Why Did Paul Persecute Christians?
Tim Davis
What if I asked you to have a little sympathy for the Apostle Paul before he started following Jesus?
In case you need a reminder of what he did…
Acts 8:1 says, “And Saul approved of [Stephen’s] execution.” Verse 3 continues, “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” And then in chapter 9:1, he’s “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” (As a quick aside, Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul his Greek name. In other words, Paul wasn’t his “conversion name”).
But let’s consider Paul’s perspective.
And to see where he was coming from—and to have a better understanding of the context in Acts—we need to look at an Old Testament passage. As we’ll see, his zeal was firmly rooted in Israel’s history.
“AS TO ZEAL…”
Philippians 3 is the closest we’ll get to Paul’s resume. After all, Linkedin didn’t exist yet.
In Philippians 3:4, Paul writes, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.” As if to say, “I was Michael Jordan before there was a Michael Jordan.” Then he tells us why. In verse 6, he writes…
“As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.” Well that’s an interesting thing to say…
Why does Paul use “persecuting the church” as an example of his “zeal”? And maybe more to the point, why is this a reason to boast?
This is where we need to jump back to the Old Testament to get some context.
So here’s our question: why does Paul think his zealous persecution the church was a reason to boast?
For the answer, we turn to the book of Numbers.
THE BIBLE’S FIRST ZEALOT
If the wilderness generation was good at one thing, it was breaking the covenant by rebelling and worshipping other gods. Here’s one example.
While traveling toward the promised land, many Israelites started sleeping with Moabite women. Not only this, but they also adopted Moabite religious practices. Numbers 25:2-3 says the women of Moab “invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.” Now here’s where things get interesting.
Phinehas—Aaron’s grandson and the Bible’s first zealot—enters the scene.
So here’s what happens. On one occasion, Phinehas caught wind of a fellow Israelite bringing a Moabite woman home. At this point, he had enough. He was tired of seeing his tribe bow down to foreign gods. So he took a spear and killed his companion along with the girl. Numbers 25:13 reads, Phinehas “was jealous (or, zealous) for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.”
In summation, Numbers 25 is about man filled with passion for God’s name, so much so, that he commits violent acts to purge Israel’s camp of idolatry.
FROM PHINEHAS TO PAUL
So, can you see where Paul is coming from?
With the Old Testament background in mind, we see that Paul—like Phinehas—was zealous for the name of God, so much so, that he was willing to do violence against Jesus’ followers. Consider this: he knew the Scriptures well; he was intimately aware of Israel’s history with idolatry. So as far as he was concerned, he was willing to do whatever it took to secure proper worship of the one true God.
But here’s what’s so amazing. In the very next chapter (Acts 9), Paul is confronted by his Messiah—the risen Jesus! Though he was attempting to purge his people from idolatry, he came to realize that he was actually persecuting his Messiah.
Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t strike Paul dead. Instead, he takes Paul’s zeal and channels it in a new direction. And from that point forward, Paul goes on to “prove that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:22), first to the Jew and then to the gentiles.
Imagine: if God can transform Paul, think what he can do in your life.