AN UNANSWERABLE ARGUMENT

ACTS 21:40–22:30

NASB

40 When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there [a]was a great hush, he spoke to them in the [b]Hebrew dialect, saying,

22:1 “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the [a]Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said,

3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated [a]under Gamaliel, [b]strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, 5 as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders [a]can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem [b]as prisoners to be punished.

6 “But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, 7 and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not [a]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. 10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’ 11 But since I could not see because of the [a]brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

12 “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And [a]at that very time I looked up at him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an [a]utterance from His mouth. 15 For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

17 “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, 18 and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You. 20 And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’ 21 And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

22 They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” 23 And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, 24 the [a]commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. 25 But when they stretched him out [a]with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it [b]lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the [a]commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” 27 The [a]commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 The [a]commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” 29 Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately [a]let go of him; and the [b]commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had [c]put him in chains.

30 But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the [a]Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

21:40 [a]Lit occurred  [b]I.e. Jewish Aramaic  22:2 [a]I.e. Jewish Aramaic  22:3 [a]Lit at the feet of  [b]Lit according to the strictness of the ancestral law  22:5 [a]Lit testifies for me  [b]Lit having been bound  22:9 [a]Or hear (with comprehension)  22:11 [a]Lit glory  22:13 [a]Or instantly; lit at the very hour  22:14 [a]Or message; lit voice  22:24 [a]I.e. chiliarch, in command of one thousand troops  22:25 [a]Or for the whip  [b]Interrogation by torture was a procedure used with slaves  22:26 [a]V 24, note 1  22:27 [a]V 24, note 1  22:28 [a]V 24, note 1  22:29 [a]Lit withdrew from  [b]V 24, note 1  [c]Lit bound him  22:30 [a]Or Sanhedrin 

NLT

40 The commander agreed, so Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the people to be quiet. Soon a deep silence enveloped the crowd, and he addressed them in their own language, Aramaic.[*]

22:1 “Brothers and esteemed fathers,” Paul said, “listen to me as I offer my defense.” 2 When they heard him speaking in their own language,[*] the silence was even greater.

3 Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. 4 And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. 5 The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.

6 “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

8 “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked.

“And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene,[*] the one you are persecuting.’ 9 The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.

10 “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’

“And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’

11 “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions. 12 A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus. 13 He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him!

14 “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. 15 For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. 16 What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’

17 “After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple and fell into a trance. 18 I saw a vision of Jesus[*] saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’

19 “‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And I was in complete agreement when your witness Stephen was killed. I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned him.’

21 “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

22 The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!” 23 They yelled, threw off their coats, and tossed handfuls of dust into the air.

24 The commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious. 25 When they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer[*] standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

26 When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked, “What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

27 So the commander went over and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I certainly am,” Paul replied.

28 “I am, too,” the commander muttered, “and it cost me plenty!”

Paul answered, “But I am a citizen by birth!”

29 The soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.

30 The next day the commander ordered the leading priests into session with the Jewish high council.[*] He wanted to find out what the trouble was all about, so he released Paul to have him stand before them.

[21:40] Or Hebrew.   [22:2] Greek in Aramaic, or in Hebrew.   [22:8] Or Jesus of Nazareth.   [22:18] Greek him.   [22:25] Greek the centurion; also in 22:26.   [22:30] Greek Sanhedrin.  

Around AD 57, Paul entered the temple to participate in one of Israel’s most treasured and revered traditions. Four men were concluding a Nazirite vow with a complicated and expensive ritual involving sacrifices. The apostle had concluded a vow of his own during his second missionary journey (18:18), and he now stood with four Jewish believers to undergo purification rites along with them and to fund their sacrifices. No gesture could have better proven his loyalty to Jewish traditions or shown higher regard for the temple. Yet his enemies, Jewish nonbelievers from Ephesus, seized the opportunity to accuse him of blasphemy, of preaching against Jews, and of desecrating the temple by bringing a Gentile into the court of Israel.

In that moment, Paul saw an opportunity to give his unanswerable argument —the story of his life and his miraculous encounter with the risen Lord Jesus. Such events and personal testimonies about them form unanswerable arguments for the gospel. An example from the Gospels is seen in John 9: When Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath, the Pharisees couldn’t argue with the facts of the man’s life —he had been blind and now could see. Instead, they slandered Jesus and excommunicated the man who had been healed.

Now it was Paul’s turn. He had been struck blind when he persecuted the church and then received his sight when He believed in Jesus Christ (Acts 9). Now, he would testify before his brothers in the temple, saying, as it were, “Though I was blind, now I see.” The question remained whether the self-appointed guardians of the temple would choose continued blindness or find the light and the truth through his unanswerable argument.

