Acts 8 verse 3

Acts 8 verse 3

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.     (KJV)

And Saul ravaged the church, entering house by house, dragging both men and women, he delivered them to prison.         (IB)

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Retranslation:  Conservatism makes havoc of the church. It stifles the urge to respond to “church,”-----God’s call to each individual to Come! Dine with ME! It leaps upon and crushes the individual’s desire to respond to God’s call, and would drag them back into the land of Confinement.

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Saul = The belief that the “letter” is divine, rather than merely a symbol of the divine, precluding the need of direct communion, or Holy Ghost. Conservatism, the religious belief that God, Spirit, is known through matter-based traditions and uninspired interpretations of inspired writings. 

church =  A command: Come! Come to ME! Assemble! Be-Come-One! Be With ME! Commune! Experience! Understand!  To be “called out” by God.

made havoc =  To soil, make filthy, insult. To despise, sneer at, to call shameful and disgraceful, even illegal. To triumph over the “church” with insolence and contempt. Pride hating the prospect of being “called out” by its Destroyer. 

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Saul 4569 Saulos of Hebrew origin [H7586]

H7586 saul, passive participle of H7592; asked; Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two Israelites:-----Saul, Shaul.

H7592 saal or sael, a primitive root; to inquire; by implication to request; by extension to demand:-----ask, ask counsel, ask on, beg, borrow, lay to charge, consult, demand, desire, earnestly, enquire, greet, obtain, leave, lend, pray, request, salute, straitly, surely, wish.

ask (Origins Dict.): Middle-English asken, axien: Old-English ascian, acsian, akin to Old Frisian askia, Old Saxon excon, Old High German eiscon, Old Norse oeskia; to Old Slavic iskati (stem -isk-), to seek (compare Lithuanian ieskoti); to Sanskrit icchati, he seeks: IndoEuropean root, *isk-, var *eisk, *esk-.

ask (1828 Dict. def.): to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to request; with of before the person to whom the request is made.  Ask counsel of God. Judges xviii.

ravaged 3075 lymainomai, middle from a probable derivative of 3089 (meaning filth); properly to soil, i.e. (figuratively) insult (maltreat):-----make havoc of.

soil (filthy)  = conservatism.   “We soil our garments with conservatism, and afterwards we must wash them clean.”  (Emphasis added.) SH p. 452:20. 

conservatism (Modern Webster’s) n. (1835)

1. The principles and policies of a Conservative party; the Conservative party.
2. Disposition in politics to preserve what is established.
3. A political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change.
4. The tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change.

insult (Origins Dict.): [L. insulare, to leap in or upon, to attack.]

1.To treat with gross abuse, insolence or contempt, by words or actions; as, to call a man a coward or a liar, or to sneer at him, is to insult him.

1. To insult over, to triumph over with insolence and contempt.

insolence (ibid.): [ Fr. from L. insolentia; in and soleo, to be accustomed.]

Pride or haughtiness manifested in contemptuous and overbearing treatment of others; petulant contempt; impudence.

contempt (ibid.): [L. contemno; con and temno, to despise.]

1. The act of despising; the act of viewing or considering and treating as mean, vile and worthless; disdain; hatred of what is mean or deemed vile. This word is one of the strongest expressions of a mean opinion which the language affords.  “Nothing can be great, the contempt of which is great.”   Addison
2. The state of being despised; when in a scriptural sense, shame, disgrace.  “Some shall wake up to everlasting contempt.”    Dan. xii.
3. In law, disobedience of the rules and orders of a court, which is a punishable offense.

church 1577  ekklesia, from a compound of 1537 and a derivative of 2564; a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):-----assembly, church.

2564 kaleo, akin to the base of 2753; to “call” (properly aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise):----bid, call (forth), (whose) name (was [called]), (whose) surname (was [called]).

2753 keleuo, from a primary kello (to urge on); “hail”; to incite by word, i.e. order:----bid, (at, give) command, commandment.

entering 1531 

house by house 2596/3624

dragging 4951

men 435

women 1135

delivered 3860

to 1519

prison 5438