“Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question …” (Acts 23:6).
The year was approximately A.D. 59. A lot had happened in the short few years since Christ had died and risen again, and it had happened fast. The number of believers in Christ had gone from 120 to untold thousands. The church, which had once been confined to one location in Jerusalem, was now to be found in far-flung places like Corinth, Ephesus, Laodicea, Colosse, Galatia, Rome and even in Philippi and Thessalonica in what is now modern Europe thanks to Paul’s travels into Macedonia. The New Testament was well underway, with the books of Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, Matthew, Mark and possibly Luke already in print and being circulated. Doctor Luke, also a world-class historian and journalist, was already in the process of writing the book of Acts in real time as he traveled along with Paul.
But the devil would not take any of this lying down. Just as he fought Christ tooth and nail, he fought Paul, who had gone from the biggest enemy of Christianity to its biggest advocate.
Paul himself was walking evidence for Christ. He had formerly been known as Saul, and his education was the best of the best of that day. His instructor was the famous Rabban Gamaliel the first, otherwise known as Gamaliel the Elder. His father, Rabban Simeon, had been president of the council, and after h is death, Gamaliel himself held that position. To be educated by this man was equivalent to receiving the highest degree Yale or Oxford have to offer in our day. In addition to that, Paul was also a free-born Roman citizen and a pure-blooded Jew who could trace his lineage generation by generation all the way back to Abraham through the tribe of Benjamin. Paul was riding through life on easy street.
And then came Christ.