and the other is a deceptive, self-serving half-truth from people interested WebThe Good Ananias: A Lesson for Believers. Their attempt to deceive the apostles was an attempt to deceive God putting the Spirit of the Lord to the test (v. 9) and they paid the price! His name was Ananias (not to be confused with the husband of To Paul, his relationship, by faith, to Jesus Christ was also the beginning of his new relationship to the body of Christ, the church: Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christs afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. He goes for broke. How does Ananias ability to rise above his own feelings of hatred toward Saul encourage Saul to move With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith (2 Thessalonians 1:11). Those whose lives Saul would gladly have taken in his unsaved days now sought to save his life by sending him away. Ananias was afraid because he knew Sauls reputation as a merciless persecutor of the church. Furthermore, in Acts 26:10 Paul testifies that he received letters from the chief priests, not just the chief priest alone. He should not be circumcised. Ananias would have lost a human beings greatest privilege, of being an agent of the Lord (like an angel of the Lord). So Ananias found Saul at Judas' house, praying for help. WebThe last time they saw Saul, he was arresting and killing Christians. WebWhy was Ananias afraid of helping Saul? However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. 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. 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Let us be careful to discern what changes the gospel requires and what changes it does not. It was as the Son of God that Christ was revealed to him on the Damascus road (Gal. vii.) ,/1Xa} V= endstream endobj 133 0 obj 634 endobj 94 0 obj << /Type /Page /Parent 88 0 R /Resources 95 0 R /Contents [ 98 0 R 100 0 R 102 0 R 104 0 R 122 0 R 124 0 R 126 0 R 129 0 R ] /MediaBox [ 0 0 792 612 ] /CropBox [ 0 0 792 612 ] /Rotate 0 >> endobj 95 0 obj << /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageB ] /Font << /F1 109 0 R /F3 106 0 R /F4 107 0 R /F6 118 0 R /F7 116 0 R >> /XObject << /Im1 127 0 R >> /ExtGState << /GS1 131 0 R /GS2 130 0 R >> /ColorSpace << /Cs5 96 0 R >> >> endobj 96 0 obj [ /CalRGB << /WhitePoint [ 0.9505 1 1.089 ] /Gamma [ 2.22221 2.22221 2.22221 ] /Matrix [ 0.4124 0.2126 0.0193 0.3576 0.71519 0.1192 0.1805 0.0722 0.9505 ] >> ] endobj 97 0 obj 1512 endobj 98 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 97 0 R >> stream The call to salvation is also the call to a life of holiness and obedience. Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way,137 both men and women,138 he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn (Isaiah 59:15b60:13). Verse 18 tells us that, "straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight, and he arose and was baptized." WebAs Donald Davis notes, In case God has overlooked Sauls atrocities, [Ananias] takes occasion to issue a brief reminder. 29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. Paul experienced many hardships in his travels, and he was frequently thrown into jail for preaching about Jesus. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight (Acts 9:10-12). These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 146 It is possible, however, to understand the expression, Brother, as referring to Saul only as a fellow Jew. Second, we are not given enough information in the biblical text to solve them dogmatically. Sauls conversion was a miracle, short and simple, but not so much the result of the external miracle of the bright light and the voice of the Lord as the internal transformation and illumination which God wrought: 15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man (Galatians 1:15-16). When the plot became known to Saul, he made a successful, albeit undignified, escape from the city of Damascus. . 20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. It is also bad news for the self-righteous. Your merchants were the worlds great men. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Christianity was described as putting off the old and putting on the new (Colossians 3). WebExplain why Ananias was told that Saul was a 'Chosen Vessel' Give an account of the vision which Saul had while traveling on the road to the Damascus. 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? One moment, Saul is inflicting pain and suffering on others who trust in Jesus as the Messiah, the next, he is enduring suffering for the sake of Jesus, the Messiah. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. Shortly afterwards, the Lord spoke to a disciple named Ananias, asking him to go to Saul, place his hands on him, and restore his sight. 41He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. No sinner is beyond the grace and the grasp of God. The risen Lord selected Saul out of the group with which he was traveling to hear, to see Him, and to understand His words. Up till now, Jesus was the sinner, and Saul was the saint. . These two shocking deaths served as an example to the body of Christ that God hates hypocrisy. Ananias small act of obedience led to a great harvest for the kingdom. The splendid deliberateness with which God forged His human tool is the great lesson of these years. (You know, just in case God has forgotten something) When we look at Pauls great love and compassion for the saints, we have to remind ourselves of the hate he once had toward them. in expanding, as well as justifying, their earthly wealth and power. Blindness, not willing to see, not willing to understand is all too common but Ananias cured Saul blindness by a touch. How much better to petition God to save those whom we are concerned about, a God who desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). in 1971. As he himself understood the heavenly voice which said to him at his baptism, You are my Son (Mark 1:11 par. All rights reserved. the citation of Ps 2:7 in Pauls speech at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:33). 26:63; Luke 22:67, 70). And be thankful (Colossians 3:15). I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousness that comes from God and is by faith (Philippians 3:1-9; cf. His career as a persecutor of Christians seems to have begun with Stephen, but it quickly spread to all of the Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 7:588:3). 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. From the fact that three different accounts of Sauls conversion are recorded in Acts, we know this event had to play a crucial role in the expansion of the church. Thus, persecuting the church was persecuting Jesus Christ. Ananias was that kind of a disciple. Jesus did not address the entire group but said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? The others knew that something unusual was going on, but they did not grasp it (Acts 22:9). Do not let anyone despise you (Titus 2:11-15). There are all too many autonomous Christians, those who feel that coming to faith in Christ does not necessitate identifying with His body, the church. All Ananias did was to obey Christs command to go pray with Saul so that Saul could do all those things. What is wrong with Ananias response to the Lord? To whom did the Lord communicate "in a vision"? But as I see the call of God referred to in the New Testament, it seems that the call of salvation assumes other callings, to which Paul and other New Testament writers made frequent reference: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God (Romans 1:1). Could Judas have been a Christian? When Ananias placed his hands on Saul he was filled with the Holy Spirit, healed of his blindness, received water baptism, and began to eat and regain his strength. Acts ix. This man who had formerly cringed at the preaching of the gospel148 was now proclaiming the same message. to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts 26:18). It is some 150 miles Northeast from Jerusalem and watered by the river Abana from Anti-Lebanon. For all the saints. There are differences between the three accounts given to us in Acts. came under Alexander the Great's rule. This three-fold repetition is a clear indication of the importance of this event, especially in the themes Luke is seeking to develop in the Book of Acts. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. How humorous it seems to hear Ananias informing the Lord that Saul was an enemy, one who had caused many Christians great suffering and adversity, as though He was unaware of this! 6:17; Phil. Damascus, a city some 150 miles to the northeast of Jerusalem, was one such city. 2, called him Ananias ben Nebedeus. The obedience and faith that Ananias demonstrated in going to Saul and helping to restore his sight were incredible, to say the least. . of him. The man who, days before, was persecuting Christ was now preaching Christ. Jesus dealt with Nicodemus (John 3) very differently from the Samaritan woman (John 4).
Buuz Hiih Arga, Aledmys Diaz Wife Picture, Representante A Nivel Nacional De La Florida 2021, Articles W