Who was Paul before his conversion according to this teaching?
Before conversion, Paul was a religious Jew par excellence, a law-keeping Jew and a religious zealot. He was a great practitioner of Judaism who thought the law, temple, and Old Testament were the epitome of everything, and he killed people who accepted something contrary to that.
Les explains that Paul, remembering his past, was a religious Jew par excellence, the likes of which no one else could even come close to. He had been a law-keeping Jew who killed people because they accepted something contrary to the law. He was a religious zealot, a great practitioner of Judaism, who thought the law, the temple, and the Old Testament were the epitome of everything. But when he suddenly realized all of that counted for nothing because the work of the cross had become preeminent, he understood that it is only through faith in the finished work of the cross that sinners can be saved.
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
More Questions
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.
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.