The Book of Acts
The Arrest of Paul, Part 2
Acts 21:37-22:5
We are in chapter 21 of the book of Acts, and we are considering, in particular, verses 27-40 which record the details of the arrest of the Apostle Paul in Jerusalem.
We've already considered the accusation that is brought against him by the Jews. They accuse him of being anti-Jew and of polluting the temple by allowing a Gentile to enter.
Things become so heated that a riot breaks out and the Romans intervene and arrest Paul. The third detail of the story, and where we will concentrate our attention this evening is on
3. The Apology of Paul
And if you remember, we are using the word "apology" in the sense of giving a defense of the faith. He's not apologizing for the faith or what he believes or causing an uprising. He is defending himself, and even more importantly, what he believes.
Now, if nothing else, Paul is gifted with words, and the defense he offers begins in verse 37 and continues all the way through chapter 22, verse 21. Obviously, we won't be able to cover all of it in one setting, and because it contains some significant things we don't want to miss, we'll take a couple of weeks to cover it.
One other reminder I want to make and that is we are learning how to take a negative situation and make it a positive witness for the Lord and the faith, and one of the things I notice about Paul's speech is that it is largely biographical. He is defending the faith, but he is also defending himself.
verse 37
We will later discover in chapter 23 that this commander is Claudius Lysias. He was the highest ranking Roman official in Jerusalem. And he is surprised when Paul speaks to him in Greek. Obviously, he doesn't think Paul is an educated Jew. Instead, he thinks he is someone entirely different.
verse 38
According to the commander, there was an insurrectionist from Egypt that had led a rebellion against Rome. He was unsuccessful. In fact, Felix led Roman troops to stop the uprising, resulting in several hundred of the insurrectionists being killed. The leader escaped, and how Claudius assumes he has returned finish the job, and got himself arrested.
And believing this to be the case, he is surprised he can speak Greek. He thought he had it all figured out, but he was completely wrong. And Paul sets him straight.
verse 39
Now Tarsus was a significant city, ranking very near Alexandria and Athens in importance to the ancient world. Tarsus was all about education and art and culture and Greek civilization.
And Paul uses that cultural advantage to request a hearing for himself. Now, you would think he would want to just be released and quietly and quickly get out of town. But instead, he wants to speak. And the man who was the commander wanted to find out what was going on, so he figured this is my chance to hear what’s happening.
verse 40
Now keep in mind, we are looking for ways to take a negative situation and make it a positive testimony, and here is where we make our first discovery. In any negative situation, we need to, first of all,
- accept that God has placed us in the situation
Paul finds himself in this situation and when he has a chance to get out of it, instead, he embraces it and uses it.
It was a God-ordained situation. Does that mean God let it happen? I think better said, "God made it happen." God has intentionally put Paul in this place because he wanted Paul to share the testimony he's about to share.
Why would God do that? They same reason he arranges any opportunity for a testimony to be shared. He wants to impact lives with the gospel.
And unfortunately, we've become so adept at trying to escape negative situations, we very often forfeit the God-given opportunities to impact the world around us with the Good News of Christ.
A positive, God-honoring testimony in a negative situation means there’s great potential for God to work and bring change. And if we will ever be effective in sharing a positive testimony in a negative situation, we've got to, first of all, accept that God has put us in the situation.
Then, the second principle is to take this God-given, God-arranged situation and
- take advantage of the opportunity
verse 37b
He said, “Sir, could I speak to you for a moment?"
Here is Paul, being arrested, and yet he is forcing the issue. He wasn't just hanging around to see what was going to happen, he is going to initiate the conversation so God can have an opportunity to speak.
Historians tell us the Greeks used to have a statue named "Opportunity" and it was a guy with great, long, flowing hair in the front, and in the back he was bald. That was their take on opportunity. You can grab it in the front, but once it goes by, there's nothing left to grab.
That’s opportunity,, and we never find Paul grabbing at the bald-headed back of opportunity. He got it while it could be gotten.
How do you give a positive testimony in a negative situation? One, you accept the negative situation as being from God, then you take advantage of the opportunity.
So let's take a look at what Paul does with this opportunity. He is given the chance to defend himself, and his defense begins in chapter 22, verse 1. And before we look at it, let me just mention that Paul defends himself on two counts: his motive and his deed.
As we know, in a court of law, there’s a great concern about motive. After all, if you can establish motive, you can confirm the guilt. So motive is a critical consideration, as well as the very deed itself.
So what Paul wants to show is that he is uncondemnable in regard to either motive or deed. In other words, his defense will be that what he has done, he has done with a pure motive. And he begins with the motive.
Now get this picture: Here he stands at the top of the stairs. The crowd spills down the stairs and out into the area surrounding the barracks.
