John Calvin Commentary Acts 9

And Saul. Luke sets down in this place a noble history, and a history very well worthy of being remembered, concerning the conversion of Paul: how the Lord not only subdued him and made him subject to His commandment when he raged like an untamed beast, but also how He made him a different and new man. But because Luke sets down all things in order, as in a notable work of God, it will be more convenient to follow his text, so that everything worth noting may come in order.

When he says that he was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter, his meaning is that after his hands were once stained with innocent blood, he proceeded with similar cruelty and was always a furious and bloody enemy of the Church, after he had once made that entrance mentioned in connection with the death of Stephen.

For this reason, it was all the more incredible that he could be so suddenly tamed. And since such a cruel wolf was not only turned into a sheep but also took on the nature of a shepherd, the wonderful hand of God showed itself clearly in this.

And Luke also describes that Saul was equipped with weapons and power to do harm, for Luke says that Saul had obtained letters from the high priest, so that he could bring to Jerusalem, bound, all those he found professing the name of Christ. Mention is made of women, so that it might more clearly appear how eager he was to shed blood—he who had no respect for sex, whom even armed enemies are accustomed to spare in the heat of war. Therefore, Luke sets forth before us a fierce and cruel beast, who not only was given freedom to rage but also had his power increased to devour and destroy godly men, as if a madman had a sword put into his hand.

Although I have translated it as 'sect,' Luke uses way, a metaphor common enough in the Scriptures. Therefore, Paul’s purpose was to completely extinguish the name of Christ by cruelly destroying all the godly.

As he was on the way. In seeking letters from the high priest, he willingly rushed headlong against Christ; and now he is forced to obey whether he wants to or not. This is surely the most excellent mercy of God, in that this man is reclaimed for salvation contrary to his own intentions, whom such great fervor carried headlong into destruction.

The Lord allowed him to receive letters and to come near the city. This demonstrates how well God knows the precise moments to do everything at the proper time.

Indeed, He could have prevented Paul sooner, if He had chosen, in order to deliver the godly from fear and negligence.

But God displays His benefits more clearly in this: He ties the jaws of the greedy wolf just as he was ready to enter the sheepfold. Also, we know that human stubbornness increases more and more with persistence. Therefore, Paul’s conversion was all the more difficult, since he had already become more obstinate by persisting in his fury.

Shined about him. It was no easy task to humble such great pride, to break such a haughty spirit, to calm such a blind fervor of wicked zeal, and, finally, to restrain a completely unrestrained beast. Therefore, Christ necessarily had to show some sign of His majesty, so that Paul might perceive that he was dealing with God Himself and not with any mortal man.

Yet, consideration was also given to humbling him—because he was unworthy of Christ—in order to accustom him promptly to obedience by placing upon his neck the gentle and sweet yoke of His Spirit.

And he was scarcely capable of such great gentleness until his cruelty was broken. Human understanding cannot comprehend the divine glory of Christ as it truly is.

But just as God often assumed forms in which He revealed Himself, so Christ now declared and manifested His divinity to Paul. He showed some sign of His presence so that He might thereby terrify Paul.

For although the godly are afraid and tremble at the sight of God, Paul must necessarily have been far more afraid when he perceived that the divine power of Christ was set directly against him.

And therefore Luke says that he fell to the ground. For what else can happen to anyone but that they must lie prostrate and be, as it were, brought to nothing when they are overwhelmed with the immediate experience of God’s glory? And this was the beginning of Paul’s humbling, so that he might become prepared to hear the voice of Christ, which he had despised for so long while he sat proudly on his horse.

Saul, Saul! Luke compared the light which shone around Paul to lightning, though I do not doubt that lightning flashed in the air. And this voice, which Christ sent forth to crush his pride, may very well be called a lightning or thunderbolt, because it not only struck him and astonished him, but completely killed him, so that he was now as a nobody to himself—he who had previously been so pleased with himself and had claimed for himself the authority to suppress the gospel. Luke records his name in Hebrew here, Saul, Saul! because he is repeating the words of Christ, who undoubtedly spoke to him according to the common custom of the country.

Who art thou, Lord? We have Paul now somewhat tamed, but he is not yet Christ’s disciple. Pride is corrected in him, and his fury is brought down. But he is not yet so thoroughly healed that he obeys Christ; he is only ready to receive commandments, who was before a blasphemer.

Therefore, this is the question of a man who is afraid, and thrown down with amazement. Why does he not know, by so many signs of God’s presence, that it is God who speaks? Therefore that voice proceeded from a panting and doubtful mind; therefore, Christ drives him nearer to repentance, when he adds, I am Jesus, let us remember that that voice sounded from heaven.

