Acts 21: 31 --22: 29
God’s Got Your Six
31 Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. 35 When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36 For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!” 37 Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,
22 “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.” 2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said: 3 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. 6 “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 8 So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 “And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. 10 So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 11 And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. 12 “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, 13 came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. 15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ 17 “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ 19 So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. 20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’” 22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” 23 Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.” 27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.” 28 The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.” 29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
In the army we have a term – ‘I’ve got your six.’ This means I got your back. I will watch out for you. Today we are going to see as we are in the Lord’s army that He has our back.
One of the most treasured beliefs held by many people is that each person has an appointed “guardian angel” to watch over them. Although the Bible never uses the term “guardian angel,” there are examples of angels being assigned to protect human beings (Acts 12:6–10). Angels are celestial messengers that move at the speed of light to carry out God’s will (Psalm 103:20–21). In times of peril, “guardian” angels are God’s servants sent to rescue us (2 Kings 6:13–17). They involve themselves in political affairs of nations as well as the smallest concerns of children (Isaiah 37:33–36; Matthew 18:10).
Angels, specifically guardian angels, are compelled to work on our behalf. They are anxious to hear and carry out God’s Word. Their inexhaustible love for God motivates them to protect and guard what is most precious to Him, His children. It says in Psalm 91:11“For [God] orders his angels to protect you wherever you go”.
I have witnessed personally how our Great and Wonderful Holy God has come to my rescue over and over again throughout my life. I guess all my life I have been an accident waiting to happen and my Holy Loving Father has been watching over me. I am sure you can stop and think about your own lives and find incidents where He was there for you also.
In today’s study we are going to find out how the apostle Paul was manipulated to do something on the elders of Jerusalem advice. It got him into deep trouble where his very life was in jeopardy. I want you as we go through this chapter to see God’s angels help Paul.
At this point in our study we begin the remarkable account of Paul’s imprisonment, trials and treatment at the hands of men in Jerusalem and Caesarea. What follows can only really be understood by those who understood the situation in Palestine. Hyrcanus and Antipater had a century before supported Caesar when he was having a difficult time in possessing his empire and as a result the Jews were given special privileges, being looked on as allies rather than just as a conquered people. And the peculiarities of their religion were thus assured to them. Nevertheless the Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people and could never be happy under Gentile control. Matters became worse when the failures of their rulers resulted in Judaea coming under direct Roman rule through procurators, although their ruling body the Sanhedrin continued to have authority in religious affairs, and in practice considerable control in political affairs as well because the people were more responsive to them. The wise procurator kept on good terms with the Sanhedrin if at all possible (it was easier said than done). There was an uneasy peace between the procurators and the Sanhedrin, and a love-hate relationship, and the procurators had to recognize that while they could enforce their decisions through the auxiliary legions quartered in Palestine, the people looked more to the Sanhedrin because they were Jewish and were more responsive to them. It was necessary, if peace was to be maintained and harmony achieved, that the Sanhedrin was kept in harness. On the other hand the procurators in the end were in total control, and had the armed forces which ensured it, as the Sanhedrin bitterly recognized. It was they who were responsible to Caesar for the peace of the realm.
The Sanhedrin was composed of the chief priests and influential Sadducees, leading lay elders of the aristocracy and leading Pharisees. The chief priests and Sadducees controlled the Temple and its revenues, but the Pharisees had the hearts of the people, and wielded their power through the synagogues, local places of worship where Jews congregated on the Sabbath and recited the Shema and the eighteen benedictions, together with formal prayer, listened to the reading of the Scriptures, and heard them expounded by their teachers, often Pharisees. The Pharisees did not control the synagogues, for they were controlled by appointed lay elders, but their influence through them was great because of the respect in which they were held. The Sadducees, to whom a large number of the priests belonged, including especially the Chief Priests who controlled Temple affairs, did not believe in the resurrection from the dead, or in angels. They were very politically minded and believed in freewill and the non-interference of God in human affairs (which was very convenient) and accepted only the Law of Moses as Scripture, of which they emphasized the ritual aspect. The Pharisees accepted ‘the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms’ as Scripture, believed wholeheartedly in the resurrection from the dead, and in angels and predestination, sought by their lives to attain to eternal life, held to complicated rituals of cleansing and the need to observe the Law of Moses according to their tenets and were looked up to by the people.
