വ്യാഖ്യാനം നിലവിൽ ഇംഗ്ലീഷിൽ മാത്രമേ ലഭ്യമാകൂ. മലയാള പരിഭാഷ പുരോഗമിക്കുകയാണ്.
Acts 9 — Saul, Saul, Why Persecutest Thou Me?
Saul, breathing threatenings against the disciples, gets letters for Damascus. On the road a light from heaven shines around him; he falls; a voice — Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He arises blind, fasts three days. Ananias is sent in reluctance and obedience; lays hands on him; scales fall from his eyes. Saul preaches Christ in the very synagogues he came to ransack. The Jews plot to kill him; he is let down in a basket. Peter heals Aeneas at Lydda and raises Dorcas at Joppa.
“And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”
— Acts 9:4
- v.1-9 The Damascus road
- v.10-19 Ananias sent; Saul healed and baptized
- v.20-31 Saul preaches; the church has rest
- v.32-43 Peter at Lydda and Joppa
Saul's first question to the risen Christ — what wilt thou have me to do? The persecutor has become a servant in one moment. Conversion that does not turn the will toward His will is not yet conversion.
Christ does not explain everything at once. The instruction is staged — arise, and go... and it shall be told thee. Saul is told the next step, not the whole plan. So with most callings.
Ananias hesitated for a reason — Saul was famous for arresting believers. But Christ overrules: he is a chosen vessel. The last person Ananias would have chosen is the one Christ chooses.
God's pattern is the unlikely vessel. The chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. Do not write off the resister; he may be the next missionary. Pray accordingly.
A summary verse marking the end of the early-church section. The chief persecutor is now a preacher, and the churches have rest, edification, multiplication. The change in Saul brought change to the church.
Three ingredients of healthy growth — the fear of the Lord (reverent gravity), the comfort of the Holy Ghost (real consolation), and the result, multiplied. Where reverence and comfort meet, the Spirit grows His people.
When you pray for someone resistant to the gospel, remember Saul. The man arresting Christians on Monday could be preaching Christ on Wednesday. The mercy that converted the persecutor is not exhausted; it still works on the most hostile. Name the most resistant person you know, and ask God to do for them what He did for Saul. He has done it before.
The chapter is Christ's own intervention. He stops His persecutor with His voice; identifies with His own; chooses His vessel for the Gentiles; quiets the churches; works miracles through Peter. The risen Lord is the active agent throughout. Saul of Tarsus would never recover from that moment on the road — and the world has been receiving the dividends ever since.
Why persecutest thou me? Christ identifies with His people so completely that an attack on them is an attack on Him. Saul thought he was hunting Christians; he was wounding Christ Himself.
The doctrine of the body of Christ in seven words. Whatever is done to His own is done to Him — for good (Matthew 25:40) or for ill (here). The Head feels what touches the body.