Whereupon, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision;
Paul stands in chains before King Agrippa, Festus and the leading men of the city. Instead of arguing law, he tells the story of a light and a voice on the Damascus road. His whole defence rests on one claim: everything he has become since that moment is obedience to what he saw.
The vision was not an offer Paul weighed up. One commentator calls refusal unthinkable, and points to the price Paul paid as proof that he told the truth.
This announcement of sovereign grace had an immediate and immense effect, both on Paul himself and on his mission... To brush aside such a vision and call would have been not only rebellion, but madness and self-destruction. And the apostle gave one proof that nothing but self-willed folly could dodge or escape: a life of unequalled suffering and labour in bearing witness to its truth — truth so important to every child of man. So he burned with zeal to tell everyone, near or far, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
Saul had answered to the chief priests and the Pharisees. What he did not do after the vision is as telling as what he did.
When God speaks, I am not to look round to see how my obedience to His voice will affect my neighbours, or to weigh what they will think of me. Saul of Tarsus lay face down when the voice of the risen and glorified Jesus reached his ear. He did not stop to ask what the chief priests and Pharisees would think of him if he obeyed. Certainly not. He says, "I did not immediately consult with anyone" (Galatians 1:16). "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." This is the true spirit and principle of discipleship... Nothing is more dangerous than to hesitate when God's light shines on your path. If you do not act on the light when you get it, you will surely end up in thick darkness.
The change went far deeper than a corrected opinion. A new Person took the centre of his life.
But on the road to Damascus everything changed, deeply and for ever. Jesus of Nazareth revealed Himself to him in the glory of God. In the once despised Jesus he found a new and commanding Object, and from that moment it ruled his life... He became obedient... What is more, the Christ who had revealed Himself to him completely displaced Paul in his own eyes.
Paul did not keep his obedience private. One writer shows the same pattern at work in any reader.
This thought runs all through Scripture. It is very simple. I receive the light of God's testimony, I believe it, and then I judge myself and my ways, and live a new life. I hear a testimony about judgment. I bow to it. Or the testimony may be about the work of Christ. I bow to that too. And as I bow I see my need. I believe the love that seeks my blessing, and I judge myself.
Paul calls it a heavenly vision. One writer follows that word forward: every servant since is called from the same place, though not in the same way.
The words, "I am Jesus," and the memory of that bright and heavenly vision, always ruled Paul's mind. As he said, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision... Every servant is called by what amounts to an order from heaven, on the pattern of the call of Saul of Tarsus. The Lord does not appear now in the glory of heaven; He calls by His own voice to the heart. There are no such visible displays today, yet the power and the reality are the same and last for ever... Saul heard His voice from the glory, and it changed him from a bitter enemy into a devoted and loving servant.
- Seen — Paul saw the living, glorified Christ. To brush off such a call would have been not just rebellion but madness.
- Surrendered — He did not first ask what the chief priests would think. Light acted on at once keeps you in the light; light delayed leaves you in thick darkness.
- Displaced — The risen Jesus took the centre of his life, and in his own eyes Paul no longer held that place.
- Sent — Obedience became a message for everyone, near or far: repent, turn to God, and live a life that shows it.
- Still speaking — The visible glory is gone, but the same voice from heaven still calls. It can still turn a bitter enemy into a devoted servant.
but have, first to those both in Damascus and Jerusalem, and to all the region of Judaea, and to the nations, announced that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
Paul stands in chains before King Agrippa. In one sentence he sums up a lifetime of preaching: the same three demands, in the same order, to every audience. But if salvation is by grace, why does he call for repentance and for deeds that match it?
Everything Paul preached flowed from what he saw and heard on the road to Damascus. The life that followed proved he had not ignored it.
It would have been not only rebellion but madness and ruin to brush aside such a vision and call. But the apostle gave his proof, and nothing but self-willed folly could dodge or escape it: a life of unequalled suffering and labour, bearing witness to the truth of that vision — truth that matters to every child of man.
Paul names four fields, and they could not be more different. He starts where he first saw the light. He ends with people who did not know God. The message never changed.
And notice, these three truths were pressed by him everywhere, and on all classes. To those of Damascus first, where he first saw the light, and where in the Jewish synagogue he preached that "Jesus was the Son of God." Then at Jerusalem, not yet finally judged, but still holding at least a semblance of God's favour and privilege. Then in Judea. And last of all, to the Gentiles, who did not know God and were given over to sin. Everywhere and always the same appeal comes from his lips, for the simple reason that all owe the same response.
The word is often flattened out. One writer clears away what repentance is not, and then says what it is.
But some may ask, What is repentance? Let us turn to Scripture to find out. It is not a mere change of mind on certain points — that would confuse it with faith... It is not simply a conviction of having done wrong; for when the crowd were cut to the heart, Peter urged them to repentance (Acts 2:38). It is not sorrow for sin, "for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret" (2 Cor. 7:10). But it is a change of mind, a judging of self, of one's ways and sins, shown by a changed life. It is God's gift (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)... It is fruitful; there are deeds in keeping with repentance (Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20).
Repentance and turning are not two words for the same act. Turning has a direction.
Other passages throw further light on turning and repentance. In Acts 3 we have "Repent therefore, and turn back." In Acts 26 we have "that they should repent and turn to God." Here I take it that "turn" is not simply a change of will. It means, as in the other case, "turning to God"... Here God's working is not gone into, since this speaks to the conscience. Men are called to judge their ways and turn to God.
Reform aims at a better standard; this aims at Someone.
Philosophy turns you to a thing, perhaps a good thing. It may make a drunkard turn to being sober, or an impure man turn to purity; but Christianity turns you, whatever you are, to God. Yes, to God, and to nothing short of God.
The three items in Paul's message run inward to outward, and the last one tests the first two.
Repentance involves coming into the light, so that one sees and judges one's own sinfulness, and then confesses it before God. Now the more we see our own sin, the more we distrust ourselves; and the more we distrust ourselves, the more we learn to trust God. So turning to God follows this turning from ourselves. All this is an inward process of mind and heart, mostly hidden from view, but if it is real it soon produces actions and works to match. If there are no deeds in keeping with repentance, we may be sure that the repentance a man professes is not the real thing. Paul insisted on all three. They are God's appointed way for receiving the blessings of the gospel, and the gospel itself produces them where it is received in faith.
The same writer marks the boundary. Asking for evidence of a changed life is one thing. Treating good works as a help towards justification is another.
If a man professes repentance, we may rightly demand that the change show itself in his daily life before we fully accept what he claims. But this has nothing to do with preaching good works as a help towards our justification.
- Vision. Paul obeyed what he saw on the Damascus road, and a life of labour and suffering proved the vision real.
- Everywhere. Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea, the nations — four very different audiences, one appeal, because all owe the same response.
- Repent. Not regret, not sorrow, not a change of opinion — a judging of self and one's ways that shows in a changed life. And it is God's gift.
- Turn. This speaks to the conscience, and it turns you to a Person, not to a better standard of behaviour.
- Works. The deeds prove the first two were real. They never buy forgiveness; the gospel itself produces them.