Acts 9:6

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. [AND HE, TREMBLING AND ASTONISHED, SAID, LORD, WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO? AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM.] The last clause of Acts 9:5, "[It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks]." and the first half of Acts 9:6, "[And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him.]" which we have enclosed within brackets, are found in no Greek manuscript either uncial or cursive; and though it is in the authorized Vulgate, the best copies of that version want them. But as the entire passage occurs in the apostle's own accounts of his conversion, it has thus d...

6.The fruit of that reprehension followeth, wherewith we have said it was requisite that Paul should have been sore shaken, that his hardness might be broken. For now he offereth himself as ready to do whatsoever he should command him, whom of late he despised. For when he asketh what Christ would have him do, he granteth him authority and power. Even the very reprobate are also terrified with the threatening of God, so that they are compelled to reverence him, and to submit themselves unto his will and pleasure; yet, nevertheless, they cease not to fret and to foster stubbornness within. But as God humbled Paul, so he wrought effectually in his heart. For it came not to pass by any goodness of nature, that Paul did more willingly submit himself to God than Pharaoh, (Exodus 7:13;) but because, being like to an anvil, [Pharaoh] did, with his hardness, beat back the whips of God wherewith...

1-9 So ill informed was Saul, that he thought he ought to do all he could against the name of Christ, and that he did God service thereby; he seemed to breathe in this as in his element. Let us not despair of renewing grace for the conversion of the greatest sinners, nor let such despair of the pardoning mercy of God for the greatest sin. It is a signal token of Divine favour, if God, by the inward working of his grace, or the outward events of his providence, stops us from prosecuting or executing sinful purposes. Saul saw that Just One, ch. Acts 22:14; Acts 26:13. How near to us is the unseen world! It is but for God to draw aside the veil, and objects are presented to the view, compared with which, whatever is most admired on earth is mean and contemptible. Saul submitted without reserve, desirous to know what the Lor...

Verse Acts 9:6. _TREMBLING_] Under a strong apprehension of meeting the judgment he deserved. _AND ASTONISHED_] At the _light_, the _thunder_, and the _voice_. _LORD, WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?_] The word κυριε, _Lord_, is here to be understood in its proper sense, as expressing _authority_ and _dominion_: in the 5th verse it appears to be equivalent to our word _sir_. The pride of the Pharisee is now brought down to the dust; and the fury of the persecutor is not only restrained, but the lion becomes a lamb. _What wilt thou have me to do_? Wilt thou condescend to _employ me_ among thy meanest _servants_? _GO INTO THE CITY, AND IT SHALL BE TOLD THEE_, c.] Jesus could have informed him at once what was his will concerning him but he chose to

AND HE, TREMBLING - Alarmed at what he saw and heard, and at the consciousness of his own evil course. It is not remarkable that a sinner trembles when he sees his guilt and danger. AND ASTONISHED - At what he saw. LORD, WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO? - This indicates a subdued soul, a humbled spirit. Just before, he had sought only to do his own will; now he inquired what was the will of the Saviour. Just before he was acting under a commission from the Sanhedrin; now he renounced their authority, and asked what the Lord Jesus would have him to do. Just before he had been engaged in a career of opposition to the Lord Jesus; now he sought at once to do his will. This indicates the usual change in the mind of the sinner when he is converted. The great controversy between him and God is, whose will shall be followed. The sinner follows his own; the first act of t

EXPOSITION ACTS 9:1 _But _for _and, _A.V.; _breathing _for _breathing out, _A.V.; _threatening _for _threatenings, _A.V. THREATENING AND SLAUGHTER. The phrase ἐμπνέων ἀπειλῆς κ.τ.λ., is rather a difficult one, and is variously explained. Schleusner takes the genitives in "threatening and slaughter" as genitives of the thing desired, "punting after threatening and slaughter" (comp. Amos 2:7). Meyer explains it "out of the threatenings and murder [in his heart] breathing hard at the disciples"—an expression indicating passion. Alford, taking nearly the sense of the A.V., makes "threatenings and slaughter" to be as it were the very material of his breath, whether breathed out or breathed in. Considering that ἐμπνέω means "to br

AND HE TREMBLING AND ASTONISHED,.... At the light and voice, and appearance of Christ, and especially at the words last spoken; he was now pricked to the heart, and filled with a sense of sin, and loaded with guilt, and had dreadful apprehensions of his state and condition, on account of his past wickedness, and the present course of sin he was in: so persons under first convictions "tremble" at the sight of their sins, which rise up like so many ghosts, and stare them in the face, and load their consciences with guilt; at the swarms of corruptions they see in their carts, which appear to them an habitation of devils, a hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; at the curses of a righteous law which threatens with damnation and death; at the future judgment, and the apprehensions of divine wrath; and at the voice and word of God, which strikes terror, cuts...

Acts 9:1. _And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem._ His very breath was hot with malice against the saints, he could not live without venting his spite upon the disciples of Christ. He showed this by the fact that he not only sought to arrest men, but he was equally cruel towards women, who, from their weakness, one would have thought might have been let alone but he expressly desired it to be written in the letters that, «whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.» Acts 9:3. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and sudden

ACTS 9:5-6 diw,keij\ avlla, After diw,keij (and omitting avlla, of ver. Acts 9:6) the Textus Receptus adds sklhro,n soi pro.j ke,ntra lakti,zein. (6) tre,mwn te kai. qambw/n ei=pe( Ku,rie( ti, me qe,leij poih/sai* kai. o` ku,rioj pro.j auvto,n, which is rendered in the AV as follows: “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (6) And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him.” So far as is known, no Greek witness reads these words at this place; they have been taken from...

CHAPTER 9 __ 1. The vision of Glory on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1). 2. Instructions given to Ananias (Acts 9:10). 3. Saul filled with the Spirit, is baptized and preaches that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:17). 4. Saul persecuted and back in Jerusalem (Acts 9:23). 5. Further Acts of Peter (Acts 9:32). The previous chapter must be looked upon in its main part as a parenthesis. The record now leads us back to the close of the seventh, and the person who was connected with the great tragedy enacted there is prominently brought n