Was Saul a bad person in Acts of the Apostles?

AnswerIn the passage where Stephen was stoned, Acts portrayed Saul as someone not man enough to get involved, but despicable enough to encourage the mob. Overall, Saul is portrayed as an archenemy of Christianity, certainly as a bad person.

The author of acts portrayed Saul in such a way that the reader could have confused him with Saulus, who was described by Josephus as a bad person and an enemy of the Jews. Whether or not this apparent association was intentional, it added to the characterisation of Saul as a particularly disreputable person.