Galatians 1:13

Conversation. Literally, “conduct” (cf. Eph. 4:22). Paul’s preconversion experience of persecuting the church, out of a spirit of fanatical loyalty to Judaism, proves that he had not formulated his concept of the gospel prior to his conversion. He reminds the Galatians that they know of his notorious conduct. This seems to have been common knowledge, for in his defense before King Agrippa he declared that his manner of life from a youth was well known to all the Jews (Acts 26:4, 5). His former zeal for Judaism and its legal system was diametrically opposed to his present ardor for the liberty of the gospel (see Acts 26:9-11). This allusion to his past may also have been intended to call attention to the fact that his present opposition to Judaism is not the result of ignorance concerning the Jewish faith but, on the contrary, from personal experience with it.

Beyond measure. Paul’s eagerness to persecute exceeded that of other Jews. It was an obsession with him, as the preaching of the gospel later became. He had not been satisfied with disturbing the church; he was out to destroy it completely (see Acts 8:3; 22:19; 26:10, 11). Had God not intervened, Paul might well have obliterated the infant church.

Wasted. Gr. portheo, “to destroy.”