Paul’s Arrest and Defense
Acts 21:27–23:35
The later chapters of Acts highlight the striking parallels between the passion of Jesus and the “passion of Paul.” For Paul, as for Jesus, there is a triple prediction of his sufferings, and in each case, his friends try to prevent it. His arrival in Jerusalem is marked by a Jewish plot to kill him. He is brought before the high priest and the Sanhedrin, and then before the Roman governor and Herod, where Jews accuse Paul of actions against the Jewish people and Caesar. Jewish chief priests seek his death, while the governor declares him innocent three times and Herod treats him as innocent once. He submits to the Father’s will. Although there are numerous differences in the details, Paul clearly is sharing in the sufferings of Jesus, the Suffering Servant (Isa 52:13–53:12), as Jesus foretold he would (Acts 9:15–16).
The transition from Paul’s active ministry to his passion in the footsteps of his Lord enters its first major phase when Paul is seized and beaten by a Jewish mob in the temple courtyard. Though rescued by Roman soldiers, he will have to endure several years of Roman captivity and repeated trials under diverse authorities, including Roman provincial governors and, ultimately, the emperor in Rome.
While walking his way of the cross, Paul twice gives testimony of his conversion from being a persecutor of Jesus’ disciples to becoming a disciple himself. Paul’s own account emphasizes his continuing Jewish identity and zeal, now focused on serving the risen Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul’s Arrest (21:27–40)
27When the seven days were nearly completed, the Jews from the province of Asia noticed him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and laid hands on him, 28shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us. This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place, and what is more, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this sacred place.” 29For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30The whole city was in turmoil with people rushing together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the gates were closed. 31While they were trying to kill him, a report reached the cohort commander that all Jerusalem was rioting. 32He immediately took soldiers and centurions and charged down on them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul. 33The cohort commander came forward, arrested him, and ordered him to be secured with two chains; he tried to find out who he might be and what he had done. 34Some in the mob shouted one thing, others something else; so, since he was unable to ascertain the truth because of the uproar, he ordered Paul to be brought into the compound. 35When he reached the steps, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob, 36for a crowd of people followed and shouted, “Away with him!”
37Just as Paul was about to be taken into the compound, he said to the cohort commander, “May I say something to you?” He replied, “Do you speak Greek? 38So then you are not the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led the four thousand assassins into the desert?” 39Paul answered, “I am a Jew, of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; I request you to permit me to speak to the people.” 40When he had given his permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people; and when all was quiet he addressed them in Hebrew.
OT: Num 6:13–21
NT: Luke 23:18; Acts 6:11–14; 21:11
Catechism: Jesus and the law of Moses, 577–82
[21:27]
This episode begins shortly before Paul could fulfill the seven days of his purification, in association with the four men whose †Nazirite vow rituals he is sponsoring. Jews from the province of Asia (the western part of modern-day Turkey), quite possibly from Ephesus, notice him in the temple. As earlier in Acts (6:9; 8:1), controversy regarding the Christian movement arises especially among Greek-speaking Jews, this time from the †Diaspora.
Already hostile to Paul when he was in Ephesus, these Jews now incite the whole crowd and seize Paul. Not only do they misrepresent what he preached in Asia, but they also mistakenly think he has brought an uncircumcised companion from Asia beyond the Court of the Gentiles into the sacrosanct inner courts of the temple, which Gentiles were strictly forbidden to enter.
[21:28]
Their accusations are that Paul is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place, similar to the Sanhedrin’s charges against Stephen (Acts 6:11–14). Worse, they charge that Paul has brought Greeks into the temple, a sacrilege that ritually defiled the temple and was recognized even by Rome as a capital offense. Archaeologists have recovered two of the signs posted on a barrier that surrounded the inner courts of the temple, signs bearing this message in Greek: “No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the temple and enclosure. Anyone who is caught trespassing will bear personal responsibility for his ensuing death.”
[21:29–30]
These Asian Jews had recognized Trophimus the Ephesian going about with Paul in the city and mistakenly supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Their charge incites a riot, which Luke describes, perhaps with some hyperbole, as the whole city being in turmoil with people rushing together. They drag Paul out of the temple. To keep the rioting outside the sacred temple grounds, they close the gates.
