St Paul before his Baptism

One day something worse happened.  A Christian called Stephen was stoned to death.  The man who held the outer clothes of those who threw the stones was called Saul and the same day he began hunting out all the Christians he could find, dragging them out of their homes, flinging them into prison and beating them.  He was full of anger and hate (Acts 8:3, 26:11; Galatians 1:13).

St Paul after his Baptism

A little later he changed his name and many churches are now called after him, including the great cathedral of London, St Paul’s.  We now call him Saint or holy Paul because he became one of the most saintly Christians who ever lived.  After travelling all over the Roman Empire teaching the Christian Faith, he was beheaded for doing so.

What made him change?  He saw a bright light and heard Jesus speaking to him on the road to the city of Damascus.  Three days later he was baptised, and so he too was filled with the Holy Spirit.  It was the Holy Spirit, whom he received at his Baptism, who made a different man of him (cf 1 Corinthians 15:9,10).

It was this sort of thing which made the Apostles realise that the Holy Spirit was God, because only God could make people holy as they had seen him do.