Scripture: Acts 9:1-19, Phil 3:4-6, etc.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2).
Before his conversion, Saul was completely blind. He heard Stephen’s speech but agreed to his death and guarded the garments of those who stoned him. Saul was born in Tarsus, a large city in Cilicia, and lived in Jerusalem from a young age. He was raised under the strict education of a Pharisee, under Rabbi Gamaliel, a well-known leader of the Sanhedrin. Later, he wrote, describing himself of that time, in his letter to the Philippians:
… though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless (Phi 3:4-6).
This was his value at the time. As a Jew, he was proud of his lineage, and as a Pharisee, he must have vehemently opposed Jesus’ teachings on the Sabbath and food.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me (Acts 9:3-4)?”
