NOTES for Act 9:1-31

Today we read about Saul's conversion, an event that not only turned his life upside down but also largely determined the course of Christian history. Such conversions are rare, but they have occurred and continue to occur. In essence, sooner or later every person meets God on his path. This encounter often overturns a person's consciousness much as it did for Paul. He considered himself a servant of God but turned out to be His enemy—and conversely, he thought that Jesus was his enemy, but He turned out to be his Lord, his life, and his calling. In fact, such a reversal of consciousness is what is called repentance—in Greek, metanoia, a “change of mind.” When a person suddenly sees that his entire life is a persecution of Christ, carried out within himself or among those near and far from him, the mercy of the persecuted Son of God is also revealed to him. Christ not only receives him among His disciples but entrusts him with a new mission—not to torment, but to build up Christ's Church.