Acts 9

Acts 9

Acts 15:22-24 in Latin (left column) and Greek (right column) in Codex Laudianus, written about AD 550.
Book Acts of the Apostles
Bible part New Testament
Order in the Bible part 5
Category Church history

Acts 9 is the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records Saul's conversion and the works of Saint Peter.[1] The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.[2]

Text

The original text is written in Koine Greek and is divided into 43 verses. Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:

Statue of Saint Paul in Damascus.

Structure

This chapter can be grouped:

Cross references

Verse 5

And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”[3]

Verse 17

The house believed to be of Ananias of Damascus in Damascus
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”[4]

Verse 19

So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

John Gill suggested in his Exposition of the Bible that these disciples were among those dispersed from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria at the onset of the Christian persecution described in Acts 8:1 [5]

Verse 25

Bab Kisan, believed to be where Paul escaped from persecution in Damascus
Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.[6]

Saul was helped to escape the city in a similar manner to how Rahab helped two spies to escape prior to the Battle of Jericho (Joshua 2:15), and Michal, the daughter of King Saul helped her husband, David (1 Samuel 19:12).[7]

Conversion of Paul the Apostle

According to the New Testament, this event took place in the life of Paul the Apostle which led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to become a follower of Jesus. It is normally dated by researchers to AD 33–36.[8][9][10] The phrases Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion and Damascus Christophany, and road to Damascus allude to this event. Within the New Testament, Paul's conversion experience is discussed in both Paul's own letters and in the book known by the title Acts of the Apostles. According to both sources, Paul was never a follower of Jesus and did not know Jesus before his crucifixion. Instead, he severely persecuted the early Christians. Although Paul refers to himself as an "Apostle" of Jesus, it is clear that Paul was not one of "The Twelve" apostles.[1 Cor. 9:1-2] Paul's conversion occurred after Jesus' crucifixion. The accounts of Paul's conversion experience describe it as miraculous, supernatural, or otherwise revelatory in nature.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
  2. ↑ Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  3. ↑ Acts 9:5
  4. ↑ Acts 9:17
  5. ↑ Gill's Exposition of the Bible http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/acts/9.htm, accessed 24 August 2015
  6. ↑ Acts 9:25
  7. ↑ The Nelson Study Bible. Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1997
  8. ↑ Bromiley, Geoffrey William (1979). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: A-D (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (W.B.Eerdmans)). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 689. ISBN 0-8028-3781-6.
  9. ↑ Barnett, Paul (2002). Jesus, the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times. InterVarsity Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-8308-2699-8.
  10. ↑ L. Niswonger, Richard (1993). New Testament History. Zondervan Publishing Company. p. 200. ISBN 0-310-31201-9.

External links

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