Did Paul violently persecute Christians?

• Clarifying the question

  

  Paul was a devout Jew who later converted to Christianity around c. AD 32. Prior to Paul's conversion, in his Jewish fervor for serving God, did Paul persecute Christians as a blasphemous sect worthy of death. Was it an especially violent persecution?

• Paul was a devout Jew

  

  Rather than being substantially Hellenized, Paul had been a particularly zealous Torah-centered Jew.

  See this full page for elaboration on these five arguments:

  • Paul was a notoriously zealous Pharisee, so he was of course a zealous Torah-centered Jew.
  • Paul was raised by torah-centered parents, and absent any real impetus for change, it is more natural to assume he carried on that tradition.
  • Paul was a higher-ranking Jew and this was far less likely to happen if Paul was not a reputed Torah-loving Jew.
  • Paul was formally trained in Judaism under Gamaliel, and was very educated in the Torah; these indicate Paule was quote Torah-centered himself.
  • Paul's perspectives were strictly Jewish after his conversion to Christianity and, while Christianity itself was admittedly Jewish already, the concepts and biases Paul reveals are likely in part explained by Paul's retaining his uniqely strong foundation in Judaism.

  Paul's being so Torah-centered is a reason to think Paul plausibly persecuted Christians because, in general, such Jews felt that Christians were worthy of persecution (even if many did not engage in it themselves). It was particularly devout and zealous Jews that intolerant towards the first Christians and acted on it.¹

  1. In fact, Christians were violently persecuted by the Jews. For example:

     Acts 8:1-3 — Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,....

• In Galatians 1 Paul says churches knew him for persecuting

  

  In Galatians 1, Paul says he was famously violent in persecuting Christians “beyond measure.” This is an undisputed letter of Paul, and there is no real room for interpreting him otherwise. He exhibits a measure of shame over the matter and is unlikely to be lying. See:

  Galatians 1:13-23 — For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. …I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

• 1 Corinthians 15 says Paul “persecuted”

  In 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, Paul very emotionally admits he “persecuted the church of God.”

  1 Corinthians 15:9-10 -- For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

  This confession is relevant because Paul was rather adamant about defending his apostleship and authority, so his breakdown and confession here of “not being fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church” makes little sense if Paul did not actually persecute Christians with an intensity worth of such an emotional confession.

• Philippians 3:5-6 says Paul zealously persecuted

  

  In Philippians 3, Paul says he was in “zeal,” “a persecutor of the church.”

  Philippians 3:5-6 — circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

  This further suggests Paul violently perseucted Christians because “persecutor” already implied violence, and yet to persecute with “zeal” suggests it was a particlarly emphatic measure of violence.

  Martin Hengel: “[porthein] has a very harsh ring and denotes violent action. In Josephus, BJ 4.534, it denotes the burning of the villages and towns of Idumaea by Simon bar Giora and is used synonymously with [lumainesthai] (Acts 8.3: ‘Saul laid waste [elumaineto] to the church...). ‘It implies the idea of physical or moral violence against people.’” [The Pre-Christian Paul (SCM, 1991), 72.]

• 1 Timothy 1:3 says Paul was violent

  While some scholars are skeptical that 1 Timonthy is an authentic letter of Paul, others are not. And in this letter, the author (presumably Paul) says he was “a persecutor and violent aggressor”

  1 Timothy 1:13 — “even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy...”

• Acts 7:58f says Paul “heartily” endorsed their death

  

  According to Acts 7, Paul testified to “heartily” endorsing the execution of Christians like Stephen.

  Acts 7:58-8:1 — “…they began stoning [Stephen]; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul [Paul]. 59 They went on stoning Stephen… Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.”

  So? Plausibly…

  • Acts misrepresents Paul.²

  1. While some scholars think Acts may represent Paul, this seems unlikely. Among other reasons, evidence quite strongly indicates that the author of Luke-Acts was a part-time companion of Paul's (e.g. despite attempts to say otherwise, there currently remain no good alternative explanations for why the author of Luke-Acts consistently uses “we” during part of the narrative involving Paul's travels).

• Acts 9:1-3 says Paul threatened murder

  

  In Acts 9, it says Paul was “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples.”

  Acts 9:1-3 — Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

• Acts 9:26-27 says Christians feared his violence

  

  Acts 9 reports on Paul's testifying how Christians widely feared him because of his violence.

  Acts 9:26-27 — “When [Paul] came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas [introduced Paul…]”

  And recall Acts 26 and Galatians 1:13 to get a sense of Paul's obtaining a reputation for himself.¹

  1. Galatians 1:13 -- “For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;”
     Acts 26:4-5 — “So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.

• Acts 22:1-5 says the council can testify to Paul’s violence

  

  Acts 22:1-5 reports on Paul's sayinig, “I persecuted this way to the death, binding and… all the Council of elders can testify”

  Acts 22:1-5 — “‘Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.’ And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said, ‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. ‘I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.”

• Acts 26:9-11 says Paul voted in Christian deaths

  

  In, Acts 26:9-11 Paul says he voted in Christian deaths, beat them, dragged them to Jerusalem for punishment.

  Acts 26:9-12 — “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. ‘While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,