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Scripture Reading: Acts 21:27-40; 22:1-29
Acts 21:27—26:32 is a lengthy section that records the ultimate persecution by the Jews. In 21:27—23:15 we have an account of an uproar against Paul. In this message we shall see that Paul was seized by the Jews in Jerusalem (21:27-30), that the Roman commander intervened (21:31-39), and that Paul was given the opportunity to defend himself before the rioting Jews (21:40—22:21). After making his defense, Paul was bound by the Romans (22:22-29).
Acts 21:27-28 say, “Now when the seven days were about to be concluded, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple and threw all the crowd into confusion; and they laid their hands on him, crying out, Men, Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has profaned this holy place.” Yes, God’s New Testament teaching according to His New Testament economy is really against the Jews who oppose God’s New Testament economy (Matt. 21:41, 43-45; 22:7; 23:32-36; Acts 7:51; 13:40-41), against the law of dead letters (Rom. 3:20, 28; 6:14; 7:4, 6; Gal. 2:19, 21; 5:4), and against the holy place, the temple (Matt. 23:38; 24:2; Acts 7:48). Because Paul’s ministry was to carry out God’s New Testament economy, it could not please the Jews who were possessed and usurped by Satan, the enemy of God, with their deformed traditional religion, to oppose and ravage God’s New Testament move. Rather, it offended them and it stirred up their jealousy and hatred to the uttermost, so that they made a plot (20:3) to do away with him (21:31, 36).
In 21:28 “this place” and “this holy place” refer to the temple. Verses 29 and 30 continue, “For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they supposed Paul had brought into the temple. And the whole city was aroused, and the people ran together; and laying hold of Paul, they dragged him outside the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.” Literally, the Greek words translated “the people ran together” mean “a running together of the people occurred.”
Acts 21:31-33 say, “And as they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. And he took soldiers and centurions at once and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they ceased beating Paul. Then the commander drew near and laid hold of him and ordered him to be bound with two chains, and he inquired who he might be and what he had done.” This commander was a chiliarch in command of a thousand troops, or a cohort. A cohort was one of the ten divisions of an ancient Roman legion. In His sovereignty, the Lord used the intervention of this Roman commander to rescue Paul from the Jews, who were seeking to kill him.
Paul asked permission of the Roman commander to speak to the people (v. 39). When the commander had given him permission, Paul addressed the people in the Hebrew dialect. This dialect was Aramaic, the language then spoken in Palestine.
In 22:1 Paul said, “Men, brothers, and fathers, hear my defense which I now make to you.” Paul faced his opponents in a way different from Christ. Christ was a lamb brought to the slaughter, and as a sheep dumb before its shearer for the accomplishment of His redemption, He did not open His mouth when judged by men (Isa. 53:7; Matt. 26:62-63; 27:12, 14). But Paul, a faithful and bold apostle sent by the Lord, needed to make a defense and to exercise his wisdom to save his life from his persecutors so that he might fulfill the course of his ministry. Although he was willing and ready to sacrifice his life for the Lord (20:24; 21:13), he still endeavored to live longer that he might carry out the Lord’s ministry as much as possible.
In 22:3 and 4 Paul went on to say, “I am a man who is a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been trained according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today. And I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering to prisons both men and women.” As we have seen, “this way” denotes the way of the Lord’s full salvation in God’s New Testament economy.
In verse 5 Paul continued by saying that the high priest and all the council of the elders could testify for him. The Greek word for “council” here is presbuterion, presbytery, eldership (of the Sanhedrin), hence the Sanhedrin, the highest court of the Jews composed of the chief priests, elders, lawyers, and scribes.
In 22:6 and 7 Paul says, “Now it came about that as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, about midday, suddenly a great light shone out of heaven around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Literally, the Greek word for “great” in verse 6 means considerable. As we have pointed out, the “Me” in verse 7 was a corporate Me, including Jesus the Lord and all His believers, all the members of His Body. From that time he began to see that the Lord Jesus and His believers are one great person, a wonderful “Me.”
Verse 8 continues, “And I answered, Who are You, Lord? And He said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.” Even without knowing the Lord Jesus, Paul called Him Lord. Then the Lord indicated that Paul, by persecuting His followers, who were united to Him through their faith in Him, was actually persecuting Him.
In verse 9 Paul says, “And those who were with me beheld the light, but did not hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me.” To say that they did not hear the voice means that they did not hear in the sense of understanding, as in Mark 4:33 and 1 Corinthians 14:2. They heard the voice (Acts 9:7), but they did not understand it, just as they beheld the light, but beheld no one.
According to verse 10, Paul went on to say, “What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told you concerning all things which have been appointed for you to do.” Here we see that the Lord would not directly tell Paul right after his conversion what He wanted him to do, for the reason that He needed a member of His Body to initiate him into the identification with His Body.
Acts 22:11 says, “And as I could not see because of the glory of that light, I was led by the hand of those who were with me and came into Damascus.” This was the Lord’s dealing with Paul who, prior to his conversion, considered himself knowledgeable concerning man and God.
