Douglas Wilson

INTRODUCTION

The established Jewish authorities in Jerusalem were quite adept at maintaining and curating their position of privilege, and knew how to dispense with ordinary threats. But they did not know what to do when Jesus rose from the dead. Neither did they know how to handle someone with the shrewdness and toughness of Paul. They were starting to let their incompetence show.

THE TEXT

“The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? . . .” (Acts 22:24–23:10).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

So the chief captain ordered that Paul be brought in and flogged to find out what the uproar was about (22:24). As they were tying him down, Paul asked if it was okay to flog Romans without a trial (v. 25). The centurion went and gave the captain that information (v. 26), which the captain confirmed with Paul (v. 27). The captain said that his citizenship cost him a lot of money, and Paul replied that he was born to it (v. 28). The examiners stepped back and the captain was also afraid, having violated Paul’s rights as a Roman (v. 29). The next day, still wanting to find out what happened, the captain summoned the Jewish council and set Paul before them (v. 30). Paul looked at them earnestly and declared that his conscience was clear (23:1). Ananias ordered him to be struck on the mouth (v. 2). Paul responded with a charge of rank hypocrisy (v. 3). Those next to Paul asked him why he was reviling the high priest (v. 4). Paul pleaded ignorance of his status, and quoted Ex. 22:28. Paul saw the tensions in the room, and cried out that he was a Pharisee on trial because of his hope in the resurrection (v. 6). That set off a great conflict between the Sadducees and Pharisees who were there (v. 7). The Sadducees deny the resurrection, angels and spirits, and the Pharisees don’t (v. 8). The Pharisees took up Paul’s cause, vigorously (v. 9). A tumult began, and the captain was afraid that Paul would be pulled to pieces, and sent down soldiers to rescue Paul again (v. 10).

PAUL’S EYESIGHT

It is well known that Paul had what he called a “thorn in the flesh,” which was an affliction that he asked God to remove . . . three times he asked this (2 Cor. 12:7-9). God replied that His grace was sufficient for Paul, and that strength is perfected by weakness. But what was that thorn in the flesh exactly?

My suggestion is that the most likely candidate was Paul’s eyesight. We can start with this text—Paul did not know that Ananias was the high priest, which could be explained as a problem with his vision. And when speaking about how much the Galatians had loved him, he said that they would have been willing to pluck out their eyes to give them to Paul (Gal. 4:15), and the reason this was needed was because Paul had an infirmity in the flesh (Gal. 4:13). He signs off the epistle to the Galatians in his own handwriting, doing so in “large letters” (Gal. 6:11). This would have been a great grief to him—consider his concern over the “parchments” (2 Tim. 4:13)—indicating his affliction was intermittent. And remember that his Christian life had begun in blindness (Acts 9:18).

PAUL’S CONSCIENCE

Paul began his defense by saying that he had a clear conscience in how he conducted himself. Given what he says elsewhere about his pre-conversion state, this clearly means that he had walked in an upright way since his conversion. But that would include evading arrest, that time he escaped from Aretas the king (2 Cor. 11:32-33). That includes playing his Roman citizenship card at Philippi (Acts 16:37), and again here (v. 25). It included his careful submission to Ex. 22:28. It would include his later appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:11). It would include having Luke write a careful account of his history in a way that highlighted the legal issues. “Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar” (Acts 26:32). And it also included his off-budget approach to starting a fight between the Sadducees and Pharisees.

“Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council, Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day” (Acts 24:20–21).

ALMOST PULLED TO PIECES

The most astonishing thing about Paul’s ploy before the Council was that it worked. Now it worked in a way that did not extract Paul from the danger—soldiers had to do that, for the second time—but it nevertheless worked. One can only guess at what the Roman captain thought about the religion of the Jews. Paul was willing to be almost pulled to pieces for the hope that was in him.

The reason the tactic worked is that the Pharisees really did believe in a resurrection at the end of human history, and Paul really was a servant of Jesus Christ, the one who rose from the dead. What the Pharisees hoped for had already begun. “And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). The resurrection of the dead at the end of history had somehow erupted in the middle of history, and was working its way out from there. Resurrection hope is the name of the game throughout the book of Acts.

