Paul–A Roman Citizen
January 28, 2022
Commentary
The crowd listened until Paul made this last statement (v. 22). Then they started shouting, “Get rid of this man! He doesn’t deserve to live.” For Paul’s sake, it was probably good that the courtyard was paved. Had there been stones lying around the Jews may have stoned him to death. To the Jews he was a traitor. In their thinking God never sent a Jew to the Gentiles. They were so upset after hearing Paul’s testimony that they tore off their garments and scooped up dust and threw it into the air (v. 23). This shocked the Roman soldiers, as they had not been able to understand a word of the language in which Paul had addressed the crowd. The Roman soldiers were afraid that the crowd might go on a rampage so they believed they must get Paul to talk fast. When they saw the crowd’s reaction they gave the order, “Scourge him” (v. 24). Paul was no stranger to beatings.
There are times for a believer to claim his civil rights. We should be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, but there is no virtue in suffering merely for suffering’s sake. At this point Paul produced his Roman citizenship (vv. 25-27). To scourge an uncondemned Roman citizen was serious business. No one had the rights of a Roman citizen except the elite, and these people, it has been said, would pay the equivalent of $50,000 in our money in order to become a Roman citizen (v. 28). When Paul said, “I was born a citizen” this probably meant that his Jewish father or grandfather had bought their Roman citizenship. Since Paul was a Jew, these Roman guards were still curious as to why Paul was hated so much by his own fellow Jews (v. 29). So they released Paul, but ordered the Sanhedrin to hold a special session in order to straighten out the matter (v. 30).
Application
I need to ask myself - What do I appreciate most about being a citizen of my country? What rights do I have as a citizen of this country in which I was born and live? More important than this, what rights do I have as a citizen of heaven? Only because of what Christ has done for me.
Acts 22:22– 30 (NET)
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!” 23 While they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust in the air, 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. 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?” 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.” 27 So the commanding officer came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” He replied, “Yes.” 28 The commanding officer answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” “But I was even born a citizen,” Paul replied. 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.
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.