For I am the meanest of the Apostles, I who am unworthy of the name of 'Apostle,' because I persecuted the Church of God.
But Saul began to devastate the Church; he entered house after house, dragged out men and women alike, and threw them into prison.
Do not cause offence either to Jews or Greeks or to the Church of God;
I do not regard myself as in any way inferior to the most eminent Apostles!
I have been "playing the fool!" It is you who drove me to it. For it is you who ought to have been commending me! Although I am nobody, in no respect did I prove inferior to the most eminent Apostles.
You heard, no doubt, of my conduct when I was devoted to Judaism--how I persecuted the Church of God to an extent beyond belief, and made havoc of it,
All that they had heard was--'The man who once persecuted us is now telling the Good News of the very Faith of which he once made havoc.'
As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the Church; as to such righteousness as is due to Law, I proved myself blameless.