Fr (Dr) Augustine Kanachikuzhy SSP
Belief of people in Jesus as the Messiah was of itself not a sufficient reason for Paul to persecute the Christians, as there were messianic movements before Jesus’ day, and the followers of those movements were not persecuted. The persecution resulted from the Christians’ belief and proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, who had been crucified and thereby stood under God’s curse. For according to Dt 21,23, “a hanged man is accursed by God.” Thus, the revealed Word of God itself testified that Jesus was cursed by God, as he had been crucified and died an ignominious death upon the tree. To accept a man cursed by God as the Messiah was incredible to any knowledgeable Jew. So, naturally for Paul the Christians’ proclamation of the cursed man Jesus as the Messiah amounted to blasphemy against God Himself.
The history of the early Church, as portrayed in Acts, shows that really violent antagonism against Christians did not manifest itself until Stephen began to preach. Stephen was accused of preaching that “Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change customs which Moses delivered to us” (Acts 6,14). Paul, a guardian of the holy Law could never tolerate such innovators or non-conformists. The differences between Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not became intolerable for him. Noted biblical scholar Kilgallen writes, “the death of Stephen unleashed a persecution (Acts 8,1) who thought and spoke like him. This persecution was instigated by the Sanhedrin; at least, as Luke presents the matter, it flowed right out of the murder of Stephen. It is in the midst of this terrible death and subsequent persecution that the figure of Paul is introduced to the reader. He becomes one of the most forceful persecutors on behalf of the Sanhedrin. Paul is no Sadducee, but rather a Pharisee of the strictest kind. Why would he get involved in this? Not that he opposed the idea of resurrection from the dead, as did the Sadducees. Rather, he opposed the figure of Jesus, because Jesus, and then his disciples, taught a law of Yahwism which in a number of points contradicted the Mosaic tradition to which Pharisees were totally devoted. But Paul must also have been angered at the preaching that Jesus was glorified by God, for the Christians could hardly have undertaken to continue to make public Jesus’ way of living if they had not been convinced of his resurrection from the dead and his glorification at God’s right hand.” Paul is convinced that the root cause of trouble is the figure of Jesus. It is he who must be eliminated along with his followers, but the Jesus is the ultimate target.
If we have to point out another reason for Paul’s raging fury against followers of Jesus, it would be his zeal and reverence for the Law of Moses. In Phil 3,4-6 Paul puts forward his credentials, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (See Gal 1,13-14). His zeal for the Law and blameless character forced him to against Christ and Christians. Hence, in entire good faith and with burning zeal Paul undertook to do what he sincerely believed to be the will of God for him: to persecute the heretical Christian movement violently and try to destroy it. He laid waste the community of Christians in Jerusalem, and entering houses, he dragged of men and women and committed them to prison (Acts 8,3). It became Jesus’ prerogative to arrest this process and win over to its perpetrator to his side. An appearance of the risen Christ was all that was needed; Paul joins side with Jesus and there was no looking back.
