The Dramatic Story of the Conversion of St. Paul, Told by a Painting; in Honor of the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Which Occurs Wednesday, J

[mdgspencer]

see cuf.org/2009/05/looking-at-a-masterpiece-st-pauls-conversion-on-the-way-to-damascus/
Breathing hate. he was on his way to Damascus, to capture and punish Christians, soon after the death of Jesus. On the road, Christ suddenly appeared to him with divine force, asking Paul why you are persecuting me, so that Paul plunged off his horse down to the ground… With this rebuke, brought divine power and grace upon his soul, Paul could no longer be an opponent of Jesus, but his great follower.

 

[detoutcoeur]

The Conversion of St. Paul: Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 9:1-19

** 9:1–19] This is the first of three accounts of Paul’s conversion (with Acts 22:3–16 and Acts 26:2–18) with some differences of detail owing to Luke’s use of different sources.

Paul’s experience was not visionary but was precipitated by the appearance of Jesus, as he insists in 1 Cor 15:8. The words of Jesus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” related by Luke with no variation in all three accounts, exerted a profound and lasting influence on the thought of Paul. Under the influence of this experience he gradually developed his understanding of justification by faith (see the letters to the Galatians and Romans) and of the identification of the Christian community with Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 12:27).

That Luke would narrate this conversion three times is testimony to the importance he attaches to it. This first account occurs when the word is first spread to the Gentiles. At this point, the conversion of the hero of the Gentile mission is recounted. The emphasis in the account is on Paul as a divinely chosen instrument (Acts 9:15).*