Acts 9 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Acts 9:1-9

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’

5 ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked.

‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 6 ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’

7 The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

A. Find Out:

1. What was Saul’s state at this time? v.1
2. What did he do with what intent? v.1c,2
3. What happened on the road to Damascus? v.3,4
4. What did he ask and what was he told? v.5,6
5. What did he find when he got up? v.8a
6. So what happened? v.8b,9

B. Think:

1. Reread 8:3 What had Saul been doing? Why do you think this was?
2. How was Saul left at the end of it?
3. List the things that happened indicating a supernatural event.

C. Comment:

We use the phrase “a Damascus Road experience” today to signify a powerful encounter with the Sovereign God. That was surely what this was. Consider carefully just what happened.

Consider first the man involved: Saul, a Pharisee who is fully committed to Judaism, zealous for God, totally sure of the way he was going, committed to eradicate this new sect that was a threat to his people. He is willing to go to the ends of the earth to deal with it. His mind is utterly set! He is immovable!

Now consider what happened to him. Nothing less than the powerfully dramatic is going to stop this man in his tracks, so that is what he gets! First a light from above seems to flash around him. This is not merely the sun, and these men of the Middle East know enough not to go getting sunstroke! It seems to take all his energy and he falls to the ground involuntarily. This proud man would not do his naturally. Then he hears a voice. Others hear a sound, but he hears it as a voice. It instructs him and tells him that it is Jesus, the one he is persecuting, who is speaking, and he has plans for him. Then when he gets up, he is blind and totally helpless. An encounter with God can leave us like this, for this is Almighty God we are dealing with. Let’s be humble before Him!

D. Application:

1. God is all-powerful and to be revered. Let’s worship Him.
2. God has plans and purposes for us. Let’s listen to Him.

Passage: Acts 9:10-19

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’

‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered.

11 The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’

13 ‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

A. Find Out:    

1. What did the Lord tell Ananias? v.11,12
2. What was his response? v.13,14
3. How did the Lord allay his fears? v.15,16
4. What did Ananias do? v.17
5. What happened when he did that? v.18a
6. What did Saul then do? v.18b,19

B. Think:

1. What was significant about what God told Ananias about Saul?
2. How did Ananias show he believed the Lord?
3. Read also Acts 22:12-16 What additional information is given?

C. Comment:

Ananias was a devout disciple. We assume he was praying when the Lord speaks to him in a vision. The content of the message is disturbing: he is to go to another praying man, a man with a bad reputation and restore him. Ananias knows about this man and if he isn’t hearing correctly, he could be in trouble! Yet he goes! That’s faith!

He finds the man, blind and praying. He places his hands on him and, by faith, addresses him as a brother in Christ and commands his sight to be restored. It is. Encouraged by this he conveys the message he has been given by God and calls Saul to respond (22:16).

How does Saul respond? By being baptized. Water or Spirit? Both probably. Ananias had spoken about Saul being “filled with the Spirit” which is what happens when a person is “baptized in the Spirit” (see Acts 1:5 & 2:4 – just as a cup is filled when you immerse it in water), so he clearly expected this to happen. Paul also later speaks of what happened in terms of water baptism as well (22:1). So, here we have classic conversion: calling, repentance, prayer, baptism. The challenge is that in it God declares something of His purposes for this man right from the outset. Do we believe that for others being saved?

D. Application:

1. When God calls us to be obedient, we’re to leave the outcome to Him.
2. We have to simply get on with the apparently small things God gives us to do, and perhaps they may have mighty effect!

Passage: Acts 9:19-25

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

A. Find Out:

1. How many days did Saul initially spend in Damascus ? v.19
2. What did he do there? v.20
3. How did that confuse some? v.21
4. Yet how did Saul continue? v.22
5. When did a plot arise against him? v.23
6. So what happened? v.24,25

B. Think:

1. Read Gal 1:18 What seems to have been the order of events?
2. How is Saul obviously a changed man?
3. How is that a problem for the church?

C. Comment:

Saul, having been converted, spends a few days there in Damascus . He goes to the synagogue (as would be his custom) but there he now preaches that Jesus is the Son of God. For the Jews, and especially the Christians, this was totally baffling. They knew this man’s reputation, a persecutor of Christians, but now he is on their side! The more he speaks the more powerful he becomes. His faith grows!

