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Scripture Reading: Acts 22:30; 23:1-35
We have seen that in 21:31-39 the Roman commander intervened to rescue Paul from the Jews who were seeking to kill him. Paul was then given the opportunity to defend himself before the rioting Jews (21:40—22:21). The Jews listened to him up to a point, but eventually began to make a disturbance. Paul was then bound by the Romans (22:22-29). In his wisdom, Paul utilized his Roman citizenship to save himself from suffering persecution (vv. 25-29). The Roman commander then gave Paul the opportunity to defend himself before the Sanhedrin (22:30—23:10). Acts 22:30 says, “And on the next day, intending to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to come together; and having brought Paul down, he had him stand before them.” Let us now consider Paul’s defense given before the Sanhedrin.
Acts 23:1 says, “And Paul, looking intently at the Sanhedrin, said. Men, brothers, I have conducted myself in all good conscience before God until this day.” Following man’s fall and his being sent out of the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:23), God wanted man, in His dispensation, to be responsible to his own conscience. But man failed to live and walk according to his conscience and fell further into wickedness (Gen. 6:5). After the judgment of the flood, God ordained man to be under human government (Gen. 9:6). Man failed also in this. Then, before fulfilling His promise to Abraham concerning the blessing of the nations in Christ (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:8), God put man under the test of the law (Rom. 3:20; 5:20). Man failed utterly in this test. All these failures indicate that man has fallen from God to his conscience, from his conscience to human government, and from human government to lawlessness. Therefore, man has fallen to the uttermost.
To conduct oneself “in all good conscience before God,” as Paul did, was a great return to God from man’s fall. Paul spoke this word to vindicate himself before those who accused him of being a lawless and even reckless person. He referred, in his defense, to his conscience again in 24:16. This showed his high standard of morality in contrast to the hypocrisy of the Jewish religionists and the crookedness of the Roman (Gentile) politicians.
In his defense before the Sanhedrin in the presence of representatives of the Roman government, Paul could say that there was nothing wrong in his personal conduct. He did all things according to his conscience, behaving in the highest standard of morality.
Acts 23:2-3 continue, “And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! And you sit, judging me according to the law, and contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” Here we see Paul’s straightforwardness and boldness in dealing with his persecutors. Those standing by said to him, “Do you revile the high priest of God?” (v. 4). Paul replied, “I did not know, brothers, that he is the high priest; for it is written, You shall not speak evilly of a ruler of your people” (v. 5).
Acts 23:6 says, “And Paul, knowing that one part was Sadducees, but the other Pharisees, cried out in the Sanhedrin, Men, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!” The Pharisees were the strictest religious sect of the Jews (26:5), formed about 200 B.C. They were proud of their superior sanctity of life, devotion to God, and knowledge of the Scriptures. Actually, they were degraded into pretentious conduct and hypocrisy (Matt. 23:2-33). The Sadducees were another sect among Judaism. They did not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels, nor in spirits. While the Pharisees were supposed to be orthodox, the Sadducees were ancient modernists.
When Paul declared that he was a Pharisee and that he was being judged concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, “a dissension arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees; and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both. And there was a great outcry; and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party rose up and fought it out, saying, We find nothing evil in this man; and if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel...” (vv. 7-9). Paul wisely used this situation to his benefit, knowing that the Pharisees would take sides with him and then fight with the Sadducees.
When Paul realized that it was helpful to him to take his stand as a Roman citizen, he did so, and this frightened the Roman officials. Here he cried out that he was a Pharisee, knowing that this would cause a fight between the Pharisees and Sadducees. Once again Paul exercised his wisdom to avoid suffering persecution. As we have seen, Paul faced his opponents in a different way than Christ did. When Christ was judged by men for the accomplishment of redemption, He did not open His mouth (Isa. 53:7; Matt. 26:62-63; 27:12, 14). But Paul, as a faithful and bold apostle sent by the Lord, exercised his wisdom to save his life from his persecutors so that he might fulfill the course of his ministry. For the sake of carrying out this ministry, he endeavored to live as long as possible.
Acts 23:10 goes on to say, “And when much dissension arose, the commander, fearing that Paul might be torn to pieces by them, ordered the soldiers to go down and take him by force from their midst and bring him into the barracks.” This was the sovereignty of the Lord to rescue Paul from the hand of the Jews.
Acts 23:11 says, “But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have solemnly testified concerning Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” The Lord was living all the time in Paul essentially (Gal. 2:20). Now, to strengthen and encourage him, the Lord stood by him economically. This showed the Lord’s faithfulness and good care for His servant.
The Lord’s word in 23:11 about Paul solemnly testifying concerning Him in Jerusalem indicates that the Lord admitted that the apostle had borne a solemn testimony concerning Him in Jerusalem. Testimony differs from mere teaching. To testify requires experiences of seeing, participation, and enjoyment.
