This spiritual lesson was essential for the great Apostle Paul to understand, for even if he now believed in Jesus Christ, he must not continue on in his ministry with any shred of self-reliance. He must be absolutely convinced that on his own, he is blind and helpless.
Likewise, if we believe that we contributed anything to accomplish our salvation from ourselves, then we will not only end up boasting about it, but will continue to operate in some level of self-trust. This is why the content of Rom. 5:6-10 is so necessary to understand. In that passage, Paul teaches that Christ died for us when we were helpless, when we were sinners and when we were his enemies. Saul’s conversion depicts these truths with vivid detail and thus he never was confused how he got saved or the extent he needed the Lord for ministry.
This was essentially Jesus’ point in John 9:39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
Conversion entails understanding your spiritual blindness and destitution, which is in contrast to saying that you aren’t that bad off, spiritually speaking. Clearly in that case, there would be no desperation for Christ, but when he is viewed as the exclusive remedy for our condition, then he rightly is treated as the exclusive Savior of our souls.