Acts 21:40 - 23:11

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Acts

Rusty's Notes

• We left off with Paul being bound up with 2 chains and taken to the top of the Roman soldier barracks at the Temple. (Antonia Fortress)

 
ACTS 21:40
40 After he had given permission,

• By Commander Claudius Lysias who was looking for a charge to write in his report)

Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic: (Hebrew)
 
ACTS 22
1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” 2 When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter. 3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

• Galatians 1:13-14 - For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.[1]

4 I persecuted this Way (John 14:6) to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, 5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

• 1 Timothy 1:15 - This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them.[2]

 
PAUL’S TESTIMONY (Acts 9)
6 “As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8 “I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

• The crowd, who believes Jesus was an imposter Messiah, and the disciples stole his body from the tomb, was listening because they have always believed and were interested in miracles.
• Jesus revealed Himself to Paul and no one else in the party.
• Remember when you came to the realization that Jesus was the Messiah?

10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’
“The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’
11 “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there, 13 came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth, 15 since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
17 “After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’
19 “But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten. 20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’

• “I am the worst of sinners.”

21 “He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
 
PAUL’S ROMAN PROTECTION
22 They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”

• As soon as Paul said the word “gentiles” they turned on him.
• If Putin had the same conversion experience today, people would still turn on him.

23 As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.

• Paul was speaking in Aramaic/Hebrew and the Roman soldiers could not understand him.
• They believed that Paul was instigating/antagonizing the crowd for some reason.
• The interrogation could result in crippling or near death just to get the truth out of Paul.

25 As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

• It was unlawful for a Roman citizen to be flogged/scourged without a trial.

26 When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”
27 The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes,” he said.
28 The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.”

• It was most likely a bribe because Roman citizenship could not be bought.

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.

•  Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, and Tarsus, where Paul was born, was a free city (see Acts 21:39).
• The Emperor Pompey made Cilicia a Roman province in 64 BC, and its capital, Tarsus, was a free city from the time of Augustus.
• Although it is unknown exactly how his parents became citizens of Rome, Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, which was a privilege many did not have.

29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

• No doubt Claudius and his men were especially kind to Paul now that they knew he was a Roman citizen.
• God was using the great power of the Empire to protect His servant and eventually get him to Rome.[3]

 
PAUL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN
30 The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews,

• Claudius was still determined to find out the reason for him being beaten and arrested so he could fill out his report and also tell Paul why he was being arrested.

he released him and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. He brought Paul down and placed him before them.

• This group was composed of seventy (or seventy-one) of the leading Jewish teachers, with the high priest presiding.
• 1 High Priest (Ananias), 35 Pharisees and 35 Sadducees.
• It was their responsibility to interpret and apply the sacred Jewish Law to the affairs of the nation, and to try those who violated that Law.
• The Romans gave the council permission to impose capital punishment where the offense deserved it.[4]
• Commander Claudius and his men stayed for the trial because it would be unlawful for Paul to be hurt while in their authority and have no charges against him.

 
ACTS 23
1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers (identifying himself as a Jew), I have lived (as a Jewish citizen) my life before God in all good conscience to this day.”

• Paul has lived his life according to the Jewish Law.
• “Conscience” is one of Paul’s favorite words; he used it twice in Acts (23:1; 24:16) and twenty-one times in his letters.
• The word means “to know with, to know together.”
• Conscience is the inner “judge” or “witness” that approves when we do right and disapproves when we do wrong (Rom. 2:15).
• Conscience does not make the standards; it only applies the standards of the person, whether they are good or bad, right or wrong.
• Cain didn’t have any laws when he killed his brother… but he did have a conscience.
• Paul had persecuted the church and had even caused innocent people to die, so how could he claim to have a good conscience?
• He had lived up to the light that he had, and that is all that a good conscience requires.[5]

2 The high priest Ananias (not to be confused with Annas in Acts 4:6) ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.

• Jesus had been treated just the same.
• John 18:22 - When he had said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” [6]

3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?”
4 Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?”
5 “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul.

• Paul had been on the road for 12+ years.
• Identifiers of the High Priest might not have been the same… or it was just late at night.

“For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” (Exodus 22:28)

• When called to account for what he had said, Paul did not apologize.
• Rather, he showed respect for the office but not for the man.
• Ananias was indeed one of the most corrupt men ever to be named high priest.
• He stole tithes from the other priests and did all he could to increase his authority.
• He was known as a brutal man who cared more for Rome’s favor than for Israel’s welfare.
• Paul spoke prophetically, because God did indeed smite this wicked man.
• When the Jews revolted against Rome in the year 66, Ananias had to flee for his life because of his known sympathies with Rome.
• The Jewish guerrillas found him hiding in an aqueduct at Herod’s palace, and they killed him. It was a dishonorable death for a despicable man.[7]

6 When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees,

• This would be similar to being in a Senate meeting with Republicans and Democrats.

he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all.

• Paul redirected the issue from himself to the Sanhedrin.
• Paul was not speaking about resurrection in general… he was speaking the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• He was proclaiming the Gospel to the Sanhedrin.

9 The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party got up and argued vehemently, “We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

• Since Paul believed in the resurrection of Jesus, he automatically fell to the side of the Pharisees, especially since he had been one in the past.

10 When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them, and bring him into the barracks.

• The second time the Roman Empire came to rescue Paul from an angry crowd.

11 The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”[8]

• Rome? You mean, Paul is finally going to get to Rome… and not even on his own dime?
• The Lord’s message to Paul was one of courage. “Be of good cheer!” simply means “Take courage!”
• Jesus often spoke these words during His earthly ministry. He spoke them to the palsied man (Matt. 9:2) and to the woman who suffered with the hemorrhage (Matt. 9:22).
• He shouted them to the disciples in the storm (Matt. 14:27), and repeated them in the Upper Room (John 16:33).
• As God’s people, we can always take courage in times of difficulty because the Lord is with us and will see us through.[9]
  ​

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Ga 1:13–14). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (1 Ti 1:15). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 493). Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 494). Victor Books.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 494). Victor Books.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Jn 18:22). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 494). Victor Books.
[8] Christian Standard Bible (Ac 21:40–23:11). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 495). Victor Books.