GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
GALATIANS 1:13
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13 For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
Fourteen years of Paul’s life had by now been spent as a Christian, but for something like thirty years before that he had been a Jew, absolutely opposed to Christianity, and especially from around the age of 15 or so until his conversion when he was thirty, he was advancing in leaps and bounds in Judaism, the head of his class (so to speak), far out in front of all the other young men around him. He was a Pharisee who was bound for the Sanhedrin. Since he was from the tribe of Benjamin and not from Levi, he could not be a priest, and therefore he would never be high priest, but he was surely seen as an up-and-coming teacher, a young man soon to be a rabbi to contend with.
In addition, he admits in this verse what Luke also describes in Acts: He persecuted the Christian church. Notice how carefully Paul sets himself in those days outside the church of God. He had been outside the body of believers, and he freely admits that now. Up until his conversion he had been a Jew, a Jew from birth and circumcision. In fact, Paul “did Judaism” beyond all measure, up to the brim and spilling over. He was on the way to becoming a very special kind of Pharisee. He did not just buy into the Pharisee’s doctrine, nor did he simply support it with money He took it on himself to carry it out. He became a Persecutor. Paul describes the hateful work he set out to do with his own words:
1, Paul said: “I was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). But Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
2, Paul said: “On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison” (Acts 26:10a). Yet Jesus had said: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me” (John 15:20-21).
3, “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison” (Acts 8:3). But this is also what the Jews did to the prophet Jeremiah: “Angry with Jeremiah, they beat him and they imprisoned him” (Jeremiah 37:15).
4, “Saul breathed out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). This is what God’s enemies always did. “They insulted my people and made threats against them” (Zephaniah 2:8).
5, Paul said: “I cast my vote against them when they were put to death” (Acts 26:10b). But Jesus comforts us all: “They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By patient endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:16-19).
6, Paul said: “I persecuted the followers of the Way (Christianity) to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison” (Acts 22:4). But Jesus had foreseen all this. He told his disciples, “For this reason the Wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles. They will kill and persecute some of them’” (Luke 11:49).
7, “Saul was there (at the stoning of Stephen), giving approval of his death” (Acts 8:1). But God had warned: “You should not look down on my people in their calamity, in the day of their disaster” (Obadiah 1:13).
8, Paul said: “‘Lord,’ I said, ‘When the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him’” (Acts 22:20). But had not David always warned: “Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” (1 Samuel 26:9).
9, Paul said: “Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them (the Christians) punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme” (Acts 26:11a). But the Lord condemns these acts, since to oppose Christ is blasphemy in itself. “Who is it whom you have mocked and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your proud eyes? It is against the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 37:23).
10, Paul said: “‘O Lord,’ I said, ‘I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you’” (Acts 22:19). Jesus foresaw: “They will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name” (Luke 21:12).
11, “He (Saul) 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 (the Christian church), whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners” (Acts 9:1-2). But Saul was acting in ignorance, and did not understand: “Whatever they plot against the Lord he will bring to an end” (Nahum 1:9).
12, Paul said: “I even obtained letters from them (the Council of the Sanhedrin) to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished” (Acts 22:5). But God had said to Moses: “The Lord your God will put curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you” (Deuteronomy 30:7).
13, Paul said: “In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them” (Acts 26:11b). But our Lord Jesus assures us: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11).
In his heart, Paul was doing what ought to be done by a true Jew. He did not know anything about Christianity apart from the attitude of the believers about the Law of Moses. He believed that they were violating the will of God by what they were doing, and therefore the fate of Jesus should be the fate of all his followers. He was so zealous (“beyond measure”!) that he came close to obliterating the Christian church single-handed.
Now, years later, he confesses that it was not a heresy he was trying to destroy. He had been trying to wipe out “the church of God,” God’s very own church. This is why Jesus appeared to him as he traveled north to Damascus and said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The Christians would gladly suffer for the sake of Christ, but the gospel needed a proponent as eager as Saul had been as an opponent. Our Lord Jesus had a very different work in mind for Saul the Persecutor. And here is a point for each Christian to consider: What sin of mine might God turn around so that I help the church? The strong Christian might have many things in mind. But perhaps the weak Christian might begin humbly, taking John’s words to heart every day: “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” (3 John 1:11). For all those who are ignorant of God are foolish by nature, but those who do what is good are from God, and accept good things from God as well as trouble (Job 2:10). For: “God is an eternal fountain which overflows with sheer goodness and pours forth all that is good in name and in fact” (Large Catechism, I:25).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Galatians 1:13 Paul the Persecutor