Luke opens Acts 9 with remarkably vivid language. He says that the unsaved Paul was breathing out threats and murder against those who followed the way of Christ. The imagery is striking. Luke is painting a moving image of Paul in which every breath he exhales carries palpable hatred and bloodlust against the family of God. In fact, you could even argue that Paul was breathing out threats against Christ himself, since Jesus teaches that anything we do to the least of his brothers we are also doing to him (Matthew 25:35-40). Ironically, Paul’s hatred for Jesus also meant that his Pharisaical religious zeal – which he almost certainly saw as a form of genuine righteousness – actually represented a hatred for the God his Jewish sectarianism claimed to love (John 15:23).
Although it may manifest differently for each different person, the hatred that Paul had is the same hatred that all of us had before we knew Christ. Every unsaved person who rejects Christ, rejects him because of a kind of hatred. Most people don’t go on murderous rampages against Christians or shout blasphemies against the creator of the universe, but they do avoid fellowship, and recoil at the thought of a holy God. This is because their hearts and deeds are evil, and to be in the light of a holy God, or to be in the presence of an example of moral and spiritual perfection like that offered by Jesus, reveals to them the dark nature of the sin they love. Even to be in the presence of an imperfect follower of Christ striving for the light illuminates the darkness of those not making any effort to struggle toward holiness (John 3:19-21). And this doesn’t have to be sins like drunkenness, or lust, or deceit. This can be the sin of pride, the love of a world that hates God, or the refusal to submit to God as the highest possible good in your life.
The Pharisees cloaked themselves in religiosity, but they were not religious (James 1:27). They didn’t really love God, but instead, they loved their pride, as well as the power they held over people (Matthew 23:1-7).
This love for their sin is why they hated Christ. It is also why they could not see Christ for the King he is. They were blinded by their hatred for actual holiness and infatuated with their own false kingships. Paul’s identity and credentials as a Pharisee are without compare, and he was a chief among them (1 Timothy 1:15, Philippians 3:4-6). So when Paul was on his way to persecute Christ by jailing Christians, God struck him with temporary blindness. He was humbled at that moment. God used Paul's loss of eyesight to spiritually blind him to the false benefits of pharisaical pride. He could no longer see any benefit in spiritual pride. Instead, he became enlightened by humility to the true holiness of God. In the true light of God, he became one of the most influential apostles, as well as the most prolific New Testament writer.