We then come to a slight mystery. First of all (v.19) Luke says Saul spent “several days” in Damascus and then later (v.25) he says “after many days had gone by”. The solution seems to be found in Gal 1:18 where Paul (as he then was) speaks about having gone from Damascus into Arabia and then back. He doesn’t tell us why, simply that he did go, possibly on a prayer retreat to take in further all that had happened to him, perhaps to visit friends there, we just don’t know. Yet when he came back he continued on as before and eventually the unbelieving Jews of Damascus conspired to kill him. The reaction of religious zealots when they are confronted with the truth is either to change dramatically, as Saul himself did, or to react violently against it, as the Pharisees did against Jesus, and the Jews now do against Saul.

D. Application:

1. When true conversion takes place there is a desire to share Jesus.
2. When Jesus is shared with others it sometimes produces acceptance but sometimes violent opposition. Be aware of this!

Passage: Acts 9:26-31 

26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

A. Find Out:

1. Where did Saul go, what did he try to do with what result? v.26
2. Who did what for him? v.27
3. So what did Saul do? v.28
4. To whom did he speak and with what effect? v.29
5. So what happened? v.30
6. What was happening in the church? v.31

B. Think:

1. How do we see history repeated in these verses?
2. What does this say about Saul?
3. How does verse 31 contrast with what has gone before?

C. Comment:

Having fled from Damascus where the unbelieving Jews had sought to kill him, Saul arrives in Jerusalem where the very same thing happens: he shares the Gospel, Jews are upset and again try to kill him, so he has to move on to another town again. Why this cycle of events?

The answer is probably twofold. First, the message of the Gospel presented powerfully was a threat to the unbelieving world, and that included the religious Jews. Jesus had warned his followers that he would be rejected and persecuted, and that the same thing would happen to his followers (see Mt 10:22 -25). Many people do not like the truth and when it threatens them, they will try and destroy the source of it.

The second reason was probably that they realised that this persecutor turned preacher was perhaps the greatest threat to Judaism that they had met since Jesus himself. They anticipated that when the common people heard Saul’s testimony, they would be more likely to accept his message. As a threat to Judaism’s very culture, he had to go!

Note the arrival of Barnabus, obviously a man of faith as well as being a great encourager. He opens the way for Saul with the church in Jerusalem. Note also, a period of peace after persecution and upset. Why? Because God has just dealt with the chief persecutor! Wonderful!

D. Application:

1. The Gospel frequently receives opposition.
2. Some dedicated to preach, will also receive opposition.

Passage: Acts 9:32-43

32 As Peter travelled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 ‘Aeneas,’ Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became ill and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, ‘Please come at once!’

39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood round him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning towards the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

A. Find Out:

1. What was Peter doing? v.32
2. Who did he come across and what did he say and do? v.33,34
3. What happened as a result? v.35
4. Who was Dorcas and what happened to her? v.36,37
5. What happened when they sent for Peter? v.38-41
6. What happened as a result? v.42

B. Think:

1. Read 8:25 What has Peter obviously been doing?
2. How is God seen to be with him?
3. What effect does that keep having?

C. Comment:

Peter having been drawn out of Jerusalem by the needs of the new believers in Samaria, now perhaps on his way back, comes to Lydda. Here he is confronted with a paralysed man who he heals with a word of command. The result is that many others were convinced and became believers. This is power evangelism!

Meanwhile in nearby Joppa, one of the Christian ladies falls ill and dies. Her friends immediately send for Peter who comes and quickly raises her to life! Again, as a result of this, many people believe and are saved. From these two incidents we see two things.

First, observe the way Peter operates. In both cases he works in exactly the same way he had seen his Master work (see Mk 2:11 and 5:40 -41). Faith flowed in him and he just did what he had watched Jesus doing. He had learnt by example. May we do the same.

Second, note what comes from these two healings: many people believed. Jesus does use the miraculous to confirm seeking people’s faith. We should want healing for the sake of the sick people, but we may also expect it to impact the unbelieving-but-seeking onlookers. Those who are hard hearted will not believe whatever they see but seekers will be confirmed-believers by such “signs”.

D. Application:

1. Jesus gives us an example to follow (see Jn 14:12 )
2. Jesus delights to heal the sick (see the Gospels!)