Acts 22

May 31  

Reading: Acts 22 

¹ "Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you."     

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said:     

³ "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. ⁴ I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, ⁵ as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.     

⁶ "As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone 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 of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.' ⁹ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not 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, 'Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.' ¹¹ And since I could not 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 "And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing by me said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. ¹⁴ And he said, 'The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; ¹⁵ for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'     

¹⁷ "When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and 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 know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.' ²¹ And he said to me, 'Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"     

²² Up to this word they listened to him. 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 shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.     

²⁵ But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"     

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."     

²⁷ So the tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"     

And he said, "Yes."     

²⁸ The tribune answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum."     

Paul said, "But I am a citizen by birth."     

²⁹ So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.     

³⁰ But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them. 

Beginning in Acts 22, Luke is doing something unusual in his account. We will be following Paul through a series of incarcerations and trials and, in every situation, he shows himself to be courageous and faithful to God. We might think that he passes the test. That may be true, but there is something deeper going on. 

Think of it upside-down. The world is standing trial before God’s servant Paul. We are going to see different kinds of people, Jews, Gentiles, kings, soldiers, governors in confrontation with Paul. From an eternal perspective it is actually they who are on trial before God with Paul as the prosecutor. It seems like Paul is on trial, but you might think of the rest of the book of Acts, beginning in chapter 22, as “The World on Trial.” 

For the second time in Acts we get to hear the details of the conversion of Saul who has become Paul the Apostle. In Acts 9, Luke told us of the events of Saul’s conversion. Now we hear it in the words of Paul himself. In this critical moment, when people want to kill him, he shares with them his own testimony of how Jesus Christ saved him. 

It is when Paul talks about the Gentiles his audience goes nuts. As one reads the text one cannot help but think, “These people are crazy!” The truth is that when people do not know the Lord, they are vulnerable to all kinds of lies and are easily carried away by mob emotion. 

Verses 24-29 are an example of living out what Jesus said in Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”