Acts 6:15

And all that sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Saul of Tarsus was in that council, and it is a most reasonable conjecture that he reported this phenomenon to Luke. As to what it was, many prefer to view it as merely the radiance of holy and righteous zeal in the person of the martyred Stephen; but it is not safe to limit it to that which is purely natural. As Lange said: "It obviously describes an objective, and, indeed, an extraordinary phenomenon."[27] Whatever it was, Paul never forgot it; nor could he ever erase from his memory the sorrow of that tragic day when the first martyr of the Christian religion sealed his faith with his blood.