Acts 22:4
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I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison,
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
I persecuted, &c.--(See on Act 9:1-2; Act 9:5-7).
Open source ↗In the close of the foregoing chapter we had Paul bound, according to Agabus's prophecy of the hard usage he should receive from the Jews at Jerusalem, yet he had his tongue set at liberty, by the permission the chief captain gave him to speak for himself; and so intent he is upon using that liberty of speech which is allowed him, to the honour of Christ and the service of his interest, that he forgets the bonds he is in, makes no mention of them, but speaks of the great things Christ had done for him with as much ease and cheerfulness as if nothing had been done to ruffle him or put him into disorder. We have here, I. His address to the people, and their attention to it (Act 22:1, Act 22:2). II. The account he gives of himself. 1. What a bigoted Jew he had been in the beginning of his time (Act 22:3-5). 2. How he was miraculously converted and brought over to the faith of Christ (Act 22:6-11). 3. How he was confirmed and baptized by the ministry of Ananias (Act 22:12-16). 4. How he was afterwards called, by an immediate warrant from heaven, to be the apostle of the Gentiles (Act 22:17-21). III. The interruption given him upon this by the rabble, who could not bear to hear any thing said in favour of the Gentiles, and the violent passion they flew into upon it (Act 22:22, Act 22:23). IV. Paul's second rescue out of the hands of the rabble, and the further course which the chief captain took to find out the true reason of this mighty clamour against Paul (Act 22:24, Act 22:25). V. Paul's pleading his privilege as a Roman citizen, by which he was exempted from this barbarous method of inquisition (Act 22:26-29). VI. The chief captain's removing the cause into the high priest's court, and Paul's appearing there (Act 22:30).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”
They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him in and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”