Verses 12 and 13 continue, “And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well attested by all the Jews dwelling there, came to me, and standing by said to me, Saul, brother, receive your sight! And in that very hour I looked up at him.” We know from 9:11-17 that the Lord sent Ananias, one member of His Body, to Paul so that he might be initiated into the identification with His Body. This must have impressed him with the importance of the Body of Christ and helped him realize that a believer needs the members of the Body of Christ.
According to 22:14-16 Ananias said to Paul, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice of His mouth; for you will be a witness to Him unto all men of the things which you have seen and heard. And now, why do you delay? Rise up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” “His” is significant here. It points particularly to the name of the One whom Paul hated and persecuted (v. 8).
The Greek word translated “calling on” is epikaleo.This word is composed of epi, upon, and kaleo, call by name; that is, to call out audibly, even loudly, as Stephen did in 7:59-60.
Calling on the Lord’s name in 22:16 was a means for Paul to wash away his sins in arresting so many of the believers who called on the Lord’s name. All the believers knew that he considered calling on the Lord’s name a sign of those he should arrest (9:14, 21). Now he had turned unto the Lord. In order to wash away his sins in persecuting and arresting the Lord’s callers, not only before God but also before all the believers, Ananias charged him to do the same calling, which he had condemned, at his baptism, a public confession of the Lord whom he had persecuted.
In 22:17 and 18 Paul goes on to say, “And it came about that when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I came into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, Hurry, and go quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony concerning Me.” The Greek word rendered “trance” is ekstasis, and may be translated “ecstasy.” This Greek word means being put out of its place; hence, it refers to a state in which a man passes out of himself and from which he comes to himself (12:11), as in a dream, but without sleep. It differs from a vision, in which definite objects are visible.
In 22:19 and 20 Paul said to the Lord, “Lord, they know that I was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those who believe on You, and when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself also was standing by and consenting and keeping the garments of those who did away with him.” Nevertheless, the Lord said to him, “Go, for I will send you to Gentiles afar off” (v. 21). We are told the people “listened to him up to this word” (v. 22). But hearing the word “Gentiles,” they began to shout, “Away with such a man from the earth, for it is not fitting for him to live!” (v. 22). Actually, the word “Gentiles” uttered by Paul in verse 21 is related to the matter of the dispensational transfer. As soon as he spoke this word, it seems that a whirlwind came to stir up the people. They were provoked by this word and were not willing to listen any longer.
In Acts 22 Paul was somewhat cautious in presenting his experience on the way to Damascus. Yet he could not avoid relating a particular aspect of the truth — the Lord’s word to go to the Gentiles afar off. Since the Lord had told him this, how could he not testify of it to the people? They, however, did not have the ears to hear such a word. The principle is the same among many Christians today. Just as the Jews in Acts 22 did not want to hear anything about the Gentiles, so these Christians do not want to hear us speak concerning the denominations, the church, the church ground, and Christ being the life-giving Spirit. From experience we know that if we talk to certain believers about these matters, they will be offended.
Acts 22:23 and 24 say, “And as they were crying out and throwing off their garments and throwing dust in the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by scourging in order that he might ascertain for what cause they were shouting against him so.” But as they stretched out Paul with the thongs, he said to a centurion standing by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” (v. 25). Here we see Paul’s wisdom. He utilized his Roman citizenship to save himself from suffering persecution.
In these chapters in Acts we see that the Lord’s sovereign hand surely was with Paul. In His sovereignty, wisdom, and goodness the Lord rescued Paul and protected him. In chapter twenty-one Paul was forced into a very difficult situation, and he had no way to be released from it. The Lord, however, raised up the environment through which Paul was rescued from that situation. However, Paul was then in danger of being killed. But the Lord intervened through the Roman commander to protect Paul from the Jews who wanted to kill him.
As we shall see, after Paul was placed in Roman custody, “the Jews formed a plot and put themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Now there were more than forty who formed this conspiracy” (23:12-13). However, the son of Paul’s sister heard of the ambush and reported it to Paul (23:16). Paul then called one of the centurions and told him to bring the young man to the commander. When the commander heard of the plot, he said to two of the centurions, “Prepare two hundred soldiers that they may go as far as Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen by the third hour of the night, and mounts to stand by to put Paul on that they may bring him safely to Felix the governor” (23:23-24). We may be surprised that so many soldiers, horsemen, and spearmen were involved in transferring Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea. The commander may have ordered this because of the large number of Jews involved in the uproar against Paul. The point we are making concerning this is that here we see the Lord’s sovereign protection of Paul.
In Caesarea Paul was kept in custody for two years. During these years he was safely guarded, protected from the plotting Jews. This became a golden time for Paul to consider his future. In particular, it was a time for him to consider the matters he would later put into writing in such books as Hebrews, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Sovereignly the Lord prepared an environment to safeguard Paul and to prepare him to carry out his writing ministry to complete his ministry and to complete the New Testament revelation.
