- His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
- Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.
- A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.
- (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.)
- But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.
- But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.
Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
Acts 9:1-2
In the last Gem I left you with the following questions:
- Why does Luke introduce Paul as he does?
- Why does Luke split the coverage of (S)Paul into two parts?
- If Paul was such a major figure of the New Testament why does he get such a bad introduction?
- Is the persecution that came on the church linked to Paul? (Paul)
- It seems as though Saul was one of the religious leaders in Jerusalam, Ian. Is that true? (Cynthia)
- Did Paul really go from house to house to find the Christians and put them in prison? Could that happen to us? (Gillian)
I suggested you take note of how Luke switches back and forth between Saul and Peter and suddenly we realise we are talking about Paul and not Saul.
Why didn’t Luke deal with the introduction of these key New Testament people in a more systematic, methodical kind of way. One would think that Luke would cover Peter’s involvement, then perhaps Phillip and then finally introduce us to Saul and explain how he becomes Paul. But that was not the way he chose to do it. Rather we are told of the selection of the seven deacons, then given a full account of Stephen’s speech and his subsequent martyrdom. We are informed that a young man named Saul was present at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom. Notice how strongly Luke links Saul with the persecution. Saul becomes a key antagonist in the spread of persecution. In fact we hear of no other agents of persecution apart from Saul. We are told that the believers were scattered. Not the disciples but the believers. In fact there is every indication that the disciples themselves stayed on in Jerusalem. The ones involved in taking the Gospel beyond Jerusalem in the geographic order laid in Acts 1:8 are those other than the disciples themselves – Philip and one would assume the five other deacons.
Simon is used as an example of someone seeking to force their way into the kingdom (Matt 11:12) while Peter and John appear in Samaria seemingly to ensure Phillip is on track. The Holy Spirit of God specifically and miraculously takes Phillip to a place where he encounters the Ethiopian court official (who is someone the Sanhedrin would reject for his physical imperfections) after which Phillip is whisked away to preach in the coastal area around Caesarea after which Luke returns to the matter of Saul, whom we encountered back in Jerusalem at Stephen’s martyrdom.
Notice the three uses of “meanwhile” in 8:40 (Phillip), 9:1 (Saul) and 9:32 (Peter). These are all agents involved in the spread of the Gospel. All fit into God’s plan for the extension of His Kingdom to the ends of the earth. But notice something very important – the use of meanwhile. While Phillip is going to Samaria and beyond, Saul is intensifying his murderous intent toward the believers at the same time (meanwhile) Peter is active in another area. I told you in Gem 1352 that the Jerusalem – Judea – Samaria – Ends of the earth is not a matter of either / or but of both / and. It is a simultaneous involvement just as it is a simultaneous involved for Phillip, Peter, John and all of those they represent in spreading the Gospel. Hence the switch to the general word believers and not disciples or apostles as has been the case in Luke’s account before this.
The question then remains as to why Luke splits the introduction of Saul into two phases. Why did he not simply deal with it all chronologically? He didn’t do it that way. We are given the initial glimpse of Saul at Stephen’s martyrdom which only serves to fire his zeal to persecute the new believers. Yes Paul. Cynthia and Gillian, Saul is quite deliberately linked to the persecution of the believers. Luke makes that very clear to us. In fact when we pick up on Saul again at the beginning of chapter nine notice specifically what we are told.
Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
Acts 9:1-2
Saul’s stance has not changed since the beginning of chapter 8.
- Act 8:1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.
- Act 7:58 His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
- Act 8:1 A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.
- Act 8:3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.
But notice there is an escalation and intensity of this persecution led or instigated by Saul. Saul now had letters of endorsement from the high priest to lend the imprimatur of the Sanhedrin to the persecution and the spread of the persecution is not now limited to Jerusalem only but clearly it is following the order of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and beyond. Saul is willing to go anywhere in his zeal to destroy the church.
Allow me to draw your attention to some key elements of what Luke has told us.
- uttering threats with every breath
- eager to kill the Lord’s followers
- two mentions of men and women
- destroy the church
- dragging them out, arresting them and throwing them into prison
1 & 2 Literally reads “breathing threats and murder” which contains the idea of breathing in and breathing out. Saul was breathing in an atmosphere of violence. As though threats and murder was the air that he breathed in and so with every breath he took in violence. Thus every time he exhaled he blew his violence over the believers. Luke is using an Old Testament figure of speech called a hendiadys – putting two words together linked by the conjunction “and” to add emphasis to the notion of threats and murder. Not “threats of murder” nor “threats to murder” but all aspects of the links between these two words. Saul lived and breathed to destroy the church. He was so incensed by the very idea of people following after Jesus as Messiah that it was an affront to him. He would do anything to stop it. It seems that the stoning of Stephen was the inspiration if I can call it that, or the catalyst for his murderous intent. This man Saul was bad news.
3. The fact that Saul aimed his murderous intent toward women too is an indication of the lengths that Saul was willing to go in order to carry out this vendetta. Normally the men would be the focus of violence in order to stamp out an insurrection or a plot but in this case Luke tells us twice that woman were also the focus of Saul intent. If children had been added we could conclude that Saul was looking to stamp out Christianity for generations to come. Anything that lived and breathed “Jesus as Messiah” was to be exterminated. What a challenge! What makes this threat even worse is that Saul now has the agreement of the Sanhedrin to carry out this extermination of The Way.
4 & 5. The church now faced a formidable foe who was bent on wiping them out and destroying the church completely. So he went everywhere in order to pursue these believers. Why is Damascus in particular mentioned? Because there were more than 20,000 Jews living up there in Damascus. It was a major centre for Jewish culture outside of Jerusalem. No doubt Saul had every intention of taking this vendetta to the end of the earth in order to deal with this heresy as he saw it.
Notice also the words to “arrest of any followers of the Way he found there.” Some translations handle this element with doubt – “if he should find any who were of the Way”. The sense is not that there was doubt whether believers were there in Damascus but any doubt was as to whether Saul would be able to find them.
By splitting the coverage of Saul as Luke has, he has effectively emphasized the nature of the threat Saul posed and highlighted the severity of the intent Saul had toward this fledgling church. By leaving Saul for a moment while Luke told us about Phillip and the spread of the Gospel in other places then returning to what Saul was doing highlights the threat that this man was. It is the typical approach of suspense films which keep switching between the heroine and the murderer. When are these two going to finally meet? The threat of such a meeting holds us in suspense because given the circumstances, their meeting is inevitable.
Words are free it is how you choose to use them that may cost you.
Ian Vail
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King
We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde
You didn’t “change churches”. You just exchanged one group of imperfect people for another who will in time prove to be imperfect too.
Anon
If you find the perfect church, don’t join it. You will only spoil it.
Ian Vail