Issachar_Acts22 - The Visual Bible Explorer Series

Chapter 22 Acts 22

Paul Reveals His Roman Citizenship (vv 22-30)

²² The people listened to Paul until he said this; ^v’ but then they started shouting at the top of their voices, “Away with him! Kill him! He’s not fit to live!” ²³ They were screaming, waving their clothes, and throwing dust up ^w’ in the air. ²⁴ The Roman commander ordered his men to take Paul into the fort, and he told them to whip ^x’ him in order to find out why the Jews were screaming like this against him. ²⁵ But when they had tied him ^y’ up to be whipped, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman citizen ^z’ who hasn’t even been tried for any crime?”
²⁶ When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked him, “What are you doing? That man is a Roman citizen!”
²⁷ So the commander went to Paul and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes,” answered Paul.
²⁸ The commander said, “I became one by paying a large amount of money.” ^a”
“But I am one by birth,” Paul answered.
²⁹ At once the men who were going to question Paul drew back from him; and the commander was frightened when he realised that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.
⁸⁰ The commander wanted to find out for sure what the Jews were accusing Paul of; so the next day he had Paul’s chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council ^b” to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.

Interesting Stuff:

^v’ During most of Paul’s defense, the crowd listened with a certain respect, for he had spoken mostly of Israel’s messianic hope and had done so in a thoroughly Jewish context. When, however, Paul spoke of being directed to leave Jerusalem and go far away to the Gentiles who had no relation to Judaism, that was ‘the last straw’. To them, Paul was saying that Gentiles could be approached directly with God’s message of salvation without their first becoming Jews. This was tantamount to placing Jews and Gentiles on an equal footing before God, and for Judaism, that was the height of apostasy indeed! Paul was thus shouted down, and the crowd called for his death.

^w’ The precise reasons for this action is not known.

^x’ This was done, not with the rod, as at Philippi (16:22-24), but with the scourge, a merciless instrument of torture. It was the standard way of extracting information from a prisoner. It was legal to use it to force a confession from a slave or alien but never from a Roman citizen. The scourge consisted of a whip of leather thongs attached to a stout wooden handle, with pieces of bone or metal attached to the ends. If a man did not die under the scourge (and that happened frequently), he would be crippled for life. This was what was used to flog Jesus before his crucifixion.

^y’ The person was tied to a post for whipping.

^z’ According to Roman law, all Roman citizens were exempted from all degrading forms of punishment: beating with rods, scourging, crucifixion. They were also exempted from examination under torture. In such trials they first had to be legally charged and then there would be a hearing before a Roman court.

^a” There were three ways to obtain Roman citizenship: (i) receive it as a reward for some outstanding service to Rome (ii) buy it at a considerable price (iii) be born into a family of Roman citizens. How Paul’s father or an earlier ancestor had gained citizenship, no one knows (refer to ‘Roman Citizenship’, p. xxxii).

^b” The Sanhedrin was respected by the Roman governor, whose approval had to be obtained before sentencing someone to capital punishment, i.e. sentencing them to death.

Questions:

When did the crowd start to react to Paul’s speech (vv. 19-21)?

What did they do (vv. 22-23)?

2. How did the commander respond to what was happening (vv. 24-25)?

Name the commander who was in charge (23:26).

3. What did Paul tell the officer as they were going to whip him (v. 25)?

4. How did the officer respond to Paul’s question (v. 26)?

5. How did the commander and Paul obtain their Roman citizenship (vv. 27-29)?

Mention another occasion when Paul claimed that he was a Roman citizen (16:38).

6. What was the reaction of the commander and his men when they heard from Paul that he was a Roman citizen by birth (v. 29)?

7. What action did the commander take to discover what the Jews were accusing Paul of (v. 30)?

Summary of Section:

The people listened to Paul until he said that Jesus said he was sending Paul to the Gentiles. Then they started to shout at the top of their voices to kill him because he was not fit to live.
They screamed, waved their clothes and threw dust up in the air.
The Roman commander asked his men to take Paul into the fort and to whip him in order to find out why the Jews were screaming like that against him.
When they had tied him to be whipped, Paul asked the officer whether it was lawful for him to whip a Roman citizen without his even being tried for any crime.
The officer went to the commander and asked him what he was doing in wanting to whip Paul who was a Roman citizen.
The commander spoke to Paul and asked him if he was a Roman citizen. Paul answered in the affirmative.
The commander said that he became a citizen by paying a lot of money. Paul, however, said that he was one by birth.
On hearing this, the soldiers drew back from Paul. The commander became frightened when he realised that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.
The commander wanted to find out what the Jews were accusing Paul of and so the next day, he had Paul’s chains taken off. He sent for the chief priests and the whole Council and brought Paul to stand before them.

Nuggets of Wisdom

In the eyes of the Jews, proselytism, i.e., making Gentiles into Jews, was fine. But evangelism, i.e., making Gentiles into Christians without first making them Jews, was an abomina- tion. It was tantamount to saying that Jews and Gentiles were equal, both needing to come to God on identical terms. That was why the crowd found their voices again and demanded Paul’s death.
Paul was actually being prepared for the flogging when he revealed his Roman citizenship. Similarly in Philippi, he had not revealed that he was a Roman citizen until after he had been beaten, imprisoned and put in the stocks (16:37). He seemed for some reason not to have wanted to take advantage of being a citizen except in extreme circumstances.
That Paul was a Roman citizen put the situation in a different light. Examination under torture, while suit- able for ordinary people in the empire, had to be abandoned. Undoubtedly the commander shuddered as he realised how close he had come to committing a serious offense against a Roman citizen. He had to find another way to determine why Paul was accused by the Jews. He had tried questioning the crowd but could get no answers. He was about to use torture but Paul’s Roman citizenship blocked that. So he now opted for a trial by the Sanhedrin.