He’s surrounded by Roman soldiers. There’s blood all over his clothes from the beating he's received. His skin is puffed and bruised. You can hear the chains on his wrists jangling as he motions with his hands for the crowd to quieten so he can speak. And the mob grows silent as Paul offers his defense.
verse 1
"Brethren, and fathers". Those are the same words Stephen used to begin his speech. It is extremely respectful. He could have begun a million other ways. He could have told them how sorry they were, how mistaken they were, how foolish they were.
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he takes the high road and as he calls on them to hear his defense. And by the way, much to their surprise, he speaks to them in Hebrew and as he speaks any rustling and murmuring fades. .
I make note of the fact that God has given him everything he needs to communicate what God wants him to share.
He now has their undivided attention. Everything is in place. God has prepared and arranged the situation and now Paul takes advantage of this opportunity and gives his defense.
His defense begins at verse 3 and continues to verse 21, and it arranges itself very nearly into three parts. The centerpiece of what he shares is his conversion and he talks, first of all, about his life and conduct before his conversion. That's verses 3 to 5.
Then he tells them about the circumstances of his conversion in verses 6 to 16. And then he talks about his calling and commission after conversion, and that's verses 17 to 21.
So he divides his biography and his defense into three parts and if you've ever done any training on using the three minute story or something similar, you will notice the similarities. He tells them about his life before Christ, how he met Christ and the difference Christ has made since salvation.
He begins with his conduct before conversion, and this is a defense of his motives.
verse 3
Now that is a great beginning! Let me tell you why. He begins by showing them that his motive was never anti-Jewish. He could never be accused of being anti-Jewish. People were saying, “Well, he’s gone over to Christianity. He’s anti-Semitic, anti-biblical, anti-God, anti-temple,” and all of it.
“No,” – he says – “you could never accuse me of being motivated by anti-Semitic feelings. I’m a zealous Jew.” That's what he's talking about in verse 3. And the way the verse translates literally is “I myself, like you, am truly a Jew.” In other words, he says, “I’m as Jewish as you are."
And apparently, he's proud of it! There is nothing to be ashamed of in being Jewish. So here is a Jew, speaking the Jewish language about the fact that he is a Jew and proud of it!
That means he is not Egyptian, he's not the rebel he was accused of being and he's not trying to overthrow anybody.
And that's not all. He goes on to tell them he was born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia. That means he's not a stupid ignoramus. He was cultured and educated, and they knew that just because he was from Tarsus.
Then he goes a step further. He lets them know he was raised right there in Jerusalem. I may have been born in Tarsus, but my roots are in Jerusalem.
Most likely, from his bar mitzvah forward, from the time he was 12 or 13 years of age, he lived in Jerusalem where he studied under Gamaliel.
Gamaliel was the premier teacher of his day. He was a Pharisaic leader of great eminence.
Then he adds this, “And I was taught according to the strictness of our father's law.” The word “taught” here means carefully trained, and the law of the fathers is simply the Old Testament traditions of the Jews.
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he had been carefully instructed in the Old Testament Mosaic law, as well as all the traditions and historic faith of Judaism. And all of that training had been in the strictest interpretation. He was a legalist of the highest order.
And beyond, that, he was "zealous toward God”, and in the Greek, the word “zealous” is a noun. in other words, he was a Zealot for God” which identified him with a particular group in Israel. A Zealot was an uncompromising partisan. He was the most nationalistic of all the Jews and the most anti-Roman.
He was as Jewish as anybody standing in front of him that day, and there were thousands of people there. And just to put the icing on the cake, he adds what we see at the end of
verse 3
"I'm one of you! I'm as Jewish as anybody here! Now think about what he just said. They thought they were justified in beating him up. After all, they were protecting the Jewish faith. They thought they were pleasing God.
And Paul says, "I used to be zealous for God just like you.” Notice what he says next:
verse 4
“I was like you. I had that same zeal for God that you have. I had that same zeal for Judaism. I was the most right-wing, unbelievably orthodox character that ever was in Judaism. To the point that I persecuted Christians just like you are doing! I threw 'em into prison and killed 'em!"
In fact, if you don't believe me, jsut ask the hight priest!
verse 5
"If you have any doubt about my zeal for Judaism, just ask the most revered guy in Jerusalem and he'll tell you how Jewish I was.” Or you could check with the Sanhedrin. After all, they're the ones that sent me out to bring Christians to trial."
The high priest hated the Christians, the Sanhedrin hated the Christians, Paul hated the Christians, so the Sanhedrin gave Paul papers to deliver to Damascus and extradite the Christians back to Jerusalem to be punished.
So why does Paul tell them all this stuff? Is he just bragging? Is he using his Jewish-ness to save his life? No, his earning a right to be heard. He is establishing credibility so he can share the gospel. He is defending his motives. He is not anti-Jewish, not in any sense of the word.
And he begins his presentation of the gospel by telling them what his life was like, as a Jew, before He met Christ. And now that he has their attention, he is about to share the most earth-shattering news they will ever hear!
And next week, we'll take a look at what happened when Paul met the Savior on the road to Damascus, and we'll hear it in his own words.
Let's pray.
