And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Acts 9:20

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

Acts 9:27-28

Boldness is one of the hallmarks of the disciples of Christ as recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. When the opportunity arises for Simon Peter to preach repentance — first on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), then in Solomon’s Portico (Acts 3) — he steps forward with Spirit-filled boldness. As opposition to the Christian message mounts, the disciples pray, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,” (Acts 4:29). After being imprisoned and interrogated by the high priest, Peter and the apostles refuse to mute their gospel proclamation, saying, “We must obey God rather than men,” (Acts 5:29). And Stephen, surely sensing the malevolent desires of the crowd, continues to preach boldly in the name of Christ right up to the last.

Luke is signaling to the reader that Paul’s conversion and subsequent baptism and reception of the Spirit have empowered him to participate in bold gospel proclamation alongside the other apostles.

What might that same boldness look like in our day?

In Acts 9:27-28, Paul’s preaching is carried out “in the name of Jesus.” Given that the leaders in Jerusalem were responsible for executing Jesus, to preach His crucifixion and resurrection would indeed require unfathomable boldness. Not only would the message of the cross be an indictment on these leaders — especially given the “kangaroo court” nature of the sham trial the Sanhedrin carried out against Jesus in the middle of the night — but more importantly, the message of His resurrection vindicated Jesus as the Son of God (Acts 9:20). This would stand as an act of judgment by God against Jerusalem’s leaders, calling into question their standing as trusted interpreters of God’s Word and “the signs of the times” (Matt. 16:3).

The picture of Paul that emerges in these early chapters is of a bold and zealous man, fearless and argumentative and uncompromising in his convictions. Paul is not a man of half measures. His commitments define him. He declares the name of the Lord with as much passionate intensity as he possessed when he carried out death threats against His followers. This doesn’t always play well, particularly among the Jewish traditionalists; twice in a span of six verses (Acts 9:24-29) these opponents try to kill Paul. What was it about him that rubbed people the wrong way? Clearly it is this mixture of zeal and boldness, combined with the conviction that Israel’s Messiah was a crucified and resurrected Nazarene.

After his dispute with the Hellenists in Jerusalem (Acts 9:29), the disciples sneak him out of town, first to Caesarea and then back home to Tarsus. And this is where Luke will park Paul for the next few chapters. He must tell the all important story of Cornelius, which involves Simon Peter once more. But on the heels of this monumental event, Luke will return to the story of Paul. Scholars speculate that as many as ten years could have passed between the events of Acts 9 and the events of Acts 11. What was Paul doing in these critical years?

Well, if Acts 9 is any indication, I’m sure he was about the work of teaching and preaching, boldly arguing from the Hebrew scriptures that God had always intended for His anointed one to die an atoning death for sin, ruffling feathers with his zealous proclamation in the name of Jesus, the Son of God.