Acts 22:1-8 - A Jew, born in Tarsus

22:1-5

Paul’s speaking in Aramaic stressed his Jewish routes, thus making the crowd more willing to listen. After that he stressed his Jewish routes directly, and his background as a Pharisee. We have met Gamaliel earlier in Acts (5:34). He was a highly respected Jewish teacher. Paul had been brought up in the strictest and most devout of Jewish ways. Paul had then persecuted those of “the Way”, ie the Christians. This persecution included “men and women”, this stresses how severe the persecution was. A less severe persecution would have targeted the men only. It is also another indicator of the importance of women in the early church. All this was documented, as Paul had received letters supporting his earlier actions. So Paul was a strict and zealous Jew, and of that there could be no doubt.

22:6-8

Paul then relates what happened on the road to Damascus. This incident will be related several times in the latter part of Acts. Sometimes people speak disparagingly of testimonies of what happened several years ago, but we see here an example of that happening here in the Bible. Paul’s conversion was obviously important to him, moreover, it was crucial to the later stages of his life. He also uses his name Saul in relating the tale. As noted earlier, Paul is a Greek form of Saul. Jesus made a dramatic appearance to Paul. Saul, as he then was, did not know who the Lord was. This was true of the Jews as a whole. Like Paul, they claimed to worship and serve God, but in reality they did not know who the Lord was and they were in fact persecuting the Lord.