Saul likely considered the proclamation of Jesus as the Christ to be akin to blasphemy. At this point in time, like the rest of the Sanhedrin, he was convinced that Jesus was under God’s curse (Galatians 3:13). The persecution which he led was an organized attempt to force Christian believers to abandon their religious convictions and thereby stop the spread of the Christian faith.1 Saul worked with the approval of the local Sanhedrin officials (Acts 9:1–2; Acts 26:10–11).2
3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.