<p>26:11 <i>And in all the synagogues I often punished them</i>- I am convinced that a major reason for the success of the early church was that they weren&rsquo;t paranoid about issues of fellowship and guilt-by-association; they were simply radical preachers. They preached an exclusive message, but they wished to be inclusive rather than exclusive. The Lord Himself taught that the time would come when His followers would be disfellowshipped from the synagogues. But He doesn&rsquo;t teach them to leave the synagogues, even though first century Judaism was both doctrinally and morally corrupt. Acts 26:11 would seem to imply that there were Christians &ldquo;in every synagogue&rdquo;.</p><p><i>Trying to force them to blaspheme</i><i>- </i>Gk. 'necessitated'. It could be claimed that it is never 'necessary' to blaspheme; for some died under torture, not accepting any way out, and thus shall receive a &quot;better resurrection&quot; (Heb. 11:35). But Paul takes a more gracious view here; he recognized that the torture he had applied left the Christians with no other human choice but to blaspheme the name of Jesus, and he takes full blame for this. See on 1 Tim. 1:13.</p><p><i>And being furiously enraged at them, I persecuted them even</i><i> in foreign cities</i>- Paul&rsquo;s progressive appreciation of his own sinfulness is reflected in how he describes what he did in persecuting Christians in ever more terrible terms, the older he gets. He describes his victims as &ldquo;men and women&rdquo; whom he &lsquo;arrested&rsquo; (Acts 8:3; 22:4), then he admits he threatened and murdered them (Acts 9:3), then he persecuted &ldquo;the way&rdquo; unto death (Acts 22:4); then he speaks of them as &ldquo;those who believe&rdquo; (Acts 22:19) and finally, in a crescendo of shame with himself, he speaks of how he furiously persecuted, like a wild animal, unto the death, &ldquo;many of the saints&rdquo;, not only in Palestine but also &ldquo;to foreign Gentile cities&rdquo; (Acts 26:10,11). He came to appreciate his brethren the more, as he came to realize the more his own sinfulness. And this is surely a pattern for us all. &nbsp;</p>