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INTRODUCTION

The Lord saw fit to give us three distinct accounts of Saul’s conversion on the way to Damascus. The first (Acts 9:1-19) is a third-person narrative by Luke. The second is our passage here today, a first-person defense to an angry mob (Acts 22:1-21). The third is Paul’s first-person defense to King Agrippa (Acts 26:1-23), which we will consider in detail in due course.

THE TEXT

“Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day . . .” (Acts 22:1–23).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul appealed to his countrymen, brothers and fathers (v. 1). When they heard him speaking Hebrew, they quieted down further (v. 2). Paul said he was a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in Jerusalem as Gamaliel’s student. He was a good and zealous student (v. 3). He persecuted Christians to the point of death, delivering men and women both to prison (v. 4). The high priest and elders can confirm all of this, as they were the ones who gave him his letters of authorization for his Damascus raid (v. 5). Coming to Damascus at noon, suddenly there was a glorious light that surrounded him (v. 6). A voice spoke, saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (v. 7) Saul answered with “who are you, Lord?” The answer was Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting (v. 8). His companions saw the light, but did not hear the voice (v. 9). Saul asked what he should do, and he was told to go into Damascus and await further instructions (v. 10). The glory had blinded him, so he was led by the hand into Damascus (v. 11). A devout Jew, respected by all the Jews there, was named Ananias (v. 12). He came to Saul and commanded “brother Saul” to receive his sight. And Saul looked on him (v. 13). He said the “God of our fathers” had chosen Saul to know His will, see the Just One, and to hear Him speak (v. 14). Saul was going to be a witness to all men of what he had seen and heard (v. 15). What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized, wash your sins away, and call on the name of the Lord (v. 16). Years later, Saul was in Jerusalem, praying in the Temple, and was in a trance (v. 17). Jesus told him to leave Jerusalem immediately because they would not receive Saul’s testimony concerning Christ (v. 18). Saul protested . . . Lord, they know that I used to imprison Christians, and beat them in every synagogue (v. 19). When the blood of the martyr Stephen was shed, Saul approved and held the coats of the lying witnesses (v. 20). But Jesus said to leave . . . he would be sent far away to the Gentiles (v. 21). And at that word Gentiles, the crowd erupted again. “He is not fit to live!” (v. 22). They were yelling, casting off their clothes, and throwing dust in the air (v. 23).

HARMONIZING THEM

The three accounts are not identical accounts. They are consistent, with no contradictions, but there are discrepancies that have to be addressed. The most obvious is that in Acts 9:7, it says that Saul’s companions “heard the voice” but didn’t see anyone. In our passage, they saw light, but did not hear the voice (Acts 22:9). But the Greek word akouo, used in both places means both to hear and to understand. The men heard sound, but nothing intelligible.

“And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man” (Acts 9:7). “And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me . . .” (Acts 26:14). They all fell at the first flash of light, but his companions stood up again while the Lord was speaking to Saul.

As the saying goes, Scripture is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.

ONE NEW MAN OUT OF TWO

One of the central things that Christ came to do was to abolish the enmity between Jew and Gentile. We can see in this passage how much enmity there was. The angry mob listened to Paul talk about his former persecution of Christians. They listened to him describe a great miracle on the Damascus road. They could deal with miracles. They heard him out when he described his baptism. They accepted the good report that Ananias had among all the Jews of Damascus. They listened in silence until he said the fatal word Gentiles, and they went up in a sheet of flame.

“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Eph. 2:14–15).

The one new man is the Christian man. The center of this project was the enmity between Jew and Gentile, but all others were included as well. Remember all the nations represented on that first Pentecost (Acts 2:8-11). The tearing down of the middle wall of partition is a principle that extends to all other groups at daggers drawn.

“Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).

But don’t fall into a category mistake. The wall that must come down in the wall of enmity. It is no sin to have a front door on your house, or a secure border for your country, or turnstiles down in the subway. That is simply a matter of good order. Good fences make good neighbors. So the only ethnic opinions you hold that need to be repented of are the ones that smell like sulfur.

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INTRODUCTION

As it happened, all the warnings that Paul had received on the way to Jerusalem came true, almost immediately. If the thing was going to happen, there was apparently no sense in delaying it. We have before us the account of Paul’s attempt at conciliation, and the riot and arrest that happened anyway.

