And there was a certain disciple in Damascus by name Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, [here am] I, Lord.
Saul of Tarsus has just met the Lord, and he is now in Damascus. The Lord's next move is not to send an apostle. He speaks the name of an unknown believer who lives in that same city. What follows is one of the frankest conversations between a servant and his Master in Acts.
Scripture gives Ananias no title. He is simply a disciple. One writer draws two things from that.
The essential work in Saul's soul was finished, and now the Lord uses a human servant. Two things about that servant are worth noting. First, he was just "a certain disciple," clearly of no special prominence. It was fitting that the only man to help Saul in any way was a very humble one. Saul had been very prominent as an opponent and was soon to be very prominent as a servant of the Lord. The disciple who helped him was undistinguished and retiring. Yet he was near enough to the Lord to receive His instructions and talk with Him. It is often like this in God's ways. Second, Ananias lived in Damascus. So he was one of those against whom Saul had been breathing out threats and murder. One of the very people Saul would have murdered was sent to call him "Brother Saul." Saul's evil was repaid with good in this overwhelming way.
Saul got no special treatment for the man he would become.
Even Saul, apostle though he was, had to enter by the same lowly gate as anyone else. And so we have the story of Ananias, and the ways of the Lord. The Lord did not use some great apostle, nor even Philip, but a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, to whom He spoke in a vision.
The same Lord who spoke to Saul now speaks to Ananias. But the two men did not hear Him the same way.
And now the Lord spoke to that servant in a vision, addressing him by name, as He had personally addressed Saul. Yet how great the difference! To Saul it was One previously unknown to him who spoke. To Ananias it was One with whom that disciple was well acquainted. "Ananias," said the Lord. "Here I am, Lord," was the ready response.
Ananias answers without hesitating. One writer notes what lay behind that.
But see the way the Lord meets him. There was in Damascus a man named Ananias. The Lord always has servants to do His work, blessed be His name! Ananias was free to serve the Lord. What a happy thing it is to be a servant of the Lord. He was ready to do anything the Lord wanted.
The exchange runs both ways. The Lord does more than give an order, and Ananias replies in the same tone.
Notice, in chapter 9:10, how familiarly the Lord talks with His disciple. He opens His mind to him as to a friend. He tells him the circumstances that affect His own mind. Then Ananias answers in the same blessed confidence, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man," and so on. Of course Ananias had to obey the Lord. But this shows the unbounded confidence with which he could open his whole heart, because Jesus was so intimate with him.
Ananias then raises an objection, and the Lord's response shapes how we may pray.
So far from restraining prayer, we really need more openness with God. Scripture fully warrants this, and the case of good Ananias shows it (Acts 9:10-17). The Lord sends him to Saul of Tarsus to receive him after his conversion. But Ananias has a difficulty in his mind, and with beautiful simplicity and reverence he lays it before the Lord... Notice that the Lord does not reprove Ananias in the least. This incident, left on record, encourages us to tell the Lord about all our difficulties with reverent intimacy.
Saul saw Ananias coming before Ananias was ever told to go. Kelly reads this as God removing any suspicion that the story had been arranged between them.
Saul was to be, beyond all others, a witness of Christ to the Gentiles. So God took special care to remove from every fair and honest person any suspicion that this had been arranged between Jews. Outwardly the vision of glory was unmistakable before many witnesses. Of the whole company, only Saul heard what passed between the Lord and His servant. But divine wisdom told Ananias what had happened, without Saul or anyone else on earth telling him.
- Called. The Lord speaks the name of one obscure believer. He addresses Ananias by name, just as He had addressed Saul.
- Known. Saul heard a voice he did not know. Ananias heard a Master He was already well acquainted with.
- Ready. "Here I am, Lord" is the answer of a man free for anything the Lord wants; the Lord always has such servants.
- Frank. The Lord opens His mind as to a friend. Ananias answers with his real difficulty, and no rebuke comes. So we may bring every difficulty to Him.