Under the Romans the Sanhedrin had responsibility for religious affairs and could try cases related thereto, but they did not have the ability to pass the death sentence except probably in cases of extreme blasphemy. Civil justice was mainly in the hands of the procurator. And he was responsible to Rome and was expected to maintain Roman standards of law. But there were good and bad procurators who applied the rules in different ways, and they had considerable leeway. However, they always had to keep one eye open to the fact that complaint could be made about them to Caesar where they went too far.
By the time of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem described here Judaea was a hotbed of violence and insurrection, religious anxiety or worry and extreme dissatisfaction, and continual tension, which was kept in control by harsh measures on the part of the procurators. Outbursts of religious passion could burst forth at any moment. Judaea (and Galilee) was like a volcano waiting to explode.
The situation just described explains why the procurators, while not willing to give the Sanhedrin its way in respect of Paul without due evidence, were nevertheless hesitant totally to reject their concerns. It was simpler to keep them from getting too upset by keeping Paul in custody and giving the impression that something was being done. But they dared not release him because of the offence that it would cause to the Sanhedrin (and they probably believed, to the people as well). The concerns of one man, while they had to be taken into account, had to be subordinated to political expediency. Thus he was like a hot potato. He must not be dropped, but was painful to hold onto. Rome prided itself on its system of justice, but affairs of state also had to be considered. Add to this Felix’ greed and Festus’ naiveté and we understand the background to Paul’s treatment. It saved him from death, and it nearly killed him. But, of course, behind all was God, as Luke continually wants us to understand. And God had His way in the end.
It is easy to get the impression that for Paul these were wasted years. But if we do this is to misunderstand the situation. It is very probable that in the two years in which Paul was held in custody the church in Caesarea had constant access to him, that he fed them and helped them to grow, that he was constantly visited by his companions, prayed with them and taught them, and that he was able to send them to do what he was unable to do. Furthermore during these two years he came before the Sanhedrin, before gatherings of leading Jews, before procurators and kings, and before a gathering of all the notabilities in Caesarea, and had ample opportunity to bring home to them his entire essential message. And his behavior under his trials and sufferings must have given a huge boost, both to the church in Palestine, and to the church around the world. He was kept very busy and yet given a necessary rest at the same time.
31 Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
The mob was attempting to beat Paul to death. The idea would be to ‘cleanse’ the temple by the destruction of what had defiled it. Fortunately for Paul, as they began the process of the beating the situation was reported to the chief captain of the auxiliaries on duty in Fortress Antonia next to the Temple. It was Roman practice to have a strong force (an auxiliary cohort of about 1,000 men including a cavalry squadron) there at all seasons when there was likely to be trouble in Jerusalem, for they were only too well aware of how easily the Jews could ‘fly off the handle’. And Pentecost was one of those times. And the court of the Gentiles where Paul now was was visible from the fortress.
As soon as the chief captain received the report he called on his centurions and their men (there would always be some on duty ‘at the ready’ for exactly such a situation) and running down the steps from the fortress they came down on the crowd. This was a well rehearsed action. It was required only too often. And the moment that the crowd saw the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. None would want to be caught in the act and be seen as personally involved. It could so easily result in a beating for themselves, even if only as witnesses (witnesses were regularly beaten in order to ensure that they told all).
33 Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done.
Breaking through the crowd, and aware that he might be dealing with a dangerous criminal, the chief captain seized him and then commanded that he be put in ‘two chains’, one for the hands and one for the feet. Then he enquired as to who he was and what he had done.
34 And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks.
The inexcusable nature of the situation comes out in that most of the crowd quite frankly did not know why they were beating Paul. They had simply been caught up in the general fervor as some shouted one thing, and some another. Each had different ideas about this man whom they were beating to death, and why they were doing it. Recognizing that he was getting no sense from the crowd the chief captain ordered that Paul be brought into the fortress. The first thing to do was to get this man to a place of safety, where he could be examined at more leisure.
35 When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36 For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!”
His strategy was necessary. For the incensed crowd, even though we have already learned that they did not know why, continued to cry for his death. They were caught up in blood lust. So the soldiers bore him to the stairs leading into the fortress. These stairs actually led down into the court of the Gentiles. They were for quick access in case of trouble.
