the goal of sharing our testimony. God has saved us because of his mercy.

• As you read 1 Timothy 1:12–17, what stands out to you as Paul told of his conversion? Paul repeated the statement “but I received mercy” twice, pointing to the fact that it is only by God’s mercy that he was saved. He also related his former state as an enemy of God and a blasphemer. In light of this, he broke into a doxology in verse 17, offering praise to God for all he has done.
• What is so important about the word “but” in the middle of 1 Corinthians 15:9–11? This conjunction points to the distinction between Paul’s sinfulness as a persecutor of the church of God and God’s grace. It was only by God’s grace that Saul was a new creation and preached the glories of the Savior he once hated.
• How was Paul’s former life as a Jew different from his life as a Christian, based on Galatians 1:10–17? Paul explained that before he was saved, he had been doing things to please men, but as a Christian he was seeking to please God. Before, he persecuted the church to the extreme, but then he preached Christ to the Gentiles.
• In all of these passages, how did Paul explain why he was called to be an apostle? Paul repeatedly pointed to God’s grace and mercy in calling him to be an apostle. There was nothing in Saul that was pleasing to God, but God was pleased to reveal his Son to Saul and instantly transform him from an enemy to a beloved son—from a blasphemer to a preacher and ambassador.
• When you hear a testimony like Paul’s or a drug dealer or prostitute being saved by Jesus, do you think your testimony is less worthy of sharing? Explain your thinking. As you discuss this with the students, some may feel that their testimony of salvation is not worth sharing since it is somewhat bland compared to Paul’s or others’. This attitude is one that is promoted by our culture as people who were saved young and grew up in a Christian home are not asked to share their testimonies at evangelistic events and other opportunities. This exposes an attitude of not thinking that all people are sinful and enemies of God (Colossians 1:21) before they repent and turn to Christ. Regardless of what our lives were like before we knew Christ as Lord and Savior, it is only by God’s grace that we recognize our sin and repent.
• How does your personal testimony point to the grace and mercy of God? Encourage students to think about how they can share their conversion story in a way that emphasizes what God has done. Although using our testimony is a great way to begin a conversation, we must be careful to emphasize the gospel and God’s Word rather than our own story. If time allows, have some students share with the class or in small groups.

Application

Paul is certainly an amazing trophy of God’s mercy and grace toward sinners, but so is each person who hears the call of the gospel and responds in repentance and faith. We can be thankful that God was pleased to give us the account of Saul’s conversion because it data-highlights the radical nature of grace. It reminds us that salvation belongs to the Lord and that he is able to bring about that salvation in even the vilest of sinners. Just as Saul would have understood from the writings of Ezekiel, God replaced his heart of stone with a heart of flesh. He put his Spirit in Saul and caused him to walk in a way that pleased God by being obedient to his commandments.

While Saul’s transformation might seem more radical than most on the outside, God has done—and will do—the very same for all who trust in Christ. When we sing about the amazing grace God has given us, we can identify with Paul’s physical blindness in our spiritual blindness—we once were blind, but now we see.

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  As you think about Saul’s conversion, what impresses you most? Discuss various answers.
• Some Christians speak of Jesus as a gentleman who politely knocks on the door of the unbeliever’s heart, asking for permission to come in. How does this idea compare to Jesus’ interaction with Saul on the road to Damascus in calling him to repent and follow him? The interaction with Saul sounds nothing like what many Christians teach in this area. While there is nothing wrong with an appeal to look to Christ because of his mercy and kindness, that is not the pattern we see in Scripture. As we have seen already in the book of Acts, the pattern is a call to repent and submit to Christ and obey him. The idea of Jesus knocking at the door is often taken from Revelation 3:20, but the context of that passage is of Jesus calling Christians (or at least those in the church) to repentance.
• Has your attitude toward sharing your testimony changed in light of our discussion today? Discuss various answers.
• Many people detest the idea that God would pardon a murderer or rapist and allow them to be with him in heaven, but they think that they are good enough to get to heaven. How can you help someone who has this objection to understand what the Bible teaches about salvation? This person obviously has a misunderstanding of the sinfulness of sin. They fail to understand that even the smallest of sins is worthy of eternal punishment since it is a sin against an infinitely holy God. We need to help them understand that their sin is not compared to the sins of others, but to the perfect righteousness of God. Further, they are failing to grasp the radical nature of God’s grace and mercy shown in saving sinners.
• In all honesty, do you struggle with the idea of God extending grace to someone like Saul? Could Hitler have been forgiven by God? Why do you deserve to be forgiven? Discuss this question with openness and encourage the students to be real about their doubts. Seek to address their doubts rather than denying them. Remind the students of God’s holiness, his prerogative as Creator to define right and wrong, and his free will to offer his grace and mercy to whomever he pleases (Romans 9:18; Ephesians 1:3–14; Titus 3:1–7).

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class before you dismiss them.

• Praise God for his justice and holiness.
• Ask God for boldness in sharing with others how he has saved us.
• Thank God for his amazing grace and mercy in saving sinners.