and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them to Jerusalem as prisoners.
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. Being fervent in spirit, he spoke and accurately taught the facts about the Lord, though he knew only about the baptism of John.
But some became hardened and refused to believe, speaking evil of the Way in front of the congregation. So Paul left them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the lecture hall of a man named Tyrannus.
But I confess this to yoʋ, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is written throughout the Law and in the Prophets,
After hearing these things, Felix, who knew the facts concerning the Way in great detail, had them adjourn, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”
And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. I locked up many of the saints in prison by the authority I received from the chief priests, and when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them.
But some men from the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), along with some of the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some men from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and began to argue with Stephen.
All who heard it were amazed and said, “Is this not the man who in Jerusalem tried to destroy those who call upon this name, and has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them as prisoners to the chief priests?”