I can’t buy . . . especially without any qualification . . .
that Paul knew what he was doing was wrong. Don’t buy it at all.
Paul took pride in keeping the whole of the law as few others managed to do as well at.
It was his ZEAL FOR GOD AND GOD’S LAW that compelled him to trash, thrash and destroy Christians.
The Paul of my imagining was a super scrupulous Pharisee, applying the beautiful Torah to everything, and just horrified at these blaspheming Xtians because he loved God -- the God of Moses, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- so much. And one day he is travelling on the dusty road to Damascus, and his mind takes an unexpected turn, and then, as we say theologically, he is knocked off his ass, uh, donkey, as he is suddenly infused with knowledge about how this scummy, criminal, Galilean Yeshua is the fulfillment of the Torah he loves so much.
Yeah, that was the moment, if you like, of his saving. But God had been setting him up all along. That's my take on it. Before he was conceived, God had a plan for him.
Yes, I have no doubt that SAUL thought he was doing the Lord's work. But, he was LOST at that time, unsaved, damned. My main point was that Saul was wrong. He "should have known" that murdering was wrong, but he didn't see it that way until our Lord Jesus opened his eyes. (So to speak :) So, I said "he knew" when I should have said "he should have known". :) IOW, not only was he wrong about Christianity, but he was also wrong about what he thought was Judaism.