Acts 9:29-30 29And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. 30And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
The third group who responded to Saul were the Hellenists, who were negative. These people likely spoke Greek and were diaspora Jews who had gone to Jerusalem for unknown reasons. Their way of thinking was different from that of native Judeans. Stephen represented a Hellenistic Jew who became a believer. In the wider Jewish world, one of the most famous Hellenistic Jews of that time was Philo of Alexandria. Since Saul was a native of the Hellenistic city of Tarsus, as a Jew, he would have been able to understand and speak into the thinking of other Hellenistic Jews. However, like Stephen, he experienced great opposition. They would not listen to his logic or explanation of how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament and was the Messiah and Son of God. The Hellenistic Jews had great success in getting rid of Stephen, and now they thought they could also kill Saul.
The last group were the unnamed brothers who wanted to protect Saul from the Hellenists. Saul had become public enemy number one, even worse than the apostles and because he was so effective and had become a turncoat and abandoned Judaism. The only safe thing to do was to get him out of town and out of the country. There is a lot happening behind the text that we can only imagine. The challenges Saul experienced from his own people sent him out into the wider world, first to his hometown of Tarsus, back to possibly his family and those who knew him.
The change in Saul from the beginning of this chapter to verse 30 is remarkable and a powerful testimony of the power of God’s grace, forgiveness, and mercy available through faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ. If Saul can change, anyone can who truly believes and fully consecrates him or herself.
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