Luke wishes us to identify the two situations. Jerusalem which had rejected its Messiah has now finally rejected His servant. As far as Luke was concerned it was a final seal on its rejection, evidence of the lesson that he had made clear in chapter 12. They had closed the doors of the Temple on him, now they wanted rid of him totally.
37 Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”
Paul then paused on the steps of the fortress and spoke to the chief captain in articulate and sophisticated Greek. He asked, “May I say something to you?” It was always wise to ask a senior soldier for permission to speak to him.
I am reminded of a significant incident where a priest asked a Nazi officer if he could speak. The death camp Auschwitz became a killing centre during WWII where the largest numbers of European Jews were murdered by the Nazis. One Christian man who died here became a martyr to the truth of evils of Nazism - a true hero for our time, a saint who lived what he preached, total love toward God and man.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest who died as prisoner 16770 in Auschwitz, on August 14, 1941. When a prisoner escaped from the camp, the Nazis selected 10 others to be killed by starvation in reprisal for the escape. One of the 10 selected to die, Franciszek Gajowniczek, began to cry: My wife! My children! I will never see them again! At this Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and asked the officer in charge if he could speak. He asked the officer if he could take this man’s place.
Observers believed in horror that the commandant would be angered and would refuse the request, or would order the death of both men. The commandant remained silent for a moment. What his thoughts were on being confronted by this brave priest we have no idea. This Nazi officer looked at him and then replied –‘granted’. Franciszek Gajowniczek was returned to the ranks, and the priest took his place.
With his interaction with Paul the Roman chief captain was taken by surprise at Paul’s articulate and cultured Greek. We must assume that the Roman officer had asked the crowd who Paul was. That some of the crowd should have said what they did serves to demonstrate how little the majority knew the truth about the man whose death they had been seeking, even the false ‘truth’. They were simply a lynch mob, carried away by excitement and prejudice.
He asked in surprise, ‘Are you not then the Egyptian, who before these days stirred up to sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins?’ This was presumably what some in the crowds had told him. This character would later be spoken of by Josephus. It was a well known and infamous story. Three years prior to this an Egyptian Jew had claimed to be a prophet and had led a crowd of adherents out into the wilderness (patterning himself on Elijah and John the Baptist), and then to the Mount of Olives, in order to falsely identify himself as the Messiah and attack Jerusalem declaring that the city walls would miraculously fall before him. He and his ‘assassins’ had been beaten off by Felix with much bloodshed, although he had escaped. The assassins (‘dagger men’) were strictly groups of Jews who carried daggers around with them hidden in their clothing so that at any opportunity that arose they could kill collaborators with the Romans, but the term no doubt became applied by the Romans to anyone who sought to slay them and their collaborators. After all they saw all who opposed them violently as little better than assassins.
39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.”
Paul then informed him of whom he really was, and did so with the intention of impressing him, for he wanted an opportunity to speak ‘A citizen of no mean city.’ This was an expression of pride in the importance of the city from which he came, and of which he was a respected citizen. Tarsus was famed for its university and its prominence. Thus as a responsible person he asked permission to speak to the crowds. Paul could never turn down an opportunity of proclaiming the Good News (it would be to both the crowds and the arresting soldiers).
40 So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,
Recognizing Paul’s quality, and deeply intrigued, the chief captain gave his permission. This was clearly no ordinary captive and he was interested to hear what he wanted to say. Perhaps it would also help to establish the truth. And he was not used to captives asking permission to speak to those who had attacked them. So Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned to the people like an orator. A great hush came on the crowd. As they saw the bruised and bloodied figure, whose death they sought, quite unexpectedly turn to speak to them with the gesture of an orator, they were astounded. It was the last thing that they had expected. We may see this silence as the work of the Holy Spirit active through Paul. Or we may see it as the reaction of a people suddenly taken by surprise by an unexpected turn of events, and stunned to silence. We may well see that the sight of Paul and what they had done to him made many of them suddenly stop in their tracks, as the decent ones among them were made to consider what they had done.
22 “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.”
