Acts 9:6

Acts 9:6 . And, trembling and astonished — To find that he whom he had so often affronted and despised, yea, blasphemously and virulently opposed, even Jesus of Nazareth, was such a glorious and powerful person; and yet, that instead of destroying him immediately, as he might have easily done, he had condescended thus compassionately to expostulate with him, he was overwhelmed with confusion and dismay; and in the deepest self-abasement and contrition, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do — What is thy will concerning me? Can mercy be extended to me? If so, I am prepared for any submission, self-denial, labour, or hardship which may be required of me. These were the first words that grace spoke in and by Saul; and with these began his spiritual life. In these he manifested a serious desire to be instructed by Christ in his duty, and a sincere resignation of himself to Christ’s conduct and government. And the Lord said, Arise, and go into the city, &c. — To which thou art now near; and it shall be told thee what thou must do — Thou shall be instructed in all things which I have appointed concerning thee. It was encouragement enough to Saul, to have further instruction promised him.

But, 1st, He must not have it yet: it shall be told him by and by what he must do: but for the present he must pause upon what has been already said to him; and must improve that: let him consider a while what he has done in persecuting Christ and his people, and be deeply humbled for that, and then he shall be told what he has further to do. 2d, He must not have further instructions in this way, by a voice from heaven, for it is what he cannot bear. He trembles and is astonished; he shall be told, therefore, what he must do, by a man like himself, whose terror shall not make him afraid. Observe, Christ declares his mind to his people by degrees; and both what he doth, and what he would have them do, though they know not now, they shall know hereafter.

Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Saul, being thoroughly humbled, and brought to resign himself wholly to God, makes this question, giving up himself as a white paper, for Christ to write what he would upon: he had thought he had done God good service, (as it is said many persecutors should think so too, John 16:2 ), but he is now powerfully brought off from his obstinacy in that persuasion. Go into the city; Damascus, which was near at hand. Whether Christ revealed his gospel now unto him, or in the three days in which he remained blind in Damascus, Acts 9:9 , is not so certain; but it is certain that he was Xristo didaktov, taught immediately by Christ himself, as he testifies. Galatians 1:12 , and in that, without any further instruction, he was baptized, Acts 9:17,18 : yet many things might be left for Ananias to confirm him in; and God, by this sending of him to Ananias, would honour his own ordinance, and recommend the ministry and use of means, which are the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16 : and thus, though God could have instructed Cornelius by the angel which appeared unto him, Acts 10:3 , yet he is commanded to send for Peter, and to hear from him what he ought to do, Acts 9:5,6 .

Acts 9:6 . Ἀλλὰ ) Instead of this particle, the longer portion (periocha) has been introduced, σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν · τρέμων τε καὶ θαμβῶν εἶπε , Κύριε , τί με θέλεις ποιῆσαι ; καὶ ὁ Κύριος πρὸς αὐτόν : That this is a gloss, composed from the parallel, ch. Acts 26:14 , and from a paraphrase, is betrayed by the manifold discrepancy among the few authorities which support the passage. See App. Crit., Ed. ii., on this place [which altogether refutes this paraphrase that has originated from the parallelism. This is done more fully in the Defence of the New Testament, published separately, A.D. 1739 and 1745. (App. Ed. ii., P. iv. n. ix.)— Not. Crit .] [58]— εἰς τὴν πόλιν , into the city ) Saul is desired to prosecute his journey and enter the city, but now in a different state of mind. Without this command, he would not have known what he ought to do. It was in those localities first, wherein he had been a persecutor, that Saul confessed the name of Jesus: ch. Acts 26:20 .— λαληθήσεται , it shall be told thee) Saul was obliged to wait and submit himself to the ministry, as was the case with Cornelius afterwards: ch. Acts 10:5 , “Send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon,” etc. To the ministry Jesus sent away the one, the angel the other, in words which were for that reason few. They are not exempt from danger who, without communion with competent men, seek a path to heaven.

