The Conversion Of Paul In The Book Of Acts

On the road to Damascus the Lord intervenes in Saul’s life (Acts 9: 3-6) and he is genuinely converted during that encounter with the Lord Jesus. Under the ministry of Ananias (a disciple) he was also healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul now known as Paul from that moment on immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues of Damascus. Paul’s preaching was very convincing and disturbing to the Damascus Jews to the point where they desired to kill him. Therefore, the other Christian disciples assisted him in his escape by night (Acts 9:22-25) that he may escape to Arabia. Paul’s missionary Journeys were defining actions of him, he usually set foot with other companions and he endured hardships on these voyages. He was imprisoned, lashed and stoned several times and almost murdered once (2 Cor. 11:24-27).

From what we know about Paul, he was not one of the biggest fans of Christianity before his conversion. Though, as our text recognizes, there isn’t much knowledge of Paul’s life before becoming a follower of Jesus, and much of it is sourced from the Acts. We do know that while Paul was a Jew his name was Saul. Scholars theorize that he was a Jewish missionary. We know that he was raised to be Jewish, and he was a Pharisee. Our textbook elaborates that Saul was, in fact, a very dedicated Jew. He wrote in one of his letters “I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors” (Gal 1:14). Scholar Johnny Awwad goes as far as to suggest that Paul was an apocalyptic

Hedrick, Charles W. “Paul’s Conversion/Call: A Comparative Analysis of the Three Reports in Acts.” Journal of Biblical Literature 100, no. 3 (September 1981): 415–432.

Acts 19 starts with Paul leaving Apollos in charge of the church in Corinth while he continues his missionary journey. It ends with Paul’s encounter with an angry mob. But for the Gentiles, the problem was literally closer to home: their pocketbooks. What Acts calls “a serious disturbance” broke out when a silversmith named Demetrius told his fellow silversmiths

Paul’s preaching, caused by the provocation we just discussed, afforded him incredible opportunities. He discussed Christ with the Jews, the Gentile worshipers, the frequenters of the marketplace, and even some philosophers (Acts 17:17-18). Though many of the individuals in the last group labeled

I think Saul/Paul is the main character in the book of Acts. I know of no other person, other than Jesus himself, which shaped the history of Christianity like Paul did. Paul was transformed by God from a Pharisee and tent maker, a persecutor of Christians, and prior to his conversion on the road to Damascus, to a preacher for Christ.

The first and the foremost (9:1-19) is narrated by the instigator of the Book of Acts himself and the other two that are described in verses 22:4-16 and 26:9-19, point out the dominant part of Paul’s strong opinions before Jews in Jerusalem and King Agrippa separately. They, to some extent create an equivalent historical account. The interpretations of revelations described in all three following Acts have the same judgmental narration in emphasizing the hand-picked selection of Saul by Lord himself as a devotee to the Church, its mission, and the discipleship to carry out the words of God to the far off regions of the Asia world. His appointment proved to be a momentous instrument; indeed a very useful one to spread the Words of Jesus to the entire

The apostle Paul was first introduced in Acts 9:1-4 as Saul, a persecutor of the church and Christ. After his conversion, his named was changed to Paul and his role in teaching the gospel was integral to the foundation of the Early Church. Paul’s journey to share the gospel was “fearless” (Acts 9:27) but soon there would be much opposition to his teachings and he would be forced to flee and journey to Ephesus.

Analysis of Paul’s ‘Jewish’ state of mind prior to his conversion is important to note before one reaches Wright’s conclusion. Paul, Saul of Tarsus at this point, “was not interested in a timeless system of salvation, whether of works-righteousness or anything else. He wanted God to redeem Israel” (pp. 32). He, like other Jews, desired to see their God, Yahweh, finally fulfilling his promise of raising all Jews to the new Israel, or new world. He was ‘zealous’ for God, but as one can see, he was zealous in the wrong manner. Following the story in Acts, Saul is drastically converted on the road to Damascus. Paul claims to have seen Jesus in this drastic divine occurrence. This is of utmost importance. Once Saul saw the resurrected Jesus it was not that he lost his Jewish heritage, but there is now a cognitive understanding that “God had done for Jesus of Nazareth, in the middle of time, what Saul had thought he was going to do for Israel at the end of time” (pp. 36). Thus, there is a realization that Jesus was the intercessor for God’s promise, the one who took on the curse of Israel. The resurrection proves that the claims by Jesus’ followers were indeed right.

During Paul’s time as a traditional Jew in the early days of his life 5-10AD, he was a very violent but strong believer of his own faith and religious ways. Because of this, it was acceptable to attack and arrest gentiles Paul’s persecution of Christians was entailed by his Jewish understanding of the Messiah: he was waiting for the Anointed One – the Messiah – and he could not tolerate the fragmented loyalties that were taking place within the nation with the rise of a new sect that looked to Jesus as the awaited Messiah. Paul had a firm commitment to the Jewish religion and his wholehearted acceptance of the Pharisaic interpretation of that religion.’ It was the moment of decision in Saul wanting to move his progress to Damascus, that’s this important experience known as the ‘conversion’ occurred.

are several instances in the conversion of Saul that are contradictory. There are three accounts of

Paul experienced a transformation which altered his self-understanding and the way he employed his many gifts. Paul’s mission was to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus the Christ to the Gentile nations. (Acts

One of the most hotly debated and crucial historical questions that emerges in a study of Galatians is its correlation to the book of Acts. Some scholars take a positive view of the historical reliability of Acts and have no difficulty in seeing it as a framework for the life and times of Paul’s ministry (J. B. Lightfoot). Others, have a far more skeptical approach fuelled by differences between Acts and the Epistles (Tübingen). The dominant inclination of the scholars who remain unconvinced of the contextual value of Acts has been to downgrade the

In Acts 21, Paul visits Jerusalem for his trial and the is “on the way” to another trial in Rome. The first few chapters of Luke play as a transition between the Israelites and the ministry of Christ. Then, the first few chapters of Acts serve as a transition between the ministry of Christ to the ministry of the disciples. Last but not least, Paul on his way to his trial is the transition from the ministry of the disciples to the ministry of the life of the Church now that the disciples have founded. In addition to that, throughout Paul’s ministry, we see an echo of Lk 10, where Christ warns the seventy-two disciples about the difficulties they will face.

The death of Stephen in Acts chapters seven and eight is an interesting passage that can leave readers quite perplexed – so much takes place in such a short narrative. Stephen’s martyrdom bears an uncanny similarity to the death of Christ in Luke chapter twenty-three; it seems as if the Greek-speaking Jews that condemned Stephen are the same as those who were in favor of executing Christ. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this passage though, is the introduction of Saul, who appears in the narrative almost unexpectedly, leaving the reader wondering about his significance in the death of Stephen. Through this transitional story, Luke shows