Who or what did Paul Persecute?
When Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, with permission from the Chief Priest to arrest Christians (called the “Way” in verse 2), Jesus appeared to him and asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Verse 4). Observe the “me”. Since the church is the body of Christ (Colossians 1:18), to persecute the church is to persecute Christ.
Another equally clear and informative passage is in Galatians 1. In verse 13, Paul writes: “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.” Paul had an intense hatred for the church of Christ. He persecuted the church violently and tried to destroy it. The tense of the verbs “persecuted” and “destroy” (imperfect), shows an on-going pattern of behavior for Paul.
But now, observe verse 23 of the same chapter, Galatians 1:23: “They only were hearing it said, ‘He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.'” The verb “destroy” here is the same as the verb “destroy” in verse 13. Paul was trying to destroy the “church of God” in verse 13; he was trying to destroy “the faith” in verse 23. “The faith” here would be the Gospel, the source of faith in Christ (Romans 10:17). Of course, Paul was also persecuting Christ – Acts 9:4.
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Do not be deceived into believing that you can be faithful to Christ and ignore the church. Nor can you live “the faith” without being a part of the church.
“What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:6).
Paul Holland