[21:31–32]
As the crowd is trying to kill Paul, news reaches the cohort commander or tribune (Greek chiliarchos, literally, “commander of a thousand”) that all Jerusalem is rioting. The commander, probably located at Fortress Antonia next to the temple complex, brings a cohort of soldiers and centurions (commanders of a hundred) to charge the crowd and stop them from beating Paul.
[21:33–36]
The commander arrests Paul and has him secured with two chains, probably between two soldiers. This fulfills Agabus’s prophecy about Paul’s being bound in Acts 21:11, although it is not the Jews who actually carry it out. Amid the mob’s chaotic shouting, the commander is unable to ascertain the truth regarding Paul’s alleged crime. The Greek for “truth” here, asphalēs, emphasizes factual information rather than mere hearsay, which would be useless in court. It is related to the word that Luke used in his promise of “certainty” to Theophilus in Luke 1:4. So the commander moves Paul to the quieter area within the compound or fortress. Paul has to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob, which was shouting, “Away with him!” This shout echoes the cry of the Jerusalem mob against Jesus in Luke 23:18, “Away with this man!”
[21:37–38]
The cohort commander assumes that Paul must be the Egyptian revolutionary who tried to capture Jerusalem with four thousand assassins, literally, “knife-wielders.” But when Paul unexpectedly addresses him in Greek, the commander realizes that Paul is not that fugitive. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, in AD 54 (about three years before this incident in Acts 21) an Egyptian false prophet gathered an army on the Mount of Olives, telling them that at his command the walls of Jerusalem would fall flat. When the promised miracle did not happen, the Romans killed many of his followers, though the Egyptian escaped.
[21:39–40]
Paul emphasizes that, though ethnically a Jew, he is a citizen of Tarsus, a respectable city and capital of the province of Cilicia. As such, Paul asks permission to speak to the people. Surprisingly, he manages to quiet the mob, then addresses them in Hebrew, or more precisely, the closely related †Aramaic, the language of first-century Palestine for which there was no separate term.
Paul’s Defense before the Jerusalem Jews (22:1–21)
1“My brothers and fathers, listen to what I am about to say to you in my defense.” 2When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew they became all the more quiet. And he continued, 3“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison. 5Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment those there as well.
6“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’ 9My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. 10I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’ 11Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.
12“A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. 14Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; 15for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. 16Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’
17“After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you. 20And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’ 21Then he said to me, ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
OT: Isa 6:1–10
NT: Luke 4:23–29; Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 12:12, 27; 2 Cor 4:6; Gal 1:13–14
Catechism: bearing witness to truth, 2471–73; baptism and forgiveness of sins, 977–80, 1262–66
Lectionary: Acts 22:3–16: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
[22:1–2]
The story of Paul’s conversion is told three times in Acts, not only because of its importance but also to present the event from three different perspectives—that of Luke as narrator in Acts 9, that of Paul in speaking to Jews here in Acts 22, and that of Paul in addressing a mixed audience including a Roman governor in Acts 26. In each telling Paul highlights the elements most important for each audience. Here he begins by deferentially addressing the Jews as one of them: “My brothers and fathers.” His opening is typical for a defense speech: “Listen to what I am about to say to you in my defense.” The crowd becomes all the more quiet because he is speaking in their own mother tongue, Hebrew, or probably in †Aramaic.
[22:3]
Because Paul’s listeners are Jews, this version of his call story focuses especially on his Jewishness. Paul boldly proclaims, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city.” He thus identifies himself as a †Diaspora Jew but also maintains that he was educated, presumably in the Old Testament and Jewish oral traditions, in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, a prominent teacher and member of the †Sanhedrin. It was this same Gamaliel who in Acts 5:39 suggested that the Sanhedrin release the apostles to avoid possibly even “fighting against God.” Paul’s facility with Jewish modes of interpreting Scripture, as evidenced in his letters, is consistent with his having studied under a Jewish teacher of the law, and his openness toward Gentiles is consistent with the rabbinic school of Hillel, to which Gamaliel belonged.
Paul’s Letters corroborate his claim that he was well educated in the ancestral law of Israel, and that he was zealous for God, ardently devoted to God’s honor, holiness, and law (Phil 3:4–6). He makes a similar declaration in Galatians: “I . . . progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions” (Gal 1:13–14).
