‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.
Parallel translations
- WEB “I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- KJV And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
- NKJV So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- NASB And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
- NLT “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus reveals His identity to Saul: 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' joining Himself so closely to His people that to attack them is to attack Him.
Overview
Saul's question 'Who are you, Lord?' is answered with a stunning self-disclosure of the risen Christ. The statement teaches the doctrine of union with Christ: the church is His body, so harm done to believers is reckoned as done to Jesus Himself. For Paul this confirmed both Jesus' resurrection and his own grievous error, becoming the foundation of his gospel and apostleship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- John 15:20–21Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
- Matt 25:45Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’
- Exod 16:8And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”
- Matt 25:40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 26:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.