1460. Paul's Conduct As a Youth

Paul's Conduct As a Youth

"My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews" (Act_26:4).

Paul was known in the days of his youth as Saul of Tarsus. He was not a young man given to profligacy and to shame, he was both a student and a stoic. He was separated from the rabble and set aside for leadership. He was a candidate for honors in the Jewish religion.

Three things may be said of Paul's youth.

1. His family. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and instructed in all of the ways of the Jews.

2. His religious experiences. Saul of Tarsus in his youth was of the strictest sect of the Jewish religion. He was faithful to the oracles of God, as he knew them. He was an outstanding figure in the defense of Judaism. Nobody could have said that he was irreligious or untrue to the faith of his fathers, in so far as he understood that faith.

3. His persecution of saints. Saul of Tarsus was not an inactive religious imbecile; he did not hold to the Jewish religion in a cold, formal way. He threw his very life into its defense. Among the younger set he was a leader in persecuting saints. He received letters of authority from the high priests in Jerusalem, and, with these, he set forth for Damascus to bring down unto Jerusalem all the saints whom he might inveigle in the net of Pharisaical treachery.

This trip to Damascus was not his first attack against the believers in Christ, for he had punished them oft in their synagogues, and compelled them to blaspheme. He had gone ofttimes unto the strange cities and had become exceedingly mad against the Christians.

There are those who would at once condemn Paul for his persecution of the believers in Christ, but it must be remembered that this young man verily thought that he was doing the will of God, and what he did, he did in ignorance and in unbelief.

Certainly the youth of Saul is worthy of consideration. There are many to-day following in his footsteps–their highest ambition is to be religious, that is, churchy, denominational; they are filled with a passion to fight for their denomination and for its creed. In these very things, they are fighting against the Lord Jesus.

The difficulty with Saul, the youth, was that he was taught of men but not of God; he was religious but not spiritual; he was possessed of zeal, but not a zeal according to knowledge; he fought for his principles, but in so doing he fought against his Saviour.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR