He was raised a faithful and loyal Jew. He went to the best schools. He had training in both Greek and Roman teachings and the teachings of the Hebrew Bible, what is now called the Old Testament.
He had very good ancestral lines as a Jew. Hew was the best Pharisee there ever was. He had a zeal for God’s law to be observed.
He did not like this new upstart group after Jesus had died. He arrested “Christ Ones,” Christians. He had some killed. He stood by and approved of the stoning of Stephen who saw Jesus in heaven just before Stephen died.
That might have gotten Saul thinking. The Holy Spirit was at work in his life. Indeed God had called him from the womb (Isaiah 49:5 for the mission he was about to begin.
As he was breathing “murderous threats” on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus, he was knocked off his high horse and blinded by a heavenly light. He asked, “Who are you Lord?” The response was, “I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.”
We know the rest. Saul took the Roman name Paul and became God’s primary first century messenger of the good news of Jesus and His love to the Gentiles, to those who were not Jews.
Talk about a great reversal… first in his life and then in his outlook!