The account of Paul’s conversion in the Bible gives us two very important things to think about. First, it definitively proves to us that without God’s direct intervention in the life of an unbeliever, there’d be no possibility of salvation (ref. Ephesians 2:1-10) - it is by grace alone that we are saved. Second, it gives us both insight into Paul’s theology and context to his epistles.

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
- Acts 9:1-22

The undeniable truth is that God decided, in His good timing, to interrupt Paul’s plans (aka “Saul”). This was not Paul’s choice at the time; rather, it was God’s. For the sake of comparison, why didn’t He interrupt the lives of Paul’s fellow traveling companions at the same time? The broader question is, why doesn’t God choose to convert everyone on their own “road to Damascus”, or at all?

Understanding God’s grace doesn’t mean we will always understand why, who, how, and when He desires to give it. All we can do – what we should always do – is be grateful He’s shown us grace through our own salvation.

Paul understood this, given his own recollection of how he was saved. He was headed in the opposite direction, as a fierce persecutor of Christ’s Church, when God intervened, by grace. We know that God doesn’t do this for everyone. Again, if God is responsible for opening the eyes of a dead person (corpses, after all, cannot open their own eyes), why doesn’t He do this for everyone? The Biblical answer is that He has a purpose for His elect (read Romans 9 for more on this). Paul wrote about this often with the utmost gratitude.

“And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 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. And he said,

The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
- Acts 22:12-16

When Paul encountered Christ on the road to Damascus he was given the reason for it. According to Holy Scripture, and Paul’s own account, it was because God had a purpose and had appointed Paul, specifically, to be an evangelist to the Gentiles. Whose plan was this? Certainly not Paul’s! For the record, we all have a purpose to God’s glory, we just don’t have ours recorded in the Bible. Before salvation, we each had our own plans, didn’t we?

God opens the eyes of unbelievers. However, He doesn’t open everyone’s eyes according to Holy Scripture. If a person’s eyes are never opened, they will never be saved.

And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet,

‘for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
- Acts 26:14-18

Christ clearly states that the purpose of His intervention with Paul was to open the eyes of the Gentiles. Paul was to be used as an instrument of grace to draw Christ’s sheep to Himself (ref. John 10). We have a similar calling today regarding the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

Understanding Paul’s conversion helps us interpret his epistles. He wrote often about God’s grace from the context of his own conversion experience. He knew that without God’s direct intervention (something God had planned from eternity past with a purpose), he’d still be on that “road to Damascus,” persecuting the Church and thinking he was doing God’s bidding.

So, the second benefit of understanding Paul’s conversion is that we are able to apprehend his heart and, therefore, his epistles. Paul was forever indebted to God for saving Him, for interrupting his plans for evil against Christ, and for setting him on the way that leads to life. These events were designed into God’s plans for Paul from before human history even began. The same goes for you, my friend.

God animates otherwise dead, useless human beings, and makes them new creatures to fulfill His own purposes, for His own good pleasure. This is grace, my friend. You don’t deserve it. Paul knew this, too, so he wrote about it often.

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
- Acts 20:24

To Paul, God’s grace and His Gospel were inseparable. To interpret Paul’s writing correctly, you must connect God’s purpose with His grace, as Paul did. God’s grace is used by Him to achieve His own outcomes (not the outcomes man supposes or desires). Just because God has opened your eyes to Truth, never make the mistake of taking credit for any of it. And furthermore, never think there was something special about you that prompted you to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior (versus the next person). Dead people can’t open their eyes – God must open them. Paul’s conversion is a perfect example of this, which is why he wrote the way he did about the Gospel of grace.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
- Ephesians 2:1-10

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins