A Study of Acts: Saul Persecutes the Early Church
Acts 8:1-4 - Acts of persecution can by used by God to bring more to the faith. We are not meant to be in one place together as believers, but to go forth and proclaim!
“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, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”
Acts 8:1-4 NASB1995
Chapter 7 of Acts ended with the death of Stephen by stoning. Initially, I planned to just include Acts 8:1-3 as the basis for this devotional, but decided to add verse 4 as it seems to fit well with this part of the story.
The youthful man in charge of the robes during this vicious act was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death. So what does it mean to be in hearty agreement with something? Let’s do a word study! I haven’t done one lately and this seems like a good phrase to evaluate. Hearty agreement comes from the Greek verb συνευδοκέω or syneudokéō, with the following Biblical usages:
to be pleased together with, to approve together (with others)
to be pleased at the same time with, consent, agree to
to applaud
Saul was pleased and even grateful that he could be part of this condemnation and execution. On that very day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. Here is good commentary from Enduring Word from the first part of this passage:
Now Saul was consenting to his death: In Philippians 3:6, Paul said of his life before Jesus that he was so zealous in his religious faith that he persecuted the church. Saul’s supervision of the execution of Stephen was just one example of this persecution.
Consenting describes Saul’s attitude, but the English translation probably isn’t strong enough. The idea behind the ancient Greek word suneudokeo is “to approve, to be pleased with.” Some people are reluctant persecutors, but Saul wasn’t one of these; he took pleasure in attacking Christians.
Saul of Tarsus – whom most of us know by his Roman name, Paul – later came to deeply regret this persecution of the church. He later wrote, For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9).
Acts 26:11 described what perhaps Paul regretted most: And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. Paul may have suffered many sleepless nights thinking about those whom he compelled…to blaspheme.
A great persecution arose against the church: Stephen’s death was only the beginning. The floodgates of persecution were now open against the Christians. Saul was only one of many persecutors of Christians.
This was the first persecution of the Christians as a whole. Before, the apostles had been arrested and beaten and persecuted; here, every believer was threatened with violence and perhaps death.
On Sunday, January 8, 1956, on the shores of a lonely river deep in the jungles of Ecuador, natives murdered five missionaries who came to tell about Jesus. To many, this death seemed like a senseless tragedy. Many could only see five young missionaries who had their careers cut short or the five widows and fatherless children. But God did an amazing work through those five men, even in their deaths, and the blessing still reverberates through people like Elisabeth Elliot – one of the five women whose husband was murdered.
In the same way, Stephen’s death might seem sort of meaningless at first glance. His young ministry of power and eloquence was cut abruptly short. His ministry also seemed to end in failure – no one was immediately brought to faith, and all that came forth was more persecution against the church. But as always has been the case, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.
They were scattered throughout the regions: Now the Christians were forced to do what they had been reluctant to do – get the message of Jesus out to the surrounding regions.
Scattered: According to [James Montgomery] Boice, there are two different words in the ancient Greek language for the idea of “scattered.” One has the idea of scattering in the sense of making something disappear, like scattering someone’s ashes. The other word has the idea of scattering in the sense of planting or sowing seeds. This is the ancient Greek word used here.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus clearly told His followers to look beyond Jerusalem and bring the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the whole world. But to this point, Jesus’ followers had not done this.
The resulting good of the spread of the gospel leads some to see this persecution as being the will of God. God can and will use pressing circumstances to guide us into His will. Sometimes we have to be shaken out of our comfortable state before we do what God wants us to do.
A few takeaways from this commentary:
Later in his life, Paul was deeply affected by the fact that he persecuted Christians and made them blaspheme against God to save their lives. He considered himself the least of the apostles. It is a tragedy to think that because of his zealotry, some decent believers sadly backpedaled on their faith because they wanted to live (for themselves, for their families, or for something). By looking to this life they gave up life. I don’t know what I would do in the same circumstances. It is a constant prayerful subject with me. I am a “planner” so probably the best action is to prepare myself for the worst!
The persecution escalates from questioning of the apostles or a case like Stephen to affecting everyone in Jerusalem who is following this nascent faith. In a very short time historically, the persecution escalates again and the tyrants of the Roman Empire take over.
