Unsung Heroes-Claudius Lysias

Introduction: He was a high-ranking officer in the Roman army, mentioned only a couple of times in Scripture. We don’t know if he ever became a Christian, but we do know that he saved the life of Paul the apostle at least twice!

Text: Acts 24:22-23, KJV: 22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. 23 And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.

Thoughts: Lysias, also called Claudius Lysias (Acts 23:26) was a “chief captain (KJV)”, or “chiliarch” in charge of 1000 men. Some commentators call Lysias a colonel, like Daniel Whedon (“Chief captain of the band: The ????a????, chiliarch, or commander of a thousand men, nearly equivalent to our colonel. Forthwith a large share of his force (which in full would consist of a thousand soldiers led by ten centurions) is upon the mob in the court of the Gentiles near the gate.” https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/whedon-s-commentary-on-the-bible/494102)).

John Wesley has these notes: (“Word came to the tribune— A cohort or detachment of soldiers, belonging to the Roman legion, which lodged in the adjacent castle of Antonia, were stationed on feast days near the temple, to prevent disorders. It is evident, Lysias himself was not present, when the tumult began. Probably he was the oldest Roman tribune (or colonel) then at Jerusalem. And as such he was the commanding officer of the legion quartered at the castle.” https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/wesley-s-explanatory-notes/472222)

Lysias first saved Paul’s life when, as recorded in the last part of Acts 21, he saw the Jews attempting to kill Paul out in the open! Paul had done nothing wrong, simply following the advice of James and other leaders in Jerusalem, in order to prove he was walking orderly and following the Law (Acts 21:21-26, paraphrased). Luke records how some Jews of Asia basically sounded the alarm (Look! There’s that Law-breaker!) and vanished after whipping up the others to such a point they almost killed Paul near the Temple!

Lysias got word of this and used his own power and authority to stop the riot that was about to break loose. He then took Paul into “protective custody”—now, that seems to be a flat contradiction in terms!—at the Roman barracks. Sadly, the Romans seemed to think that Paul was the cause for the riot, not the other Jews, and were ready to force him to make a confession. Paul, though, had something few others had, namely, Roman citizenship and that kept him from being scourged—or worse.

Paul was safe for now but there was another, allegedly secret, attempt to kill him. Luke adds in Acts 23 that over 40 Jews planned to neither eat nor drink until they had murdered Paul. God has a way to protect His servants, though, and He used Paul’s nephew to bring word. Eventually Lysias found out about this, directly from Paul’s nephew, and as a result decided to transfer Paul to another place. This info is in Acts 23:23-33.

That’s about all we know about Claudius Lysias: he was a Roman army officer, he knew how to take direct action to stop a riot, and he knew when it was time to transfer a prisoner to a much safer location. Did he ever become a Christian? We’ll never know down here, but we can rest assured Paul was spared from death at least twice because Lysias got involved.

We may never rise to his rank or station in life, but we can always take advantage of opportunities as they come our way. Who knows whom we might be assisting or protecting?

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).