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Young People of Scripture
Saul of Tarsus
“And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul” (Acts 7:58).
As a young man, Saul was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians. Later he said, “For ye have heard … how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” (Galatians 1:13). He was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of pure descent, born at Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, a fact which gave to him the privilege of Roman citizenship. He was a disciple of Gamaliel and a strict Pharisee. He is first introduced to us as a young man, by the name of Saul, at whose feet the witnesses who stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr, laid their clothes.
After his conversion on the road to Damascus, he was so completely changed that he became at once as bold for Christ as before he had been a persecutor of Christ. He immediately preached in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. He went on to become the Apostle Paul and to write a major part of the New Testament.
One great lesson we learn from Saul’s life is the power of God to change a person so completely that He can take the worst sinner and make them a great testimony and blessing.
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