9:15 chosen vessel. God had chosen Paul before he was saved. In fact, Paul later testified that God had “separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace” (Galatians 1:15).

9:15 before the Gentiles. It is noteworthy that Paul was now chosen by God to be sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21), and would even become “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13). This was the same Paul who testified that he had “profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1:14), and who, with the other Pharisees, had been furious at Stephen’s intimations that God was now preparing to favor the Gentiles.