What is the meaning of Acts 22:21? Then He said to me • Paul is recounting his real, historical encounter with the risen Jesus outside Damascus (Acts 9:4–6; Acts 26:15–16). • “He” is the Lord Himself, personally addressing Paul—underscoring that the direction that follows is not a human idea but God’s clear, authoritative word (John 10:27). • The setting in Acts 22 shows Paul making his defense in Jerusalem; he roots his testimony in what Jesus literally spoke to him. Go! • The directive is immediate and non-negotiable—mirroring the urgency seen when God told Abram, “Go from your country” (Genesis 12:1) and when Jesus told His disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). • Obedience requires leaving familiar territory. Paul had been a devout Jew in Jerusalem; now the Lord pushes him into a new field (Hebrews 11:8). • The command calls for action, not deliberation. Like Isaiah saying, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8), Paul is expected to respond at once. I will send you • God Himself owns the mission; Paul is not self-appointed. This echoes Jesus’ words, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). • The promise includes both commissioning and continual backing—“I am sending you to open their eyes” (Acts 26:17–18). • The verb “send” connects Paul with the very definition of an apostle—one sent with authority (Romans 1:1). far away • The gospel is about to leap beyond the borders of Judea and even Asia Minor. Paul’s later journeys would take him to Greece, possibly Spain (Romans 15:24, 28). • “Far away” also highlights the widening circle of God’s redemptive plan announced in Acts 1:8—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. • Distance illustrates grace: no place is out of God’s reach (Psalm 139:9–10). to the Gentiles • This fulfills the ancient promise that the Messiah would be “a light for the nations” (Isaiah 49:6; Acts 13:47). • Jesus had already signaled this in choosing Paul as “My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15). • Paul embraces the call, later writing that the mystery of Christ is “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs” (Ephesians 3:6) and defending their inclusion against all opposition (Galatians 2:7–9). • The word removes any hint of partiality; salvation in Christ is open to everyone who believes (Romans 10:12–13). summary Acts 22:21 records Jesus Christ personally commissioning Paul to leave Jerusalem and carry the gospel far beyond Jewish territory to the Gentile world. Every phrase underscores divine authority, urgent obedience, and God’s expansive heart for all peoples. The verse affirms that the spread of the gospel to the nations is not a later church invention but the explicit, literal intention of the risen Lord from the very start. |
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