[22:4–5]
A conspicuous feature of Paul’s zeal was that he persecuted this Way, a title for Christianity (see Acts 9:2; 18:25–26; 19:9, 23). Paul persecuted Christians even to death, as at Stephen’s execution (8:1). As described in Acts 9, Paul’s harassment included binding Christian men and women, and here he adds delivering them to prison. Paul even invokes the high priest and the whole council of elders as witnesses to the fact that he had letters from them to Jewish leaders in Damascus and was on his way there to bring captured Christians to Jerusalem.
[22:6–8]
Paul reports that as he neared Damascus, he was halted by a great light from the sky, so that he fell to the ground. A voice said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Paul did not know to whom the voice belonged: “Who are you, sir?”
The answer, “I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting,” indicates that Jesus identifies his persecuted followers with himself: in persecuting Christians, Paul is persecuting Jesus. This union of Christians with Christ is the basis of Paul’s theology of the Church as the body of Christ (see 1 Cor 12:27).
[22:9]
Paul’s description of what his companions saw and heard—they saw the light but did not hear the voice—differs slightly from the version narrated by Luke in Acts 9:7, which says they heard the voice but saw no one. In both cases they heard a sound or saw a light that indicated to them something was happening. But they did not see the speaker or hear the speaker’s voice (or what he was saying). The main point of both versions is that the companions are not witnesses of the resurrection as Paul is, because a witness both sees and hears, and only Paul both saw and heard the risen Jesus.
[22:10–11]
The Lord, now openly identified as such by Paul, answered him with the instruction to go into Damascus, where he would be told about the mission that God had for him. The reference to the brightness (doxa, literally, “glory”) of that light which blinded Paul is strikingly similar to Paul’s statement in 2 Cor 4:6: “God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of [Jesus] Christ.” The revelation of the risen Jesus shattered the darkness in which Paul had been living. Because he was blinded by the light, Paul had to be led by hand into Damascus.
[22:12]
Acts 9 identifies Ananias simply as a disciple, but here Paul emphasizes to his Jewish listeners that Ananias was a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews of Damascus. Through Ananias, Paul’s blindness was healed instantaneously.
[22:13–14]
Ananias highlighted the Judaism that he and Paul shared by solemnly attributing Paul’s Damascus road experience to the God of our ancestors, who designated Paul (literally, “handpicked in advance”) to receive divine revelation. God’s revelation to Paul was threefold: to know his will, meaning God’s plan of salvation (see Eph 1:9–10; 3:3–5; Col 1:9); to see Jesus the Righteous One, a Messianic title from Jer 23:5; 33:15; and to hear the sound of his voice. God chose Paul to know the truth and to personally encounter the risen Messiah. Small wonder that Paul became a changed man!
[22:15]
Although in verses 6–8 Paul mentions seeing only light, the context of the account, plus Ananias’s statement that Paul saw “the Righteous One” (v. 14), especially in the light of Paul’s testimony in his letters (1 Cor 9:1; 15:8; Gal 1:15–16), make it clear that Paul saw not only light but also the risen Christ. Because Paul both saw and heard the risen Jesus, Ananias tells him that he will be his witness before all, literally, “before all people.” Paul considers this encounter with the risen Lord to be his primary credential as an apostle: “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Cor 9:1). As an eyewitness, Paul will testify to what he has seen and heard.
[22:16]
Ananias instructed Paul to immediately be baptized and have his sins washed away. Paul himself will write powerfully about the power of baptism to wash away sins (1 Cor 6:11; Eph 5:26; Titus 3:5). Baptism entails calling upon Jesus’ name for forgiveness and as one’s Lord. This is a Christian adaptation of Joel 3:5 (= 2:32 NRSV; see Acts 2:21), “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD / will escape harm,” indicating that all who call upon Jesus as their Lord through faith and baptism will be saved (see Rom 10:13).
[22:17]
The next event in Paul’s story, his prayer experience in the Jerusalem temple, was not mentioned in Acts 9. Paul reports that he returned to Jerusalem, diplomatically omitting mention of his debates with Jews in Damascus, which had led to his fleeing to Jerusalem (Acts 9:22–26). While he was praying in the temple, he saw the Lord for the second time, this time in a trance or ecstasy, like Peter’s in Acts 10:10.
