Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 26:12 - 26:18

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 26:12 - 26:18


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Paul's recital of his miraculous conversion:

v. 12. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

v. 13. at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

v. 14. and when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

v. 15. And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? and he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

v. 16. But rise and stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

v. 17. delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

v. 18. to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.

Paul here relates the story of his conversion substantially as it has been told by Luke, chap. 9, and by himself in his speech before the Jews, chap. 22. It was on this errand, on this business of enmity against Jesus, that he was traveling to Damascus, being armed with the authority and power of the high priests themselves; he was acting as their commissioner, as their authorized representative, and was given practically free rein to show his hatred in any way he would choose. in the middle of the day, in the clear bright light of full day, he had seen a light from heaven, brighter and more dazzling than the sun that shone round about him and those that traveled with him, that enveloped them all in its blinding brilliance. And when they had all fallen to the ground, Paul first and his companions also after a few moments of dumb and rigid astonishment, he had heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew, that is, the Aramaic dialect, asking him why he was persecuting Him, and telling him that it would be hard for him to kick against the goads. In the Orient the ox-goad consisted, as it does today, of a long stick, into the end of which a sharp iron point was fixed. Paul was like an unruly ox, kicking when goaded, and thereby adding to his own pains while he persecuted the Church, for the worse his mad enmity became, the less satisfaction did he get out of the gratification of his lust for the blood of Christians. It was a foolish and useless effort for him to try to persecute Jesus in His followers, "an effort which only inflicted deeper wounds upon himself, an effort as idle as that described by the Psalmist, Psa_2:3-4. " Upon Paul's anxious and fearful question as to the exact identity of the Lord that was speaking to him, he had received the answer that it was Jesus whom he was persecuting. The Lord had then given him the command to get up and to stand on his feet, since He had appeared to him for this purpose, to select and thus employ him as a man whom the hand of God had torn out of the midst of dangers threatening his soul to be His servant and witness of the things which he had seen, as well as of the things which the Lord still intended to show him. This the Lord had further explained by telling him that He was lifting him out, rescuing him, from the midst of his own people as well as from the Gentiles. And to the latter the Lord was now sending His apostle, to open their eyes, which were blind in spiritual matters, to turn them away from the darkness of their spiritual blindness and unbelief to the light of the Gospel and from the power of Satan, in whose dominion they were kept by nature, to God, their Savior, to receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance in the midst of those that are sanctified by faith in the Redeemer. Thus the Scriptures in this passage call natural man, so far as spiritual and divine matters are concerned, nothing but darkness. The way of salvation, the method by which God leads sinners to His mercy, is here plainly and explicitly taught. Through the preaching of the Gospel the eyes of the sinners are opened that they might know Christ, their Savior; through the Gospel the sinners are converted that they turn away from darkness, from the service of sin, from the power of Satan, to God and to the light and salvation in Christ, so that all heathenism and superstition is left behind, and nothing but the knowledge, worship, and service of the blessed Redeemer engages their attention. Note that the faith which has worked trust in the salvation of Jesus incidentally consecrates the believer, sets him apart, sanctifies him for the service of the Lord.