Acts Lesson Forty-seven

Acts Lesson Forty-seven: Acts 21:37-22:21 – Paul’s Defense and Testimony

³⁷ As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” 

He replied, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Aren’t you the Egyptian who raised a rebellion some time ago and led 4,000 Assassins into the wilderness?” 

³⁹ Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city.  Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.” 

⁴⁰ After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language: 

22 ¹ “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” ² When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even quieter. ³ He  continued, “I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and educated according to the strict view of our patriarchal law. Being zealous for God, just as all of you are today, ⁴ I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women in jail, ⁵ as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to bring those who were prisoners there to be punished in Jerusalem. 

⁶ “As I was traveling and near Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 

⁸ “I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ 

“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you are persecuting!’ ⁹ Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me. 

¹⁰ “Then I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ 

“And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that is assigned for you to do.’ 

¹¹ “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. ¹² Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good reputation with all the Jews residing there,  ¹³ came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. ¹⁴ Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of His voice. ¹⁵ For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now, why delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’ 

¹⁷ “After I came back to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple complex, I went into a visionary state ¹⁸ and saw Him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me!’ 

¹⁹ “But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in You imprisoned and beaten. ²⁰ And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing by and approving, and I guarded the clothes of those who killed him.’ 

²¹ “Then He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” (HCSB)

The passage for this lesson is rather long, but a significant portion is Paul telling the crowd about his encounter with Jesus on the way to Damascus. I’ll be splitting this lesson into two parts.

• Paul’s discussion with the Roman commander and the introduction of his background to the mob – verses 21:37-22:5.
• Paul’s testimony of his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and his conversion – verses 22:6-21.

Paul’s Discussion with the Roman Commander and the Introduction of His Background to the Mob

Before being brought into the barracks, Paul engages in conversation with the Roman commander. Let’s look at some elements regarding this conversation.

• Claudius was surprised that this “dangerous” prisoner was able to speak Greek.
  • Paul spoke to the Roman commander in polite and refined Greek.
  • Since he thought Paul was a dangerous criminal, he was surprised by this discovery.
• The Egyptian in question also appears in historical records written by Josephus.
  • He was a false prophet who recruited a large band of followers. Josephus numbered them at 30,000, but Luke records the number at 4,000. The difference is most likely due to Josephus’ tendency to inflate numbers.
  • The Egyptian led them into the wilderness and then to the Mount of Olives.
  • He promised his followers the walls of Jerusalem would fall at his command, and they would easily overthrow the Roman occupiers.
  • Instead of the walls falling, Felix arrived with heavy troops to engage the rebels.
    • About 400 were killed.
    • About 200 were taken captive.
    • The Egyptian and the rest of his followers fled into the wilderness.
• Jewish freedom fighters mingled in large crowds during special occasions and assassinated pro-Roman political figures before disappearing into the crowd.
• Claudius was under the impression that Paul fell into one of these groups of anti-Roman rebels.
• Paul then identifies himself.
  • First, as a Jew.
  • Second, as being from Tarsus of Cilicia.
    • Tarsus was a proud Hellenistic city, or as Paul said, “an important city.”
    • It is interesting that Paul does not invoke his Roman citizenship at this point, waiting until later in the chapter to reveal that detail.
• Since Paul identified himself as a Jew, his request to address the crowd was reasonable.
• Claudius then gives Paul permission to address the crowd.

Now let’s move on to the introduction Paul gives of himself to the crowd.

• Paul’s primary aim as he addressed the crowd was to establish his full commitment to Judaism. We shouldn’t view this as Paul allowing syncretism to seep into his commitment to the roots of Christianity. Instead, Paul intended to demonstrate that following the traditions of Judaism was permissible as long as a person also placed faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This tension is at the core of the Jerusalem council’s decision not to levy the requirements of Judaism on Gentile believers.
  • A Jewish Christian could still follow the traditions of Judaism.
  • A Gentile Christian was not bound by the traditions of Judaism.
• Since Paul was unable to prove his total commitment to Jewish traditions by participating in the Nazirite vow, he attempted to prove it through his speech to the crowd.
• Paul’s speech was a first-person narrative of what Luke wrote in Acts 9.
  • Paul talks about his former zeal for Judaism.
    • Paul uses the same introduction Stephen used before the Sanhedrin, “Brothers and fathers.”
    • Both Stephen and Paul were making a defense and were attempting to prove their loyalty to Judaism.
    • Paul calls his speech a “defense.”
    • However, Paul doesn’t address the reason the riot started, that he had desecrated the temple.
    • Paul’s speech did address the more significant issue, Paul’s faithfulness to Judaism.
    • Paul’s defense continues in the speeches that follow in Acts.
      • Before Felix and the Jews in Acts 24.
      • Before Agrippa in Acts 26.
      • It is reasonable to conclude from this point on in Acts that Paul is making a running defense of his actions before Jews.
    • Paul addresses the crowd in Hebrew to underline his Jewish roots.
    • Paul then explained how his early life demonstrated he was a strict, practicing Jew.
      • He was born in Tarsus.
      • He grew up in Jerusalem.
        • Being “brought up” meant that his family moved to Jerusalem when he was very young.
        • Paul wanted to point out that he wasn’t a Diaspora maverick but was shaped from early childhood in Jerusalem.
      • He studied under Gamaliel.
        • This implied a crucial point Paul was trying to establish with the Jerusalem Jews.
        • Paul’s former life was marked by a zeal that matched or exceeded their own.
    • Paul then goes on to describe how he persecuted the early Christian movement.
      • Believers were put in jail.
      • Believers were executed.
      • Paul then received letters from the Sanhedrin to go to Damascus and bring Christian prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.