[22:18]
Paul’s vision and commission by the Lord Jesus in the temple recall the prophet Isaiah’s vision and commission by the Lord God in the temple (Isa 6:1–10). Earlier, Paul had identified himself with the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah (Acts 13:47, citing Isa 49:6). In this vision, Jesus gives directions to his servant concerning his mission: “Leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.” Jesus does not explain why Paul’s testimony would be unacceptable whereas that of other apostles like Peter was accepted by many Jerusalem Jews (Acts 2:41). As we have seen, Paul, like Stephen (6:8–10), would be especially effective in debating and refuting Jews (9:20–23) and would evoke a similarly violent response.
[22:19–21]
Paul responds to Jesus with puzzlement, not understanding why some Jews will reject his testimony. After all, he says, “They know how from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.” Paul acknowledges that he had been so much on the side of Jewish persecutors that he participated in shedding the blood of Stephen. But Jesus’ final command is “Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.” Paul’s mission would extend far beyond the Jewish people.
Reflection and Application (22:1–21)
Despite being mobbed by some of his Jewish coreligionists, Paul in his defense speech emphasizes how important his Jewish background and identity is to him. By extension, Paul’s Jewish identity is equally important to his companion and disciple Luke—and to us, Luke’s readers. God’s plan to reconcile humanity was accomplished through Abraham and his descendants, the chosen people. When God’s Son became man, he became a Jew, born in David’s city of Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth. The early disciples of Jesus were Jews, not only from Galilee and Judea but also from other regions of the Roman world (Acts 2). Although Luke, a second-generation Christian, was apparently a Gentile, his esteem for Paul’s vocation to his own people as well as to Gentiles comes through plainly in Acts.
As members of the body of Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Christians ought to value their roots in God’s chosen people. Elements from Jewish worship and ethical teaching are still foundational in Christian prayer, preaching, and Church structures. We are grateful to our “elder” Jewish brothers and sisters, without whom we ourselves would have remained pagans seeking and groping for God to find him, but without God’s biblical guidance and saving plan (Acts 17:27). As Paul says, “To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah” (Rom 9:5 NRSV).
Paul Imprisoned (22:22–29)
22They listened to him until he said this, but then they raised their voices and shouted, “Take such a one as this away from the earth. It is not right that he should live.” 23And as they were yelling and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24the cohort commander ordered him to be brought into the compound and gave instruction that he be interrogated under the lash to determine the reason why they were making such an outcry against him. 25But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion on duty, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and has not been tried?” 26When the centurion heard this, he went to the cohort commander and reported it, saying, “What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen.” 27Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he answered. 28The commander replied, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” Paul said, “But I was born one.” 29At once those who were going to interrogate him backed away from him, and the commander became alarmed when he realized that he was a Roman citizen and that he had had him bound.
NT: Luke 4:22–29; Acts 16:36–39
[22:22–24]
Just as the citizens of Nazareth listened to Jesus until he spoke about the prophets Elijah and Elisha’s ministering to Gentiles rather than Jews (Luke 4:22–29), the Jewish crowd here listens to Paul until he said this. At the mention of the risen Jesus’ sending Paul to the Gentiles, they demand that he be taken away from the earth and even declare, “It is not right that he should live.” Perhaps they interpret outreach to Gentiles who do not keep the Mosaic law as a sacrilegious repudiation of Israel’s unique standing as God’s chosen people.
By now the crowd is so out of control that they begin yelling and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust. The cohort commander has Paul brought inside to be interrogated under the lash so he might discover the reason for this outcry. Such interrogation under torture was illegal for Roman citizens, but the officer is unaware of Paul’s status.
[22:25–29]
At the last moment, Paul challenges the centurion on duty about the legality of scourging a Roman citizen who has not been tried. Alarmed, the centurion reports this news to the cohort commander. Roman citizenship was highly prized and remained in a family by birth. Those who were not born citizens could purchase citizenship or obtain it as a reward for some service to the state. The law protected citizens from interrogation under torture or beatings and without trial (Acts 16:37–38) and gave them the right to appeal to the supreme tribunal at Rome (Acts 25:11–12).
After discovering that Paul is indeed a Roman citizen, the commander confides that his own citizenship cost him a large sum of money. Paul replies that his was by birth. Fearing punishment for mistreating a Roman citizen, the commander and cohort now treat Paul with kid gloves.
