ACTS 22. THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS Opening words Words of grace are never out of place when speaking to people, even though you may never have met those people before. That is especially true when speaking to people about our Lord Jesus Christ. Happiness, even in adverse circumstances like Paul's, when he was chained to soldiers on either side of him, is not common to people. Happiness, because we belong to the Lord and are privileged to be publicly identified with Him strongly, impacts those who don’t even know why they are alive. There is also a certain kind of dignity that rises above normal when the one speaking shows a respectful attitude toward those opposed to him. A right attitude toward God and to those we speak gives honor to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul was permitted to speak to the religious rioters but did not speak in his own defense. He did not try to explain to them his actions when they falsely accused him of desecrating the temple. Instead, with a passionate concern for his own people after the flesh, he spoke to them as one of them. He followed the same protocol he wrote about to Colossians believers: "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
He clearly stated his Jewish pedigree, including all the salient points in one sentence. He established the facts of his Jewish heritage and then spoke to them in the common language they all used, stating his birthplace, where he was born, the son of a Pharisee with Roman citizenship. That fact gave him certain claims to rights reserved for Roman citizens, which he could use later that same day.
A Learned Jew, v.3 His courteous appeal began by making it clear that he was a Jew who was born in the famous free city of Tarsus in Cilicia. It quickly became evident that he was no ignorant Jewish bigot, nor was he a prejudiced Gentile. He had a high-class education, having learned from the famous Jewish teacher Gamaliel. That would establish that he was not some fly-by-night person who was easily deceived. He was unlike the religious hucksters of that day who were trying to get people to follow them.
Training “at the feet of Gamaliel” would let everyone listening to him know he was zealous about the law. The high priest and the council listening to him would have known that. Identifying himself with those who were zealous of the law and were yet trying to kill him would make them all consider what they were about to do to one of their own people. Unlike many, if not most of them, who opposed him, he came to Jerusalem when he was young and was brought up and educated there. His citizenship, good education, religious zeal, and commitment to his heritage were put out in the open as he told of himself and his commitment to God and His people.
A zealous persecutor, v.4 The line of appeal Paul followed was first to establish his own sincerity toward God. Then, because of that sincerity, he was compelled to obey the One he recognized as his Lord. He had persecuted followers of Christ, sincerely believing he was doing God a service. “This way” was how he identified himself as one of the followers of “The Way,” which was a well-known identifying feature of Christian believers at that time. His convictions were real but unenlightened because he thought he ought to oppose anything connected with the name of Jesus. Caiaphas, the high priest, would have been the one who gave him the authority to do what he did in Judea and then in Damascus.
“I thought” is often the reason for those who do not know God to explain their reason for condemning that which is of God. Prejudice brings a rise in temper; from there, it can quickly worsen. A lie demands a frenzied determination to defend itself. Even though a person hearing a report may not know it is a lie, they will still try to defend it rather than take the time to find the truth. Those who are set for the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, like Paul, are quiet, calm, sure, and not overcome by panic, and they don’t sink into being unfair or abusive toward those who differ from them. The power behind religious uproars comes from hell, not heaven.
A conquered foe, v.6-7 Paul’s motive behind all the activities he recounted in his testimony was that he would accomplish the will of God in whom he truly believed. But when the soul-convicting light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone around him, and he heard a voice from heaven speaking to him personally by name, he fell to the ground. He knew without a doubt it was God addressing him. At first, he did not know he was in the presence of the glorified Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. No longer was he a man consumed with what he was doing. No longer was he focused on those he hated. He was overwhelmed by the evidence of the presence of God and the voice of God.
When God speaks to a person with mighty convicting power, there is no reason for discussion or questioning divine authority. Many people who read the Bible never hear the voice of God speak to them. All they do is read words. When faith is real, the word of God is both light and life. Those convicted by the Holy Spirit and who respond to their own need will not try to excuse themselves or argue with God. The hammer power of the word of God pierces the soul and breaks in pieces the resistant heart. Then, the truth of God’s word becomes personal to a lost soul, and the light of truth with holy fire ignites true faith in Him.
A humble inquiry, v.8-10 When that humbled person is down before God in contrition and humility, they will be willing and ready to call on the name of the Lord. “Who art thou, Lord?” indicates faith in a living Lord he did not have before. The heart and mind of Saul of Tarsus was radically changed in a moment. The light of the glory of God shined in his soul. This was brighter than the physical light of the noonday sun in the burning heat of the Middle East.
