“I have told you these things in figures of speech, but an hour is coming when I will no longer use figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.
So Paul and Barnabas spent a long time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who was testifying to the message of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and when they realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.
Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles. He related to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how he had been preaching boldly in Damascus in the name of Jesus.
Now I, Paul, myself appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when with you face to face, but bold toward you when absent!
My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be put to shame in anything, but will speak with complete boldness so that now, as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether I live or die.
On the contrary, even though we had previously suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the face of strong opposition.