²⁸And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. ³⁰But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. ³¹So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

With Barnabas’ help, the young Christian movement fully welcomed the newly converted Saul into their fellowship. Their former opponent and persecutor now forcefully and confidently defended, or should we say, took the initiative to proclaim wherever he could, that which he had once tried to suppress. He who was a threat to the Christians was now on the vanguard of promoting the movement. Now he was turning his formidable education and debating skills against those who once admired him.

Initially, Saul took advantage of the freedom he had, for it must have taken a little while for the Jews to realize what had happened to him, in their minds becoming a turncoat against them. He did not hesitate, though the experience of persecution in Damascus and the humility of the basket experience may have caused lesser men to hesitate. In Jerusalem, Saul hit the ground running!

Saul did not hesitate but spoke fearlessly, particularly among the Hellenistic Jews. Why was this? Remember, he was raised in Tarsus and very much enjoyed the benefits of Roman citizenship (see also Acts 9:11, 21:39). Culturally, he was an outsider among the Jews whose culture reflected a long heritage in the land. In Jerusalem, he would naturally associate with non-native Jews, those of other cultural backgrounds, either recent immigrants or those on short-term visits (here called “Hellenistic Jews;” see Acts 6, where the cultural difference was at the fore of internal unrest among the early believers).

Very quickly, though, the Jews sought to murder him, just as they had in Damascus. The Christians apprising the situation imposed on Saul to leave, and sent him back to Tarsus. Saul exits the story until Acts 11:25, the time-lapse of which is debated by scholars. His letter to the Galatians speaks of a three-year and fourteen-year period (Gal. 1:17, 2:1). Suffice it to say, he is gone now for a considerable length of time, about which we know little. We do know the believers in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria now entered a peaceful time of church building—not a physical structure but growing in their faith and in numbers— all under the encouraging guidance of the Holy Spirit. And all in the absence of their former arch-nemesis, Saul.

Lord, I commit to using times of peace in my life for building up other believers.