Paul before the Sanhedrin (22:30–23:11)
30The next day, wishing to determine the truth about why he was being accused by the Jews, he freed him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene. Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
23:1Paul looked intently at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have conducted myself with a perfectly clear conscience before God to this day.” 2The high priest Ananias ordered his attendants to strike his mouth. 3Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. Do you indeed sit in judgment upon me according to the law and yet in violation of the law order me to be struck?” 4The attendants said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5Paul answered, “Brothers, I did not realize he was the high priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not curse a ruler of your people.’”
6Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; [I] am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided. 8For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three. 9A great uproar occurred, and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party stood up and sharply argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10The dispute was so serious that the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and rescue him from their midst and take him into the compound. 11The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”
OT: Exod 22:27 (= 22:28 NRSV)
NT: Luke 20:27; Acts 27:24
Catechism: conscience, 1776–1802; Pharisees, 576, 579, 595–96, 993
[22:30]
The next day the commander seeks to determine the truth sufficiently to make a decision about the case. Since it is still unclear why Paul is being accused by the Jews, he convenes the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin and has Paul stand before them, hoping that a preliminary inquiry in his presence will uncover the real reason for the commotion.
[23:1]
Paul begins his defense with an expression of solidarity, addressing the Sanhedrin as my brothers and asserting that he has conducted himself with a perfectly clear conscience. Paul’s writings confirm that he placed a high value on preserving a good conscience (1 Cor 8:7–12; 2 Cor 1:12; 1 Tim 1:5, 19; 3:9). Contrary to interpreters who imagine that Paul’s gospel of grace arose in reaction to feelings of guilt, he insists on his innocence before God to this day (see 1 Cor 4:3–4; Phil 3:6).
[23:2–3]
When the high priest Ananias, who occupied the office from AD 47 to 59, orders his attendants to strike Paul on the mouth without justification, Paul responds with a declaration of divine judgment: “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall.” It is a biting protest against the hypocrisy of these proceedings that pretend to be carrying out Jewish law, similar to Jesus’ indictment of Pharisees as hypocrites and whitewashed tombs (Matt 23:27). How can Ananias sit in judgment upon Paul, when his order to strike Paul is a violation of the law? Probably the precept Paul has in mind is Deut 1:16–17, which calls for judging with impartiality; the high priest treats Paul as a wrongdoer before he has been heard. Paul’s response is like that of Jesus who, according to John 18:22–23, protested an unjust blow during his trial before the high priest. In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus taught nonresistance to abuse, even to the point of offering the other cheek to one who strikes you (Luke 6:27–30). But this is a disposition of heart, not a law obliging literal conformity in every circumstance; here Paul deems prophetic rebuke to be the appropriate response. On other occasions Paul shows willingness to suffer abuse by enduring mistreatment and beatings without invoking divine judgment.
[23:4–5]
When the attendants challenge him for reviling God’s high priest, Paul responds that he did not realize Ananias was the high priest. This is certainly possible, since Paul had not resided in Jerusalem for many years, although some interpret Paul’s words to imply an ironic observation that Ananias certainly had not acted like a high priest. In any case, Paul acknowledges that Scripture says not to curse a ruler of Israel (Exod 22:27 [= 22:28 NRSV]), implicitly apologizing.
[23:6–7]
Recognizing that he will not get a fair hearing in this forum, Paul cleverly turns the attention of the Sanhedrin away from himself by instigating a controversy between the rival parties of †Sadducees and Pharisees. He declares that he is a lifelong Pharisee, the son of Pharisees (see Phil 3:5). The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead, based on Scripture (see Dan 12:2) as interpreted by Jewish tradition. Yet ironically Paul is on trial for this same hope. In contrast, the Sadducees denied the resurrection (see Luke 20:27; Acts 4:1–2) because it is not unambiguously taught in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible and the only books they acknowledged as Scripture. As Paul hoped, his tactic causes a dispute to break out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, which prevents the Sanhedrin from agreeing to condemn Paul.
