Act 9:1, 22:4, 26:11, 1Cor 15:9, Gal 1:13, 23 | Barnes | STEP | Chapter 9 Introduction : This chapter commences a very important part of the Acts of the Apostles--the conversion and labours of Saul of Tarsus. The remainder of the book is chiefly occupied with an account of his labours and trials in the establishment of churches, and in spreading the gospel through the Gentile world. As the fact that the gospel was to be thus preached to the Gentiles was a very important fact, and as the toils of the apostle Paul and his fellow-labourers for this purpose were of an exceedingly interesting character, it was desirable to preserve an authentic record of those labours; and that record we have in the remainder of this book. Verse 1. And Saul . ; . He had been engaged before in persecuting the Christians, but he now sought opportunity to gratify his insatiable desire on a larger scale. Yet breathing . Not satisfied with what he had done, . The word breathing out is expressive often of any deep, agitating emotion, as we then breathe rapidly and violently. It is thus expressive of violent anger . The emotion is absorbing, agitating, exhausting, and demands a more rapid circulation of blood to supply the exhausted vitality; and this demands an increased supply of oxygen, or vital air, which leads to the increased action of the lungs. The word is often used in this sense in the classics. ( Schleusner .) It is a favourite expression with Homer. Euripides has the same expression: "Breathing out fire and slaughter." So Theocritus: "They came unto the assembly, breathing mutual slaughter," Idyll. xxii. 28. Threatening . Denunciation; threatening them with every breath --the action of a man violently enraged, and who was bent on vengeance. It denotes, also, intense activity and energy in persecution. Saughter . Murder. Intensely desiring to put to death as many Christians as possible. He rejoiced in their death, and joined in condemning them, . From this latter place, it seems that he had been concerned in putting many of them to death. The disciples of the Lord . Against Christians. Went unto the High Priest . The letters were written and signed in the name and by the authority of the sanhedrim, or great council of the nation. The high priest did it as president of that council. See . The high priest of that time was Theophilus, son of Artanus, who had been appointed at the feast of Pentecost, A. D. 37, by Vitellius, the Roman governor. His brother Jonathan had been removed from that office the same year. ( Kuin�el .) (a) "breathing out threatenings"

Acts 9:1

Chapter 9

Introduction: This chapter commences a very important part of the Acts of the Apostles--the conversion and labours of Saul of Tarsus. The remainder of the book is chiefly occupied with an account of his labours and trials in the establishment of churches, and in spreading the gospel through the Gentile world. As the fact that the gospel was to be thus preached to the Gentiles was a very important fact, and as the toils of the apostle Paul and his fellow-labourers for this purpose were of an exceedingly interesting character, it was desirable to preserve an authentic record of those labours; and that record we have in the remainder of this book.

Verse 1. And Saul. Acts 7:58; Acts 8:3. He had been engaged before in persecuting the Christians, but he now sought opportunity to gratify his insatiable desire on a larger scale.

Yet breathing. Not satisfied with what he had done, Acts 8:3. The word breathing out is expressive often of any deep, agitating emotion, as we then breathe rapidly and violently. It is thus expressive of violent anger. The emotion is absorbing, agitating, exhausting, and demands a more rapid circulation of blood to supply the exhausted vitality; and this demands an increased supply of oxygen, or vital air, which leads to the increased action of the lungs. The word is often used in this sense in the classics. (Schleusner.) It is a favourite expression with Homer. Euripides has the same expression: "Breathing out fire and slaughter." So Theocritus: "They came unto the assembly, breathing mutual slaughter," Idyll. xxii. 28.

Threatening. Denunciation; threatening them with every breath --the action of a man violently enraged, and who was bent on vengeance. It denotes, also, intense activity and energy in persecution.

Saughter. Murder. Intensely desiring to put to death as many Christians as possible. He rejoiced in their death, and joined in condemning them, Acts 26:10,11. From this latter place, it seems that he had been concerned in putting many of them to death.

The disciples of the Lord. Against Christians.

Went unto the High Priest. The letters were written and signed in the name and by the authority of the sanhedrim, or great council of the nation. The high priest did it as president of that council. See Acts 9:14, 22:5. The high priest of that time was Theophilus, son of Artanus, who had been appointed at the feast of Pentecost, A. D. 37, by Vitellius, the Roman governor. His brother Jonathan had been removed from that office the same year. (Kuin�el.)

(a) "breathing out threatenings" Acts 8:3, Gal 1:13

Acts 22:4

Verse 4. And I persecuted, Acts 8:3.

This way. Those who were of this mode of worshipping God; that is, Christians. Acts 9:2.

Unto the death. Intending to put them to death, He did not probably put any to death himself, but he committed them to prison, he sought their lives, he was the agent employed in arresting them; and when they were put to death, he tells us that he gave his voice against them, Acts 26:10; that is, he joined in and approved of their condemnation.

Delivering into prisons, etc. Acts 8:3

(i) "persecuted" Acts 8:3 (&) "way" "Doctrine"

Acts 26:11

Verse 11. And I punished them oft, etc. See Acts 22:19.

