Acts 22:4

And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) And I persecuted this way.—The speaker obviously uses the current colloquial term (see Notes on Acts 9:2; Acts 19:23), used by the disciples as indicating that they had found in Christ the way of eternal life; used, it may be, by others with a certain tone of scorn, as of people who had chosen their own way, and must be left to take it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-11 The apostle addressed the enraged multitude, in the customary style of respect and good-will. Paul relates the history of his early life very particularly; he notices that his conversion was wholly the act of God. Condemned sinners are struck blind by the power of darkness, and it is a lasting blindness, like that of the unbelieving Jews. Convinced sinners are struck blind as Paul was, not by darkness, but by light. They are for a time brought to be at a loss within themselves, but it is in order to their being enlightened. A simple relation of the Lord's dealings with us, in bringing us, from opposing, to profess and promote his gospel, when delivered in a right spirit and manner, will sometimes make more impression that laboured speeches, even though it amounts not to the full proof of the truth, such as was shown in the change wrought in the apostle.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I persecuted - Acts 8:3.

This way - Those who were of this mode of worshipping God; that is, Christians. See the notes on Acts 9:2.

Unto the death - Intending to put them to death. He did not probably put any to death himself, but he committed them to prison; he sought their lives; he was the agent employed in arresting them; and when they were put to death, he tells us that he gave his voice against them Acts 26:10; that is, he joined in, and approved of their condemnation.

Delivering into prisons ... - Acts 8:3.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. I persecuted, &c.—(See on [2093]Ac 9:1,2; [2094]Ac 9:5-7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This way; the doctrine and practice of Christianity.

Unto the death; as much as in him lies, being one of the most furious persecutors, that hunted for the precious life, breathing out threatenings and slaughters with every breath, Acts 9:1.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I persecuted this way unto the death,.... That is, the Christian religion, and the professors of it; whom the apostle breathed out threatenings and slaughter against, haled out of their houses, and committed to prison; consented to their death, as he did to Stephen's; and whenever it was put to the vote, whether they should die or not, he gave his voice against them; so that he was a most bitter enemy, and an implacable persecutor of them; which shows how very averse he was to this way, and how great his prejudices were against it; wherefore it must be a work of divine power, and there must be the singular hand of God in it, to reconcile him to it, and cause him to embrace and profess it:

binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women: see Acts 8:3.

Geneva Study Bible

And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 22:4-5. Ταύτ. τ. ὁδόν] for Christianity was in his case the evident cause of the enmity. Comp. on ὁδός, Acts 9:2, Acts 18:25, Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23.

ἄχρι θανάτου] Grotius appropriately remarks: “quantum scil in me erat.” It indicates how far the intention in the ἐδίωξα went, namely, even to the bringing about of their execution.

ὁ ἀρχιερ.] The high priest at the time (still living). See on Acts 9:2.

μαρτυρεῖ] not futurum Atticum, but: he is (as the course of the matter necessarily involves) my witness.

καὶ πᾶν τὸ πρεσβυτ.] and the whole body of the elders. Comp. on Luke 22:66, and the γερουσία, Acts 5:21.

πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελΦούς] i.e. to the Jews. See Acts 9:2. Bornemann: against the Christians. Paul would in that case have entirely forgotten his pre-Christian standpoint, in the sense of which he speaks; and the hostile reference of πρός must have been suggested by the context, which, however, with the simple ἐπιστ. δεξάμ. πρός is not at all here the case.

καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖσε (i.e. εἰς Δαμασκόν) ὄντας] also those who were thither. Paul conceives them as having come thither (since the persecution about Stephen) and so being found there; hence ἐκεῖσε does not stand for ἐκεῖ (so still de Wette), but is to be explained from a pregnant construction common especially with later writers (Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 44; comp. Acts 2:39, Acts 21:3).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 22:4. ταύτην τὴν ὁδὸν, see above Acts 9:2.—ἄχρι θανάτου: sometimes taken to mean not that he prosecuted the Christians “unto death” (for if this was the meaning the following participles would sound feeble), but that this was his aim; Acts 22:20 and Acts 26:10, however, seem fully to justify the former meaning.—φυλακὰς: plural, perhaps in relation to Acts 26:11, where Paul’s persecuting fury extends to strange cities; usually singular.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. And I persecuted this way, &c.] On “the Way” as the designation of the Christian religion, cp. note on Acts 9:2 We are not told of any Christians who were put to death through Saul’s zealous persecution, for in the case of Stephen he was not a very active agent, but his own statement in this verse, and the stronger expression Acts 26:10, “when they were put to death I gave my voice against them,” make it certain that the persecutions in which he took part were carried beyond imprisonment even to the martyrdom of the accused.

into prisons] The original has the plural “prisons,” and it is probably intended to express by it, what in chap. 26 is given in more detail, the wide field over which Saul’s zeal was exerted, “being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 22:4. Ταύτην, this way) Christianity. At first he speaks indefinitely.—δεσμεύων, binding) An appropriate word, employed by one that was bound.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - I persecuted (see 1 Corinthians 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:13; and Acts 26:11). This Way (see Acts 9:2; Acts 18:25; Acts 19:9, 23). Unto the death (comp. Acts 9:1). Binding, etc. (comp. Acts 8:3; Acts 9:2). Acts 22:4

Vincent's Word Studies

Way

See on Acts 9:2.