Acts 9:3

3. There shined… a light The rationalistic solutions of the events of Saul’s conversion, in order to exclude miracle, are valid only on the assumption that there is no supernatural. He who accepts the miracle of Christ’s incarnation, and the whole supernaturalism therewith connected, has no difficulty with the supernaturalism of this one narrative.

Shined Rather περιηστραψεν , flashed round about him like lightning; yet περιλαμψαν , in Acts 26:13, shining around, like a lamp or luminary, describes the steady continuance of the splendour after the first flash. This was the Shekinah or divine lustre of the person of the glorified Jesus, beheld also by the dying Stephen, and magnificently described by the Apocalyptist in Revelation 1:13-17. (See note Acts 7:2.) John, like Saul, fell as dead. The time was mid-day, (Acts 26:13,) and the light was above the brightness of the sun at that zenith. It was, as Milton says, “like a new morn risen on mid-noon.” The glory of Jehovah-Jesus outshone the blaze of noon-day. Says Stier: “Jesus on the mount of transfiguration ‘did shine as the sun,’ and at ‘the end of the world’ the righteous, too, shall ‘shine forth as the sun,’ (Matthew 17:2; Matthew 13:43;) but the revelation of the irresistible One must now flash down ‘ above the brightness of the sun.’”

The instant of the light’s flashing about him before he fell was the moment of the visibility of the Lord’s person; the fall, as well as the ocular blinding, being the result of the light radiating from his central figure. After his fall Saul heard, but saw not.

Was this a mere vision, or did the actual person of Jesus appear to Saul’s eyes? Paul himself, we answer, claimed not only that he saw the real person of Jesus, but bases the validity of his apostolate upon that reality. To have seen the real Jesus was one of the requisites for a true apostle, (see note on Luke 1:1); and Paul claims this as the time when he so saw Jesus. “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord Jesus Christ?” (1 Corinthians 9:1.) “He was seen… by Cephas… by all the apostles… last of all by me,” (Acts 15:8.) And so Ananias, (Acts 9:7,) “The Lord hath sent me, even Jesus, who appeared to thee in the way as thou camest.” With all who hold the authority of Paul as an apostle, these words must be conclusive both for the reality of the miracle and of the visible person of Jesus.