Who was Saul of Tarsus persecuting before his conversion?
Before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus persecuted the early Jewish believers who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. He worked to destroy that element of Judaism, wreaking havoc among them, until God saved him by grace on the road to Damascus and commissioned him to carry the gospel to the Gentiles.
Les explains that during Christ's earthly ministry Jesus dealt only with Peter and the other eleven apostles, and after His death, burial, and resurrection the book of Acts still centers on Peter and the eleven. Meanwhile Saul of Tarsus was doing everything he could to destroy the element of Judaism that had believed Jesus was the Messiah. Les calls him the great persecutor who wreaked havoc among those early Jewish believers. After God saved him by grace on the road to Damascus, He commissioned this same Saul to be sent out into the pagan Gentile Roman Empire with the gospel of grace. Les notes that such a radical change is not easy, just as people today steeped in religion find it hard when Scripture shows they have been taught wrong.