Therefore it ought to have pierced the mind of Paul when he considered that he had made war against God until now. It ought to have brought him immediately to true submission, when he considered that he should not escape scot-free, if he should continue rebellious against him whose hand he could not escape.

This passage contains a most profitable doctrine, and its profit is manifold:

1. Christ shows how greatly he values his gospel, when he pronounces that it is his cause, from which he will not be separated. Therefore he can no more refuse to defend it than he can deny himself.

2. The godly may gather great comfort from this, in that they hear that the Son of God is a partner with them in the cross, when they suffer and labor for the testimony of the gospel, and that he does, as it werewolf, put his shoulders under, that he may bear some part of the burden. For it is not for nothing that he says that he suffers in our person; but he will have us to be assuredly persuaded of this, that he suffers together with us, as if the enemies of the gospel should wound us through his side. Therefore Paul says that whatever persecutions the faithful suffer today for the defense of the gospel, this is what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (Colossians 1:24). Furthermore, this consolation tends not only to comfort us, so that it may not be troublesome to us to suffer with our Head, but also that we may hope that he will avenge our miseries, who cries out from heaven that all that we suffer is common to him as well as to us.

3. We gather from this what horrible judgment is prepared for the persecutors of the Church, who like giants besiege the very heaven, and shake their darts, which shall pierce their own head immediately; yes, by troubling the heavens, they provoke the thunderbolt of God’s wrath against themselves. Also, we are all taught generally, that no one should run against Christ by hurting his brother unjustly, and especially, that no one should resist the truth rashly and with a blind madness, under the guise of zeal.

It is hard for thee. This is a proverbial sentence, taken from oxen or horses, which, when they are pricked with goads, do themselves no good by kicking, except that they double the evil by causing the prick to go farther into their skins. Christ applies this similitude to himself very fittingly, because men shall bring upon themselves a double evil by striving against him, to whose will and pleasure they must necessarily be subject, whether they will it or not.

Those who submit themselves willingly to Christ are so far from feeling any pricking at his hands, that they have in him a ready remedy for all wounds; but all the wicked, who endeavor to cast out their poisoned stings against him, shall eventually perceive that they are asses and oxen, subject to the prick.

So he is to the godly a foundation on which they rest, but to the reprobate who stumble at him, a stone that with its hardness grinds them to powder. And although we speak here of the enemies of the gospel, yet this admonition may reach farther, namely, that we do not think that we shall get anything by biting the bridle whenever we have anything to do with God, but that being like gentle horses, we allow ourselves meekly to be turned about and guided by his hand.

And if he spurs us at any time, let us be made more ready to obey by his pricks, lest what is said in the Psalm befall us: That the jaws of untamed horses and mules are tied and kept in with a hard bit, lest they leap upon us, etc.

In this history we have a universal figure of that grace which the Lord shows forth daily in calling us all. All men do not set themselves so violently against the gospel; yet, nevertheless, both pride and rebellion against God are naturally engendered in all men. We are all wicked and cruel naturally; therefore, that we are turned to God comes to pass by the wonderful and secret power of God, contrary to nature.

The Papists also ascribe the praise of our turning to God to the grace of God, yet only in part, because they imagine that we work together. But when the Lord mortifies our flesh, he subdues us and brings us under, as he did Paul. Nor is our will one hair readier to obey than was Paul’s, until the pride of our heart is beaten down, and he has made us not only flexible but also willing to obey and follow.

Therefore, such is the beginning of our conversion: the Lord seeks us of his own accord when we wander and go astray, though he is not called and sought; he changes the stubborn affections of our heart, so that he may make us teachable.

Furthermore, this history is of great importance to confirm Paul’s doctrine. If Paul had always been one of Christ’s disciples, wicked and perverse men might diminish the weight of the testimony which he gives of his Master. If he had shown himself to be easily persuaded, and gentle at first, we should see nothing but what is proper to man.

But when a deadly enemy to Christ—rebellious against the gospel, puffed up with the confidence he placed in his wisdom, inflamed with hatred of the true faith, blinded by hypocrisy, wholly intent on overthrowing the truth—is suddenly changed into a new man, in an unusual manner, and from a wolf is not only turned into a sheep, but also takes to himself a shepherd’s nature, it is as if Christ brought forth with his hand some angel sent from heaven.

For we do not now see that Saul of Tarsus, but a new man framed by the Spirit of God, so that he speaks by his mouth now, as it were, from heaven.