What the ascended Christ wanted to use to carry out His heavenly ministry for the propagating of Himself so that the kingdom of God might be established for the building up of the churches for His fullness was not a group of preachers trained by man’s teaching to do a preaching work, but a body of His witnesses, martyrs, who bore a living testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. Witnesses bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in life. They differ from preachers who merely preach doctrines in letters. In His incarnation, Christ carried out His ministry on earth, as recorded in the Gospels, by Himself to sow Himself as the seed of the kingdom of God only in the Jewish land. In His ascension He carries out His ministry in the heavens, as recorded in Acts, through witnesses in His resurrection life and with His ascension power and authority to spread Himself as the development of the kingdom of God from Jerusalem unto the remotest part of the earth, as the consummation of His ministry in the New Testament. All the apostles and disciples in Acts were such witnesses of Christ.
As we shall see, in 26:16 Paul testified that the Lord had appointed him a minister and a witness. A minister is for the ministry; a witness is for the testimony. Ministry is mainly related to work, to what the minister does; testimony is related to the person, to what the witness is.
Satan could instigate the Jewish religionists and utilize the Gentile politicians to bind the apostles and their evangelical ministry, but he could not bind Christ’s living witnesses and their living testimonies. The more the Jewish religionists and Gentile politicians bound the apostles and their evangelical ministry, the stronger and brighter these martyrs, these witnesses, of Christ and their living testimonies became. The Lord in 23:11, in His appearing to the apostle, indicated that He would not presently rescue him from his bonds, but that He would leave him in bonds and bring him to Rome so that he might testify concerning Him as he had done in Jerusalem. The Lord encouraged Paul to do this.
In 23:11 the Lord told Paul that he would testify of Him in Rome. This would fulfill Paul’s desire, expressed in 19:21, to see Rome. Later, both the Lord’s promise and Paul’s desire were fulfilled.
Paul was strengthened and encouraged by the Lord’s word in verse 11. This word gave Paul the assurance that the Lord would bring him safely from Jerusalem to Rome. Assured by this clear word from the mouth of the Lord, Paul knew that he would go to Rome and there bear the testimony of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 23:12-15 describes the plot of the Jews against Paul. Verses 12 and 13 say, “And when it became day, 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.” The plot in verses 12 through 15 manifested the falsehood and satanic hatred (John 8:44; Matt. 23:34) in the hypocritical religionists of Judaism.
In these verses we see how furious the Jews were in hating Paul. The forty who formed the conspiracy may have been young men. They came to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a curse to taste nothing until we kill Paul. Now therefore, you inform the commander with the Sanhedrin in order that he may bring him down to you, as though you were intending to determine more accurately the things concerning him; and we, before he draws near, are ready to do away with him” (vv. 14-15). Literally, the Greek words translated, “We have bound ourselves with a curse,” mean “We have cursed ourselves with a curse.” This is a very strong expression. It seems that the forty conspirators were saying that if they could not kill Paul, then they themselves would not live any longer. It is likely that those who plotted against Paul intended to kill him within twenty-four hours. Their plan was to ambush him as he was brought to the chief priests and elders for further investigation.
In 23:16—24:27 we see that Paul was transferred to Felix, the Roman governor in Caesarea. According to 23:16-25, this transfer was carried out secretly. Acts 23:16-18 say, “But the son of Paul’s sister heard of the ambush, and he came and entered into the barracks and reported it to Paul. And Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, Bring this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him. So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, The prisoner Paul called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you, who has something to tell you.” What is recorded here also shows the sovereignty of the Lord to rescue Paul’s life.
When the Roman commander heard of the plot against Paul, he exercised his authority and wisdom to send Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea, where the governor of the province of Judea was. Concerning this, verses 23 and 24 say, “And he called to him a certain two of the centurions and said, 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.” These spearmen may have been slingers, lightly armed soldiers. The third hour of the night was nine o’clock. Felix, to whom Paul was to be brought safely, was the Roman governor of the province of Judea.
The Roman commander exercised his authority to such an extent that he used two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to transfer Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea. Those who plotted against Paul never imagined that the Roman commander would take such an action. They expected to kill Paul the next day. But during the night, the Roman commander sent Paul out of Jerusalem in the midst of a procession of four hundred seventy soldiers. Here again we see the Lord’s sovereignty.
Acts 23:31 says, “So the soldiers, according to what was directed them, took up Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.” Antipatris was a place about forty Roman miles away from Jerusalem and about twenty-six from Caesarea.
Acts 23:33-35 relates what happened once Paul was brought into Caesarea: “And when they had entered into Caesarea and handed over the letter to the governor, they presented also Paul to him. And when he had read it, he asked from what province he was; and learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, I will hear you fully when your accusers also arrive; and he ordered that he be guarded in Herod’s praetorium.” The praetorium, built by Herod the Great, was the palace of the former kings. It became the official residence of the governor of the Roman province of Judea. Paul was guarded here leniently, not as in the common prison. In the following message we shall see what happened to Paul under Felix, the Roman governor, in Caesarea.