“I AM JESUS” changed everything in a moment of time. Reality took the place of religion. Truth became more than a course of study; it became a living reality in a Living Person. “The Way” was a Person to follow. “The Truth” wasn’t something to be sought at the feet of Gamaliel. The truth was a statement and fact embodied in One who cannot lie. “The Life” was no longer a succession of days following one after another, as a sincere but sincerely wrong man sought to fulfill a life of trying to please God in his own way. Life to him was now a Person who permeated his character, ambition, and very existence. Paul wrote, “For me to live is Christ.” Christ was his very life. This is what makes our lives worth living in our day. There is a work for God that we all can do when we hear His voice and obey His word.
A comforted believer, v.11-13 What was he to do next? Saul of Tarsus’ second question was to the One who revealed Himself to him and to tell the Lord he was ready to obey Him. Obeying the word of God is evidence of new life. When one is ready to obey God's light, more light will be given. The light He gives to the soul, and the word of God (His voice) to the mind of a person who has come to love his/her Lord; that person will not be long in ignorance or not able to know the saving, directing and keeping power of the Lord Jesus Christ in one’s life. “Who art Thou?” is to be followed with, “What shall I do?”
A new nature in a new creation in Christ leads to a new life lived in a new way, with new goals prompted by a new motivation, promoted by a new outlook on God, the Bible, the people of God, the house of God and the purposes of God for me as an individual. It is natural for a new Christian to want what God wants from them and for Him.
The light of the glory of God blinded Saul to every earthly object. As he kept his line of communication open to his personal Savior and Lord through prayer, the same Lord communicated with another disciple in Damascus named Ananias. What a joy and blessing it was to Saul to recall the words, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight!” It wasn’t just the fact he got his eyesight back, but that he was a brother in Christ with other believers. The visit of the gracious and obedient brother in Christ, Ananias, would have opened Saul's mind and heart to realize that God was at work in him and for him. He had entered a new life through the One who says of Himself, “I am the door: by Me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” “Old things [had] passed away, and all things [had] become new.”
An instructed disciple, v.14-16 The apostle Paul experienced something that hadn’t happened since his conversion. He personally saw the Risen Christ. To see the resurrected Savior was all-important to Paul. That unforgettable experience convinced him of the truth of the Gospel, which he preached from then on through the rest of his life. The foundation of his preaching and teaching was that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.”
Ananias told him that the God of his Jewish ancestors chose him to know Him, see Him, and then tell others what he had seen and heard. He was to take the Gospel to the children of Israel, Gentiles, and kings. His baptism was the outward sign of the inward work of God’s grace in him. The reality of salvation and the symbol of salvation are closely connected in public testimony. Baptism demonstrates what happens when a person is saved. Newness of life after baptism is the ongoing daily proof of what has been testified to. Death, burial, and resurrection involve the end of our old life and the beginning of a new one.
The Gospel message Paul preached was not given to him by Ananias or any other man. It was received by direct revelation of the Lord Jesus to him. Ananias's words certainly clarified to him why God had called him. When we are convinced that God has work for us and it is plain that this is God’s will to act upon, we are motivated not to waste time but to move right ahead in faith.
A commissioned apostle, v.17-21 As Paul continued his testimony, he told a little about himself before he was saved, which gave the listeners an understanding of why he knew he needed to be saved. Second, he told what happened when he was saved, even using the Lord's words. His reply also quoted the words he said. There was nothing vague at all as to how the Lord saved him. Third, he told those people what had followed his salvation. He openly shared how he put his faith in Christ and why he was baptized and provided a brief statement regarding his life after.
When we tell our testimony, it is important to make sure the listeners know about these three things that brought us to the Savior: conviction of sin, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a different life since. First, why I needed to be saved. Second, how I was saved. Third, what is different since I have been saved.
Paul had been with the believers in Damascus and then went to Jerusalem, where he met with the saints. In this part of his testimony, he told those Jewish listeners that he was in the temple praying. He was not doing business or rioting or interfacing with people. He was not defying any religious protocol like the Jews followed to make themselves known. He went up to the temple to pray and meet with God, which was the reason the temple was there in the first place.
