Acts 22:20
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
Paul confessed that when Stephen was killed he stood by approving and consenting to his death and guarded the clothing of those who stoned him. He thus took an active share in the martyrdom, showing his former zeal as a persecutor who imprisoned and punished believers and pursued them unto death. He remembered it with shame as a stain and debt against himself that even his own death could not repay, and he longed to make amends by boldly vindicating the truth for which Stephen died. The words belong to his account of praying in the temple at Jerusalem when he saw Jesus in vision and received his commission. He urged his well-known past as reason the Jews would listen to his changed testimony and hesitated to leave, but Jesus warned him they would not receive it and commanded him to go far away to the Gentiles. That commission opened before him a broad and distinct missionary field apart from the work among their own countrymen, and with his conversion and success among the Gentiles it prepared him to turn to them without hesitation when the Jews refused the message.
Paul's Role in Stephen's Death
The verse is Paul's own confession that when the blood of Stephen the martyr was shed he was standing by, consenting to and approving his death, and keeping and guarding the clothing and raiment of those who stoned and slew him. That keeping of the clothes was not passive presence but an active part that made him share responsibility for the martyrdom. It stands as evidence of his former zeal in persecuting Christ's disciples. In that zeal he imprisoned believers and beat them in every synagogue and persecuted this way unto death, proving that believing a falsehood did not make him kind, tender and compassionate but made him a religious zealot exceedingly mad against the truth about Jesus.
He remembered that part with shame as a stain and a fearful debt and account against himself. He was deeply anxious to make amends by boldly defending and vindicating the same truth and cause for which Stephen had died. He thought that even yielding up his own life for the truth would not fully settle the debt or wipe out the stain, and that his death would not more than settle it. Hence he hesitated to leave Jerusalem and wanted to stay and labor longer there, so that leaving felt to him like cowardice. The crowd's later act of throwing off their garments recalled that earlier scene of guarding the clothes.
Temple Vision and Gentile Commission
Paul recounts this while praying earnestly in the temple at Jerusalem, when he saw Jesus in vision and answered Him after being told to leave quickly because they would not receive his testimony. He recalled his known persecuting past — that he had stood by when Stephen was killed, approved of his death, and guarded the clothing of those who stoned him, and that he had imprisoned and beaten believers in every synagogue — to argue that the Jews in Jerusalem knew him and therefore might listen to and believe his testimony about Jesus because of the change in him. For that reason he hesitated to leave and wanted to stay and labor longer, even at the cost of his own life to bring them to the truth. His guilt over Stephen's death made him eager to prove the truth to the Jews, believing that even yielding up his own life would not repay the debt.
Jesus warned him to leave Jerusalem quickly because they would not receive his testimony about Christ, and commanded him to go far away to the Gentiles. That commission to the Gentiles the Jews rejected because they held that Gentiles were not to have the light of truth. Paul was told to leave because the people would not accept his testimony, and God instead directed him to preach to the Gentiles.
That commission presented before him with remarkable distinctness a broad missionary field for an extensive and important work, distinct from the work among their own countrymen at home assigned to Peter, James, and John. To prepare him for that work God brought him into close connection with Himself and opened before his enraptured vision a glimpse of the beauty and glory of heaven. His conversion together with this temple vision and appointment to preach to the Gentiles, and his earlier success among Gentiles, prepared him to turn to the Gentiles without hesitation when the Jews rejected the message, and the success of his work among them confirmed that decision, while his escape from Jerusalem took place amid the Jews' violent opposition.