[23:8–9]
The result of Paul’s clever tactic is a great uproar, in which scribes belonging to the Pharisee party insist there is nothing wrong with Paul, although they fail to mention Paul’s main contention, that Jesus has been raised from the dead. As part of his strategy to divide the Sanhedrin, Paul had referred to Jesus’ resurrection only indirectly, asserting that he was “on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead” (v. 6). The Pharisees acknowledge a possibility that the Sadducees would not accept: “Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
[23:10–11]
As the dispute threatens to get out of hand, the commander (or “tribune,” RSV) uses his troops to rescue Paul again and bring him to safety in the compound. Though saved from physical harm, Paul remains under arrest, even if it is primarily protective custody without chains. The following night the Lord Jesus appears to Paul to reassure him, as he had at earlier moments of crisis (Acts 18:9; 22:17–18), saying, “Take courage.”
Although in the hearing before the Sanhedrin, Paul mentioned only the notion of hope in the resurrection, before the Jewish mob he had witnessed directly to the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 22:6–21). The risen Lord thus credits Paul with having borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem. But the Lord has greater plans for Paul: he must also bear witness in the capital of the empire, Rome. This is both a commission and a prophecy, which encourages Paul as he endures circumstances completely beyond his control. Later, in a storm at sea, Paul will tell the sailors with him that an angel repeated this prophecy, as a promise that Paul and those in the ship with him would survive the storm (Acts 27:23–24).
Paul’s Transfer to Caesarea (23:12–35)
12When day came, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13There were more than forty who formed this conspiracy. 14They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves by a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. 15You, together with the Sanhedrin, must now make an official request to the commander to have him bring him down to you, as though you meant to investigate his case more thoroughly. We on our part are prepared to kill him before he arrives.” 16The son of Paul’s sister, however, heard about the ambush; so he went and entered the compound and reported it to Paul. 17Paul then called one of the centurions and requested, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to report to him.” 18So he took him and brought him to the commander and explained, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked that I bring this young man to you; he has something to say to you.” 19The commander took him by the hand, drew him aside, and asked him privately, “What is it you have to report to me?” 20He replied, “The Jews have conspired to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they meant to inquire about him more thoroughly, 21but do not believe them. More than forty of them are lying in wait for him; they have bound themselves by oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are now ready and only wait for your consent.” 22As the commander dismissed the young man he directed him, “Tell no one that you gave me this information.”
23Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea by nine o‘clock tonight, along with seventy horsemen and two hundred auxiliaries. 24Provide mounts for Paul to ride and give him safe conduct to Felix the governor.” 25Then he wrote a letter with this content: 26“Claudius Lysias to his excellency the governor Felix, greetings. 27This man, seized by the Jews and about to be murdered by them, I rescued after intervening with my troops when I learned that he was a Roman citizen. 28I wanted to learn the reason for their accusations against him so I brought him down to their Sanhedrin. 29I discovered that he was accused in matters of controversial questions of their law and not of any charge deserving death or imprisonment. 30Since it was brought to my attention that there will be a plot against the man, I am sending him to you at once, and have also notified his accusers to state [their case] against him before you.”
31So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and escorted him by night to Antipatris. 32The next day they returned to the compound, leaving the horsemen to complete the journey with him. 33When they arrived in Caesarea they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul to him. 34When he had read it and asked to what province he belonged, and learned that he was from Cilicia, 35he said, “I shall hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be held in custody in Herod’s praetorium.
OT: Esther 2:21–22; 1 Macc 9:60
NT: Luke 1:3; Acts 18:14–15
[23:12–15]
During Paul’s Roman custody, more than forty fanatical Jews bind themselves by oath (literally, “anathematize themselves,” put themselves under a curse if they break the oath) not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. It is a kind of antifasting, motivated by murderous rage, in contrast to the prayerful fasting of the disciples as they seek to spread the gospel under the leading of the Spirit (Acts 13:2–3; 14:23). Now under an extreme self-imposed urgency, the plotters urge the Sanhedrin to request the commander to bring Paul to them under the pretense that they would investigate his case more thoroughly. They plan to ambush and kill him on the way. Their plan fails, though we are not told whether they end up breaking the vow or dying of thirst.
[23:16–22]
The son of Paul’s sister, who apparently lives in Jerusalem, somehow gets wind of the ambush. One way the Lord protects his servants from harm is to expose the plots of their enemies (Acts 9:23–25; see 1 Sam 19:1–2; Jer 11:18–19). As happened to Jesus in his public ministry (Luke 4:29–30; 13:31–32), no harm will come to Paul until he has completed the mission that God has entrusted to him. Since Paul is in protective custody rather than imprisoned for a crime, his family members have access to him, and the resourceful nephew is able to report the plot to Paul, who in turn sees that his military custodians are informed.
