Acts 26:15
And I said: Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord answered: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Open Acts 26:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Ego autem dixi : Quis es, domine ? Dominus autem dixit : Ego sum Jesus, quem tu persequeris.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα· Τίς εἶ, κύριε; ὁ δὲ κύριος εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι Ἰησοῦς ὃν σὺ διώκεις·
The Fathers on this verse
St Irenaeus Against Heresies: Book III, Chapter XV. Refutation of the
1. But again, we allege the same against those who do not recognise Paul as an apostle: that they should either reject the other words of the Gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of them; or else, if they do receive all these, they must necessarily admit also that testimony concerning Paul, when he (Luke) tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? I am Jesus Christ, whom thou persecutest;” and then to Ananias, saying regarding him: “Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name among the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. …
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily LII on Acts xxv. 23
See what an audience is gathered together for Paul. Having collected all his guards, the governor is come, and the king, and the tribunes, “with the principal men,” it says, “of the city.” Then Paul being brought forth, see how he is proclaimed as conqueror. Festus himself acquits him from the charges, for what says Festus? “And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him. Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. …
St John Cassian The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius, Chapter VI. He shows from the appearance of Christ vouchsafed to the Apostle when persecuting the Church, the existence of both natures in Him
Wherefore also, when arguing before King Agrippa and others of the world’s judges, he speaks as follows: “When I was going to Damascus with authority and permission of the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and all those that were with me. And when we were all fallen down to the ground, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad. And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said to me: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.” You see how truly the Apostle said that he no longer knew according to the flesh one whom he had seen in such splendour and majesty. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).