- Used. No great apostle comes. Saul enters by the same lowly gate as anyone else, helped by one of the people he had come to arrest.
And the Lord [said] to him, Rise up and go into the street which is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, [he is] of Tarsus for, behold, he is praying,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and has seen [in a vision] a man by name Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he should see.
The Lord tells Ananias where to find Saul of Tarsus, then adds a second detail. God has already shown the blind man in that house who is coming to heal him. The Lord is preparing two men in the same city, and neither one knows the other. The man He picks to restore Saul's sight is a nobody.
Saul had been three days without sight and without food. What God tells Ananias shows how close His eye had been. He had already given comfort to the man He struck down.
The Lord's eye was on Saul. Nor was that all. He gave him the hope of shortly regaining his eyesight. He had already seen the man who would come in and restore it, and God revealed his name too, though until then this man was a complete stranger to him. And now the Lord spoke to that servant in a vision, addressing him by name, as He had personally addressed Saul. Yet how great the difference! The One who spoke to Saul was a stranger to him. But Ananias knew well the One who spoke to him.
Saul was an apostle. Yet his next blessing did not come straight from heaven. It came through an ordinary believer in Damascus.
Three days and nights he neither eats nor drinks. The deep moral work of God went on in that converted heart. Yet even he, apostle though he was, must enter by the same lowly gate as anyone else. And so we have the story of Ananias, and the ways of the Lord. The Lord did not use some great apostle, nor even Philip. He spoke in a vision to a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And he goes. The Lord also gave another vision to the apostle himself. In it Saul sees Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.
Why send this man and not someone weightier? Two facts about Ananias answer that.
First, he was just "a certain disciple," clearly of no special prominence. It was fitting that the only man to help Saul in any way was a very humble one. Saul had been very prominent as an opponent and was soon to be very prominent as a servant of the Lord. His helper was a quiet, unknown disciple. Yet this man stayed close enough to the Lord to receive His instructions and talk with Him. It is often like this in God's ways. Second, Ananias lived in Damascus. So he was one of the people Saul had been breathing out threats and murder against.
Saul's vision and Ananias' errand matched each other in advance. So why lay hands on him at all?
Saul's main dealing was with the Lord Himself. But he must also learn that he cannot be independent of the people of God… The Lord adds that Saul has received a confirming vision. In it a man named Ananias comes to him and puts his hands on him, so that his sight may be recovered. The laying on of his hands had no supernatural power in itself. Instead, God chose to show His power alongside the fellowship that a believer expresses by laying on hands. So the Lord revealed His errand to Ananias, and gave Saul a matching vision, so that there could be no mistake.
Laying on hands did not always mean the same thing.
In Acts 9:12, 17 the healing of the body was a picture of the spiritual. In Acts 13:3 it was the act of the saints. It expressed their fellowship in the work to which the Holy Spirit had called the apostle Paul and Barnabas.
Saul would spend the rest of his life serving others. His first lesson was on the receiving end.
So Ananias, a simple disciple, is all the more fitting a messenger to Saul. The Lord appears to him in a vision and tells him to go to the house of Judas and look for this man. Saul has already seen him in a vision, in answer to his prayer, laying his hands on him so that he may receive his sight. So the man who is to minister to others in such a large and blessed way must first learn his own need of ministry, and receive it.
- Prayer — Saul is blind, without food and praying. God's eye was on him, and He tells Ananias the very house to find him in.
- Preparation — the Lord speaks to each man on his own. Saul's vision confirms the errand, so there can be no mistake.
- Person — the messenger is a small man: not an apostle, not Philip, but an unknown disciple Saul had been threatening.
- Hands — the hands hold no power of their own. God works through a believer's expressed fellowship, and the opened eyes picture something deeper.
- Pattern — before Saul can minister to others, he must enter by the same low door as everyone else and receive ministry himself.
