Paul’s Defense, 1-21
22:1 “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense that I now make to you.” 22:2 (When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said, 22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated with strictness under Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today. 22:4 I persecuted this Way even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, 22:5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. 22:6 As I was en route and near Damascus, about noon a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 22:7 Then I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 22:8 I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ 22:9 Those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 22:10 So I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything that you have been designated to do.’ 22:11 Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me. 22:12 A man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, 22:13 came to me and stood beside me and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up and saw him. 22:14 Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a command from his mouth, 22:15 because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’ 22:17 When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 22:18 and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 22:19 I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues who believed in you. 22:20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing nearby, approving, and guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ 22:21 Then he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
My defense – ‘apologia’. This word is regularly used of Paul’s speeches before the various officials, Acts 22:1; 24:10; 25:8; 26:1, 24.
Under Gamaliel – lit, ‘at the feet of’, the posture of a disciple.
They did not understand the voice – Lit. ‘they did not hear the voice’, which differs from the account in Acts 9:7, which says that Paul’s companions ‘heard the voice but saw no one’. The present text says that they ‘saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking’ (NRSV).
The Roman Commander Questions Paul, 22-29
22:22 The crowd was listening to him until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” 22:23 While they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust in the air, 22:24 the commanding officer ordered Paul to be brought back into the barracks. He told them to interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash so that he could find out the reason the crowd was shouting at Paul in this way. 22:25 When they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen without a proper trial?” 22:26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” 22:27 So the commanding officer came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” He replied, “Yes.” 22:28 The commanding officer answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” “But I was even born a citizen,” Paul replied. 22:29 Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.
To us, there is something quite comical in the spectacle of a crowd of people whose pent-up frustration has reached such a pitch that it is expressed in waving their cloaks and throwing dust into the air.
A Roman citizen – It was not permitted to subject a Roman citizen to degrading treatment, such as flogging or crucifixion.
Paul also mentions his Roman citizenship in Acts 6. However, some doubts have been raised:
- It was difficult, and often expensive, for a Jew to obtain Roman citizenship. (But Paul states that he was born a Roman citizen).
- It is clear that Paul was a highly religious man. But, if his parents had been highly religious, this counts against Roman citizenship, because one condition of Roman citizenship involved participating in the civic cult. This is something Paul would not have done.
- Paul does not mention this in his letters, even though there points in his letters where it might have been natural for him to do so (such as when he writes to believers in Rome).
- It suited Luke’s purpose to represent Paul as a loyal Roman citizen, so that he could show that Christianity was not treasonous against the prevailing world power.
It seems to me that only a ‘hermeneutic of suspicion’ would lead to the conclusion, against Luke’s testimony, that Paul was not a Roman citizen. Such a conclusion fractures Luke’s entire account at this point, because it is Paul’s status as a Roman citizen that allows him to appeal to Caesar, and thus to travel to Rome.
“I had to pay a big price for my citizenship” –
‘Hemer (p. 170) notes the passage (Acts 22.28) in which a Roman commander, surprised that Paul is a Roman citizen, says that he himself bought his freedom (citizenship) at a great price. Hemer first points out (a fact that makes it into some Bible footnotes) that the sale of citizenship was a well-known feature of the reign of the Emperor Claudius. (By Hemer’s chronology, this scene in Acts took place about three years after the end of Claudius’s reign.) This is interesting in itself, but there is more. The commander’s name is Claudius Lysias (Acts 23.26) which Hemer says may well attest to his attaining his citizenship under Claudius. Most striking of all, the Roman historian Dio Cassius records that the cost of purchasing citizenship went down in the course of the reign of Claudius. Says Hemer, “This man … had presumably gained his rights early in the reign, and had seen his pride reduced by Claudius’ later practice, and his remark reflects this.” Such a wealth of indirect historical confirmation of a single remark in Acts is truly remarkable.’ (McGrew, Lydia. Hidden In Plain View: Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts. DeWard Publishing Company, Ltd.. Kindle Edition.)
Paul Before the Sanhedrin, 30
22:30 The next day, because the commanding officer wanted to know the true reason Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them.