The συγκατάβασις , condescension , is marvellous, that the Lord deals with us through men like ourselves.— τί σε δεῖ ποιεῖν , what thou must do ) Saul had asked concerning this: Ananias told him this, Acts 9:17 . The apostle learned the rest from the Lord Himself. [58] Vulg. Amiat. supports the addition of these words as in Rec. Text: but not so Amiat. corrected. Also Syr. with an asterisk has them. None other of the oldest authorities has them, except that Hilary has this part of them, “Tremens et pavens dixit, Domine, quid me vis facere?” ABCE e (E e Syr. add σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν after ver. 4) Memph. and Theb. omit the words. Also Lachm. seems to state that Amiat. Vulg. omits them; but Tisch. otherwise.—E. and T.

6. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said—(The most ancient manuscripts and versions of the New Testament lack all these words here [including the last clause of Ac 9:5]; but they occur in Ac 26:14 and Ac 22:10, from which they appear to have been inserted here). The question, "What shall I do, Lord?" or, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" indicates a state of mind singularly interesting (see on [1966]Ac 2:37). Its elements seem to be these: (1) Resistless conviction that "Jesus whom he persecuted," now speaking to him, was "Christ the Lord." (See on [1967]Ga 1:15, 16). (2) As a consequence of this, that not only all his religious views, but his whole religious character, had been an entire mistake; that he was up to that moment fundamentally and wholly wrong. (3) That though his whole future was now a blank, he had absolute confidence in Him who had so tenderly arrested him in his blind career, and was ready both to take in all His teaching and to carry out all His directions. (For more, see on [1968]Ac 9:9). Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee, &c.—See on [1969]Ac 8:26-28.

6 . Arise ] The MSS. which omit the above words insert a conjunction here. Read, But arise. Saul had continued prostrate as he had fallen down at the first. and go into the city ] A proof that the party of travellers had arrived very nearly at Damascus. Tradition here, as in many other instances, has fixed on a spot as the scene of this Divine vision. It is placed outside the eastern gate, and about a mile from the city. Such a situation answers very well, but its fitness is the only ground for attaching any weight to the tradition. and it shall be told thee what thou must do ] In Acts 26:16-18 we have an abstract given by the Apostle of the labours for which Christ designed him, and the words in that passage are placed as a portion of the Divine communication made before Saul entered Damascus, but as in that narrative no mention is made of Ananias or his visit, we may conclude that we have instead a brief notice of the message which Ananias brought to him, and that therein is contained a declaration of what Jesus in the vision only spoke of as “what thou must do.”

(6) And he trembling and astonished . . . —The words stand, as far as textual authority is concerned, on the same footing as the foregoing, but, for the same reason, will be dealt with here. We note (1) the use of the word “Lord,” now, we must believe, with a new meaning, as applied to the Nazarene whom he had before despised. (2) The entire surrender of his own will to that of Him whom he thus recognised as commanding his allegiance. At that moment Christ was formed in him ( Galatians 1:16 ); the new man came to life. He lived in Christ, and Christ in him. “Not I, but Christ that liveth in me” ( Galatians 2:20 ) was henceforward the axiom of his life. Arise, and go into the city.—In the narrative of Acts 26:16 there appears a fuller manifestation of the divine purpose as made at this time; but there St. Paul, in his rapid survey, is obviously combining, in one brief summary, the whole sum and substance of the teaching that was associated with that great turning-point of his life. We may trace in the command actually given a stage in the divine discipline appointed for his spirit. Silence and submission, and acquiescence in ignorance of the future, and patient expectation, and prayer for light—these were needed before he could be ready for the great work which was to be committed to his charge.

Acts 9:6 . ʼΑλλά ] breaking off ; see on Mark 16:7 , and Bäumlein, Partik. p. 15. According to chap. 26., Jesus forthwith gives Saul the commission to become the apostle of the Gentiles, which, according to the two other narratives, here and chap. 22., is only given afterwards through the intervention of Ananias. This diversity is sufficiently explained by the fact that Paul in the speech before Agrippa abridges the narrative, and puts the commission, which was only subsequently conveyed to him by the instrumentality of another, at once into the mouth of Christ Himself, the author of the commission; by which the thing in itself (the command issued by Christ to him) is not affected, but merely the exactness of the representation, the summary abbreviation of which on this point Paul might esteem as sufficient before Agrippa (in opposition to Zeller, p. 193).