Saul's Conversion - Acts 9:1-19

© June 1st, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Acts

I don’t know if you’re like me, but there are some songs that I know all the lyrics to, and others where I know a few lyrics, but the rest are a mystery. This is probably a bit less prevalent today than it was before the advent of the internet, but I think it still happens quite a bit. For example, if I sang, “Blinded by the light…” you probably recognize the tune, but do you know what comes next? If you do, I’d be impressed, because I didn’t. The next line is “Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night.” I mean, that should be obvious, right? Maybe not.

While we may not know what happens after being blinded by the light in the song, our passage this morning does tell us about what happened to Saul after he was blinded by the light. This passage records one of the most significant moments in Christian history, one of the most significant moments in Acts, and I might even say one of the most significant events in all of history, because it records the conversion of Saul, who later became the apostle to the Gentiles, sharing the gospel far and wide and writing the majority of the New Testament.

Saul (who we later know as Paul), often referred to this encounter with the Lord and was not shy about sharing his powerful story of conversion. Luke records two other instances in the book of Acts where Paul retells the story. But today we’re going to look at the story not just as history, but also as instruction for us.

Setup

Luke sets the scene for us in the first few verses of chapter 9,

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. (Acts 9:1-2, NLT)

Luke had introduced us to Saul in Acts chapter 7, when he mentioned that the people who stoned Stephen laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul, and then he told us that Saul gave his approval to everything that happened.

Luke sets this up to serve as a contrast to what we have seen in chapter 8 with Philip. While the gospel is spreading to Samaria and Ethiopia through the work of Philip, Saul was doing all he could to stop it. He was threatening Christians and seeking to kill them. Saul couldn’t stand these interlopers, so he felt he should take action to put a stop to the spread of the cancer that was Christianity.

We are told that he went to the high priest to get letters of introduction so he could travel to Damascus to hunt out any followers of “the Way” there and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. The Way was an early term the Christians used to describe themselves, presumably because Jesus had described himself as “The way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) They didn’t start being called Christians until a bit later. When Paul retells the story in Acts 22, he says he hoped to bring these Christians back to Jerusalem to be punished. His goal was to get the people to either curse Jesus or to have them executed.

He needed letters from the high priest because the leaders in Damascus probably wouldn’t know who he was. But if he had letters from the high priest vouching for what he was doing, then the synagogue leaders would be likely to assist him in his mission.

If you’re like me, you may not realize just how far away Damascus is from Jerusalem. In my head, it was fairly nearby, but it really isn’t. Damascus is the capital of modern-day Syria. It was a large city, but it was over 150 miles away from Jerusalem. It would have taken a week’s worth of travel to get there from Jerusalem. Saul had tremendous dedication to travel all the way to Damascus to capture Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. This was a massive undertaking—one that was fueled by zeal (and possibly a desire to make a name for himself).

Blinded By the Light

Against that backdrop, we discover what happened as Saul got near the city.

3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. (Acts 9:3-9, NLT)

As he was getting near the city of Damascus (so likely after several days of travel), the Lord spoke to Saul on the road. As he tells the story later, we discover this was about noon, and he suddenly saw a bright light from heaven. Remember, noon in the middle east is already pretty bright, but this was a light that dwarfed the light from the sun. The only explanation was that this was a light from heaven.

Not only was there a bright light, but there was also a voice that spoke directly to Saul. As we piece together the three accounts he gives of this event (Acts 9, 22, and 26), we discover that his companions also heard a voice (but didn’t understand it) and saw the light. They were utterly bewildered and confused, but not as much as Saul was!

The voice addressed Saul by name and then asked why Saul was persecuting Him? Saul wasn’t even sure who was talking to him, so he asked, “Who are you, lord?” The term lord here could be equivalent of “sir”, or it could be a recognition that this voice was divine. The response he received surely chilled him to his core, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!” Talk about an unexpected revelation! The followers of The Way had claimed Jesus was alive. They had claimed He was God in the flesh. And now, Saul was standing before Him, learning that Jesus was, in fact, both alive and God in the flesh. He was faced with the reality that he was playing for the wrong team.