Paul opened his speech courteously, revealing in the terms of his address the Jewish respect for the elderly, and a claimed relationship with his hearers. He and they were fellow-Jews. The mention of ‘fathers’ suggests that he recognized among the crowd, to their shame, men old in years and possibly even well known figures in authority. He requested that they now hear his defense.
2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said:
When they heard that he was speaking in ‘the Hebrew language’ they maintained their silence. Hebrew was reserved for religious usage. On the other hand it could be argued that if he spoke in Hebrew it would gain special respect and emphasize that he was a true Jew. It would even help to explain why they were ‘the quieter’.
The basis of his defense is that all through his life to this point he had acted as a true Jew, in obedience to the God of the Jews. We must remember that he is not answering a specific charge, indeed many of the crowd probably did not know what the specific charge was. What he is doing is seek to win the decent Jews onto his side by showing that all that he has done has been reasonable from a Jewish viewpoint. Then they will recognize the folly of all charges against him.
3 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.
Let’s look at how he lays down his credentials:
. He was a Jew - this he declares clearly and emphatically. He was a Jew through and through, and proud of it. This was important because God’s revealed purpose has been that it is the Jews who will bring the light of His truth to the world. Salvation is of the Jews.
. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia where there were large numbers of respected Jews, and his family was so ‘Jewish’ that they arranged for him to be educated in Jerusalem.
. He was educated at the feet of the respected Gamaliel, who was called ‘Rabban’ (our teacher) as against ‘Rabbi’ (my teacher), and was a disciple of Hillel. It was later said of him, ‘Since Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died there has been no more reverence for the Law, and purity and abstinence died out at the same time.’ At the time when Paul was speaking he had been dead about five years, and was hugely respected. And it was by him that Paul had been ‘instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers’. Thus his Jewish education was second to none.
. He was ‘zealous for God, even as you all are this day’. No one had been hotter under the collar at a whisper of heresy than Paul. His zeal for the God of Israel at least paralleled that of his listeners if not exceeding it.
. He had demonstrated his zeal in that he had ‘persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women’. He had hounded down Christians and had committed them to prison, even the women. For a Pharisee to bother about women was zeal indeed, for to a Pharisee women were of little account. And he had sought the death penalty on many. No clearer evidence of dedicated intent could be found and all because of his zeal for God.
. He had been so zealous that he had the high priest as a witness, and all the estate of the elders, that he had received from them letters to the brethren. He had been an official appointee of the highest officials in the land, and it was as that that he had journeyed to Damascus to bring back those who had escaped from Jerusalem and were finding refuge there, hauling them back in bonds to be punished. In his zeal against Christians he had gone to other cities so as to haul back to Jerusalem those who had fled from there.
So his credentials as a Jew, and as a zealous Jew, were impeccable. None had been more zealous than he. And his only desire had been to serve God. This alone must prove his genuineness. And then something had happened which had changed the whole course of his life, something which happened while he was on the way to Damascus to arrest and drag back to Jerusalem fleeing Christians.
6 “Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.
He described how, as he was making the journey to Damascus around noon, a great light from heaven had shone around him, the light of the Shekinah, the light of God, and yet here as revealed in Jesus Christ. The reference to ‘noon’ might have been intended to remind the knowledgeable among his hearers of Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 28.28-29, ‘The Lord will smite you --- with blindness and with astonishment of heart, and you will grope at noonday.’ The point was thus that he had been smitten, and blinded and filled with astonishment because he had disobeyed the Lord.
7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’
The result was that he had fallen to the ground and had heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He had heard the voice loud and clear. And the voice had asked him why he was persecuting ‘the Lord’. His very repetition of this was a strong hint to his listeners to consider whether they too, by their actions against Paul, were persecuting the Lord.
8 So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
Paul had not been able to see how what he was doing was persecuting God, so he had asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the reply had been that it was Jesus of Nazareth Whom he was persecuting. To persecute His followers was to persecute Him. Whatever else this proved it demonstrated that Jesus was alive and in heaven and approved of by God, for here He spoke from God. It was proclaiming the living, resurrected and enthroned Lord.
It was also a strong hint to the crowd. They too were persecuting Jesus when they should instead be listening to Him and acknowledging His resurrection. It had not been a secret. They too should be saying, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
9 “And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.
