John Calvin Commentary Acts 9:5

"And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he [said], I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:" — Acts 9:5 (ASV)

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.