Paul’s Testimony of His Encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus and His Conversion

Paul now switches from a defense of his roots in Judaism to his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and his subsequent conversion to Christianity. This is one of three detailed accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts. The first is in Acts 9, and the third is in Acts 26. The three accounts align in the essentials but differ in the minor details. The biggest difference is seen in the two accounts given by Paul. They were tailored to the audience hearing them. In this speech, Paul detailed the role of Ananias and his devotion to Jewish tradition. When Paul spoke before Agrippa and the Roman officials, Ananias was not mentioned as his role would be insignificant to Gentiles. The fact that Luke includes Paul’s conversion three times speaks to the importance of the event.

Acts 22:6-11 align with Acts 9:3-8, with the only differences being in minor details and first-person narrative. 

• One of the differences is in Acts 22:6, which gives the time of the encounter as “about noon.” This fact highlights the brightness of the vision, as it occurred when the sun was at its brightest.
• Another is the inclusion of the words “of Nazareth” in the present narration. This inclusion would have significance to the Jewish hearers.
• In the account in Acts 9, the companions heard but didn’t understand the voice speaking to Paul. Paul’s account focuses on their seeing but not hearing. Both are important to prove that Paul’s experience was not an experience of the mind but an actual physical occurrence of both sight and sound, even if the companions didn’t participate in the experience.
• Paul was told to go to Damascus but needed assistance from his companions. The fact that Paul was blinded underscores the brightness of the light in the middle of the day.

The retelling of the visit to Ananias in Acts 22:12-16 aligns with Acts 9:10-17. The one major difference is the omission of the vision that came to Ananias since this was a first-person account from Paul’s perspective. Let’s look at a few other points from this section.

• The phrase “God of our fathers” carried a strong Old Testament emphasis.
• The phrase “Righteous One” is a Jewish messianic title found in the earlier speeches of Peter and Stephen. 
• Paul was to be a witness to all people.
• The scene with Ananias ends with Paul’s baptism.
  • The phrase “why delay” is a common Greek expression implying that it was time for Paul to act on the commission given by Jesus.
  • The phrase “calling on His name” is the profession of faith that is the basis for baptism.

The narration now moves to the temple complex in Jerusalem after Paul returns there. Let’s take a closer look at this event and its significance.

• Jesus knew the Jews would not accept Paul’s testimony of the encounter on the road to Damascus.
• However, Paul protests against the command to leave.
  • Such protests are common in biblical commissioning narratives.
  • Paul’s protest was that he had a convincing testimony to tell them.
    • Jerusalem was well aware of Paul’s former zeal in hunting down and persecuting Christians.
    • They would have understood that something extraordinary must have happened to Paul to change his allegiance completely.
  • In the end, the Lord’s command was obeyed. Jesus had another task for Paul; evangelism to the Gentiles.
    • The mission to the Gentiles is closely connected to the refusal of the Jews to accept Paul’s testimony of Jesus.
    • Jesus’ parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:16-24 makes the same point.
    • Paul also wrestled with this problem in Romans 9-11. 
• Paul then tells the crowd that Jesus sent him to evangelize the Gentiles. 
  • There was that word again, Gentiles. 
  • The crowd had patiently and respectfully listed during Paul’s conversion narrative.
  • They hadn’t questioned either of Paul’s conversations with Jesus.
  • But with the mention of Gentiles, Paul had stepped outside the Jews’ boundary of tolerance.
• We’ll see in the next lesson that the mention of the Gentiles whipped the Jewish crowd into a murderous frenzy once again.

Applications

• Paul’s behavior as the mob tried to kill him and the Roman soldiers rescued him is an example to follow. Although it is reasonable to assume that Paul tried to protect himself, he didn’t try to fight back. That could be because he was overwhelmingly outnumbered. It’s reasonable to think that few of us will ever face the level of hostility that Paul faced. However, being calm and non-reactionary is often the best course of action.
• When addressing those who are hostile or resistant to the Gospel, speak in a respectful, calm, and factual manner. Becoming emotional or arguing will likely only inflame the situation.
• In Paul’s day, the word “Gentile” was a trigger point. Depending on where we live, there may be specific words or phrases which elicit a similar response. A few examples which are currently hot topics in American society are abortion, same-sex marriage, or sin in general, leading to eternal separation from God. Each of these examples could lead to a mob mentality by those who support abortion, same-sex marriage, or don’t believe in sin or hell. At times like those, we must rely on Scripture to talk for us. Never let it be our opinion. Let God’s Word speak for God; it’s more powerful than anything we could say.