Acts 9:20

Saul Proclaims Christ in Damascus

20 And immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: "This one is the Son of God!"

Acts 9:20 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 9:20

And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues
The Syriac version adds, "of the Jews"; that is, which were in Damascus, ( Acts 9:2 ) from whence it appears, that he was immediately, as soon as converted, qualified for the work of preaching the Gospel: nor did he confer with flesh and blood, or stand disputing and debating with himself and carnal reason, what was best for him to do; but as soon as he knew Christ himself, he preached him to others, and whom he always made the subject of his ministry; and particularly,

that he is the Son of God;
the only begotten of the Father, the eternal Son of God, truly and properly God, of the same nature and essence with God his Father, and equal to him. His design was to assert and maintain the dignity of his person, which is the foundation of his office, as Mediator, and of all the wonderful things he performed: had he meant no more than that he was the Messiah, the sense would only be, that he preached that Christ was the Christ; but the meaning is, that he preached that Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah, was not a mere man, but a divine person, even the Son of God: he set out in his ministry, with the principal and most fundamental article of the Christian religion, that which Christ asserted, and for which he suffered, and which all the apostles, and first Christians believed. The Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read "Jesus", instead of "Christ".

Acts 9:20 In-Context

18 And immediately [something] like scales fell from his eyes and he regained [his] sight and got up [and] was baptized,
19 and [after] taking food, he regained his strength. And he was with the disciples in Damascus several days.
20 And immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: "This one is the Son of God!"
21 And all who heard [him] were amazed, and were saying, "Is this not the one who was wreaking havoc in Jerusalem [on] those who call upon this name, and had come here for this [reason], that he could bring them tied up to the chief priests?"
22 But Saul was increasing in strength even more, and was confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus [by] proving that this one is the Christ.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began proclaiming")
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.