During the early days of the church the movement of the Gospel of Christ appears to have been confined to the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding area. I would like to ask you just how a small sect of the Jewish community that had made Jesus Christ their Lord manage to grow from a small group of believers that were looked down on by their Jewish leaders and a large part of the Jewish community in Jerusalem, to the place where it is today? Of course, we can say that God was behind this growth, and we would certainly be correct in doing so, but as we read through the book of Acts it is interesting to see the events and situations that the believers found themselves in that lead to the expansion of the Gospel message to the world. We are all acquainted with the ministry of the Apostle Paul and his ministry to the Gentiles. He carried, from God, the message that the Gospel of Christ was for everyone and not just the Jewish people. Almost the entire book of Acts is devoted to following the ministry of Paul in sharing the Gospel of Christ. We are almost led to believe that without Paul we would never have known all the wonderful things we have in Christ. As I read through the book of Acts, I realized that the expansion of the Church outside of Jerusalem started not with Paul as a believer, but with Paul as Saul, prior to his conversion on the Road to Damascus when he was one of the primary persecutors of the followers of Christ in Jerusalem. To see this, we need to provide a little background for the first appearance of Saul in the Book of Acts.
We open with the picture of young man name Stephen standing before the elders of Israel where he has been called to defend the Gospel of Christ that he and others in Jerusalem had been teaching. Stephen gives perhaps one of the best summations of the Old Testament that you will ever have occasion to read, and in the end, he ties that history in with the Gospel of Christ; something that the elders did not want to hear.
Acts 7:54 – 57,
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with [their] teeth.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God…
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And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord.
From this we can see that the elders were not happy with what they were hearing. They attacked him with the purpose of doing him great physical harm.
Romans 8:58—60,
And they cast [him] out of the city, and stoned [him]: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. {this is the first mention of Saul in the NT}
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. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. {died}
This young man Saul was respected enough to hold and watch over the clothes of those stoning Stephen. He was a man of letters and education. Paul speaks of his educational background later in the book of Acts.
Acts 22:3,
I {Paul/Saul} am verily a man [which am] a Jew, born in Tarsus, [a city] in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city {Jerusalem} at the feet of Gamaliel, [and] taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
There is some speculation that Saul was a member of the ruling council. I will be honest with you; I cannot say one way or another. But I can say he was disciple of Gamaliel who was on the council, and a teacher and elder of high respect. I believe that Saul was being trained for a position if he was not already included as a leader. It is interesting to note that Saul’s mentor, Gamaliel, was the only elder who spoke up with any kind of defense of Peter and the apostles when they were up before the elders earlier (see Acts 5:24-40). In that account it is obvious that Gamaliel was well respected and as his student Saul would have been favored as well. So, we have this young man taking care of the loose clothing of those who stoned Stephen. But this is not all that is said of Saul, Chapter 8 continues the story of the story of the stoning of Stephen.
Acts 8:1a,
And Saul was consenting unto his death …
A point is being made here that Saul consented or agreed with the decision to put Stephen to death. If he was not a part of the ruling council, it appears that he was certainly allowed to attend the meeting. What happened to Stephen sadly, turned out to be only the beginning of a major persecution of the followers of Christ.
Acts 8:1-2,
And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
And devout men carried Stephen [to his burial] and made great lamentation over him.
Why did they the church scatter? Because there was great persecution against the church. Jerusalem was becoming an unsafe place to be in if you were a follower of Christ The next two verses make this very clear.
Acts 8:3-4,
As for Saul, he made havock {to treat shamefully or injure} of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed [them] to prison.
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
Take careful note of verse four because it appears that leader of the persecution of the church was this same young man, Saul, who watched over the clothes of those who stoned Stephen, and it was because of the actions of this man that the believers were scattered abroad and preached the word outside of Jerusalem. Up to this point in time the church had only operated in the city of Jerusalem and Acts states that the reason the church began to spread outside of the city was because of the actions of this young man Saul and the persecution he was bringing against the church. Before going on I would like to take a moment to examine the prophecies regarding Saul, who later became Paul at the time of his conversion to the Church. Let’s look first at what God said to the disciple Ananias regarding Saul.
Acts 9:15 – 16,
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
It is clear from this that God had already chosen Saul to be a minister of the Gospel. If we look in Acts 26, we will find Paul’s own, and more complete account of what the Lord said to him on the road to Damascus
Acts 26:16-18,
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Delivering thee from the people, and [from] the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
This young man, before whom the witnesses laid their clothes while they stoned Stephen and who consented to his death and who led the greatest persecution against the Church that they had yet faced; God chose this man to bring the gospel to the Gentiles and in the end to the world. Christianity’s greatest known letters were written by this man and after almost two thousand years we are still reading and following the guidance he received from God. It is interesting to note that the first real spreading of the Gospel of Christ outside of Jerusalem occurred because of the actions of this man. Even at that point in the life of Saul it appears that God was using him to spread the gospel. Most who read the book of acts believe that Saul ceased using his Hebrew name of Saul, and began using his Roman name, Paul to indicate he was no longer the same person who persecuted the Church but was a new man in Christ. Yet his past actions appeared to result in spread of the Gospel of Christ. This is strictly my opinion based on what I have read in the Book of Acts, but it seems very clear to me that God was even then, using Saul to ensure that the gospel did not die in Jerusalem; that it would continue to spread and be known throughout the world.
There is, as a side issue, another thing I would like to point out. The result of the persecution of the Church was not for the church to attack the Jewish religious leaders. The same is true of all the persecution recorded in the Book of Acts. I want to call your attention to certain phrases in the first part of Acts chapter 8.
Acts 8:1
… And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
The result of the persecution of the Church was the scattering of the believers. They left the city of Jerusalem and distributed themselves among all of the regions around them.
Acts 8:3,
As for Saul, he made havock of the church …
While there is more to this verse, the point is that Saul was disrupting the Church in Jerusalem and causing them to be locked into prison for what they believed.
Acts 8:4
Therefore ….
I will stop here for a moment. There is a very often used question that you must ask yourself. What is the word “therefore” there for? It has been asked by teachers so often that it has almost become tiring, but it is, nevertheless a question that you should always ask yourself. In this case the “therefore” refers to the persecution of Church in Jerusalem and specifically the persecution of the Church led by Saul that resulted in their being scattered abroad.
Acts 8:4,
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
The result of persecution of the Church should never be personal or physical attacks. It should always be the preaching of the word of God. We are not going to change the world. Satan is the head of it, all we can do is change people, one at a time, and the only way we are going to do that is by sharing the word of God as it relates to deliverance from this present evil age with them. Most of us, especially in the United States, have never suffered real persecution, and yet we often attack when any criticism of our beliefs is made. Instead we should respond simply by preaching God’s word and specifically the word of the Gospel of Christ.
Keith Carter Ministries 