*I* am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to [the] exactness of the law of [our] fathers, being zealous for God, as *ye* are all this day;
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who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women;
Paul stands in chains before the crowd that just tried to kill him. He opens his defence with a confession: he had hunted followers of Jesus to death, and did it with a clear conscience.
Paul did not invent the phrase he uses here.
In the days of the apostles the Christian faith seems to have acquired the name of "the Way"; see Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22. Peter uses the term "the way of truth" (2 Peter 2:2).
Paul chooses his words for the crowd in front of him. Before Agrippa he named the same people differently, and admitted how far he had gone.
Before Agrippa he does not hesitate to confess to his own shame that he shut up "many of the saints" in prisons. To the Jews he had used the more vague expression, "this Way" (Acts 22:4); as Luke in the history spoke of "the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1). And it was not only imprisoning. When it came to putting them to death, had he not given his vote against them? That was clearly so in Stephen's case.
Paul offers his record as proof. No one could call him a half-hearted Jew, and that is why his testimony carried weight.
The apostle had never been a careless, light-hearted Israelite; as his training was most strict, so his personal zeal was thorough. Indeed he had given the fullest proof, for he persecuted this Way to the death. None like Saul of Tarsus, who was so active in binding and delivering to prison both men and women! He was the highest possible example of those who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. So who could speak from personal experience like him? He was speaking to men who did not know God's righteousness and were trying to set up their own.
Saul felt no guilt at the time. His own conscience approved the arrests.
Take the case of Paul before his conversion. He could say that he had lived in all good conscience before God, and yet he had been dragging men and women to prison because they were Christians. No doubt he did it with an untroubled conscience... Paul's zeal for Judaism blinded his eyes. In his conscience he could not recognise the God who gave the law and had also sent His Son. He could not see that God was free to act outside the law. It was an unenlightened conscience, a zeal without knowledge, and even a Christian can be led astray by it.
The verse says he bound both men and women. That detail shows how far the hatred went.
Religious rage is of all kinds the most unrelenting. Fresh victims do not satisfy it but sharpen its cruel appetite. It spares neither sex nor age.
The voice from heaven did not ask Saul why he was persecuting Christians. It asked why he was persecuting "Me".
When the voice from heaven said, "Why are you persecuting Me?" who did the Lord mean and include in that word "Me"? Was it not the very ones that Saul was committing to prison and to death (Acts 22:4-5; Acts 26:10-11)? Are we used to realising and enjoying our position and privileges in this way, as members of the body of Christ?
Full forgiveness did not cancel the consequences.
God's grace met him when he was at the height of his wicked opposition to Christ and His saints; he was saved, blessed and transformed. But this did not stop God's righteous government working on the earth. Many of his later sufferings for Christ exactly matched his own earlier misdeeds. He who "dragged off men and women and committed them to prison" had his full share of imprisonment in due time. He instigated the stoning of Stephen, and before long was stoned himself.
Paul never hid this record, because it became the proof of what grace can do.
The chief of sinners is in Heaven. How did he get there? Simply by the blood of Jesus; and moreover, he is Christ's "pattern" man. All may look at him and see how they too are to be saved... The grace that reached the chief can reach all. The blood that cleansed the chief can cleanse all.
- The Way. In the earliest days the faith Saul attacked went by the name "the Way". Paul uses that familiar term with a Jewish crowd.
- The zeal. His campaign was not carelessness but conviction. He was the highest example of zeal for God that is not according to knowledge.
- The blindness. A conscience can stay calm while doing terrible evil. An unenlightened conscience is no safeguard, even for a Christian.
- The victim. Every man and woman he bound belonged to Christ's body. So the voice from heaven charged him with persecuting Christ Himself.
- The mercy. The man who filled the prisons ended up in one, forgiven yet still under God's government. He became the pattern: the grace that reached the chief of sinners can reach anyone.
as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the elderhood from whom also, having received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished.
Paul is defending himself before a hostile crowd in Jerusalem, and he does something unexpected. He calls his own accusers as witnesses. The high priest and the council can confirm every word about the man he used to be. They gave him the letters that sent him to Damascus.
Paul does not ask the crowd to take his word about his past. He points to the men who authorised it, and to the letters they gave him.
The high priest himself could not ignore this fact. He had to testify to it, and so did all the elders. They are reminded that Paul also received letters to the brothers — that is, the Jews living elsewhere — and travelled to Damascus to bring those who were there back to Jerusalem in chains, to be punished. The man who was later to go out to all the world with the gospel could not, in earlier days, keep his legal zeal inside the borders of Jerusalem or Judea.
The "brothers" in this verse are the Jewish communities of Damascus, not fellow Christians. Paul was heading for a city where believers had gone to be safe.
He heard that some of the persecuted believers had found shelter in Damascus, an ancient city in Syria. So he made up his mind to go there and bring them back to Jerusalem as criminals… In this way he became the very apostle of Jewish hatred against the disciples of Jesus. He acted in ignorance, no doubt, but he made himself their willing missionary.
The persecution was not a fit of temper. It grew out of his religious training, and it shows how firmly he once held what his hearers still hold.
The apostle had never been a careless, easy-going Israelite. His training was as strict as could be, and his own zeal matched it. He had given the fullest proof of that, for he persecuted this Way to death. No one was like Saul of Tarsus, who was so busy arresting men and women alike and handing them over to prison! He was the prime example of those who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. So who could speak from personal experience like him to people who did not know God's righteousness, and were trying to set up their own?
Saul felt no guilt while he did this. That raises a warning about trusting our own sense of being right.
But note this! Conscience is no guide to a man. Conscience is like the rudder of a ship. If you have a correct chart and a good steersman, the rudder is useful for steering the ship. But if you let wind and wave toss the rudder about, the ship will go on the rocks. We hear nowadays that if a man walks by his conscience, all will be well for time and eternity. That teaching is not from God, and it will not do. Here Saul was "in all good conscience" doing everything he could against the name of Jesus.
Naming the high priest is deliberate. Paul builds common ground with the crowd before he describes what changed him.
He began by saying what he had been in his early days, when his way of life matched their own thinking completely. He was faultless in his family line, his education, his zeal, and his hatred of the Christians. Then heaven stepped in, and it was plainly an act of God… He tells the story in a way that presses one point on his hearers: God had made the change in him that offended them so much.
The record Paul reads out here is the record of the worst kind of sinner. That is exactly why his story matters to everyone else.
The chief of sinners is in heaven. How did he get there? Only by the blood of Jesus. And more than that, he is Christ's "pattern" man. Anyone may look at him and see how they too are to be saved… The grace that reached the chief can reach all. The blood that cleansed the chief can cleanse all.
- Witnesses. Paul needs no witness of his own. The high priest and the whole council gave him the letters and can confirm them.
- Warrants. The letters went to the Jewish communities in Damascus. They let him arrest believers and drag them to Jerusalem for punishment.
- Zeal. His violence came from real religious zeal — zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. It is the very fault of the crowd he is facing.
- Conscience. He felt right the whole time. So conscience alone is no safe guide. It steers well only with a true chart.
- Grace. The man these letters describe is now in heaven. He is the pattern: grace that reached the chief of sinners can reach anyone.