NT Doctrine — Acts 9:23-43

I cannot improve on my previous commentary.

Where Paul had previously officiated the execution of Stephen, he now took up the work of Stephen himself, debating with the same overpowering logic in the synagogues. To have their chief enforcer now become their chief antagonist was more than the rabbis could accept. They plotted to catch Saul leaving the city so they could kidnap and murder him. But their plans leaked and Saul slipped out of town by means of a house built atop the wall, with a window facing outside, where he was let down in a large basket.

Returning to Jerusalem, Saul had a hard time convincing the church that he was one of them. Here we see the wealthy Cypriot, Barnabas, in action again, vouching for Saul. Saul told the story of his conversion, and his ministry in Damascus. For a time, he remained with the church there, literally carrying on where Stephen left off, debating in the Greek-speaking synagogues of the city. Again, there was a plot to murder Saul, and he was spirited away by the disciples, down to the port of Caesarea, from whence he returned home to Tarsus. However, there was no one else willing to take his place as the whip hand against the followers of Jesus, so the persecution waned somewhat. Thus, for a time, the disciples grew stronger and more numerous in Judea, Galilee and Samaria.

The vessel was prepared. Now it was for Peter to cross that last line with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the senior shepherd, he visited all the congregations he could find. At one point, he stopped off in Lydda, on the Plain of Sharon, against the foothills northwest of Jerusalem. While there, he encountered Aeneas, a man paralyzed for eight years. After healing the man, the news spread across the Plain of Sharon, and many were moved by this noteworthy miracle to follow Jesus. Just down-slope from Lydda was Joppa, on the coast.

A rather popular woman named Dorcas there was famous for charitable acts. She sickened and died. Jewish custom called for the body to be washed upon death, then a period of mourning for three days before embalming. The disciples there hastily sent word and had Peter brought down. He noted the widows showing off the clothing Dorcas had made for them, as such women seldom could afford to eat, much less clothe themselves. Recalling the way Jesus did things, Peter had the house cleared of guests, then prayed in the quiet privacy before calling Dorcas back to life. He pulled her up from her deathbed and presented her alive again to the Christians there.

As we might expect, this so overwhelmed the community there that they had Peter stay awhile. The time was ripe. We note that Peter stayed in the home of a tanner, a fellow who would be outcast in Jewish society as one who handled animal carcasses, a profession regarded as unclean by Jews. In every way, the old walls of division were broken down, and those who previously had little hope were becoming children of God. The old Israel was passing away, and the New Israel was aborning.