Two conversions to Jesus Christ are significant for the Church in transition: Saul, a Jewish pharisee of Tarsus in Acts 9:1-19 and Cornelius, a Roman centurion based in Caesarea (Acts 11:1-18).
The conversion of Saul, also called Paul (Acts 13:9) is mentioned two other times in Acts 22 and 26.
Saul’s hatred for the Christians was so great that he travelled 120 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus, in Syria, to arrest the Jewish Christians for proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah.
On the way to Damascus, Saul was confronted by a light from heaven. The voice of Jesus came to Saul. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Saul was blinded, and did not eat or drink for three days. At Damascus he was met by a disciple called Ananias, who was instructed by Jesus to meet Saul. At Damascus, when Ananias laid his hands on him, something like scales fell from his eyes, and Saul received his sight and was filled with the Holy Spirit.
After some days with the disciple at Damascus, Saul proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God in the Jewish synagogues.
The conversion of Cornelius, a centurion of an Italian Cohort is mentioned in Acts 10:1-48. He was a devout man and prayed continually to God. One day, at 3 pm, in his vision an angel of God instructed him to send for Peter who was staying with Simon the tanner at Joppa (Acts 9:42). The next day, Peter, at 12 noon, saw a vision of a sheet of unclean animals coming down from heaven. Two times, a voice from heaven asked him to kill and eat the unclean animals. While he was perplexed, the men from Cornelius came, and the Spirit instructed Peter that God had sent them. The following day, Peter and some disciples went to Cornelius’s house.
At Cornelius’s home, many turned up and Peter preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. And while they were listening, the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles who were listening. As a visible sign to Peter and the Jewish disciples, the Gentiles who received the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues (glossa meaning language) and extolled God (Acts 10:46). And Peter commanded them to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Paul explains that Jews and Gentiles are one in-Christ (Romans 10:12, Eph 2:11-18).
