Acts 8:3, commentary and pictures

Saul ravaged the Jerusalem church by entering house after house, seizing men and women and committing them to prison for their faith in Jesus. He hunted believers in their homes and dragged them before priests and rulers and councils for imprisonment and death, becoming a terror to the Christians. He acted from sincere but misdirected zeal, truly believing he was serving God while his learning and influence made him a powerful instrument of Satan against Christ. The Lord permitted this persecution to scatter His representatives abroad so the light might shine in new places through Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth. His career of violence was stopped on the way to Damascus when heaven's light shone around him and Jesus spoke to him, choosing him to take Stephen's place in preaching and suffering for Christ.

Saul's Attack Described

Saul ravaged the church by entering every house, seizing both men and women, and committing them to prison. After taking part in the stoning of Stephen he invaded homes and dragged men and women to prison as part of the great persecution that scattered the church from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria. His violence against the church in Jerusalem was driven by intense zeal against believers in Jesus and extended beyond imprisonment to approving their deaths. That career included imprisoning believers in Jerusalem, punishing them in synagogues, forcing them to blaspheme, and pursuing them to other cities.

He hunted believers down and searched them out in their homes, seizing them there. He handed them over to the priests and rulers and to religious leaders and councils and tribunals for imprisonment and death. His zeal in this campaign made him a terror to the Christians in Jerusalem.

Believers were dragged before councils and imprisoned or condemned to death without evidence of wrongdoing other than their faith in Jesus, since they had committed no offense beyond that faith. Saul approved their deaths when they were put to death. He punished them in synagogues and forced them to blaspheme, and pursued them to other cities. This included his planned mission to search for Christians in Damascus and bring them captive to Jerusalem to arrest them there.

Saul's Background and Motives

Saul's ravaging of the church followed directly upon the trial and death of Stephen, in which he took an active part by consenting to his death though he did not himself cast the stones. He had opposed Stephen with rabbinic learning in an effort to discredit his teaching, and in joining the stoning he joined the Jewish nation's rejection of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, a rejection that embraced both the stoning of Stephen and the later killing of James by the sword. His part in Stephen's death marked the opening of his own career of persecution by entering houses and dragging men and women to prison.

Saul was a learned rabbi and statesman, a member of the Sanhedrin educated by Gamaliel among the most learned teachers of the age, and very zealous for the suppression of Christianity. His zeal in this campaign made him highly esteemed by the Jews, and for the part he acted at Stephen's death he was elected a member of the Sanhedrin. In that office he became a powerful agent in the persecution, tearing down the church he would afterward build up.

He acted from sincere but wrongly directed zeal, being convinced that Jesus was an impostor and that the religious authorities were right. While hunting Christians from city to city he truly believed he was doing service to God, punishing them in synagogues and bringing them before councils for imprisonment and death for no offense beyond faith in Jesus. His anger was sharpened by an inward conviction that God had honored Stephen at his death while men had dishonored him.

In this work his learning and zeal were turned against Christ and His followers, and for a time this learned and zealous rabbi was a mighty instrument in Satan's hands to carry out rebellion against the Son of God. He was carried away by the malice and prejudice of the priests and rulers, closing his eyes and ears against the most striking evidence, including the higher than earthly power that sustained Stephen in his martyrdom. Losing sight of Christ made this religious man cruel and a false witness, doing Satan's work while supposing he served God, until grace redirected his zeal to Christ's service and made his heart compassionate even toward opponents.

The Roman authorities made no effort to stop this persecution but secretly aided the Jews in it, seeking their favor while Saul made himself a terror to the Christians in Jerusalem. They left the priests and rulers free to gain their ends against believers hunted in their homes.

Persecution Scatters the Church

The Lord permitted this persecution to come upon the Jerusalem church to scatter His representatives abroad where they could work for others, and the driving out of His people in both Old Testament times and New Testament times was allowed for one purpose, that the light might shine in new places.
After Pentecost added thousands to the church, the disciples stayed in Jerusalem shielding the new members from snares and opposition instead of educating them to become workers together with God in carrying the gospel to those who had not heard it and had not received salvation through Christ.
They were in danger of being satisfied with what had been accomplished, not realizing that strength to resist temptation is best gained by active service, and the scattering broke up this settling.

When Stephen and others died for their faith as martyrs and the church was ravaged, its members were scattered through Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth and to other parts of the inhabited world.
Believers left Jerusalem and preached Christ in nearby cities, spreading the message among the Jews and carrying it to people who had not heard it, with some coming even to Macedonia.
So the gospel was then proclaimed with power, and the light given on the Scriptures shone forth in clear, bright rays.

The apostolic persecution provides a pattern for later persecution, for it could scatter believers without silencing their testimony and could further the gospel.
As long as probation continues, persecution opens new places of religious freedom for labor where hearts will receive the message, and were it not for persecution believers would not be so widely scattered to proclaim the truth more widely.

This persecution brought sadness and gloom to the new church and drove many believers to seek safety elsewhere.
Christians were driven from Jerusalem and had to flee from their homes, and this driving out brought them into great trial of affliction and deep poverty, yet those same scattered ones later gave to help those suffering in Jerusalem when famine came.
It scattered the church and disrupted the work of its seven deacons, including Philip, with men and women dragged before tribunals and imprisoned and some condemned to death solely for faith in Jesus.
Those who were scattered preached the gospel wherever they went through different places, though they were not ministers and had not been ordained, showing that lay men who fear God can take hold of the work and do as much and as well as ministers and should be sent to labor in fields and countries without waiting for ordination while more experienced laborers take the large cities.

Saul's Conversion and Calling

Saul's ravaging of the church ran its course until he was stopped on the way to Damascus where he intended to arrest Christians. Light from heaven shone around him there and Jesus spoke to him, and he was left blind and led into Damascus. There Saul was converted and became Paul, and he was united with the disciples as among the chief of the apostles.

One mightier than Satan had chosen this persecutor to take the place of the martyred Stephen. He was called to preach and suffer for Christ's name, to preach and strengthen the disciples, and to spread far and wide the glad tidings of salvation through Christ's blood. In this he filled the place left by Stephen, and did even more. What had been learning and zeal used against Christ was thus broken from Satan's power and freed for Christ's service.

The revelation that arrested him broke up his plans and changed the entire current of his life. Blind for three days in the house of Judas at Damascus, without eating or drinking, he gave the time to reflection, repentance, and earnest prayer. He remembered Stephen and his own guilt with horror and bitterness. He recognized that he had been carried away by the malice and prejudice of the priests and rulers, closing his eyes and ears against the most striking evidence, including the higher power that sustained Stephen, and that this had led him to reject the evidence for Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Paul never forgot this history. His cruel part in Stephen's persecution remained vivid to him when he himself was later stoned for preaching the truth. While imprisoned in Philippi he remembered how he had violently entered homes and sent men and women to prison, and was grateful that God had opened his eyes to the gospel he had once opposed and enabled him to preach it. His part in Stephen's martyrdom left him eager to make amends by boldly defending the truth even at risk of life. He later recognized that through his role in the persecution many worthy believers had suffered cruel deaths, and that he had consented to Stephen's death.

Even after this terrible evil done against Christ in the person of His saints, repentance and forgiveness were still possible. Christ's arrest of Saul teaches that even those who taunted Christ upon the cross and abused Him in the judgment hall would have been forgiven if they had repented as Saul did.

Doctrinal and Missionary Lessons

The havoc made in the church brings two armies into view in conflict, the army of heaven and the army of false religious zealots entering every house and dragging men and women to prison. The two parties seen then exist in the world today under two distinct leaders who were once united in the same work in the heavenly courts, with the originator of sin now leading the great apostasy and working in the children of disobedience until he and all who have united with him will be destroyed.

Saul hunting Christians from city to city while truly believing he was doing service to God proves a man can be conscientiously wrong as well as conscientiously right, so sincerity does not make a course right. Conscience must be well instructed and good rather than biased and warped by preconceived opinions, and conscience must not take the place of Thus saith the Lord. Losing sight of Christ makes even a religious man cruel and a false witness, as Saul was in ravaging the church, for he believed he was serving God while his hatred of Jesus' followers led him to do Satan's work. True religion requires obedience to the Word of the Lord in all speech and in all works. After Christ's grace transformed him, his zeal was redirected to Christ's service and his heart became compassionate toward even his opponents.

The scattering of believers under this persecution is the pattern for missionary work today. The church must not remain centered in companies in a few places while cities lie neglected, but must divide and subdivide, spread out and enter city after city that has never been worked. The work is to begin as humble unpretentious mission work there instead of investing means in large schools and extravagant buildings. God desires His workers today to be in many places meeting the people where they are, going into the work with the ability God gave them. New workers are to be educated by taking them along to instruct them in different lines of work including medical work and circulating books and papers in the simplicity of Bible lessons, uniting the work of the canvasser with that of the missionary evangelist to learn practical lessons instead of spending too much time being fitted up to do missionary work.

God used the dispersal to carry the gospel to other places as the scattered sought the lost, sending disciples beyond their home region to seek people who needed the gospel. When persecution becomes severe in one place, workers are to flee to another place, and if persecution comes there to go to still another, and God leads them so they become a blessing in many places. Were it not for persecution they would not be so widely scattered to proclaim the truth more widely, and as long as probation continues persecution opens new places of religious freedom for labor where hearts will receive the message.