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The Conversion and Early Labors of Paul.
Paul's continued enmity against the Church:
v. 1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
v. 2. and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
In marked contrast to the earnest labors of Philip in building up the Church of Christ we have here the hostile and destructive activities of Saul. With the passing of time the fire of his enmity did not abate, but was rather fanned to ever greater heat and fierceness. This state of mind had become so habitual with him that he actually breathed threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord. That was the atmosphere which he breathed, in which he lived. The threats alone were a base transgression of the Fifth Commandment, but he also actually followed them up with murder; he delivered all the disciples whom he could capture to prison and death. But his worst sin consisted in his blaspheming the name of the Lord by this opposition and persecution. Saul's greatest delight at that time would have been to destroy both Christ and all Christendom in one day, had he been able to do so, 1Ti_1:13; Php_3:6; Gal_1:13; 1Co_15:9 In this frame of mind he went to the high priest and earnestly besought him for letters, credentials setting forth his authorization in the name of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. For Saul's attention had been called to the fact that Christian congregations were being established elsewhere, and the matter gave him no rest. Damascus had a large Jewish population and was the nearest foreign city of importance. To check the spread of the Gospel in this city would be a great victory for the Jews. The Sanhedrin at that time, even under Roman government, had great power and jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. Not only could it have arrests made by its own officers, but it could also deal with cases where the death penalty was not involved. And the authorities of Damascus were not liable to hinder such activities, as long as they were confined to the Jews. It was Saul's plan, therefore, to have his credentials addressed to all the synagogues of Damascus, in order that he might have full jurisdiction to act. Should he then find any persons, either men or women, "of this way," addicted to this new doctrine, as he supposed, he intended to bring them to Jerusalem in bonds. Note: The hostility of the vehement enemies of Christ in our days may not be able to show itself in just this way, but they make use of the flimsiest excuses and subterfuges to persecute the Church of Christ. Even as Saul, the Pharisee, sought to establish his own righteousness over against the righteousness of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus became the most dangerous enemy of Christ, so the modern Pharisees take offense at the preaching of salvation by the blood of the crucified Christ.