Paul on the road to Damascus
Saul was on his way to arrest Christians when a light knocked him down and a voice asked why. Acts 9, and what happened in the three days after.
The story
Saul was not a confused man looking for meaning. He was a rising religious scholar with a mission, and the mission was to stamp out the followers of Jesus. He'd stood by approving while Stephen was stoned. Acts says he went house to house dragging men and women off to prison. Now he'd got letters from the high priest authorising him to do the same in Damascus, about a week's walk north. In his own head he was the main character of a righteous story. Luke describes him as still breathing threats and slaughter. It's not a metaphor.
Near Damascus, in the middle of the day, a light from the sky hit him and he went down. A voice said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He asked who was speaking. The answer: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Not 'my followers'. Me. Then, get up and go into the city, and you'll be told what to do.
The men with him were left standing there speechless; they'd heard the sound but seen no one. When Saul opened his eyes he couldn't see anything. They led him by the hand into the city he'd been coming to take charge of. For three days he was blind, and he didn't eat or drink. The text doesn't say what he thought about. It says he prayed.
Meanwhile, across town, the Lord spoke to a disciple named Ananias in a vision and told him to go to a specific house on a street called Straight and ask for Saul of Tarsus. Ananias, to his credit, pushed back. He'd heard about this man. He knew why Saul had come to Damascus and who'd sent him. Going to that house looked a lot like walking into a trap.
The reply didn't argue the point. Go, because I've chosen this man to carry my name to the nations and to kings and to Israel, and I'll show him how much he's going to suffer for it. That's the whole commission, and it includes the suffering up front.
So Ananias went. He walked into the house of the man who'd come to arrest him, put his hands on him, and said, Brother Saul. That word first. Then: the Lord who met you on the road sent me so you can see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes. He could see. He got up, was baptized, ate something, and got his strength back. Within days he was in the synagogues telling people Jesus was the Son of God, and everyone who heard him was thrown, because they knew exactly who he was.
The rest of Acts and a good chunk of the New Testament come from this. The man who was going to Damascus to lock people up became Paul, who wrote Romans and got locked up himself, repeatedly. He told this story at least twice more in Acts, to hostile crowds, and never claimed he'd been looking for God. His version is always that God came looking for him, on a road, when he was at his worst.
The verse to keep
But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
But the Lord told him, 'Go. I've chosen this man to carry my name to the nations, to kings, and to the people of Israel.'
Said about a man who was, that week, the most dangerous person a Christian could meet. Ananias had every reason to say no.
What it actually means
For the first readers of Acts, this was the story of how their worst enemy became their most tireless advocate. Luke tells it three times in Acts, which is his way of underlining it. Saul's problem wasn't that he was irreligious; it was that he was certain, and armed, and wrong. The story is a warning that zeal isn't the same as being right, and a promise that even the person doing the most damage isn't out of reach.
What it means: notice how much of the story is about other people. Saul is blind and helpless for three days, led by the hand, waiting. The turning point isn't the light; it's Ananias, an otherwise unknown believer, choosing to walk into a frightening house and call his enemy 'brother'. Conversion in Acts is not a solo event. Someone has to go to the person who doesn't deserve it.
What it doesn't mean: not everyone gets a light and a voice, and the New Testament never says they should. Most people in Acts come to faith through a conversation. The Damascus road is an outlier and Paul knew it. It also doesn't mean the past disappears; Paul carried what he'd done for the rest of his life and wrote about it openly. He was forgiven, not erased.
Worth arguing about
- 1Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting 'me', not 'my followers'. What does that tell you about how he sees his people?
- 2Ananias argued with God before obeying. Was that doubt, wisdom, or both?
- 3Saul was certain he was doing the right thing. How do you tell the difference between conviction and being wrong loudly?
- 4The commission includes suffering. Why put that in the job description?
Read it yourself: Acts 9:1–19
World English Bible. 19 verses.
Whole book: Acts