Paul Before Damascus: His Own Confessions of Persecuting Early Christians

The man who would become the dominant theological voice of Christianity — responsible for more books of the New Testament than any other author — began his religious career as the most ferocious persecutor of the early followers of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. This is not an external accusation. It is Saul’s own confession, repeated across multiple letters and corroborated by the Book of Acts. The founder of Pauline Christianity by his own admission robbed churches, imprisoned saints, forced followers to blaspheme, consented to killings, and pursued believers into foreign cities.

Paul’s Background and Formation

Saul of Tarsus was born of pure Hebrew origin and was Roman by nationality. From his earliest years he was educated according to the strictest Pharisaic tradition:

Saul’s teacher was Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder — a descendant of Hillel, one of the most famous teachers and compilers of the Talmud, counted among the Tannaim (teachers) of the first generation between 10–80 AD. Under Gamaliel’s leadership, Saul mastered the interpretive methods of the rabbis, learned Greek and Hebrew, and surpassed his peers in zeal for ancestral tradition. He was, in his own words, “advancing in Judaism above many of my contemporaries.”

This formation shaped everything that followed. When the call of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, spread through Palestine and people began accepting the new religion, Saul viewed its followers as enemies of the God of his fathers — and considered their elimination a sacred religious duty.

The Six Aspects of Saul’s War Against the Followers of Christ

1. Open Hostility to the Name of Jesus

Saul was not a passive skeptic. He devoted himself to active resistance against the growing community of believers in Tarsus and Jerusalem. The teachings of Jesus — which opposed the hypocrisy and misleading doctrines of the Jewish priestly establishment — had attracted widespread popular following, and this enraged the religious leaders. Saul became their instrument.

2. Plundering and Destroying the Church

Multiple translations render the Greek of Acts 8:3 as “wreaking havoc” and “robbing” — the image is of systematic, violent destruction, not mere opposition. Saul’s own letter to the Galatians uses the word “destroying” to describe what he did to the Church of God.

3. Pursuing and Imprisoning Followers — Men and Women

The authority to arrest came directly from the chief priests of Jerusalem. Saul did not act alone or without institutional backing — he was the commissioned instrument of the Jewish religious establishment. His pursuit extended beyond Jerusalem:

When the followers of “the Way” fled to Damascus to escape the persecution in Jerusalem, Saul obtained letters of authorization from the high priest and pursued them there as well — to arrest them and return them to Jerusalem as captives for trial.

4. Forcing Believers to Blaspheme

This detail is among the most severe in Saul’s confession: he did not merely imprison followers of Christ — he used violence to compel them to renounce their faith publicly. His anger drove him beyond the borders of Judea.

5. Consenting to Killing

Saul did not merely witness Stephen’s stoning — he supported the killers and guarded their garments while they executed the first Christian martyr. His own words confirm that he voted for the death of multiple believers.

6. Threatening and Killing Disciples

The persecution was systematic. On the day of Stephen’s execution, Acts records that “severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone was scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Saul was the engine of that dispersal.

The Church’s Own Admission

The official Church response to Paul’s pre-Damascus history contains a candid admission that no external commentary is needed to interpret:

This is not the formulation of a critic of Paul. It is the Church’s own language about its foundational theologian.

Summary of Saul’s Confessions