Remember, the other men with Saul didn’t understand the voice. They weren’t sure what to make of any of what had transpired, but they were certain they had witnessed great power.

Part of this power was demonstrated in the fact that Saul was left blind from the encounter. They continued on to Damascus, but instead of Saul coming in looking for Christians, he was led in by the hand, utterly blind. We are told that he fasted, not eating or drinking for three days. Why? I suspect Paul spent a lot of time before the Lord. He was surely rehearsing the scriptures in his head, learning to change the way he viewed everything, discovering that the lens he was using to view the world was wrong.

But Saul was also probably fasting as a sign of repentance. He had just been called out by God as His enemy. Saul knew he had been fighting against the Lord, and he had enough sense to know that was something he did not want to do. So he likely spent time studying, praying, and asking for God’s forgiveness, as he repented of his own pride and arrogance.

Ananias

While all of this was going on, the Lord was also working on a different plan with a different man. The Lord spoke to Ananias, a Christian living in Damascus, to give him instructions.

10 Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. 11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”

13 “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” 15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:10-16, NLT)

This is obviously a different Ananias than the one we were introduced to in Acts 5 (since that Ananias died). He was a Christian, but was living in Damascus. It’s possible he was there because he had fled Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen. It’s also possible that he had been converted to the Christian faith through the efforts of someone else who had fled. Whatever the case, he was now in Damascus, and the Lord spoke to him in a vision.

Ananias’ experience parallels Saul’s in many ways. The Lord also calls Ananias by name. Ananias responds with “Yes, Lord!” which is always good response. He was eager to do whatever the Lord called him to do. That was good, because God had a big task for Ananias. He was to go to where Saul was staying, then lay his hands on him so he could see again. The Lord told Ananias that He was giving Saul a vision of him coming, so he should be prepared.

I love the contrast between Ananias’ response in v. 10 vs. his response in v. 13. In v. 10, he immediately said, “Yes, Lord!” After the Lord tells him what to do, Ananias’ response changes some. Now he says, “But Lord”. Ananias was eager to serve God, but he knew Saul’s reputation. He was concerned about going to where Saul was, because he knew Saul had been attacking and trying to kill Christians and intended to do the same in Damascus. It is possible that he knew Christians who had come from Jerusalem, maybe he even knew people who had been imprisoned or killed by Saul. The last thing he would have expected God to tell him was to go and talk to the great persecutor of Christians!

But the Lord gave him one more bit of information that would prove helpful. He told Ananias what he was going to do next. He was going to use Saul as an instrument through which to take the message to Gentiles and even to kings! To his credit, Ananias did not seem to argue further. Though he questioned the Lord’s instruction initially, he ended up doing what God asked, even though every fiber of his being seemed to say it was a bad idea. He trusted God enough to go.

Encountering Saul

The next scene of the story takes us to Straight Street, where the Lord had instructed Ananias to go.

17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. (Acts 9:17-19, NLT)

What a remarkable turn of events! Ananias went to the place where Saul was staying and spoke to him. Remember, Saul had traveled with a group of others, and Ananias surely had to be afraid of them as well. I wonder how much they had spoken to Saul in the intervening three days, and whether they had become convinced of the resurrection as well. We don’t know, but it appears that Saul had, because when Ananias addressed him, he addressed him as “Brother Saul.”

Think about the weight of these words. Ananias knew what Saul had done. He knew he had killed Christians for no other reason than believing in Jesus. He knew Saul had come to Damascus to arrest him and bring him to Jerusalem to be put on trial, punished, and possibly even killed. But he also knew that the man who sat before him had come to trust in Jesus. He knew that God had worked in his heart. And he knew that as guilty as Saul was, God’s grace was big enough to cover it all. And so, he was able to address the great persecutor of Christians as “brother.” He knew that Jesus’ love and grace was greater than any of the things that once divided them. It is a wonderful picture of the gospel in action.

We are told that Ananias laid his hands on him so he might regain his sight and be filled with the Holy spirit, and instantly he was able to see again. Luke says that something like scales fell from his eyes, meaning there was likely something that was physically covering Saul’s eyes, preventing him from seeing. Whatever the case, it was clearly a miraculous act on the Lord’s behalf.

