Commentary on Acts 9:20-28

By Bob Myhan

²⁰Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. ²¹Then all who heard were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?"

It is an amazing thing to see how the gospel changes lives. I am made to think of the second verse of a hymn by Kate Hankey.

I love to tell the story;

More wonderful it seems

Than all the golden fancies

Of all my golden dreams,

I love to tell the story,

It did so much for me;

And that is just the reason

I tell it now to thee.

Source:

http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1064#ixzz2s7L81ej5

²²But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

Saul did not turn his back on Judaism to become a tepid Christian. He continued to be “on fire” for the Lord throughout life, so far as can be known. He was just as avid in his support of the gospel after his conversion as he had been in his opposition to it before. His repentance on the road to Damascus was made evident by the fact that, when he got to the city he began to fast pray instead of hunting down disciples to bring to trial.

²³Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. ²⁴But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. ²⁵Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.

We are never told in Scripture how “many days” after his conversion “the Jews plotted to kill him.” However, the apostle did write the following to the churches of Galatia.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. (Gal. 1:15-19)

He also mentioned the end of this period in his second epistle to the Corinthians.

In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands. (2 Cor. 11:32-33)

It is impossible to know whether the event just described took place before, during or after the three-years mentioned in the epistle to the Galatians. The only reason Paul brought it up to them was to demonstrate that he could not possibly have been trained by those who were apostles before him but that he had, indeed, received the gospel he preached directly from heaven. Of course, he heard what he had to do to become a Christian from Ananias as Luke has already indicated. However, it is one thing to know what you did and why you did it and quite another thing to convince someone else that they should do it, as well. Nor do we know how much of the three years was spent in Arabia or whether he went to Arabia before or after this escape from Damascus.

²⁶And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.

Saul has been converted. As stated earlier, conversion occurs in four stages or steps. First, the intellectual; second, the emotional; third, the ethical; and last the volitional. These occur in this order always with slight variations. In the case of Saul, he loved both God and the Law but, because he had been misinformed as to the purpose of the law, he had allowed himself to be convinced that Jesus was an imposter and Christians were blasphemers. But when he came face to face, so to speak, with Jesus, his mind changed. He now realized that Jesus was the Christ and Christians were not blasphemers but true worshipers of God. In this manner his heart was changed intellectually. Realizing that the crucifixion was the full and final divine demonstration of the love of both God and Jesus for mankind, his heart was changed emotionally. He now loved God all the more and he loved Jesus and all Christians, as well. No longer desiring to persecute Jesus and Christians, he experienced an ethical change of heart. For the first time, perhaps in years, his conscience told him he was in the wrong. He maintained a clear conscience by asking Jesus what He wanted him to do. He continued to do so by going into the city and waiting for someone to tell him what he “must do.” Upon being told by Ananias to “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord,” “he arose and was baptized.” This was the volitional change of heart.

When he comes back to Jerusalem, he has been gone for at least three years. He longs to be with the brethren in the place where it all began. He longs for their personal forgiveness and to be utilized in the work and worship of the congregation “prime.” But they are understandably afraid, maybe even more so than Ananias. They could not bring themselves to believe that which seemed to them too good to be true.

²⁷But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. .

We were introduced to this man in chapter four of Acts.

And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.. (4:36-37)

Here we see, perhaps more clearly, how Barnabas got his nickname. How it was that Barnabas came to know about Saul’s conversion we are not told. But he takes on the case as if he were a defense attorney. This episode is reminiscent of Nicodemus suggesting that Jesus should receive a fair trial. He explains that a lot has happened over the last three years. Not only had he seen the Lord but had spoken to Him as well. He also had been preaching boldly at Damascus. Yes, Joses was a true “Son of Encouragement.”

²⁸So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.

He was now identified as a member of the local church in Jerusalem, ground zero for the explosion of truth that was heard throughout the world. (Col. 1:6, 23)

(To be continued)

“Having Girded Your Waist”

By Bob Myhan

The first thing the inspired apostle says to do, as far as putting on the whole armor of God is concerned, is gird “your waist with truth” (Eph. 6:14).

The word “waist” [“loins,” KJV], when used literally, refers to the hips and the lower abdomen regarded as the region of strength or procreative power. In physical warfare this portion of the body must be protected.

The “girdle” [“belt,” ESV] not only provided this protection but “secured the body armor at the waist and sometimes served as a sword belt” (Wilbur Fields, The Glorious Church, p. 190).

But it is the physical waist’s spiritual counterpart that is to be “girded…with truth.” Peter says to “gird up the loins of your mind” (1 Peter 1:13). Thus, the mind—the intellectual aspect of the heart—is to be encircled with and protected by truth. After all, it is the “seed bed” for both truth and error (Luke 8:11,12; Matt. 13:18,19,37-39).

Some ask, with Pilate (John 18:38), “What is truth?” This question was in response to Jesus’ statement, “For this cause was I born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (John 18:37). Some think truth is truth only if one perceives it to be truth. So that your truth may not be my truth and vice versa. But did Jesus come to bear witness to something that is only relative? It is it absolutely true that nothing is absolutely true? Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of His apostles, “Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). So truth is the word of God!

But how does one “gird up the loins of [his] mind” with truth? First, he must love the truth (2 Thess. 2:10-12). Second, he must seek to know the truth (John 8:32; Acts 17:11). Third, he must have a desire to obey the truth (John 7:17). Fourth, he must handle “the word of truth” “accurately” [NASB], or “rightly” [ESV] (2 Tim. 2:15).

As long as one has this fourfold attitude toward truth, his mind will be protected—to a great degree—from the devil’s devices. Satan cannot easily corrupt minds or take the word out of hearts that are “girded...with truth.” Of course, he has other avenues of attack, and thus the other components of the “whole armor of God” are also vitally important. &