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Dedicated to Truth -> Sabbath School Lesson Study -> Apostle to Gentiles, Gospel in Galatians Lesson 1
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Apostle to Gentiles, Gospel in Galatians Lesson 1
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The first lesson introduces us to Paul and gives us a background to the setting in which he writes.

Saul/Paul -- Persecutor of Christians

The first mention of Saul (later called Paul) is in Acts 6 at the stoning of Stephen.
Stephen, a Greek speaking Jew and one of the origianl seven deacons was in Jerusalem preaching about Jesus and debating with certain groups of people.  His martyrdom appears to have had a profound influence on Saul of Tarsus.

What charges were brought against Stephen? What do these charges remind you of?

He was accused of blasphemy against God and Moses.

Acts 6:11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous[a] words against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 

Matt. 26:59 Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, 60 but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none.[b] But at last two false witnesses[c] came forward 61 and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”

The fierce hostility toward Stephen’s preaching appears to have resulted from two different things. On the one hand, Stephen drew the ire of his opponents by not placing primary importance on the Jewish law and the temple, which had become the focal point of Judaism and were treasured symbols of religious and national identity. But Stephen did more than merely downplay these two treasured icons; he vigorously proclaimed that Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah, was the true center of the Jewish faith.

No wonder, then, that he angered the Pharisee Saul (Phil. 3:3–6), whose zeal against the early Christians indicates that he probably belonged to a strict and militant wing of the Pharisees, one full of revolutionary fervor. Saul saw that the great prophetic promises of God’s kingdom had not yet been fulfilled (Daniel 2, Zech. 8:23, Isaiah 40–55), and he probably believed it was his task to help God bring that day about—which could be done by cleansing Israel of religious corruption, including the idea that this Jesus was the Messiah.

Convinced he was right, Saul was willing to put those whom he thought wrong to death. While we need zeal and fervor for what we believe, how do we learn to temper our zeal with the realization that, at times, we just might be wrong? 

 

   



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So again let's ask -- what reason is given for stoning Stephen.

It had nothing to do with the moral law.
In fact Stephen reproved them for not keeping the moral law.

Stephen addresses the matter of the sanctuary and ends up quoting the scripture, “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?” (Act 7:49-50 NKJV, quoted from Isa 66:1-2).

Stephen was showing them that the temple was an object lesson to teach them about God and salvation.  The Jews had confused the object lesson that pointed to the means of salvation with the literal temple that to them gave them salvation through doing the rituals. They placed their faith in the temple and the rituals themselves as if they could save them.   They had the same problem with scripture: Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40 NKJV). They overlooked what the temple and even the scriptures were all pointing to. So Stephen was indeed redirecting their focus and telling them to stop trusting in the temple and its rituals and look to the reality they were pointing to.

 

As to the question of "Zeal"
 
Zeal is a good thing when it is directed in the right direction!
 
Titus 2:14   [Christ] Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 
 
  Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit was more zealous than even was Saul. Stephen was willing to die for his faith.  At that point Saul was not that committed. 
Stephen knew what to say and when to say it. He was zealous for the honor and glory of God.
 
Zeal is not the problem. It is a matter of who has the heart? Does Satan control the life or does Christ? The zeal of the unconverted Saul was working contrary to God, but when converted the same zeal spread the gospel of grace from Jerusalem to Rome!


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Saul's Conversion

 

“And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads’”(Acts 9:5, NKJV).

Although Saul’s persecution of the early church begins rather inconspicuously (as he only holds the coats of Stephen’s executioners), it quickly intensifies (see Acts 8:1–3; 9:1, 2, 13, 14, 21; 22:3–5). Several of the words Luke uses to describe Saul paint a picture of a wild, ferocious beast or a pillaging soldier bent on the destruction of his opponent. The word translated “ravaging” in Acts 8:3 (ESV), for example, is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Ps. 80:13) to describe the uncontrolled and destructive behavior of a wild boar. Saul’s crusade against the Christians was clearly not a half-hearted matter of convenience; it was a deliberate and sustained plan to exterminate the Christian faith.

Look at the three descriptions of Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1–18, 22:6–21, and 26:12–19). What role did the grace of God have in this experience? In other words, how much did Saul deserve the goodness that the Lord showed toward him?

Saul’s conversion, from a human perspective, must have seemed impossible (hence the skepticism that many expressed when they first heard about it).

The only thing Saul deserved was punishment, but God extended grace to this fervent Jew instead. It is important to note, however, that Saul’s conversion did not happen in a vacuum, nor was it forced.

Saul was no atheist. He was a religious man, though gravely mistaken in his understanding of God. Jesus’ words to Paul, “ ‘ “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” ’ ” (Acts 26:14, ESV), indicate that the Spirit had been convicting Saul. In the ancient world, a “goad” was a stick with a sharp point used to prod oxen whenever they resisted plowing. Saul had resisted God’s prodding for some time, but finally on his way to Damascus, through a miraculous encounter with the risen Jesus, Saul chose to fight no longer.

Think back about your own conversion experience. Maybe it wasn’t as dramatic as Paul’s (most aren’t), but in what similar ways were you the recipient of God’s grace? Why is it important never to forget what we have been given in Christ?



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