Did Paul persecute and kill people for going against the law before he was saved?
Yes. Before salvation, Paul was a law-keeping religious zealot who killed people for accepting something contrary to the law. He later realized all that counted for nothing, because salvation is only through faith in the finished work of the cross.
Les explains that Paul was a religious Jew par excellence, a law-keeping Jew who was a religious zealot. He killed people because they were accepting something contrary to the law. But when Paul suddenly realized that all of his law-keeping counted for nothing, because the work of the cross had now become preeminent, and it is only through faith in the finished work of the cross that sinners can be saved, he stopped. He then warned that if he went back and put his converts under the law, he would be rebuilding what he had torn down.
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
More Questions
What did Paul do to people who accepted teaching contrary to the law?
As a law-keeping Jew, Paul killed people because they were accepting something contrary to the law, making him a religious zealot.
What did Paul do as a law-keeping Jew before he became a Christian?
Before his conversion, Paul as a law-keeping Jew killed people because they accepted something contrary to the law.