Page 295 - Demo

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 
hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.f 10I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’g 11Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.h
12i “A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. 14Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; 15for you will be his witness* before all to what you have seen and heard. 16Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’
17“After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.j 20And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’k 21Then he said to me,l ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.’”*
Paul Imprisoned. 22m They listened to him until he said this, but then they raised their voices and shouted,“Take such a one as this away from the earth. It is not right that he should live.”* 23And as they were yelling and throwing o their cloaks and inging dust into the air, 24the cohort commander ordered him to be brought into the compound and gave instruction that he be interrogated under the lash to determine the reason why they were making such an outcry against him. 25n But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion on duty, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and has not been tried?”* 26When the centurion heard this, he went to the cohort commander and reported it, saying, “What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen.” 27Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he answered. 28The commander replied, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” Paul said, “But I was born one.” 29At once those who were going to interrogate him backed away from him, and the commander became alarmed when he realized that he was a Roman citizen and that he had had him bound.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin. 30The next day, wishing to determine the truth about why he was being accused by the Jews, he freed him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene. Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
22:25
Paul’s quick thinking saves his life: it was unlawful for Roman citizens to be beaten, and they were entitled to certain rights, including the right to a trial.
Only a small percentage of people in the Roman Empire had the rights of a citizen, which included the privileges of voting, holding o ce, entering into a legal marriage, and holding property. Along with the privileges came the duties of paying taxes and serving the Empire’s army, if called to do so. Since Paul had not broken any Roman laws, he was turned over to the local Jewish leaders, who handled a airs that had to do with their people (22.30).
f. [22:9] 9:7; 26:13–14.
g. [22:10] 9:6; 26:16.
h. [22:11] 9:8.
i. [22:12–16] 9:10–19.
j. [22:19] 8:3; 9:1–2; 22:4–5; 26:9–11.
k. [22:20] 7:58; 8:1.
l. [22:21] 9:15; Gal 2:7–9.
m. [22:22] 21:36; Lk 23:18; Jn 19:15.
n. [22:25] 16:37.
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* [22:15] His witness: like the Galilean followers during the historical ministry of Jesus, Paul too, through his experience of the risen Christ, is to be a witness to the resurrection (compare Acts 1:8; 10:39–41; Lk 24:48).
* [22:21] Paul endeavors to explain that his position on the law has not been identical with that of his audience because it has been his prophetic mission to preach to the Gentiles to whom the law was not addressed and who had no faith in it as a way of salvation.
* [22:22] Paul’s suggestion that his prophetic mission to the Gentiles did not involve his imposing the law on them provokes the same opposition as occurred in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:45).
* [22:25] Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and has not been tried?: see note on Acts 16:37.