Luke/Acts for Beginners

Saul was passionate about the Jewish faith. He considered anyone, especially Jews, going against the Jewish religion as traitors to God and the faith, and worthy of punishment.

The early Christians were living in a protective bubble with the apostles and fellow believers together for protection and encouragement. The persecution they began to face and the dispersion resulting from it would be a test of their faith and commitment. To their credit and through the power of the Holy Spirit, they not only were faithful in this early period, but as the verse 4 states, they took their faith with them. The Jewish leaders would have thought they were winning the battle against Christianity when in fact they caused the spreading of it in greater ways.

Jesus gave the command to the apostles in Acts 1:8 to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Jesus did not say how this would come about. It would have taken a greater amount of time if the apostles themselves had been the ones going out. But sending a much greater group and scattering them throughout the region supported the multiplication method rather than the addition effect. The apostles remaining in Jerusalem were unified in their efforts and would be able to write the dispersed Christians and continue teaching from Jerusalem.

The first is Philip's actions in Samaria. This had previously been an area Jews would have avoided yet Philip takes the gospel there. The Samaritans had been used by Jesus several times in His parables in positive ways and He had had positive interactions with them. Their knowledge of who Jesus was would have made them very receptive to Philip's preaching. An element of significance to this is that the gospel now left Jerusalem and Judea to go into the third region for evangelistic effort as directed by Jesus (Acts 1:8).

The second was Philip's interaction with the Ethiopian official (eunuch). In this event we see Philip being directly sent by the Holy Spirit to teach. Philip teaches the official about Jesus, baptizes him and is then transported away. Another element of significance is that this Ethiopian, now a convert to Jesus, represented a third generation of converts. It was the Ethiopian that first took the gospel to a far region of the earth (ends of the earth – Acts 1:8).

In the event of Simon, he immediately repented of his error when told by Peter of his sin. By contrast, Ananias and Sapphira plotted their sin and compounded their lie. Although it is not directly stated, we can infer by the absence of punishment that Simon was forgiven and restored. Ananias and Sapphira paid with their lives.

Of note in this event is that Luke clearly shows in verse 18 that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were only given to others by the apostles. Those given gifts by the Apostles could not pass them on to others.

There are many lessons we can learn from this. As young Christians it is difficult to put aside what we've been a part of in our earlier lives. However, when we truly repent, God forgives us (I John 1:5-10). As more mature Christians, we must patiently and lovingly teach less mature disciples and help them in their spiritual growth.

For example, we frequently teach those coming out of denominationalism that have learned error and false teaching their entire lives. It is very difficult to "unlearn" something, even when we see it as religious error.

He was carrying out a mandate to arrest and imprison the Christians there.

Although his knowledge was misdirected, he none-the-less had a significant depth of knowledge of God and the Law of Moses. This would be very valuable as he taught Jews and Gentiles alike. Saul also possessed the passionate spirit that would keep him faithful in the most trying of times, even to his ultimate death.

Saul, like everyone else needed to act upon his confession of faith. He obviously believed who Jesus was and repented of his former life (see verse 11 "he is praying" and waiting for Ananias to teach him). Also, like everyone, he needed to begin expressing his faith through baptism. It was after baptism that he received salvation. Later Saul, then Paul will summarize this event with this emphasis and would teach the need for baptism in his letters. Paul could not teach us to do something that he himself did not do.

Of special note, Paul would later teach in II Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (ESV) Although Saul had a special interaction with Jesus, he still needed to be taught about salvation by a man, Ananias. This has not changed. The only way the gospel will be spread is through the teachings and actions of disciples. This places a wonderful opportunity as well as a serious responsibility on us.

Saul made the transition from one persecuting the church to one now championing the cause of Christ. However, even though he was saying and doing the right thing, there was a natural fear and distrust of him among the Christians. Barnabas played a key role in bringing about Paul's acceptance by them. He stood by Saul and relayed what had happened. Since Barnabas was not involved directly in the conversion of Saul, it is apparent that this knowledge was given to him by the Holy Spirit.

The church throughout the region was encouraged and grew. Yet again, we see how God uses each of us in His way when we commit to Him.

Peter continued to travel in the region and convert others to Jesus. He did not let the persecution he and the others experienced stop his faithful service. Through his preaching and use of miracles he was able to show that Jesus was the Messiah.

As a result, many Jews were converted and the church continued to grow.