And compelled them to blaspheme. To blaspheme the name of Jesus, by denying that he was the Messiah, and by admitting that he was an impostor. This was the object which they had in view in the persecution. It was not to make them blaspheme or reproach God, but to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, and to reproach him as a deceiver and an impostor. It is not necessarily implied in the expression, "and compelled them to blaspheme," that he succeeded in doing it; but that he violently endeavoured to make them apostatize from the Christian religion, and deny the Lord Jesus. It is certainly not impossible that a few might thus have been induced by the authority of the sanhedrim, and by the threats of Paul to do it; but it is certain that the great mass of Christians adhered firmly to their belief that Jesus was the Messiah.

And being exceedingly mad. Nothing could more forcibly express his rage and violence against the Christians. He raged like a madman; he was so indignant that he laid aside all appearance of reason; and with the fury and violence of a maniac, he endeavoured to exterminate them from the earth. None but a madman will persecute men on account of their religious opinions; and all persecutions have been conducted like this, with the violence, and fury, and ungovernable temper of maniacs.

Unto strange cities. Unto foreign cities; cities out of Judea. The principal instance Of this was his going to Damascus; but there is no evidence that he did not intend also to visit other cities out of Judea, and bring the Christians there, if he found any, to Jerusalem.

(d) "oft in every" Acts 22:19 (++) "strange" "foreign"

1 Corinthians 15:9

Verse 9. For. A reason for the appellation which he had given to himself in 1Cor 15:8.

I am the least of the apostles. Not on account of any defect in his commission, or any want of qualification to bear witness ia what he saw; but on account of the great crime of his life, the fact that he had been a persecutor. Paul could never forget that; as a man who has been profane and a scoffer, when he becomes converted, can never forget the deep guilt of his former life. The effect will be to produce humility, and a deep sense of unworthiness, ever onward.

Am not meet to be called an apostle. Am not fit to be regarded as a follower of the Lord Jesus, and as appointed to defend his cause, and to bear his name among the Gentiles. Paul had a deep sense of his unworthiness; and the memory of his former life tended ever to keep him humble. Such should be, and such will be, the effect of the remembrance of a life of sin on those who become converted to the gospel, and especially if they are intrusted with the high office of the ministry and occupy a station of importance in the church of God.

Because I persecuted the church of God. See Acts 9. It is evident, however, that deeply as Paul might feel his unworthiness, and his unfitness to be called an apostle, yet that this did not render him an incompetent witness of what he had seen. He was unworthy; but he had no doubt that he had seen the Lord Jesus; and amidst all the expressions of his deep sense of his unfitness for his office, he never once intimates the slightest doubt that he had seen the Saviour. He felt himself fully qualified to testify to that; and with unwavering firmness he did testify to it to the end of life. A man may be deeply sensible that he is unworthy of an elevated station or office, and yet not the less qualified to be a witness. Humility does not disqualify a man to give testimony, but rather furnishes an additional qualification. There is no man to whom we listen more attentively, or whose words we more readily believe, than the modest and humble man--the man who has had abundant opportunities to observe that of which he testifies, and yet who is deeply humble. Such a man was the apostle Paul; and he evidently felt that, much as he felt his unworthiness, and ready as he was to confess it, yet his testimony on the subject of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus ought to have, and would have, great weight in the church at Corinth. Acts 9:19.

(b) "least" Eph 3:7,8

Galatians 1:13

Verse 13. For ye have heard of my conversation. My conduct, my mode of life, my deportment. 2Cor 1:12. Probably Paul had himself made them acquainted with the events of his early years. The reason why he refers to this is to show them that he had not derived his knowledge of the Christian religion from any instruction which he had received in his early years, or any acquaintance which he had formed with the apostles, he had at first been decidedly opposed to the Lord Jesus, and had been converted only by his wonderful grace.

In the Jews' religion. In the belief and practice of Judaism; that is, as it was understood in the time when he was educated. It was not merely in the religion of Moses, but it was in that religion as understood and practised by the Jews in his time, when opposition to Christianity constituted a very material part of it. In that religion Paul proceeds to show that he had been more distinguished than most persons of his time.

How that beyond measure. In the highest possible degree; beyond all limits or bounds; exceedingly. The phrase which Paul here uses, καθυπερβολην by hyperbole, is one which he frequently employs to denote anything that is excessive, or that cannot be expressed by ordinary language. See the Greek in Rom 7:13, 1Cor 12:31, 2Cor 1:8, 4:7,17.

I persecuted the church. See @Ac 8:3 9:1.

And wasted it. Destroyed it. The word which is here used means, properly, to waste or destroy, as when a city or country is ravaged by an army or by wild beasts. His purpose was to utterly to root out and destroy the Christian religion.

(++) "beyond measure" "exceedingly" (c) "church of God" Acts 8:1,3, 9:1,2, 26:9 (&) "wasted it" "laid it waste"

Galatians 1:23

But they had heard only, etc. They had not seen me; but the remarkable fact of my conversions had been reported to them. It was a fact that they could hardly be concealed. Acts 26:26.

(a) "heard only" Acts 9:13,26, 1Timm 1:13-16