Those who were with him had beheld the light. It was not just something internal. They had heard noises, but they had not understood exactly what was being said. They had not ‘understood the voice’. They were like Paul’s the crowd he was speaking to, unable to discern, seeing a light, hearing noises, but not willing to respond.
10 So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’
Deeply humbled he had asked Jesus what He wanted him to do. And he had been told to go into Damascus where he would be told all for which God had appointed him. He wanted his listeners to see that his whole aim had been to be pleasing to God. And his thought was, if only his listeners too would ask, ‘What shall I do Lord?’, they too would receive an answer, and it would involve them in following Jesus.
11 And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
The light had blinded him, and thus he had had to be led by the hand into Damascus. God had rendered him helpless, and as one who was blind waiting to see.
‘The glory of the light’ speaks of the direct presence of God revealed to His people for their response. Here then Paul too had been approached by His glory and light. The glory which had once descended on the Tabernacle had now descended on Paul.
12 “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, 13 came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him.
Paul goes on to say that then a man had come to him. A devout Jew as measured by the Law (the Torah - the Books of Moses), and well spoken of by all Jews in Damascus. His name was Ananias. And he had stood by him and told him that he would receive his sight, and in that very hour his eyes had been opened and he had been able to see him. So in his need and helplessness the God of Israel had sent one of His true servants to speak to him and enlighten him. From the commencement until now the whole experience had been that of a Jew in close contact with Jews, involved one whose whole aim was to please God, as his whole life evidenced, and one who was enlightened by a pious Jew. The experience was Jewish through and through.
14 Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth.
A pious and respected godly Jew named Ananias, had told him that the ‘God of our fathers’, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, had appointed him to know His will, and to see ‘the Righteous One’, the Messiah, and to hear Him speak to him.
This is the central point in his speech and thus central in importance, It declares that God has appointed him for a threefold purpose:
1). To know His will. It was a special revelation from God. It was firstly His will that he should follow Jesus Christ. It was His will that he go to the Gentiles.
2). To see the Righteous One. He was privileged to see in the glorious light the resurrected enthroned Lord of glory, the righteous Savior and Judge. In the Old Testament righteousness and salvation are regularly paralleled. He had beheld the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
3). To hear a voice from His mouth. The Lord had now spoken to him, and from the mouth of the Lord he was to receive revelations from God.
15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.
The reason why for all of this was that he might be a witness for Him to all men of what he had seen and heard, that is of the life, sacrificial death, resurrection and enthronement of Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah. There is a hint in his use of ‘all men’ of what is to come. But it could be interpreted here by his listeners as meaning all Jews of every class.
So Paul describes that he had been fully dedicated to God from birth, he had been taught by the greatest teacher in the land, he had been humbled by the glory of the Lord, he had heard the voice of the Lord, he had seen the resurrected Lord, he would receive visions in a trance, his experience had been confirmed by a pious and revered Jew, what more evidence did they need? And it had pointed him to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be baptized in His name.
16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
He had then been told that he must not delay in being baptized in the name of ‘the Lord Jesus’ (Jesus is ‘the Lord’). This was now the requirement of the Lord for all men, that believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as their risen Lord and Savior they respond to Him and be baptized as belonging to Him. Literally this is ‘Having arisen be baptized, and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord.’
This is significant here for nowhere in the New Testament is baptism ever spoken of as washing. Elsewhere baptism, when specifically spoken of, points to the coming down of the Holy Spirit and to rising to new life. Its waters are like the rain that comes from heaven and provides springs and rivers that produce life. If there is a ‘washing’ it is a ‘washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit’ (Titus 2.5-6), again depicting the life giving rains. Water represents the water of life, not water of washing. Indeed when a medium for washing is described it is the washing of water with the word (Ephesians 5.26) not by baptism.
When John the Baptist spoke his call was to fruitfulness and life, and he constantly used images from nature. He too saw his baptism as pointing to the drenching and life-giving rain in accordance with the prophets. He gives not a single hint that it has in mind ritual washing. It was the Pharisees who might possibly have interpreted it in that way, and Josephus who did, and even they would not see it as ‘washing from sin’ but as removing ceremonial defilement. But they had misunderstood it.
