1. paul, having ended his third missionary journey, has now delivered his gift of money for jerusalem's poor.
2. he has been told repeatedly that he would be bound and handed over to the gentiles while in jerusalem
3. chapter 21 includes discussion between paul and james/the jerusalem church regarding not offending the jewish
believers (who think paul is anti-jew).
4. to show his respect for the law, paul takes a vow; at the conclusion, he enters the temple to offer sacrifices;
while there, the jews began to riot and beat him.
5. the romans, seeing the tumult, gathered up some troops and marched in, rescuing paul.
acts 21:37 - 21:39: paul requests and receives permission to speak
37. As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, "May I say something to
you?" And he *said, "Do you know Greek?
38. "Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men
of the Assassins out into the wilderness?"
39. But Paul said, "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you,
allow me to speak to the people."
story:
paul, being arrested by the romans, sees an opportunity to speak to the rioting jews.
the commander's first concern is that paul is the egyptian assassin who started a minor revolt.
paul reassures him that he is not egyptian at all, but from a rather nice city (tarsus).
1. note that these details further luke's pattern of showing that christianity is not a threat to the roman government.
2. paul's focus also shows his priorities - he wants to preach the gospel to the crowd that just beat him.
40. When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand;
and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,
1. "Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you."
2. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,
3. "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according
to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.
4. "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,
5. as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received
letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to
Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
story:
- hebrew dialect?
paul addresses the crowd in 'the hebrew dialect' (aramaic or hebrew)
note that his roman captors may or may not have understood anything from this point (may have had a translator, may have understood aramaic); might not have though.
- paul establishes common origin.
paul starts out by establishing his pedigree - the jews jew, raised in jerusalem, educated under gamaliel.
note that he even says he was a persecuter of the church.
he's establishing that he was "zealous for god just as you all are today".
- paul starts his conversion story with his trip to damascus...to persecute the church.
paul's testimony is pretty ideally suited to this crowd - he was once like them, all the way down to the rabid bits.
he's willing to acknowledge that there is some good in their motives - "zealous for god"
side note:
much of the ugliest things in history have been done in the name of 'good' or 'god'.
1 cor 13 has a pretty damning comment on this; basically, 'how' is as important as 'what'.
if you're zealous for god and argue with anger, you are sinful, guilty, and unlike god.
if you hate someone else because of their sin/issues, you are sinful, guilty, and unlike god.
side side note:
watch for this crap in the areas you're passionate about - your theology, your marriage, etc...
6. "But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light
suddenly flashed from heaven all 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 the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'
9. "And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, 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, `Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will
be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'
11. "But 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. "A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
13. came to me, and standing near said to me, `Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him.
14. "And he said, `The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and
to hear an utterance from His mouth.
15. `For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.
16. `Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'
17. "It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,
18. and I 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 understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and
beat those who believed in You.
20. `And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching
out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'
21. "And He said to me, `Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
story:
what changed paul? the appearance of christ
paul is no longer like the crowd because of the revelation of christ.
a) paul was opposed to god (notice that in this speech his opposition is left on the 'lack of knowledge level')
b) paul's opposition was to god personally ("why are you persecuting me"), leaving him guilty and without excuse.
c) paul asks god "what shall i do".
d) christ sends him to ananias, a believer (notice that god involves a human, even when he's directly intervening).
e) ananias heals him, tells him he has been called as a witness, and calls on him to "be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name"
this is a great gospel presentation.
1. the holiness of god was understood...
2. paul's sin was revealed by god.
3. the lordship of christ and the forgivness of christ were understood and responded to with
paul's baptism and 'calling on his name'
salvation is not where things stop - there is a call.
paul was not saved so that he could just stop killing christians and live a peaceable life.
he was called to be a witness of christ.
christ says that he'll be told what has been appointed for him (v10).
ananias tells him that he'll be a "witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard" (v15).
christ then goes so far as to tell him that he'll be sent to the gentiles (v21)
22. They listened to him up to this statement, and 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 crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,
24. the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging
so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.
25. But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it
lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"
26. When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do?
For this man is a Roman."
27. The commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes."
28. The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But
I was actually born a citizen."
29. Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him; and the commander also was
afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.
30. But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him
and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
story:
the crowd has listened to his speech thus far; when he mentions that the god sent him to the gentiles however,
they demand his death.
seeing this reaction, the commander decides to examine paul by scourging him (he may have unsure what was
said, or he may have thought there might be more to know; or it might just be punishment).
before paul can be flogged however, he reveals that he is a roman citizen (and that he knows his rights)
this puts the breaks on the flogging...the commander comes to verify if this is true, and becomes worried...
plan b on the discovery of what's causing all the jewish trouble is a meeting, which they hold the next day (stay tuned for acts 23)
the overall theme: submission to god
on being wrong
pauls statement that god wants to include the gentiles is too much for the jews to bear - they call for his death
and refuse to listen anymore.
fundamentally, they had decided that this was something god would not do.
to be right, you need to be willing to admit error; what god wants or is is often not what we want.
non-believers and sin:
the gospel starts with our admitting that we are personally sinful, and that god will personally punish us.
humans dislike this.
believers and theology
we've all seen others argue the bible with stubborness, arrogance, and hostility.
of course we wouldn't be like that.
two things for anytime you feel strongly about an issue...
- be open to being wrong (as much as you can be)
- be genuinely kind about it.
special note on thinking you're right.
lots of histories 'worsts' have been committed in the name of 'right' (killing of jews during crusades, killing of protestants
by catholics, etc).
we have been commanded to be like christ, to carry the fruit of the spirit. see 1 cor 13 for some strong statements on the
worthlessness of your good actions if they are done without love, much less if they're done with hate.
this passage has the control of god all over it, though it is a pretty crappy situation.
1. paul's salvation - god initiated.
2. paul's calling - given by god
3. paul's situation - predicted by god
bad news...
paul is no longer free. he's been beaten, he's in a roman jail
good news...
this situation is part of god's revelation, part of the compassion of god to share his forgiveness with men.
paul has accepted this:
he said so clearly before he got into it.
his actions show that his concern is still for the gospel and glory of christ.
difficulty is a great chance for us to demonstrate this
do we remember god is not unaware of our problems?
when things suck, we have to hold onto our submission to the will of god.
your job falls through.
your future is uncertain.
your spouse is unkind.
you're beaten for christ).
i encourage you to read matt 6...and i encourage you to think about what it would have been like to be paul
in this situation - a great example.