The Greek verb anaireō means to take up (as in lifting a body), to put to death, to kill, or to abolish. In the New Testament it most often describes intentional killing — martyrdom, execution, or murder — and appears frequently in Acts to describe the deaths of Stephen, Paul's victims, and plots against Paul's own life.
Anaireō frames the early church's experience of persecution. Acts 2:23 uses it of Christ's death: 'This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death.' Stephen's stoning is described with this word (Acts 7:58), and Saul's approval links the church's persecutor directly to the proto-martyr's death (Acts 8:1). Paul's radical conversion — from one who killed believers to one who risked death for the Gospel — is one of the New Testament's most dramatic reversals. The word thus highlights both the real cost of discipleship and the sovereign purpose of God working even through violent opposition.