On the other hand when men are called on to ‘wash away their sins’ in the Old Testament the idea is always of a change of life by turning from sin to right living. ‘Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge rightly on behalf of by the fatherless, plead for the widow’, says Isaiah (Isaiah 1.16-17). This has no direct connection with the image of baptism, indeed its context is a diminishing of all ritual. The point is practical. You ‘wash’ by thrusting away all sin and evil in your life. It is a practical transformation carried out by an act of will followed by acts of will.
So what Ananias was saying here was, ‘arise and be baptized as a sign that you are becoming His, that you are being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and thus becoming His man and a recipient of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time turn your life around so that it is totally changed and ‘washed from sin’, and begin to live a new life, ‘calling on the name of the Lord’, that is, acknowledging and worshipping the Lord. Baptism was a baptism ‘unto repentance’. The baptism indicated entry into the age of the Spirit and the forthcoming ‘drenching with the Holy Spirit’, but it was promising a changed life in the future. The change of life was to result and was to be carried into effect, and that was described as ‘washing’ as in Isaiah 1.16-17.
The truth is that being baptized does not wash away your sins. Only the blood of Jesus appropriated by faith can do that. If you are a true Christian what baptism does signify is that the Holy Spirit has come on you, and that you have died and risen with Christ. Thus the thoughts of the verse are, firstly to arise and be baptized, thus revealing himself as a servant of Jesus Christ as a result of receiving the Holy Spirit, and secondly to turn from sin to righteousness, resulting in true worship of the Lord. ‘
17 “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’
Paul then omits all mention of his activities in Damascus and Arabia, and hurries on to the fact that he returned to Jerusalem, to praying in the Temple. He wants them to see that he was a faithful Jerusalemite even then. His experience did not mean that he had ceased to be a Jew, or that he had forsaken the old places and ideas. No, the fact was that it had made him a better Jew. And he had wanted to serve God in Jerusalem. But he was too honest to stop there. Had he done so things might have quieted down a little. But he knew that it would not be long before the question of his activities among the Gentiles again cropped up, so he wanted the true situation to be known. And he also wanted to challenge this crowd about their own view of Jesus. Humanly speaking it was a mistake.
So he went on to describe how while he was in the Temple he had fallen into a trance. Like Isaiah of old he had seen the Lord (Isaiah 6). And there he had heard the voice of the Lord. It was the Lord Himself Who had warned him to leave Jerusalem in haste because Jerusalem would not receive his testimony. Just as God had warned Isaiah of old that the people would not hear, so God had warned him that hearing they would not understand, and seeing they would not perceive. But whereas Isaiah had been told to go on preaching to the Jews, and only later learned that the message was also to go out to the Gentiles, it was to be different with Paul. He was to fulfill what Isaiah had looked forward to. He had come to the Jew first, and the Jews had not heard him. So now he was to go to the Gentiles.
As we know at the time when he was preaching in Jerusalem certain Hellenistic Jews were at that time plotting to kill him as they had Stephen (9.29). But he does not mention that. He simply wants them to see that he did not desert Jerusalem in line with his own purposes, or without trying to serve the Jews. He did it because he received a message from the God of Israel in the Temple of the God of Israel as to what he should do. Like Isaiah of old he did what he was told.
19 So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. 20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
He pointed out that he had not received the message glibly. Indeed he had been unable to believe it, and had protested that all knew that he had persecuted those who had believed in Jesus, and that he had been standing by, consenting, when Stephen was martyred, and had even watched the coats of those who had done it. Surely then they would recognise his genuineness and listen to him? But God had assured him that what He had said was true. Jerusalem would not receive His message.
21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’”
He has been trying to impress on them that as a thorough Jew, he had only acted at the command of the God of the Jews all the way through. It had not been his choice. But when he told them what it was that God had next told him to do, his words were like petrol poured on a bonfire, turning a flame into a furnace. He informed them that God had then told him, ‘Depart, for I will send you forth far hence to the Gentiles.’ Now strictly the idea of going to the Gentiles should not have upset them. The Old Testament had already spoken of the light being taken out to the Gentiles by the Jews, and especially by the coming Servant (Isaiah 42.6; 49.6). And all Judaism looked for Gentile converts who would become proselytes, (although few actually sought them). And they actually welcomed into the synagogues questioning God-fearers (although not of course as equals). Furthermore he was pointing out that he had gone to the Jews first, as was always his mission, and it was only when they had turned him away that he had gone to the Gentiles. Thus he could claim to be fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy.
