Paul

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Luke records the persecution in a single sentence, and it reaches into homes.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.

Paul's own account before Agrippa adds the votes for death and the attempts to make believers blaspheme.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Saul asks for the warrants himself, so the journey is the next stage of his campaign.

As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Jesus counts the attack on His disciples as an attack on Himself.

Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.

The man who came to take prisoners from Damascus is led into the city by the hand.

But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.” “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”

The Lord answers the objection of Ananias with a commission that already includes Saul's suffering.

So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,

The scales fall at the touch of the man who had objected to going.

Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Within days Saul preaches in the same synagogues to which his letters were addressed.

Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.

Paul counts three years before his first visit to Jerusalem, a span Acts 9:23 calls many days.

In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

Paul's letter gives a second witness to the night Luke records in Acts 9:25.

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who spoke to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.

Barnabas is the first man in the church to vouch for Saul when the disciples in Jerusalem were afraid of him.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

The church that would send Saul out is the church where believers first bore the name Christians.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

The mission begins with a word of the Holy Spirit to a church at worship.

Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. And the next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

Paul's courage after the stoning shows the suffering promised at his call coming true.

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements: You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

The council's letter names four things for the Gentiles to avoid, and circumcision is not among them.

And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

Paul's own account names two commissions under one grace, his to the Gentiles and theirs to the circumcised.

Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,

Luke records how sharp the disagreement was and assigns the fault to neither man.

During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The narrator joins the journey at Troas, and the account turns from they to we.

Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Paul and Silas answer the jailer with faith in the Lord Jesus and nothing added.

Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul ends his speech to the Areopagus on the resurrection as God's proof of the coming judgment.

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent. For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.” So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians.

The promise keeps Paul in a city whose synagogue had already turned against him.

This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

Two years of daily teaching at Ephesus carry the word through the whole province of Asia.

But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Paul tells the elders of Ephesus that finishing his course matters more to him than his life.

Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Paul goes up to Jerusalem knowing the prophet Agabus has foretold his binding.

But as they stretched him out to strap him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”

Paul's Roman citizenship stops the flogging before it begins.

If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

The appeal to Caesar is the reason Paul reaches Rome as a prisoner.

For just last night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me.

A prisoner gives the crew courage on the strength of a promise from God.

When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

In Rome Paul lives in his own lodging under a soldier's guard, so he can still receive visitors.

And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

The Spirit comes on the disciples at Ephesus under Paul's own hands, with tongues and prophecy.

So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

Paul's closing instruction to a church that had misused the gifts is to keep using them in order.

You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.

This reading points to Paul's own mention of an illness in Galatia.

When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood to be condemned.

Paul's own words for the scene are the ground of the reading that the rebuke was real.