The Conversion of Saul

9 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest^{(A) 2} and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.^{(B) 4} He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”^{(C) 5} He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶ But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.^{(D) 8} Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing;^[a] so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”^{(E) 11} The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying,^{(F) 12} and he has seen in a vision^[b] a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.”^{(G) 15} But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;^{(H) 16} I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”^{(I) 17} So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul^[c] and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”^{(J) 18} And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹ and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul Preaches in Damascus

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,^{(K) 20} and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” ²¹ All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”^{(L) 22} Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus^[d] was the Messiah.^[e](M)

Saul Escapes from the Jews

²³ After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,^{(N) 24} but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him,^{(O) 25} but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall,^[f] lowering him in a basket.

Paul’s Vindication of His Apostleship

¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin,^{(A) 12} for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it.^{(B) 14} I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.^{(C) 15} But when the one^[a] who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace was pleased^{(D) 16} to reveal his Son to me,^[b] so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with any human,^{(E) 17} nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterward I returned to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days,^{(F) 19} but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.^{(G) 20} In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,^{(H) 22} and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ;^{(I) 23} they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

3 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.

Breaking with the Past

To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a source of steadfastness.

² Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!^{[a](A) 3} For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God^[b] and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh^(B)— ⁴ even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;^{(C) 6} as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

⁷ Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.^{(D) 8} More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ^{(E) 9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ,^[c] the righteousness from God based on faith.^{(F) 10} I want to know Christ^[d] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.^(G)