What does Acts 22:4 mean?

Paul stands accused of breaking the Mosaic law. First, rumors spread that he taught Jews they no longer needed to circumcise their sons (Acts 21:20–21). Now, others accuse him of bringing a Gentile into the temple (Acts 21:27–29). Paul starts his defense by describing his childhood under the tutelage of the famous Pharisee rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). No one trained by Gamaliel could help but revere the Law.

Now, he tells the crowd that his zeal for the Law led him to persecute the early Jesus-followers (Acts 8:1–3; 9:1–2). Later, Paul will admit he approved of Stephen's murder (Acts 22:20). He will give more detail to Herod Agrippa II:

"I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities" (Acts 26:10–11).

"The Way" is how the early church identified itself. The Jews who follow Jesus don't think themselves any less Jewish; they believe they follow the Jewish Messiah who shows them the way to reconciliation with God (John 14:6). In his earlier years, Paul's zeal for God led him to persecute the church. His conversion to worshipping Jesus didn't abate his zeal, it corrected the course and focus of his energy and conviction. But the fact that The Way is open to Gentiles is more than the crowd of Jews can handle (Acts 22:21–22).