Before the apostle Paul was converted to Christianity, his name was Saul. Saul was a devout Jew who believed Christians were Jewish apostates. He believed they were practicing a false religion. He believed they had left God and were worshipping a false teacher, Jesus.
He persecuted Christians. He went into their homes and dragged them off to prison. He took pleasure in the death of Christians.
In Acts 9:1, we read, “And Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest.” Notice that Saul was involved in threats and killing of Christians. It says he was ‘breathing out’ these things. The Greek actually gives a deeper message with those words. The Greek means he was ‘breathing these things in.’ He was not just doing these things. His life was completely involved in and devoted to these things. Just as his life was dependent on breathing in oxygen to live, his spiritual life was dependent on his persecution of Christians.
Saul had a one-track mind. He believed that to be a true follower of God, to be a true Jew, he had to destroy the church; he had to destroy Christians. How sad that he had this understanding. He knew the Old Testament Scriptures, but he refused to accept that Christ had fulfilled them. There are people living today who hate Christians. There are people who want to destroy the church. They literally ‘live’ or ‘breath in’ that hatred. Hopefully, someone will be able to teach them the truth. Hopefully, they will realize how wrong they are.
Study your Bible. Learn how to obey God. Learn how to follow Jesus. Make sure that you are ‘breathing in’ the truth. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
