Acts 22:5
“As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.”
What does Acts 22:5 mean?
Paul is recounting a pivotal moment from his past, when he was still actively persecuting Christians. He's reminding his listeners that he had official authority from Jerusalem's religious leadership to hunt down believers in Damascus and haul them back for trial and punishment. This wasn't just personal conviction on Paul's part, it was sanctioned, institutional oppression. By spelling out these specific details, Paul shows how thorough his opposition to Christianity once was, making his later conversion all the more dramatic and credible. It's the testimony of someone who can't be accused of being naive about what he rejected when he encountered Jesus.