Saul Of Tarsus Persecuting

When Stephen dared to say in public that the days of the Jewish religion and its Temple were finished, Paul and his fellow Pharisees knew that the time had come for action. [Stephen did not say this. He ministered under the program that still involved the Temple and Law. That was no rescinded until Paul’s ministry later. Stephen proclaimed Jesus as the long awaited but rejected Christ of Israel.] No longer was it enough to regard these followers of “the Way”, as they called themselves as amiable cranks. They posed a dangerous threat to the Jewish religious system. Saul of Tarsus first appears in the biblical record as a witness to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr to the cause of Christ – even ‘consenting’ to his death (Acts 7:58); 9:1. Paul was more than just a coat – minder. He was a crafty man and an influential Pharisee. When he saw the Christians were beginning to move out of Jerusalem to other places, he realized that, far from having solved the problem, the way the Jews were persecuting Stephen and the others was only helping the Christian cause to spread to other parts of the Roman Empire.

According to Luke’s historical record (Acts 9:1ff ), Saul armed with arrest warrants for those of the Christian Way, departed from Jerusalem en route to ancient Damascus.

As he drew near that city, a light brighter than the noonday sun suddenly engulfed him. A voice inquired; “Saul, Saul, why do you continue to persecute me?” Saul responded: “who are you lord?” The voice was identified as Jesus of Nazareth! The stunned persecutor was instructed to enter Damascus where he would be informed as to what he “must do.” Blinded as a consequence of this miraculous vision in which Christ actually appeared to him (acts 9:17; I Corinthians 15:8), Saul was led into the

city.

For three agonizing days he fasted and prayed. Finally, Ananias, a messenger selected by God, arrived. He restored Saul’s sight and commanded him to ‘arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22: 16). After certain days passed, the former persecutor began to proclaim among his fellow Jews that Jesus “Is the son of God” (Acts 9:19-22). Historian John Drane has this to say concerning Saul conversion in three different accounts. “This experience is described in detail in three different places in the book of Acts, which shows how important it was not in Paul’s life, but in the entire history of the early church. In Acts 9;3-19 we have Luke’s summary account of what happened; in 22:6-16 we have a personal account given by Paul when defending himself before a Jewish mob in Jerusalem; and in 26:9-23 we have another account given by Paul, this time in his defense before king Agrippa II. The three accounts build up a composite picture rather than agreeing precisely in every detail. Two of them were from Paul himself; the other is Luke’s own summary of what happened. Luke was simply recounting the broad outline of what took place; Paul on each occasion had particular reasons for expressing himself as he did”1

The first evidence of Saul’s conversion was his immediate identification with the church in Damascus. He who wanted to kill theses saints now wanted to fellowship with them. The second evidence of Saul’s conversion was in his bold proclamation of his newly found faith in Jesus as the messiah. This man who formerly cringed at the preaching of the Gospel was now proclaiming the same message. The man who, days before, was persecuting Christ was now preaching Christ. Saul proclaimed Jesus to be the “son of God” (9:20), a designation understood to refer to Israel’s awaited Messiah.2