But in the context of his stated rejection by Jerusalem he was to their minds saying that he was going to the Gentiles instead of to Jews, because Jerusalem had rejected him and he no longer had any time for them, and that he was going to the Gentiles as Gentiles, not as those who had sought the Jewish fold. And in the light of the rumors about him this was too much for them. It appeared to confirm their worst fears. They had simply not taken in his argument, or possibly rather had not wanted to.
To Paul it was, of course, all perfectly logical. He probably could not see how they failed to understand it. And it all appeared to him so reasonable. He was a true Jew and had been called by the God of the Jews in a revelation in which had been revealed to him the Shekinah glory. How could he not then, as a true Jew, obey Him? But the problem was that it both threw the blame on them, which they did not like, and that it involved doing what horrified their ‘righteous’ souls, going to the Gentiles direct. That might be all right for the Messiah or The Prophet when He came, but not for people like Paul.
22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!”
Up to this point they had given him a hearing. Possibly they were waiting for him to condemn himself out of his own mouth. And now they felt that he had. The spell of silence was broken. Putting their own interpretation on his words they cried out, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live.” This was a period when all Israel, apart from the opportunists were seething with anger under the yoke of Rome. The ideas therefore of favoring Gentiles were totally unacceptable. A few becoming Jewish proselytes, yes, that was acceptable, and even a number of hangers on who knew their place. But giving preference to Gentiles could not be tolerated.
23 Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.
So they not only cried out but threw off their cloaks, and hurled dust into the air, with the result that the chief captain, fearful of another riot, commanded Paul to be taken immediately inside the fortress. He could not understand what was causing the furor. So he commanded that Paul be examined by scourging.
Scourging was normal with ordinary people who were arrested, whether innocent or not. It was felt that the only way to get the truth out of them was by pain. Here was Paul, already bruised and bloodied from his beatings, and the intention was to rough him up a bit more, simply in order to try to get to the truth. Then if he proved innocent they could let him go. The parallel between Jesus’ treatment after His journey to Jerusalem, and Paul’s, continues, save that Paul is able to avoid the scourging. Scourging was a dreadful ‘punishment’ and would lay bare a man’s back. But possibly the centurion is meaning here
25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”
Once they had tied him with thongs and Paul realized what their intention was he dropped his bombshell among them. He asked the centurion whether it was lawful to scourge a Roman citizen when he had not yet been found guilty of any crime. Both knew what the answer to that was. Roman law quite clearly forbade such treatment to a Roman citizen.
26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.”
Once the centurion learned this he went immediately to the chief captain and warned him to be careful how he treated Paul because he was a Roman citizen. ‘What are you about to do?’ The blame would fall on the chief captain who had ordered the scourging.
27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.” 28 The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”
So the chief captain came and officially put to Paul the question as to whether he was a Roman. To answer untruthfully to that question would be a serious offence. But when Paul replied ‘yes’ he had cause to be afraid. Roman citizens had to be treated with care. Questioningly he said, ‘Such a citizenship cost me a great deal of money’. Paul replied, ‘But I was born a Roman citizen.’ That made clear that he came from a distinguished family, for he was born and bred with citizenship rights.
We know from 23.26 that the name of the chief officer was Claudius Lycias. He had probably therefore bought his freedom when citizenships were being sold off by the favorites of Claudius. Prior to that time citizenships had been more exclusive and given for especially meritorious service. Thus he knew that Paul’s ancestor must have been at the very least a very important official who was seen as loyal to the emperor.
It should be noted that for someone to claim to be a Roman citizen when they were not was a capital crime, and made them subject to summary execution, and as his citizenship could be proved or otherwise from citizenship records it would be foolish for a non-Roman citizen to make such a claim (each citizen was certificated on birth, a certificate which would be kept in the family records, but it may even be that they carried with them a certificate of citizenship. We actually know little about the details).
29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
Once the chief captain had learned this, Paul was unbound and ‘left alone’. And the chief captain was afraid because he knew that he could be punished for even having bound him ready for scourging. As a Roman citizen Paul was then probably given a limited freedom within the fortress.
