Called To The Enemy

Who Was Ananias?

Ananias, a devout man in Damascus, received a vision from God instructing him to heal Saul, a notorious persecutor of Christians. Despite his fear and hatred towards Saul, Ananias obeyed, leading to Saul's conversion and baptism. This act of faith highlights the importance of trusting God's plan and reaching out to those outside our comfort zones.

Ananias an-ə-nīʹəs [GK. Hananias < Heb. ḥananyâ—‘Yahweh has been gracious’]. A common Jewish name occurring several times in Acts, and in the Apocrypha. The OT form of the name is Hananiah.

 D. M. Edwards, “Ananias,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 120.

18. there fell from his eyes as it were scales—“This shows that the blindness as well as the cure was supernatural. Substances like scales would not form naturally in so short a time” [Webster and Wilkinson]. And the medical precision of Luke’s language here is to be noted.

 Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 184.

was baptized—as directed by Ananias (Ac 22:16).

19. when he had received meat, he was strengthened—for the exhaustion occasioned by his three days’ fast would not be the less real, though unfelt during his struggles. (See on Mt 4:2).

Then was Saul certain days with the disciples at Damascus—making their acquaintance, in another way than either he or they had anticipated, and regaining his tone by the fellowship of the saints; but not certainly in order to learn from them what he was to teach, which he expressly disavows (Ga 1:12, 16).

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 22

Paul Tells of His Conversion on the Damascus Road

6 “And it happened that as* I was traveling and approaching Damascus around noon, suddenly a very bright light from heaven flashed around me, 7 and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting.’ 9 (Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.) 10 So I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and* proceed to Damascus, and there it will be told to you about all the things that have been appointed for you to do.’ 11 And as I could not see as a result of the brightness of that light, I arrived in Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me. 12 And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, 13 came to me and stood by me* and* said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that same time I looked up at him and saw him.* 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth, 15 because you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you delaying? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name!’

17 “And it happened that when* I returned to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple courts,* I was in a trance, 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and depart ⌊quickly⌋ from Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I was imprisoning and beating those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself also was standing near and was approving, and was guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’ ”

 Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 184.

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The Tony Evans Bible Commentary A. Kingdom Witness in Judea and Samaria, and the Conversion of Paul (8:1–9:43)

9:9–14 While this was happening, the Lord spoke to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, told him in a vision where he could find Saul, and commanded him to go and heal his sight (9:9–12). But Ananias wasn’t exactly ready to jump at the opportunity. He had heard that Saul was causing much harm to the saints in Jerusalem and had come to Damascus to arrest others (9:13–14). Ananias was probably thinking, “You want me to go talk to the man who’s in town to arrest believers—like me?” But even when it looks like obedience could result in trouble, God calls us to trust and obey. He is usually up to something much bigger than we realize.

9:15–19 The Lord revealed to Ananias that Saul was his chosen instrument to speak about him to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites (9:15). Here is another indication, then, that divine election is to service and not eternal life. Saul would suffer for the name of Jesus (9:16). So Ananias went to Saul, explained that he had been sent by the same Lord Jesus who had appeared to him, and put his hands on him so that he would be healed and filled with the Holy Spirit (9:17). Then Saul regained his sight and was baptized (9:18).

God used a faithful (though frightened!) disciple to launch Saul into a sudden new direction in life. A menace was about to become a missionary. If you know someone whom you think could never be converted, don’t forget what the grace and mercy of God accomplished in the life of a wicked man named Saul.

9:20 What did Saul do after a supernatural encounter with Jesus? Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, saying, He is the Son of God. He didn’t waste any time. So, once again, we see the fulfillment of Jesus’s words (see 1:8).

Saul was filled with the Spirit and became a vocal and formidable witness for Jesus. Anyone who walks around bragging about being filled with the Spirit, but who does not bear testimony to Jesus Christ, is a walking contradiction.

9:21–22 Everyone who heard Saul was shocked, asking, “Isn’t this the man who’s been making prisoners of Christians?” (9:21). He was confounding the Jews … by proving that Jesus is the Messiah (9:22). Saul was a Pharisee (see

Ananias was probably not one of the fugitives, as his language about Saul implies that he knew of his doings only by hearsay. The report of Saul's coming and authority to arrest disciples had reached Damascus before him, with the wonderful quickness with which news travels in the East, nobody knows how. Ananias's fears being quieted, he went to the house where for three days Saul had been lying lonely in the dark, fasting, and revolving many things in his heart. No doubt his Lord had spoken many a word to him, though not by vision, but by whispering to his spirit. Silence and solitude root truth in a soul. After such a shock, absolute seclusion was best.

Ananias discharged his commission with lovely tenderness and power. How sweet and strange to speaker and hearer would that 'Brother Saul' sound! How strong and grateful a confirmation of his vision would Ananias's reference to the appearance of the Lord bring! How humbly would the proud Pharisee bow to receive, laid on his head, the hands that he had thought to bind with chains! What new eyes would look out on a world in which all things had become new, when there fell from them as it had been scales, and as quickly as had come the blinding, so quickly came the restored vision!

Ananias was neither Apostle nor official, yet the laying on of his hands communicated 'the Holy Ghost.' Saul received that gift before baptism, not after or through the ordinance. It was important for his future relations to the Apostles that he should not have been introduced to the Church by them, or owed to them his first human Christian teaching. Therefore he could say that he was 'an Apostle, not from men, neither through man.' It was important for us that in that great instance that divine gift should have been bestowed without the conditions accompanying, which have too often been regarded as necessary for, its possession.