Act 26:9 | KingComments | STEP | Paul is pre-eminently the man to whom applies what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God” ( ). As a Jew he considered himself obliged to do a lot of hostility “to the name of Jesus of Nazareth”. The name expresses everything that the person is. This Name was hated by Paul because it was against his deepest belief. For him, Jesus of Nazareth was the great deceiver. In Jerusalem, Paul raged against Him in the persecution and torture of those he now calls “saints”. There was no pity at all for his victims. He forced them to renounce the Name of Jesus and say ugly things of Him. By the way, the fact that he forced them to slander does not mean that the Christians did the same. He was so passionate about eradicating this sect that he did not confine himself to Jerusalem in his zeal to do so. The saints were not safe from him in foreign cities either. His persecution madness drove him there as well.

‏ Acts 26:9

Paul’s Zeal Against Christendom

Paul is pre-eminently the man to whom applies what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God” (Jn 16:2-3). As a Jew he considered himself obliged to do a lot of hostility “to the name of Jesus of Nazareth”. The name expresses everything that the person is. This Name was hated by Paul because it was against his deepest belief. For him, Jesus of Nazareth was the great deceiver.

In Jerusalem, Paul raged against Him in the persecution and torture of those he now calls “saints”. There was no pity at all for his victims. He forced them to renounce the Name of Jesus and say ugly things of Him. By the way, the fact that he forced them to slander does not mean that the Christians did the same.

He was so passionate about eradicating this sect that he did not confine himself to Jerusalem in his zeal to do so. The saints were not safe from him in foreign cities either. His persecution madness drove him there as well.