After regaining his sight, Saul got up and was baptized. What a beautiful picture of what baptism is supposed to symbolize! Baptism symbolizes the death of one way of life and the birth of another. In this moment the Saul we knew dies, and a new one is born. Sometimes people assume that God changed Saul’s name when he became a Christian, but that’s not the case. Later in the book of Acts, he suddenly begins being referred to as Paul (which would have been a name that would have sounded less Jewish and more Roman…though it would have been very similar). In Acts 13:9, Luke refers to him as “Saul, also known as Paul”, and then from that point on, refers to him as Paul.

Saul, a new man, gets up and begins to eat again, breaking the fast he had been on for the past three days. Though he still had much to learn, he was eager to serve the Lord. But his perspective of what that meant had changed as well. No longer was he to persecute people for believing in Jesus, but he was to convince people to believe!

Conclusion

This passage gives us a wonderful picture of the gospel and sets off another stage of the growth of the church. Paul became the great apostle to the Gentiles, and eventually traveled across the middle east and even into Europe, spreading the gospel as he went. As he founded churches and began to instruct them in the faith, he wrote many letters, which make up the basis of much of the New Testament we study today. This singular event created ripples which continue to ring through every aspect of our world.

As we look at this passage, there are several lessons we can learn. First, is that God is the active party in salvation. As Paul would write later in his letters, none of us will seek God without Him working in us first. We saw that last week with the Ethiopian eunuch—God had been working in him long before Philip arrived on the scene. God had been preparing the soil of his heart for Philip’s seed to take root. The same was true for Saul. Saul’s conversion was dramatic and instantaneous. God broke through his hardened heart and turned it to Him. The same is true for every person who comes to faith. We may not think of ourselves as being as hardened to the gospel as Saul, but left to our own devices, we have no desire to submit to the Lord. God has to change something in us to bring us to a place of faith.

That leads to our second lesson: We cannot take credit for what God has done in us. If we have understood the gospel as Saul did, then we must also understand that we have no reason to be prideful, because we are recipients of grace. The person who claims to know Christ but is hard-hearted toward others has not grasped what the gospel is about. It is not about us being better than other people but about embracing a grace that solved our greatest need—the need to be forgiven and changed from the inside out! When we grasp this, it ought to make us soft and humble, not hard and prideful.

Third, no one is a lost cause. Sometimes we look at people and conclude that they are so sinful, so hardened, so far from God that nothing could turn them back to God. So, we write them off, declaring them to be a lost cause. Saul’s story should remind us of how wrong that attitude is! If there was ever someone you could write off as too far from Christ, it would have been Saul. Ananias sure seemed to think so. But Ananias also understood that he served a God who was bigger than Saul, a God who could change even the hardest of hearts. This should be a reminder to you and me. We should never give up on people. This does not mean that we enable people who are running from God, or that we wink at sin or pretend the things people are doing don’t matter, but it does mean we recognize that God can change their hearts. So we continue to pray, we continue to witness, we continue to love and reach out to those people, believing that what seems impossible to us is not impossible with God.

Finally, we see that genuine conversion results in genuine change. I mentioned earlier that baptism symbolizes what God has done in terms of causing the old person to die and the new one to be born. In Saul’s case, this was drastic and dramatic. Anyone who knew him could see an instant change in him. But that should be true for each of us as well. We may not have such a drastic change, because hopefully we don’t start as far away as Saul. But we must recognize that trusting in Christ also means submitting our lives to Him. It means that we must have a new focus and a new orientation to our lives. It means that we begin to identify the ways in which our lives do not match up with God’s instructions and begin to change them to align with what He has said. This is not an attempt to earn salvation, but a natural consequence of submitting our lives to the One who has called us from death to life. The idea of an unchanged Christian is an oxymoron. Saul was a changed man—who he was before Christ was not who he was after. The same should be true of you and me as well.

I love this story because it reminds us of how big our God is. We sometimes feel overwhelmed by the things we see around us, by the obstacles in our way. But God can change things in an instant. He can use people we would have never expected. And His grace is greater than we can possibly fathom. Paul’s conversion is a wonderful depiction of the gospel of grace—one I hope you experience as well.

© June 1st, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Acts