Acts 9:10-19

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.



Dig Deeper
I don’t watch too many television shows on a regular basis anymore but one show that I have caught a few times and kind of enjoy is a show called “White Collar.” The premise of the show centers around an FBI agent and one of the best counterfeiters and high end theft artists in the world. The FBI agent, who is very skilled in his own right, managed to be the first person to hunt down and actually capture the thief. Once he was in custody he was given a choice. He could stay in jail for a very long time or he could come to work for the FBI as a consultant and help them catch other difficult-to-apprehend criminals. The thief decided that he would take the deal and work with the FBI, which is where the show picks up. Each week the two men that were once foes now have to figure out how to work together for a common goal. One thing that constantly serves as a point of friction and moves the plot of the show along is that it is very difficult for these two men to fully trust one another. And it goes beyond just those two. Whenever one of them has to go into the “world” of the other man, everyone around them is very distrustful. That is especially true of the thief who is constantly questioned and mistrusted by everyone around him. The show demonstrates the human truth that people can occasionally change their circumstances but it is much more difficult venture to expect others to change their perception of that person despite their change in circumstances. Trust is a tricky thing.

As you read this particular passage try to go back through it carefully and enter the story from Ananias’ point of view. We don’t know much about this Ananias other than what we learn about him from this encounter with Paul, and he quietly slips into the shadows of history after this encounter. But imagine what he must have felt and been thinking as this scene played out. He was a man full of faith who had come to trust in the life of Christ over his own and had been baptized into the family of Christ, pledging himself to live a crucified life that would be the expression of Christ’s life and not his own (cf. Gal. 2:20). Yet and still, this incident must have pushed his faith to limits that he would not have previously known.

Ananias apparently lived in Damascus at the time that Saul was on his way there. He must have been quite bold in his faith to have stayed there with the specter of Saul making his way to the city with the express purpose of rooting out Christians and bringing them to Jerusalem in chains. The Lord came to Ananias in a vision and told him to go the house of Judas on Straight Street. It surely wuold have been quite exhilarating to have been called by God himself to a mission, but the Lord wasn’t done. Once he got to the house he would meet a man named Saul of Tarsus there. His internal response must have been something like “excuse me? You want me to meet who?” This was dangerous stuff; almost crazy. The fact that God informed him that Saul had also received a vision from God and was there waiting for Ananias to come and restore his sight could hardly have been terribly comforting. What must Ananias have been thinking and feeling? What would you be thinking if God came to you in a vision and called you to go to Pakistan and seek out Osama Bin Laden who would be waiting for you to help him convert to Christianity? That sounds crazy and dangerous wouldn’t it? You’re mind would be full of perfectly good reasons why no sane person would ever do such a foolhardy thing.

In fact, Ananias did have a few thoughts for the Lord. He was gently protesting the way so many other biblical figures did when they were called by God to step out in faith in ways that made little sense. Ananias had heard about Saul, as most Christians in Jerusalem, Damascus, and the surrounding areas had. He well knew what Saul had been doing, saying, and most importantly threatening. Perhaps God didn’t understand that Saul was there to arrest them all and possibly worse. If anything, maybe Saul had somehow cooked up a plot where he was faking conversion so that he could get access to the Christian community. That was certainly nefarious but there was just no way in Ananias’ mind that Saul could ever be trusted. Surely God must understand that? We have to give credit where it is due, though, because although Ananias was raising some issues and mildly protesting, he was never disrespectful or disobedient.

But God heard enough of his logical reasoning and ended the conversation with one word; “Go.” God understood exactly who Saul was and what he had been up to. But this was the man he had chosen for a very specific mission. He would be God’s special instrument to go the Gentiles and their kings as well as have a profound influence on the people of Israel. We don’t know why God chose to use Saul in such a powerful way considering that he was not one of Jesus’ apostles and had not spent time with Jesus during his earthly ministry, but perhaps that’s the point. Saul being brought in God’s family in such an important position sent the message that all people were redeemable by God. There would be no special inner circle of important and privileged people in God’s family. Even a persecutor of the church could be used by God to spread the message of the gospel of his Messiah.

The conversion of Saul is an important factor, though, in confirming the truth of the gospel and the reasons for the spread of early Christianity. The early Christians claimed that Jesus had resurrected from the dead and produced over 500 eyewitnesses to back up their claims. But the conversion of Saul gives special evidence. What possible reason could Saul have to convert unless he really had seen the resurrected Christ? The only consistent and logical reason is that he really did see what he claimed to have seen. After all, he wasn’t called to a life of privilege and power. From the very outset God promised that Saul would find out just how much he would suffer for the name and life of Christ (Hebrews used the term “name” to describe the totality of a person in such a way that “name” and “life” were often virtually interchangeable, based on the context). The one who was determined to cause the people of Jesus to suffer would now join them and suffer for Jesus himself.

Saul’s experience during those three days is incredibly instructive for those of us today who live in a time and place where the idea of true salvation relies much more on traditions than on the biblical witness itself. Saul had been confronted with a truth that shook his world to its very foundations. It left him unable to eat and drink for three days, doing nothing but remaining in a state of fasting and prayer. Everything he believed that he had known about God had been shown to him to be wrong in an instant. This was all a result of his interaction with the resurrected Christ.

So is it safe to assume that during those three days Saul’s worldview had shifted radically and he had come to a belief in Jesus as the Messiah and as God’s agent for salvation into his family and reconciliation? It not only seems safe, it seems the only possible reality. Saul had come to believe in Jesus as the Christ, God’s Messiah. This is instructive to those who desire to reduce salvation to nothing more than a mental agreement that Jesus is savior or with the act of praying Jesus into one’s heart (an action that is never mentioned or carried out anywhere in the Bible). Saul had certainly come to a belief in Christ but he had not been filled with the Holy Spirit and his sins had not yet been forgiven (Acts 22:16) because he had not called upon the name of the Lord through the birth of being baptized into the life of Christ.

Luke recorded, in verse 14, that Ananias had referred to Christians as those who called on the name of the Lord. Saul, Luke records the Lord as saying, would suffer for the name. And Saul would be baptized into, what went without having to say, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). The term name, as mentioned above, could be used to refer to the totality of the person and, depending upon the context, their authority, the complete aspect of their personality, and most often the life. When New Testament writers used the word “name” in the context of Jesus Christ it is almost always in reference to his life. When it was declared that someone should be baptized into the name of Jesus, the reference was to the life and identity of Christ (see Rom. 6:1-14: Gal. 3:26-28; Col. 2:9-3:3). Luke clearly was not intending to portray that Saul had entered into the family of Christ and received the gift of the Spirit (cf. Acts 2:38) through merely understanding that Jesus was the Messiah and that he needed to trust in him for salvation. That was total belief but Saul also needed total conversion and total commitment.

That’s where his baptism into Christ came. It was only when Ananias baptized him into Christ that he truly was totally converted and entered into the family of God where God’s children have their sins forgiven (Acts 22:16). Many modern Christian commentators have spent much time trying to make a distinction between Christian belief and Christian baptism into Christ. But this is a distinction that would have been largely nonsensical to Luke and the other early Christians. In the way that Jews and early Christians thought, your beliefs and actions went hand in hand, with your actions demonstrating your beliefs. You simply could not distinguish one from the other and call the mental action good while calling the accompanying physical action an act of earning one’s salvation. Immersion was to the early church the moment of being born into God’s family.

Paul had experienced total belief by being confronted by the resurrected Christ. He had then experienced total conversion as he was baptized and was subsequently filled with the Holy Spirit. What he would spend the rest of his life experiencing, and what God promised to him here through Ananias was total commitment. Paul would truly discover just how much he would have to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.


Devotional Thought
True faith requires not just total belief but also total conversion and total commitment. It is great to have a belief in Jesus but what about total conversion by being baptized into his life (dying to self, receiving the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit), and total commitment? How are you doing in those areas?