This article from the Gospel Coalition explains more about the martyrdom of Jim Elliot and four other missionaries in Ecuador in 1956. An amazing harvest of evangelism came out of this tragedy. In God’s great plan, these deaths are not premature or tragic, but are catalysts that leads to much greater good.
The scattering or diaspora of the believers out of Jerusalem was a necessary outcome of this act and the persecution. Jesus told His followers in Acts 1:8 to bring the gospel to Judea, Samaria and the whole world. In Acts 8:1, this becomes the reality.
Saul goes house to house, dragging out believers, both men and women, and imprisoning them (or worse), just like in this artwork I found (no artist or description attached) in a search. He does not spare the women in his zealotry, probably leaving many orphans or lost children in his wake. These actions lead to the scattering of believers and they continued to testify to their salvation. I love this commentary I found by Charles Spurgeon on Precept Austin
GOD INTENDED THAT HIS CHURCH SHOULD BE SCATTERED ALL OVER THE WORLD.
There was a tendency in our humanity at first to remain together; hence the first grey fathers endeavoured to build a central tower around which the race should rally. But God confounded their language, and scattered them that they might people the world. Jerusalem was first the central point of Christianity, and the tendency doubtless was to keep the centre strong. I have often heard the argument, "Do not have too many out-stations, keep up a strong central force." But God's plan was that the holy force should be distributed; the holy seed must be sown — to do this the Lord used the rough hand of persecution. One went this way, and one the other; and the faithful were scattered.
Every Church endowed with the Spirit will be spread abroad. God never means the Church to be shut up in a shell or, like ointment, enclosed in a box. The precious perfume of the gospel must be poured forth to sweeten the air. Now that persecution has ceased godly men are scattered through the necessity of earning a livelihood. Sometimes we regret that young men should have to go to a distance, that families should have to migrate. But does not the Lord by this means sow the good seed widely? It is very pleasant to be comfortably settled under an edifying ministry, but the Lord has need of some of His servants in places where there is no light; and they ought of themselves to scatter voluntarily. Every Christian should say, "Where can I do most good?" And if we will not go afield willingly, God may use providential necessity as the forcible means of our dispersion.
GOD'S DESIGN IS NOT THE SCATTERING IN ITSELF, BUT SCATTERING OF A PURPOSE — to preach the Word. The word "proclaim" is not quite so subject to the modern sense which has spoiled the word "preach." The latter has come to be a sort of official term for delivering a set discourse; whereas gospel preaching is telling the gospel out in any way. Note -
The universality of the work of evangelizing. All the scattered went everywhere; there does not seem to have been any exception. You thought it would read "the apostles," but they were just the people who did not go at all. Generals may have to stand still in the centre of the battle to direct the forces; but this was soldiers' battles, and of this sort all the battles of the Cross ought to be.
There were no personal distinctions. It is not said that ministers preached the Word, scarcely anything has been more injurious to the kingdom of Christ than the distinction between clergy and laity. No such distinction appears in the Bible. "Ye are God's Kleros": all God's saints are God's inheritance. "Ye are a royal priesthood." Though God gives to His Church apostles, teachers, pastors, etc., yet not by way of setting up a professional caste who are to do all the work while others sit still. Every converted man is to teach what he knows.
Truly marvelous insight from this great Christian thinker and preacher! I also found these wise words about persecution on Precept Austin, from Paul Apple:
Persecution is inevitable for the godly; don’t be surprised by it; Prepare!
Persecution accomplishes God’s overall goals for the health and growth of His church - We can fortify ourselves by studying the grace that God provided to His servants who gave the ultimate sacrifice down through church history
We should have solidarity and prayer support for our brothers and sisters who are under direct attack
We should be confident in our ultimate victory as we focus on the vision of heavenly glory and the Advocacy on our behalf by the Righteous One
My next devotional examines Acts 8:5-13 - Philip (the appointed server, not the apostle) goes down to Samaria to preach.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I pray these wise words of C.S. Lewis today:
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)
Amen!
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 9/20/2024 to review the lexicon for hearty agreement.
Commentary in Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Precept Austin was accessed on 9/20/2024 to review commentary for Acts 8:1-4.