Saul was a native of Tarsus. He was of pure Israelite descent and proud of it. He was by birth a Roman citizen. He was certainly bilingual. Knowing both Greek and Hebrew allowed him to act as the great missionary mediator between Israel and the empire. He first attended at the University at Tarsus but was then sent to Jerusalem to study under the Rabbis. It is significant that Josephus said, "The only wisdom they prize is knowledge of our laws and the correct interpretation of the Scriptures." His mentor at Jerusalem was Gamaliel, the careful thinker from the fifth Chapter of Acts, who taught him according to the strict manner of the law. Saul, however, was young and not a careful thinker. He supported an orthodox rather than a liberal approach to the Jewish faith and would tolerate no opposition.

An early description of Christians referred to them as people "of the Way." It is very appropriate because Christianity is a combination of two things: an interpretation of life and a way of life. Human beings crave explanations of their existence. The Christian explains life in terms of creative purpose and talks of God’s order. It explains evil in terms of the necessary conditions under which men live with a limited freedom and develop a moral nature. It explains suffering as an opportunity to bear the pain of the world and grow more deeply into the knowledge of God.

Explanations are good and necessary but of little value unless the knowledge can be applied to everyday life. The Way refers to how people use this knowledge to approach life. It is the way people manage their bodies, neither indulging them not stifling them, but using them as instruments of the spirit. It is the way people treat other people, not as pieces of property but as persons. The Way showed Stephen how to meet death, neither anticipating it nor dreading it, but going toward it as a man beginning a great adventure. The Way without the explanation is too mystical to be helpful. The explanation without the Way does not guide us toward living a full Christian life.

After Stephen’s death, Saul set out to persecute the Christians in Damascus, but on the way experienced a conversion that changed him from a fierce enemy of the faith to its most travelled Apostle. It seems odd to us that a man so passionate about eliminating Christians could be so suddenly changed into an equally passionate Apostle. We think changes of that nature occur over a long period of time and as the result of a number of events. But, when faced with contradictory facts, we often stubbornly ignore them until we are literally forced to accept a new reality.

From a legal point of view, Saul considered Jesus a moral anarchist and, as such, an enemy to the Jewish faith. Saul had a serious desire to make the most of life and dedicated himself to doing so. He stubbornly held his original view, but he was not unaware of Jesus’ existence. He surely noticed how Jesus was reflected in the lives of his followers. He had also observed how Stephen reacted when he was stoned. Stephen’s countenance at his stoning must have made quite an impression on the young mind of Saul. The sudden conversion was probably not so sudden at all.

It would be easy to overlook Ananias when considering Saul’s conversion. Ananias was not a willing participant. He knew of Saul’s work against the Christians and thought this was surely a diversion by which Saul could bind more Christians. Nevertheless, Ananias became the interpreter of the experience. Without the guidance of Ananias, Saul could have easily just been dazed and bewildered. He might have never regained his sight or refocused his life. Ananias translated the blinding light into explicit directions and duties. The Lord said unto Ananias, "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake." Somehow, suffering is not what I want to see in a promise but it told of what was coming.

In the synagogues, Paul started preaching Christ as the Son of God. Unfortunately, people remembered how he had been a dangerous enemy to Christians just a few days ago. They would not believe him because of his past. He so confounded the Jews at Damascus that they took counsel to kill him. A few faithful friends got him safely out of the city.

Paul’s first attempt to preach was a dismal failure. So he returned to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples. They had not forgotten the stoning of Stephen and they remembered Paul’s consent to that process. They would not meet with him for fear of betrayal. Note, Jesus converted the man in an instance but would not make his path straight and easy. His prior actions had been forgiven, but he must still deal with the fruit of that life. It is the same with us as we obtain forgiveness but still have to clean up the messes we have created. Imagine how Paul felt. He surely suffered from memories of his persecution of the Christians. He survived the shattering experience on the road to Damascus and the pain of adjusting to an entirely new life. After all that, the followers of Jesus refused to give him a chance.

Barnabus intervened, pleading Paul’s case with the disciples. He told how Paul spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians to the point that they wanted to kill him. When the disciples understood his conversion and heard of the effects of his work, they accepted him and then sent him to Tarsus. Now we hear the churches in Judea, Galilee and Samaria had rest from persecution. They were edified by walking in the way of the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and were multiplied. It is also interesting to note that little is known of Barnabus after his vital contribution to Paul’s work.

The story of Paul is interrupted by two stories about Peter. As we noted, the church was experiencing a relatively quiet period of growth for the moment. The first story about Peter has him curing a man named Aeneas of paralysis. The second story has him raising a woman named Tabitha from the dead. Stories like these occur over and over again in the history of early Christianity. They occur too frequently to allow us to discredit them as fiction. We recognize that they may have been exaggerated, but every one of them has a certain truth at the heart of it. Wherever the risen Christ is present, there is new power to overcome the handicaps of human existence. Miracles do happen. They happened then and they happen now.

The point of these two stories is clear. The New Testament shows the early church never believed the power to perform miracles was confined to Jesus. Jesus promised that his disciples, by gift of the Spirit, would do even greater things, and according to the stories in Acts, they proceeded to do so. Acts therefore pleads that the miracles of Jesus can still be used as evidence for his divine nature. If to perform a miracle means that a man is divine, then the power of the Spirit in Peter certainly is divine.

Consider how Jesus taught us to pray. He taught us to express praise and glory for God. He taught us to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God. He taught us to pray for the strength to follow God’s will. He taught us to ask for our needs. He taught us to pray for help in forgiving others as he forgives us. He taught us to pray for the strength to avoid temptation.

After that, Jesus taught us that prayer can accomplish anything if it is aligned with God’s will. Remember how many places he taught that prayer was the key to everything in life. In all that, he never took credit for the accomplishments or miracles. He did not claim he made them happen. He said He asked God for the miracles and always did so in keeping with God’s will. He taught his disciples that they could accomplish even more through their prayers and with the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had no monopoly on miracles. The miracles in the New Testament are the signs of the tremendous surplus and overflow of divine energy that had come into the world through Jesus and was being communicated to men through channels chosen by him. It was a sign in the language of its own day. The language of our day may differ, but the sign is the same – new life as the result of resurrection power. Are we praying to keep that power new and flowing in our lives?