We rejoin the scene of Paul's testimony right after he mentioned being baptized as soon as he had called on the name of Jesus. What happened next triggered the next steps of his long-term incarceration. Between what we have as verse 16 and verse 17, Paul skips a significant amount of time. You can review it in Acts 9:19–30.
Paul skipped over his initial ministry in Damascus, which lasted many days. He didn't mention his over-the-wall-in-a-basket escape. He also didn't mention the time he spent in Arabia, during which time Jesus did some personal training with him, but we are not told any details. He also didn't mention his first visit to Jerusalem and the fact that the Christians in Jerusalem at that time were afraid of him because of his reputation. He didn't mention how Barnabas stepped up to introduce Paul to the apostles and tell his story.
He also didn't mention how the Hellenistic Jews in Jerusalem at that time were attempting to put him to death. That was the second plot to kill him. That time the brethren hustled him down from Jerusalem to Caesarea and put him on a ship to Tarsus. The other thing Paul didn't include was the significant time he spent in his hometown of Tarsus.
On that day in Jerusalem when Paul addressed the people who had earlier been beating him up, he went straight from recounting his baptism to that first visit to Jerusalem. He tells us something that happened which is not recorded in the earlier record of that visit.
1 - "He Said 'Go!'" (17-21) Or God Has A Plan 2 - "Away With Such A Fellow!" (22-24) Or Hatred Dies Hard 3 - The Commander Was Afraid (25-30) Or Bluster Backtracks
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Pastor, Heritage Bible Church in Boise, Idaho. Author, The Antioch Initiative training program for Russian Pastors through Slavic Gospel Association. Bible teacher on Heritage Bible Radio. Served as a pastor in California and Idaho since 1971. Taught Bible and Theology at The...