— 21:40 —

The riot Paul’s enemies sparked escalated so dramatically that the commander of the Roman troops in the Fortress of Antonia had to restore order with the help of at least two hundred fighting men. He bound Paul in chains, and the soldiers carried the apostle out of the temple complex toward the fortress. At the entrance, he asked the commander for permission to address the people, most of whom had acted upon false information. He felt certain that, given the facts, they would respond reasonably.

Standing on the stairs above the outer court of the temple, Paul silenced the crowd and addressed them in a dialect of the Hebrew people, which was probably Aramaic. His defense can be divided into three sections:

— 22:1-3 —

Paul’s opening statement identified him as a kindred Jew. Of course, most knew him by reputation, if not personally. He had once been a rising star in the religious and political sphere of Judaism and a leading opponent of the church. Some in the Sanhedrin may have recognized his first words, “Brethren and fathers” (22:1), from Stephen’s defense (7:2).

He had been accused of denigrating the temple, preaching against the Law of Moses, and discouraging circumcision among Jews, so he established his impeccable Hebrew pedigree immediately. “I am a Jew” (22:3) was straightforward enough, but some might identify him as a Hellenistic Jew because he came from Tarsus, a Gentile city in Cilicia. He hastened to note that he had been reared in Jerusalem and taught in the renowned school of Gamaliel, who once sat on the Sanhedrin as one of its most respected members (5:34). Paul’s teacher was the grandson of the legendary rabbi Hillel, a Pharisee of the first order —literally. The Pharisees interpreted the Scriptures loosely and amplified God’s instruction with a host of traditions. They became theologically innovative to enhance their appearance of piety and to sanctify their strict separation from anything not Jewish. The teachings of Hillel virtually defined Pharisaism during the time of Jesus and Paul.

Paul declared that he had been schooled “strictly according to the law of our fathers” (22:3). The word rendered “strictly” is from a Greek word (akribeia [195]) that describes precise conformity to an authoritative standard, as in the case of mathematical accuracy. Paul added that he was as zealous for the Law as his audience and then proved it with a brief recounting of his own career as a Pharisee.

— 22:4-5 —

Paul recounted how he had “persecuted this Way to the death” (22:4). Although Saul’s reference to “persecution” might sound to us like an implicit admission of wrongdoing, he presented it to the Jewish leaders as a positive point of commonality. He illustrated his genuine zeal for the Law by recalling his methods, which included throwing Christians into prison and even killing some. If any doubted his dedication to the Law, they could consult the high priest and the Sanhedrin for corroboration. After all, they had commissioned him to stamp out “the Way” and even authorized his journey to Damascus to arrest fleeing Christians.

The term translated “persecuted” (diōkō [1377], possibly reflecting radap [H7291]) refers to pursuit, but not necessarily with hostile intent. This stands in contrast to our word “persecute,” which bears an entirely negative connotation. For example, Romans 12:13-14 uses the term both positively (“practicing hospitality”) and negatively (“Bless those who persecute you”).

— 22:6-10 —

Paul recounted his dramatic encounter with the risen Christ, highlighting facts that would have interested his audience while accomplishing his purpose. For example, Jesus was “the Nazarene” (22:8), a detail with negative connotations among the Pharisees. They denied that the Messiah could come from Galilee, much less the despised town of Nazareth. Paul called attention to his Hebrew name, Saul, which strengthened his claim of being a loyal Jew. And he stressed that God had initiated the encounter to stop him from completing his mission. He reminded those who knew him from years past that witnesses —some undoubtedly still alive —could corroborate details of his story. They saw the light, and while they failed to understand what Jesus said, they heard the voice. They also saw Paul’s immediate transformation.

His description of the encounter with Christ conspicuously assigned God the responsibility for his subsequent actions. He included a crucial part of his dialogue: “What shall I do, Lord?” (22:10). Christ’s answer would issue a divine call: “The God of our fathers has appointed you” (22:14). This supernatural encounter should have reminded Paul’s Jewish audience of several Old Testament prophets who had received visions and were compelled to heed the divine call. This subtly implied, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, take it up with God!”

— 22:11-16 —

Paul’s testimony includes an extended account of his time with Ananias, “a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews” in Damascus (22:12). This highly regarded Jew also received a divine message regarding Paul’s ministry. If anyone doubted the apostle’s sincerity or sanity, they could contact Ananias for corroboration. This prophet gave Paul specific instructions concerning his ministry among the Gentiles. Note that Paul identified the presence he had encountered as “Jesus the Nazarene” (22:8) and Ananias heard from “the God of our fathers” (22:14), a distinctly Jewish description of God. All of this works together to vindicate Paul’s ministry as God-ordained and entirely consistent with the way He had worked through prophets in the past.

