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The Testimony of Paul.
The Acts of the Apostles is divided into two main features. In chapters 1:-12: Peter
is the dominant character; in chapters 13:-28:, Paul, with his distinctive ministry
occupies the field, Peter's last appearance being in Acts 15:, where he refers to a
ministry entrusted to him "a good while ago" (Acts 15: 7). The section of the Acts that
deals with Paul's ministry falls into three parts:
(1) Acts 6: 12 - 8: 1.
Stephen and Paul.
\ Saul.
9: 1-22.
Saul's conversion.
/
(2)
13: - 21:
Saul also called Paul.
Separated and free.
(3)
22: - 28:
Paul the Prisoner.
Imprisoned.
Saul of Tarsus was a citizen of no mean city, and a man who profited in the Jew's
religion above many, who were his equals (Gal. 1: 14), and who could write of himself in
a later epistle, that if any man had confidence in the flesh, he could exceed them, "I
more". From what has been written of Saul of Tarsus, there does not appear any
likelihood that he, honoured as he was by the Sanhedrin, and having a reputation to
maintain, would succumb to the claims of One Jesus of Nazareth, Who had (so far as he
knew) ended his career on the cross, and whose followers were in the main the poor of
the land and of little or no consequence. Yet, in an instant he believed! There are one or
two steps indicated that led to this conversion. Stephen, as his murderers gnashed at him
with their teeth, said:
"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of
God . . . . . And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit, and he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge" (Acts 7: 55-60).
To all this, the young man named Saul was a witness. If we turn to Acts 13: and
note the way in which Paul summarized the history of Israel, we see how closely he
followed Stephen's survey and application of this history of his people, introducing the
typical stories of Joseph and Moses, who were both originally rejected, but at "the second
time" acknowledged (Acts 7: 13, 35), and it would have been difficult for Saul to have
disagreed with Stephen's application:
"As your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts 7: 51).
It must have caused Saul great heart searchings as he realized that he was against a
man who prayed for his murderers, and was for this rabble, who stoned a man whose face
was as it had been the face of an angel (Acts 6: 15). The charge against Stephen was:
"We have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall
change the customs which Moses delivered us" (Acts 16: 14),
and this, his accusers called `blasphemy' against the holy place and the law.
In Acts 21: 28 Paul had to bear a similar charge laid against himself: