Acts 22
McGeeCHAPTER 22THEME: Paul’s defense before the mob at JerusalemThis chapter gives Paul’s message before the mob. He recounts his encounter with Christ and his subsequent experience which brought him to Jerusalem. Then Paul appeals to his Roman citizenship to deliver himself from the awful whipping of a prisoner. Let us listen to Paul. Here is a great message of the apostle Paul.
Acts 22:1
PAUL’S DEFENSE BEFORE THE MOB"Men?" Yes. “Brethren?” Yes, they belong to the same race. Yet these brethren want to kill him. Is he being sarcastic? No, because then he shows respect for the elder men, “and fathers.”
Acts 22:2
The minute he begins to speak in Hebrew, they become quiet. It is like a raging wind suddenly dying down, like calming the waves of the seas. They are listening to a man who is one of them. He begins with his personal history.
Acts 22:3
Paul is being persecuted by the Jewish leaders, by the religious leaders of that day. Paul shows them that he had been one of themhe had been a Pharisee. One of the reasons he has so much sympathy for them and is so loving toward them is that he knows exactly how they feel. He is giving them his background because he wants to win them for Christ. Paul had a tremendous background. Tarsus was actually the center of Greek learning of that day. The finest Greek university in Paul’s day was in Tarsus, not in Athens or Corinth, which had passed their zeniths. Tarsus was a thriving Greek city and an educational center. Undoubtedly Paul had been brought up in that university in Tarsus and had a Greek background, but he had also been in Jerusalem where he had studied under Gamaliel. They are listening to him now.
Acts 22:4
Notice that Paul calls it “this way” again. He doesn’t mention the church or the followers of Christ or Christians. He uses the term which they understand and which he understands. I think “this way” is still a good term to use. What is “this way”? Well, it is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is the person of the Lord Jesus. He si saying to them, “Listen, I have the same background you folk have. I persecuted ’this way.’ I know how you feel. I did the same thing.”
Acts 22:5
Paul is telling them his experience.
Acts 22:8
I think you could have heard a pin drop in that crowd now.
Acts 22:9
I want to stop to notice something here. If you will recall where we read about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, it says, “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man” (Act_9:7). Here Paul says, “But they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.” This looks like it might be a contradiction, and it is something which the critic likes to pounce on. Actually, there is no contradiction at all. The men heard a voicethey heard the sound, but they did not understand what the voice said nor did they know whose voice it was. They simply heard a voice.
Acts 22:10
Notice that Paul had been given a private interview with the Lord Jesus. I believe that the Lord talked with him and taught him when he spent time out on that Arabian desert.
Acts 22:16
Paul never forgot that he had been present at the stoning of Stephen and actually had had charge over it. It left an indelible impression on his mind and prepared him for his own conversion.
Acts 22:21
Paul mentions the Gentiles because he has been out in the gentile world speaking to them about Jesus Christ. The Jews know that. The minute he mentions the Gentiles, it is just like lighting a fuse. They will hear him no longer.
Acts 22:23
You see, when Paul lapsed over into the Hebrew tongue and spoke to the mob in Hebrew, the captain stood there not able to comprehend what he was saying. The captain simply could not grasp what was happening nor could he understand the problem. All he could do when the mob broke into this rage was to take Paul inside the castle. He thought that since Paul was a prisoner, he would find out the truth about the whole matter by whipping him.
Acts 22:25
PAUL APPEALS TO HIS ROMAN CITIZENSHIPPaul is being misunderstood all the way around. The Jews thought he had brought Trophimus into the temple, and he hadn’t done that. The captain thought he was an Egyptian who was a riot leader, and he wasn’t that man. Notice who he is. He is a Hebrew who can speak fluent Greek. Also, he is a Roman citizen. He now appeals to that citizenship to escape the scourging of a prisoner.
Acts 22:26
This captain, you see, was an ex-slave. He had saved his money or somehow he got the money to buy his freedom. He has advanced in the Roman army so that now he is a captain. He is amazed that he has a prisoner who is a Roman citizen who was born free.
Acts 22:29
The captain finds that he has a remarkable man on his hands. He is a learned man who speaks Greek. He is not a common crook by any means. He is a Jew, but he is also a Roman citizen. The captain says, “I am not going to treat Paul like a common criminal. We will have a hearing to find out what the charges are against him.” So the captain arranged a hearing before the chief priests and all their council. Notice that Paul had many assets which made him suitable to be the missionary to the Roman Empire. He had a world view. Greek training had prepared him as the cosmic Christian. He was trained in the Mosaic system, which prepared him to interpret it in the light of the coming of Christ and His redemptive death and resurrection. Not the least of his assets was his Roman citizenship which finally opened the door for him to visit Rome.