— 22:17-21 —

If Paul had merely wanted to clear his name and vindicate his ministry among the Gentiles, he could have concluded his defense with 22:16. This would have sent the message, “God said to do something and I did it. Case closed. The defense rests.” But Paul had another agenda. He recognized this occasion as an opportunity to confront his countrymen with their sin. Though not politically smart, the final section of his message remained faithful to his calling.

Paul returned to Jerusalem to find that the city and his old peers had turned against him. According to Luke’s earlier account (9:29-30), the Jerusalem church leaders had sent him to Tarsus for his safety; Paul declared that the Lord had affirmed the plan in a vision. God stated that the reason for his leaving was that the temple leaders would not accept Paul’s testimony about Him (22:18). And with that statement, Paul lost all sympathy with his audience. This declaration put them on the wrong side of God’s revelation. While Paul had obeyed God in his ministry to Gentiles, the nonbelieving Jews had disobeyed by opposing him. Furthermore, in his “before and after” testimony, he declared his persecution of the Christians to be sinful, which implied that his audience continued in the sin from which he had repented.

His “standing by approving” recalls his role in the murder of this first Christian martyr (22:20). The temple leaders had led a mob of zealous Jews as they dragged Stephen to the outskirts of the city and stoned him. Paul implied that the people had sinned along with him and should repent. This also bore the subtle suggestion that they were seeking to do the same to him, forcing his flight from Jerusalem. God’s instructions to Paul contained a dig against the Jews. The implied message was, “They continue in their sin and will not heed your testimony, so I am sending My Word to the Gentiles through you” (see 22:18, 21).

The notion that Israel was no longer God’s light to the Gentiles angered the mob. Paul’s claim that God would use the church instead —spearheaded by his own ministry —caused the religious leaders to seethe with murderous rage.

— 22:22-24 —

The enraged audience called for Paul’s execution (22:22). They didn’t object to his evangelizing the Gentiles; Jews had attracted proselytes for centuries. Even the Pharisees traveled around the empire preaching to Gentiles (Matt. 23:15). Paul’s method, however, offended them on two counts. First, he refused to bring Gentiles into the kingdom of God through the door of Judaism, implying that Gentiles and Jews stood on an equal plane before God. Second, his notice that he had turned to the Gentiles sent the message that God had set aside the Jews.

The crowd’s throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air has no symbolic or cultural meaning. They simply felt so enraged that they literally didn’t know what to do with themselves. They couldn’t get at Paul, or they would have torn him to pieces.

The phrase “shouting against him” (Acts 22:24) is better translated, “shouting at him” or “shouting to him.” The verb epiphōneō [2019] means simply “to cry out loudly” or “to shout.” The preposition “against” is an interpretation by the translators. The commander didn’t know what the people shouted or what motivated them because Paul and the Jews had been speaking “the Hebrew dialect” (probably Aramaic) throughout the incident (21:40). He had simply heard Paul address the people and observed their angry response. For all he knew, the apostle had just rallied the multitude in the temple for an insurrection. He needed to discern what had just happened, but the only bilingual witnesses were all Jewish. Everyone he might ask had a motive for lying if Paul and the mob had formed a conspiracy against Rome. So, he decided to use a method familiar to Romans —torture.

Paul was set to “be examined by scourging” (22:24), to be whipped until he confessed to something. The commander had full authority to beat the truth out of Paul if it served the emperor’s interests. The noun translated “scourging” (mastix [3148]) indicates the use of a different instrument than soldiers used on Jesus before His crucifixion. A more accurate translation would be “examined by the whip.” Paul asked, “Is it lawful for you to scourge” (mastizō [3147]) a Roman citizen (22:25)? That term is different from the “scourging” (mastigoō [3146]) Jesus suffered. The verbs are similar, but mastigoō inflicted the “halfway death” Jesus endured, which involved the use of a flagrum, a leather thong with bits of metal and sheep bone braided along its length. Romans didn’t use that type of scourging to obtain information, because victims of this procedure went into shock and struggled to remain conscious. Mastizō, using a mastix, on the other hand, could inflict intense pain for hours, leaving the victim lucid enough to feel every lash and still communicate clearly.

— 22:25-29 —

Roman citizens enjoyed extraordinary privileges compared to other subjects of the empire. They received the kind of civil protections most people in Western countries today take for granted. A Roman could not be punished without due process, and Paul was “uncondemned” (22:25). He was given the benefit of the doubt until proven guilty. Punishments for Roman citizens were never humiliating; even when sentenced to death, the manner of execution was swift and private. And they could appeal a charge to a higher authority, all the way up to the emperor himself.