THE TEXT

“And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord . . . (Acts 21:17–40).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

They were received at Jerusalem gladly (v. 17). The next day Paul and his group met with James and all the elders (v. 18), greeted them, and reported all that God was doing among the Gentiles (v. 19). The response was to glorify God for all of that, and to point out how many zealous-for-the-law Jewish believers there were (v. 20). These folks had been misinformed; they had heard that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon Moses, reject circumcision, and reject the customs (v. 21). So this Jerusalem congregation will hear you have come. What then (v. 22)? They had four men there who had taken a Nazarite vow (v. 23). Paul should “adopt” them, pay their expenses, join them in the vow, and shave his head with them (v. 24). That way everyone will know the charge is false, and that Paul himself walked as a faithful Jew (v. 25). As far as the Gentiles go, the previous Acts 15 letter dealt with that (v. 25). And so Paul did what they suggested (v. 26), and they were coming up on the seventh day when they should each one of them present their offering (v. 26). They were almost done when some Jews from Asia grabbed Paul and started the riot (vv. 27-28). They had seen Trophimus, an Ephesian, from their neck of the woods, and had jumped to the conclusion that Paul had brought him into the Temple (v. 29). The whole city was stirred, Paul was dragged out, and the Temple went into lockdown (v. 30). As they were in the process of killing Paul, the Roman officer on site got the word (v. 31). He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran to the scene. When they showed up, the crowd stopped beating Paul (v. 32). The Roman officer took Paul into custody (with two chains) and asked “What all this?” (v. 33). Some people shouted one thing, and some another, and so he ordered that Paul be taken back to the fortress (v. 34). When he got to the stairs, Paul had to be carried because of the violence (v. 35). The whole crowd followed after, shouting “away with him” (v. 36). As they were about to go inside, Paul asked if he could speak. The officer was surprised that he could speak Greek (v. 37). He assumed that he was an Egyptian rebel-leader who had earlier caused an uproar, and had led away four thousand men (v. 38). Paul said no—he was a Jew from Tarsus, a notable city, and he asked to speak to the crowd (v. 39). He was given permission, and so he stood and motioned with his hand. There was a great silence, and Paul spoke to them in Hebrew (v. 40). This was most likely Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew.

TRANSITION AND HAND-OFF

The Temple worship, with its blood sacrifices, was in the process of fading away, but the definitive rejection of 70 A.D. had not yet come. This is why it was not inappropriate for Paul to take a Nazarite vow, and to conclude that vow with the requisite blood sacrifices (Num. 6:13-21). This included a male lamb, a ewe lamb, and a ram. So for Paul and the other four men, this would mean five of each. In addition, there was a grain offering and a drink offering (Num. 6:15). The hair of the Nazarite was also shaved off and offered to God.

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13).

The period between the Ascension of Christ and the Destruction of Jerusalem was a forty-year period. This was the church’s wilderness period. The Judaic aeon was coming to a close, and the Christian aeon had already been inaugurated. Think of this time as the part of a relay race where both runners are running. There is overlap.

EPHESUS AND JERUSALEM

Now I believe that Luke is clearly intending for us to notice certain parallels between Ephesus and Jerusalem. There was a big riot in both cities (Acts 21:30; Acts 19:28). Both of them were instigated by citizens of Asia (Acts 21:27; Acts 19:24). Both riots had a religious point of origin (Acts 21:28; Acts 19: 26-27). Neither of the rioting crowds knew why they were there (Acts 21:34; Acts 19:32). And both riots were calmed down by Roman intervention (Acts 21:32; Acts 19:35ff). Paul wanted to speak at both (Acts 21:39; Acts 19:30-31).

THE WISDOM OF THE CARNAL MAN

Remember the first three chapters of Romans. The first chapter teaches us that the pagan Gentiles had a problem. The second chapter addresses the Jews—they had a sin problem also. And then in chapter three, Paul ties it all together, and we learn that Jews and Gentiles had exactly the same problem—that problem being the heart of stone.

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

The wisdom of the carnal man, however religious, and however true that religion is, will always and necessarily gravitate to the externals. And the only one who can deliver us from our addiction to externals is the Lord Jesus Christ.

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