And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem;
The Lord has just told Ananias to go and find Saul, the man every believer feared. Ananias answers with an objection, and in making it he gives believers on earth a title they had never carried before — "your saints."
Ananias does not refuse. He lays the problem in front of the Lord, and the exchange shows how freely a servant may speak.
The Lord tells Ananias to look for Saul at Judas' house and restore his sight. Ananias answers respectfully, though he comes close to arguing back. The Lord overrules all his reluctance. He assures him of His own abounding grace, and also of Saul's genuine repentance, which fitted him for the wonderful work he was now called to. How fully, then, may we pour out the exercises of our hearts to Him! How completely may we count on the loving interest of the One who has all things at His disposal, and who takes an interest in our history from first to last!
The Lord never corrects Ananias for speaking. Commentators take the scene as a pattern for honest prayer.
So far from holding back prayer, we really need more frankness with God. Scripture fully warrants it, and the case of good Ananias shows it... Ananias has a difficulty in his mind, and with beautiful simplicity and reverence he lays it before the Lord... Notice that the Lord does not reprove Ananias in the least. The incident left on record surely encourages us to tell the Lord, with reverent intimacy, about all our difficulties.
Instead of a rebuke, the Lord answers by taking His servant into His confidence.
He begins to reason with the Lord. He had heard that this man had come to bind those who called on the name of the Lord... Of course he had to go and do what the Lord wanted. But the Lord explains the matter to him. He shares His thoughts about Saul with him: that Saul was a chosen vessel to bear His name, and that He would show him what he must suffer for His name's sake. In a word, the Lord opens His heart to Ananias, as to a friend whom He treats with full confidence.
Ananias judges the errand by Saul's record.
But Ananias — is he ready for this full expression of mercy to someone like Saul? Could he take in the new wine of this gospel of the glory, which could reach out and lay hold of a man like him? No; he objects... He cannot help supposing that it was all a mistake. Impossible that one like this could be laid hold of in this way, as a fit vessel to display the fullness of mercy.
Ananias calls the people Saul was hunting "your saints." That word became the usual New Testament name for Christians.
Acts 9 applies the title "saints" to believers of the present age for the first time. The earlier Scriptures often describe Old Testament believers this way... The letters use the title constantly. Superstition gives it to a few special people, such as Matthew or Peter, and only after they have died. Scripture gives it here and now to every blood-washed believer in the Lord Jesus. Note this fact carefully.
The title marks out who a person belongs to, and it carries a way of life with it.
In the New Testament the word used means "holy one." A saint is one set apart for God; he is such by calling... Saints are therefore a distinct, recognised group of people who belong to God — His saints. All Christians are included in this group, so the apostle could speak of "all saints." Christians need not shrink from owning the name God was pleased to mark them out with. They should always remember that there is a way of life that fits saints.
Ananias goes on to describe the believers Saul came to arrest as those who call on the Lord's name — the identifying badge of the early Christians.
It would seem from the book of Acts that calling on the Lord's name was the hallmark of a Christian. In Acts 9 Ananias, in his prayer to the Lord, speaks of Saul of Tarsus as having "authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name" (verse 14). And again, in verse 21, some were asking, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?"
- Fear — Ananias judges Saul by his reputation, and decides the errand must be a mistake.
- Freedom — he takes that difficulty straight to the Lord. Commentators call this a pattern of frank, reverent prayer.
- Favour — the Lord does not rebuke him; He answers by sharing His own thoughts about Saul with him, as with a friend.
- Fullness — the grace that reached Saul was bigger than the servant's sums. Ananias could not see how far mercy would go.
- Family name — "your saints" is the first use of the title for living believers. It belongs to every believer now, not to a few after death.
and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name.
The Lord has just told Ananias to find Saul, the man who came to Damascus hunting believers. Ananias objects, and his objection raises three questions: who were these hunted people, how far did Saul's authority reach, and why does the Lord let His servant argue with Him?
