(February 4, 2018 at 9:57 pm)Jehanne Wrote: Paul claims to have persecuted the early Church, but, to me, his claim seems rather dubious. After all, Paul was not a Roman official or a member of the legions, and given Roman federalism, it seems unthinkable to me that Paul, a mere Roman citizen, could harass Roman subjects? It seems that not only the Roman authorities, but the local ones under Roman governorship, would object, strongly, to such behavior. Some will cite 2 Corinthians 11:24 where he states, "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.", but this claim is also odd, given Paul's Roman citizenship.
It seems to me that the story of Paul's persecution of the early Church was invented, and was (and is) pure myth.
It is unthinkable because you do not understand the infra/social structure of rome at the time. Instead of a modern united states, think of a colonial united states/ what the US look like after the revolutionary war. in that each state had it's laws and mandates that to a degree allowed them to self govern so long as the did not break the constitutional law. We were up to the civil war a united nation of many smaller nations/states.
Jerusalem (as well as ever other roman held territory was a state of Rome.) laws in that state concerning the destruction of Christians was not against any Roman 'constitutional law.' Roman 'constitutional law' only protected it's citizens. and citizenship was either earned through the army or purchased. it was not a right or entitlement. if you weren't a citizen you life was not worth very much
To kill a non citizen was to kill a potential problem. Paul was held up and thanked for what He did with Christians.
