Acts 22:4 Cross References

Acts 22:4

4: And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, binding and delivering both men and women to prison.

"'But Lord,' I argued, 'they certainly know that I imprisoned and beat those in every synagogue who believed on you.
And when your witness Stephen was killed, I was standing there agreeing. I kept the coats they laid aside as they stoned him.'

"I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.
Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands.

Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria.
(Some godly men came and buried Stephen with loud weeping.)
Saul was going everywhere to devastate the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into jail.
But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.

But some rejected his message and publicly spoke against the Way, so Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he began preaching daily at the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.

She followed along behind us shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved."

For I am the least of all the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted the church of God.

When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately.

"But Lord," exclaimed Ananias, "I've heard about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!
And we hear that he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest every believer in Damascus."

"But I admit that I follow the Way, which they call a sect. I worship the God of our ancestors, and I firmly believe the Jewish law and everything written in the books of prophecy.

even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief.
Oh, how kind and gracious the Lord was! He filled me completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus.
This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--and I was the worst of them all.

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destroy the Lord's followers, so he went to the high priest.
He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them--both men and women--back to Jerusalem in chains.

All who heard him were amazed. "Isn't this the same man who persecuted Jesus' followers with such devastation in Jerusalem?" they asked. "And we understand that he came here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests."

They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

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