Ananias does not describe the targets as church members or a movement. He names them by what they do — they call on the name of Jesus. One writer treats this as the plain identifying mark of a believer, noting that the same description follows Saul around the chapter:
It would seem from the book of Acts that calling on the Lord's Name was the hallmark of a Christian. In Acts 9 Ananias, in his prayer to the Lord, speaks of Saul of Tarsus as having "authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name" (verse 14). And again, in verse 21, some were asking whether this was not the man who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem. Indeed, is anyone saved who has not called on the Name of the Lord? … To be saved, the call need only be made once. But the references to the Christian company calling on the Lord's Name are in the continuous tense. They suggest that believers would normally be calling on the Lord.
That habit also says something about the One they call on:
Tell me I am not to worship Christ: you take away the only Christ I know. I have no other than the One I adore and worship with a thankful heart that owes everything to Him. … But more; calling on the name of the Lord is, so to speak, the definition of a Christian. Paul three times begged the Lord to take away the thorn, and the Lord heard his cry and answered. Stephen was calling out and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
The word "here" matters. Saul's authority reached Damascus, a city outside Israel. One writer reads that choice as deliberate:
I can only conclude that Saul thought he had done such a good job with the Jerusalem Christians that he would spread his net wider. I don't know why he chose Damascus, it was quite a long way and it was outside of Israel. That may have been the point. Perhaps he was proving that he could strike at Christians outside the borders of historic Israel, so that fleeing believers would not think themselves safe even outside the country. So Damascus it was. He got letters from the chief priests to the synagogues there, so they would know he had official backing to deal with this error in the harshest possible way.
Ananias comes close to arguing back, and the scene is valued precisely for that closeness:
Ananias had communications from the Lord (vv. 10-12), which even in a vision drew out the expression of his extreme surprise. Nor can there be conceived a more exquisite unfolding of the free intercourse which grace has now opened between the heart of the Master in heaven and that of the servant on earth. Ananias on one side ventures respectfully even to the verge of remonstrance (vv. 13, 14) … as the Lord on the other overrules all reluctance by the assurance not only of His own abounding grace, but of Saul's genuine repentance fitting him for the wonderful work to which he was henceforth called.
The limit was in Ananias, not in his facts:
But Ananias — is he prepared for this full expression of mercy to someone like Saul? Could he understand the new wine of this gospel of the glory, which could come out and lay hold of someone like him? No; he objects… He cannot help supposing that it was all a mistake. Impossible that one like this could be laid hold of in this way.
Another writer names that attitude and turns it into a test for the reader:
Ananias, in Acts 9, was something of a Jonah, unprepared for full grace. And so shall we be, if we do not come to God ourselves as "the chief of sinners," taking up all sin as in our own persons.
The Lord does not scold Ananias for speaking. One writer draws the lesson for our own praying:
So far from restraining prayer, we really need more frankness with God. … The Lord sends him to Saul of Tarsus to receive him after his conversion. But Ananias has a difficulty in his mind, and with beautiful simplicity and reverence, he lays it before the Lord. … Notice that the Lord does not reprove Ananias in the least. The record of this incident encourages us to tell the Lord about all our difficulties with reverent closeness.
Yet the freedom to speak is not freedom to stay home. One short command closes the discussion:
"Go your way," said the Lord. This one command was enough to still every doubt and to settle every question that had arisen in his soul. He went his way and entered the house, honoured to be sent on such a mission.
- Named — believers are known here by one habit: they call on the name of Jesus. The wording points to an ongoing practice, not one moment.
- Worshipped — to call on that name is to pray to Christ. One writer calls this close to the definition of a Christian.
- Hunted — Saul's letters from the chief priests gave him official backing. He carried it outside Israel, so fleeing believers would feel safe nowhere.
- Questioned — Ananias had his facts right, but he expected too little mercy. One writer compares him to Jonah, unready for full grace.
- Sent — the Lord answers without a rebuke, then ends it with "Go." Frankness in prayer and quick obedience belong together.