Paul waited until he had been taken down to the dungeon, tied to leather straps, and stretched out for the whipping before announcing his status as a Roman citizen. He did this for the same reason as in Philippi (16:37), for the sake of legal strategy. He brought his captors to the brink of committing a crime in order to leverage their fear to his advantage. When the commander discovered how close he had come to beating a citizen, he felt grateful and probably more accommodating with Paul. Furthermore, his interview with the apostle revealed that Paul held a higher social status. A freeborn citizen was an aristocrat compared to someone who obtained the privilege through bribes. The practice of selling citizenship had become a common form of corruption during the reign of Emperor Claudius.

— 22:30 —

The commander still had a duty to determine what had occurred in the temple. He had apparently determined —probably during his conversation with the apostle —that the Jews had accused Paul of something. He refused to let a mob manipulate him or the Roman government, but to encourage order, he called a hearing with the chief priests and the Sanhedrin so they could lodge any complaints they might have in a civilized manner.

Based on the council’s findings, he would determine whether to charge Paul with a crime. If their charges did not impact Roman interests, he would leave the matter in the Jewish leaders’ hands. If he determined that Paul had broken a Roman statute, he would refer the case to the procurator.

APPLICATION: ACTS 21:40–22:30

A Witness worth Hearing

Paul believed evangelism to be his sole purpose for living, so he viewed every circumstance as an opportunity to be a witness or to create more opportunities for witnessing. When a mob tried to kill him and a contingent of Roman soldiers carried him to safety, he saw another opportunity to testify. His example highlights three principles worth remembering.

First, a factually based personal testimony is unanswerable; internal experience alone is questionable. The most compelling case for Christianity is a personal testimony. It follows a simple outline:

  1. Before Christ
  2. Encounter with Christ
  3. After Christ

No one can argue with your personal experience. Subjective experience alone, however, doesn’t convince others to believe. Paul laced his personal testimony with verifiable facts. He highlighted the parts of his life that many had observed before his salvation, during his experience with Christ on the road to Damascus, and then after. And he referred to objective witnesses the audience could respect and trust.

So if you’re going to prepare a testimony, think through the wording. In fact, write it down and limit it to two pages. Include only relevant details that others have observed and could affirm. Read it through a few times, not to memorize it, but to become comfortable with what you would like to say. Then let the opportunities and the Holy Spirit be your guide as you testify from the heart.

Second, humility is one thing; indignity is something entirely different. When the soldiers stretched out Paul for an unjust whipping, he looked into the face of the officer and declared his citizenship in order to avoid unnecessary suffering. In Philippi, Paul had taken his undeserved beating because it served his purpose. He had used the illegal punishment as leverage to secure greater safety for the church in Philippi. In Jerusalem, however, his suffering would serve no constructive purpose, so he put an end to it.

A strange trend in Christian teaching has twisted the doctrine of submission into something grotesque and tragically unlike anything Jesus taught. It’s the idea that Christians should submit to any kind of abuse that happens to come their way. Consequently, wives endure battering while churches shout, “Submit!” Children suffer bizarre forms of neglect and mistreatment in the name of submission and discipline. Christians everywhere seem to believe that accepting abuse and humiliation is part and parcel of the Christian life and, therefore, that they should take their beatings when they could otherwise avoid injustice. But that’s not biblical teaching.

Paul suffered when he saw something greater to be gained. He accepted —submitted, if you will —to the unalterable will of God when it called for suffering. When escape was not an option, he bore his mistreatment with dignity. That is quintessentially Christian. Volunteering for mistreatment and injustice is a perversion of the doctrine of submission. God created humans for dignity. Evil has been tearing down God’s creation from the moment of the first sin. We, as Christians, are called to suffer with Christ in the war against Satan and sin, but God never calls us to lay down human dignity when we have the option to see justice prevail.

Third, an honest testimony is our responsibility; a positive response is not. In terms of positive response, Paul’s testimony was a massive crash-and-burn failure. His defense of the gospel and his ministry to the Gentiles didn’t convince the audience to change their opinion and decide to fund a fourth missionary journey. He merely told the truth of his own experience with Jesus Christ: his life of sin before, his conversion, and his ministry after. The audience saw themselves in his “before” picture and they didn’t like what they saw. The audience saw themselves in contrast to Paul’s “after” picture and they liked the reflection even less. The apostle didn’t set out to convince the Jews to convert; he only determined to tell the truth. What they did with the truth, he left to the Holy Spirit.

People won’t like what we have to say. Our job is not to change their minds; our responsibility is to proclaim the truth. Nothing more. Nothing less.