ACTS 9:1-43
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
Saul’s Transformation
- Do you know anyone who had God interrupt their plans and turn them around to go a new way? Has that happened to you? What are ways that God gets our attention?
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 41:30 – 49:15
Saul on the Damascus Road (9:1-9)
- How would you describe Saul before his encounter with Christ? How does Paul describe himself in Galatians 2:14 and Philippians 3:5-6?
- What did the voice from heaven tell Saul about who he was persecuting?
- What was Saul directed to do? How long did he have to wait for further instructions from God?
- What do you think Saul was thinking, feeling, and doing during the time he waited?
Saul sank to the ground, blinded by the light, with the words ringing in his head. ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.’ Me? Somehow, these men and women Saul was dragging off to prison were Jesus’ people; his family; his own extended self. It was all too much. They led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. It was three days before he could do anything except, simultaneously, recoil from the horror of what had happened and gasp at its glory. We call this event a ‘conversion’, but it was more like a volcanic eruption, thunderstorm and tidal wave all coming together. If the death and resurrection of Jesus is the hinge on which the great door of history swung open at last, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was the moment when all the ancient promises of God gathered themselves up, rolled themselves into a ball, and came hurtling through that open door and out into the wide world beyond. N.T. Wright
Read Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts, page 58-59 (from The Applause of Heaven)
Ananias and Saul (9:10-19):
- How does Ananias respond to the instructions he is given by the Lord? What doubts did he have?
- What does the Lord tell Ananias about Saul in verses 15-16?
- How does Ananias address Saul? How does he minister to Saul?
We never hear of Ananias again. We don’t know how he became a follower of Jesus. We know nothing about him except this passage, and it’s enough: that he was a believer, that he knew how to listen for the voice of Jesus, that he was prepared to obey it even though it seemed ridiculously dangerous, that he went where he was sent and did what he was told. And he did it with love and grace and wisdom. You can’t ask for more. N.T. Wright
- How was God’s power and presence seen in Saul as a result of Ananias’ actions and words?
- What are ways God might use you to minister to someone so they might experience God’s power and presence?
Saul, the Believer (9:20-31):
- What does Saul do after his sight is restored and he regains his strength?
- How do the Jews in Damascus respond to Saul and to his preaching?
- How does Saul respond to the threat to kill him? Where does he go?
- How is he received by the disciples and other followers of Jesus in Jerusalem?
- What did we first learn about Barnabas in 4:36? What more do we learn now?
- What does Saul do when another attempt on his life is made? Where does he go?
- What is the affect of Saul’s conversion on the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria? Why?
The fact that someone like Saul of Tarsus, with the reputation he had had, had been confronted by Jesus himself, stopped in his tracks and turned around, and was now using his very considerable biblical skill and way with words to demonstrate to all and sundry that Jesus really was the Messiah – well, this was bound to encourage all the Jesus-followers who heard about it. And not just encourage them: inform them, show them more clearly how to read the scriptures, how to understand the vast sweep of God’s promises on the one hand and the fascinating but telling details on the other. And, in particular, this is the first time in Acts that we find Jesus being referred to with the title which became standard right across early Christianity: he is the Son of God (verse 20). N.T. Wright
Back to Peter (9:32-43):
- The word to describe the believers in Lydda and in Joppa is literally the ‘holy ones’ or the ‘saints’ (vs.32, 41). What made these groups of believers ‘holy’?
- What was the effect of Aeneas’ healing on the people in his community? How is the outcome different than the similar healing Peter did in Jerusalem in chapter 3?
- What was Dorcas’ special skill? How did she use it to glorify God and build up the church?
Had it not been for Peter, Dorcas might never have made it into the pages of the New Testament, and we have to assume that there were dozens in the early years, and thousands in the later years, who, like her, lived their lives in faith and hope, bearing the sorrows of life no doubt as well as celebrating its joys, and finding in the small acts of service to others a fulfilment of the gospel within their own sphere, using traditional skills to the glory of God. Luke is right to draw our eyes down to the small-scale and immediate, in case we should ever forget that these are the people who form the heart of the church, while the apostles and evangelists go about making important decisions, getting locked up, stoned or shipwrecked, preaching great sermons, writing great letters, and generally being great and good all over the place. I am privileged to know plenty of Dorcases. The day before I wrote this I met one whose specialty is chocolate truffles. When I meet such people I greet them as what they are, the beating heart of the people of God. N.T. Wright
- How can you use your skills to serve the community?
- What do you hope your church will remember you for?
- Why do you think Luke included these two stories about Peter right after the surprise transformation of Saul? What does it teach us about how God is working?
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part 1 2008
Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts: Christ’s Church in the World, 2018
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – The Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 2014
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