Acts 22:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him.

NIV: He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him.

NASB: came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up at him.

CSB: came and stood by me and said, 'Brother Saul, regain your sight.' And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.

NLT: He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him!

KJV: Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.

NKJV: came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him.

When Paul was a younger man, he sat under the teaching of the rabbi Gamaliel and learned how to be a properly devout and legalistic Pharisee (Acts 22:3). When Stephen was murdered, Paul approved (Acts 7:54–60; 22:20). He then received permission from the Sanhedrin to track down Jesus-followers in Jerusalem and abroad to bring them to trial where he voted for their deaths (Acts 8:1–3; 9:1–2; 26:10).

On his way to arresting Jewish Christians in Damascus, Paul met Jesus in a great light that literally blinded him. Jesus directed him to a specific house in Damascus and called His follower Ananias to meet him there. Ananias had heard of Paul and took some convincing. Yet when he arrived, he led Paul to put his faith in Christ and restored his sight (Acts 9:11–19; 22:12–16). Paul proclaimed Jesus in Damascus for some time before a plot was made against his life. Paul left Damascus and eventually returned to Jerusalem, where he met with persecution from his former associates (Acts 9:28–29; Galatians 1:15–24). Jesus sent him away from the Jews and told him to take the message of salvation to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).

In his younger years, Paul would have never been seen with a Gentile, but for the last many years Gentiles have been his primary mission field. In fact, he has just returned from planting a church in Ephesus where he met a Gentile named Trophimus. Trophimus has joined a group of other Jesus-followers from around the Aegean Sea to bring support to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 20:4; Romans 15:26). Jews from Trophimus' district saw him with Paul in the city and later saw Paul in the temple. Thinking Paul had brought a Gentile into the temple, they attacked Paul (Acts 21:27–31). Paul responds by trying to explain why he associates with Gentiles: Jesus told him to.

The next day, Paul meets with the Sanhedrin and accidentally calls the high priest a "whitewashed wall" (Acts 23:1–5). This is one reason some scholars suggest Paul never fully regained his sight, and that partial blindness is the "thorn" Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

Acts 22:6–16 continues Paul's defense against accusations that he both breaks the Mosaic law and associates with Gentiles. He has described his early life training to be a Pharisee and persecuting the church (Acts 22:3–5). Now, he explains how he came to follow Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. His accusers show polite interest in his story until he arrives at the point in the narrative where Jesus tells him to give Gentiles the way of salvation. Paul's conversion experience is also recorded in Acts 9:1–19 and reiterated in Acts 26:12–18.

In Acts 22, a young Roman military officer realizes he cannot control Jews who do not wish to be controlled. He has just rescued Paul from a crowd that largely doesn't know why they want to kill Paul. In hopes of gathering information, the tribune allows Paul to speak to the crowd. The crowd listens only briefly, then explodes again. The tribune tries flogging but is foiled by Paul's Roman citizenship. Finally, the tribune schedules a meeting with the Sanhedrin. It does not go well (Acts 23:1–10).

Paul came to Jerusalem to tell the church of his ministry's success with Gentiles. The leaders are more worried about a rumor that Paul no longer respects the Jewish law. Paul agrees to perform a very Jewish ritual, but in the process is falsely accused of bringing a Gentile into the temple. A mob assaults him, and the Roman tribune arrests him (Acts 21:17–36). The tribune tries to uncover the truth by letting Paul speak to the crowd, then almost flogging him (Acts 21:37—22). Next, he will bring Paul to the Sanhedrin, to no avail (Acts 23:1–10).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.