[23:23–24]
The commander, who is responsible for the security of prisoners in his custody, responds by ordering an overwhelming force of two hundred soldiers with seventy horsemen and two hundred auxiliaries. They are to assemble that very night, put Paul on a horse, and conduct him safely to Felix the governor at Caesarea, about 65 miles to the northwest. Though the use of 470 military personnel to protect a man from 40 would-be assassins seems excessive, a show of force can serve as a deterrent to those plotting violence.
[23:25–27]
Luke provides the gist of an official letter of explanation from the commander, Claudius Lysias, to the governor Felix, who was in office from AD 52 to 59 (a successor of Pontius Pilate, who ruled from AD 26 to 36). Lysias addresses Felix as his excellency (literally, “to the most excellent governor”), using the same formal appellation by which Luke addressed his Gospel to “most excellent Theophilus” (Luke 1:3). He begins with the simple salutation typical of Greek letters: greetings (from Greek chairō, “rejoice”). The body of the letter recites the basic facts about Paul, who was seized by the Jews and about to be murdered, when the tribune rescued him by intervening with his troops. Lysias claims his intervention came when he learned Paul was a Roman citizen, which puts his action in a good light. However, his awareness of Paul’s citizenship actually came later, when Paul protested as the commander was about to have him flogged—a detail that Lysias would hardly volunteer to the governor. Rescuing a Roman citizen from a mob was a commendable act that Lysias might have hoped would be remembered when he came up for promotion.
[23:28–30]
The rest of the account is straightforward. Lysias tried to discover the reason for their accusations by bringing Paul before their Sanhedrin. This phrase implicitly stresses that both accused and accusers were Jews. Just as the proconsul Gallio determined at Corinth (Acts 18:14–15), so Lysias found that the issues concerned merely controversial questions of their law and did not involve any charge deserving death or imprisonment. This declaration of Paul’s innocence of any crime against Rome is similar to the repeated verdicts of Jesus’ innocence by Pilate, culminating in the exclamation of the centurion at Jesus’ death, “This man was innocent beyond doubt” (Luke 23:4, 14, 22, 47). The letter ends by explaining that on being informed of the plot, Lysias decided to send Paul to Felix at once, and he has also notified his accusers to bring their charges before the governor.
[23:31–35]
As ordered, the soldiers escort their prisoner by night to Antipatris, a town with a military post about halfway between Jerusalem and Caesarea. The next day the soldiers return to Jerusalem, leaving only the seventy horsemen to complete the journey with Paul, since the threat of ambush lessened the farther Paul was from Jerusalem. Once in Caesarea, they deliver the letter to the governor along with the prisoner. After reading the letter and learning that Paul is from Cilicia, which was under the authority of Felix’s Roman superior, Felix promises to hear Paul’s case when his accusers arrive from Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Paul is held in custody at Caesarea. The dispassionate and relatively impartial treatment Paul receives through the Roman legal system is in striking contrast to the ferocious hostility he meets from the leaders of his own people.
Reflection and Application (23:12–35)
Paul’s recourse to the legal rights available to him sets a useful example for contemporary Christians who encounter discrimination, persecution, or even court trials, imprisonment, and martyrdom. Although Paul was aware of the possibility that eventually he would die a martyr’s violent death, like St. Thomas More he utilized every available legal recourse to avoid that end to his earthly ministry as long as he was able. He used the rights of his Roman citizenship to ensure that witness to Jesus would reach as far as Rome, the center of the empire.
Fig. 21. A Roman aqueduct in Caesarea Maritima, where Paul was held in prison for two years (Acts 24:27).
Chmee2/Wikimedia Commons
Citizens of democratic nations today also need to avail themselves of every political and legal remedy to fight for religious freedom and for the rights of those who cannot defend themselves: the unborn, disabled, sick, and elderly. They need to protect pastors, educators, and parents against laws that would limit the teaching of Catholic sexual morality. They have to resist government injustice against the powerless and coercive laws that mandate cooperation in evils like abortion and same-sex marriage. As Paul did not hesitate to use Roman law to protect his Christian mission, neither should we be reluctant to use the laws of our country to protect our freedom to spread the gospel and to defend the human rights of all.
