Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 9]
objection has no weight except for those who hold that Luke
composed Paul's speeches freely as some Greek writers used to do.
But, if Luke had notes of Paul's speeches or help from Paul
himself, he naturally preserved the form of the two addresses
without trying to make them agree with each other in all details
or with his own narrative in chapter 9. Luke evidently attached
great importance to the story of Saul's conversion as the turning
point not simply in the career of the man, but an epoch in the
history of apostolic Christianity. In broad outline and in all
essentials the three accounts agree and testify to the
truthfulness of the account of the conversion of Saul. It is
impossible to overestimate the worth to the student of
Christianity of this event from every angle because we have in
Paul's Epistles his own emphasis on the actual appearance of
Jesus to him as the fact that changed his whole life (1Co 15:8;
Ga 1:16f.). The variations that appear in the three accounts do
not mar the story, when rightly understood, as we shall see.
Here, for instance, Luke simply mentions "a light from heaven,"
while in 22:6 Paul calls it "a great (\hikanon\) light" "about
noon" and in 26:13 "above the brightness of the sun," as it
would have to be "at midday" with the sun shining.
9:4 {He fell upon the earth} (\pes•n epi t•n g•n\). Second aorist
active participle. So in 22:7 Paul says: "I fell unto the
ground" (\epesa eis to edaphos\) using an old word rather than
the common \g•n\. In 26:14 Paul states that "we were all fallen
to the earth" (\pant•n katapesont•n h•m•n eis t•n g•n\, genitive
absolute construction). But here in verse 7 "the men that
journeyed with him stood speechless" (\hist•keisan eneoi\). But
surely the points of time are different. In 26:14 Paul refers
to the first appearance of the vision when all fell to the earth.
Here in verse 7 Luke refers to what occurred after the vision
when both Saul and the men had risen from the ground. {Saul,
Saul} (\Saoul, Saoul\). The Hebrew form occurs also in 22:7;
26:14 where it is expressly stated that the voice was in the
Hebrew (Aramaic) tongue as also in 9:17 (Ananias). Deissmann
(_Bible Studies_, p. 316) terms this use of \Saoul\ "the
historian's sense of liturgical rhythm." For the repetition of
names by Jesus note Lu 10:41 (Martha, Martha), Lu 22:31
(Simon, Simon). {Me} (\me\). In persecuting the disciples, Saul
was persecuting Jesus, as the words of Jesus in verse 5 made
plain. Christ had already spoken of the mystic union between
himself and his followers (Mt 10:40; 25:40,45; Joh 15:1-5). The
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