A Year in Luke/ActsSample

It has been noted that “Saul was almost as much trouble when he was on your side as he was when he was against you” because he was so zealous, he would never let things lie: “With Israel’s Scriptures richly present to his mind, and the risen Jesus burningly alive in his heart, he wasn’t going to mess around or tolerate sloppy thinking of half-baked arguments. Luke is preparing us for chapters 13 - 28, when all this is on continuous display.” (NT Wright, p54, The Challenge of Acts)

After only several days of being baptized, Saul is confounding and frustrating the Jews who lived in Damascus by “proving that Jesus was the Messiah.” (v22). Once his eyes were opened, in light of everything he had studied, he was already a formidable apologist. Over time, he will become perhaps the most prominent theologian the church has ever known.