Then, he went further by telling them how God answered his prayer as a direct quotation again. There was no mistaking what he knew God wanted. In his dialogue with the Lord, it seemed like he wanted to stay in Jerusalem to win the Jews to the Lord Jesus. The Lord's clear message left no question about what God wanted him to do and why. He was to depart from Jerusalem and take the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Often, it is after we have specifically made our requests to God in times of communion that God makes His will known to us. This chosen vessel would not be a free-lance evangelist but a man commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to speak for Him to the Gentiles. He had been divinely equipped, called, and commissioned as a servant of Jesus Christ.
Acts 22:22-30. Responding to circumstances Paul’s defense before those who made accusations against him was complete. He had clearly stated his Jewish pedigree and heritage. He told openly what he had done in the past as a representative of the high priest and council. His testimony of how the Lord saved him and how he met the Lord Jesus Christ was unmistakably plain. His ongoing interest in the spiritual welfare of the Jewish people was clearly stated, and the fact that they wouldn’t hear him was well-known. The last words the Lord had told him were very precise, “Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.”
The Jews, as a whole, refused to believe God was the God of the Gentiles. To their way of thinking, a Gentile had to proselytize and become a Jew before God would have anything to do with them. The word “Gentile” brought out their hatred and exposed their pride. They were not a light to the Gentiles like they were supposed to be so that the Gentiles would learn from them about the One True God. Instead, the Jews had separated themselves into being an elitist nation of people who thought they had all the wisdom and understanding about God.
There is a danger of God’s people today being so interested in what God is doing in them and for them that they forget the lost souls all around us. It is very important to know the truth of God and to be able to skillfully discuss the content, context, interpretation, and meaning of the scripture in a Bible study. It is also our responsibility to speak for and about God to those who do not know Him. The commission our Lord gave to the apostles begins with the Gospel. Then, we are to guide new believers in Him and forward them to baptism and the teaching and practice of the word of God.
Paul had been beaten physically by the Jews, who would have killed him right there in the temple courtyard in their bitter animosity. He had been enabled by the Holy Spirit to clearly present his whole story and defense, against which no one could deny its impact on him and them. Likely, he was seriously tired by the time he was finished and perhaps emotionally drained. His Jewish brethren would not take what he told them personally, but instead, they openly said of him the same as they did of his Lord, “Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.”
No wonder when he was about to be beaten again for no reason, having been “stretched out” to be flogged, he, with a certain dignity, respectfully asked a simple question. He made no belligerent demands for justice because it was a foregone conclusion that justice was not being served. The Romans were going to keep the peace, even if it meant another Jew had to die. It is not hard to understand why he claimed the right to his Roman citizenship.
Believers are citizens of heaven because of the new birth, but we are still citizens of the country in which we live. We have obligations to the nation in which we are citizens, and our taxes, law-keeping conduct, and respect give us certain rights. Therefore, we can claim the protection of our earthly citizenship. Then, as now, there are several ways to become a citizen of a nation. One can be born in the country and be a citizen. One with at least one parent who is a citizen can claim citizenship even if they are born in another country. Paul’s father was a citizen of Rome, so Paul was born a citizen. There are also immigration laws and practices in most countries that allow a person to claim protection after they become a citizen. That was why Paul was able to avoid the flogging at that time.
Some people have criticized Paul for not enduring further pain in silence rather than claiming Roman citizenship, even though he could have avoided it. It is easy for us to pass judgment on the actions and activities of others when they claim certain rights because of their nationality. Martyrdom and suffering only have value because we have no other choice. To endure unjust and cruel treatment in silence when called upon to be a martyr like Stephen is different than to avoid a legitimate way out of suffering. The Jews had already beaten Paul, and there was nothing good or more enlightening that would have come to the Roman commander if Paul had been beaten again in private.
When called upon to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ, which will come in one way or another to those who live godly lives, be sure what you are suffering for is the “fellowship of His sufferings.” Paul could use his time of incarceration as a platform to speak to the entire Sanhedrin again. This time, the Roman commander arranged for Paul to address his accusers face-to-face reasonably. It was only right for a Roman government official to know why the Jews had beaten a Roman citizen and for what reason he was being accused to the extent of wanting him killed.
It is in this setting Paul was able to make his public statement as to who he was and the right he had to speak openly of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they had killed and who had been raised again from among the dead. He had seen Jesus and heard Jesus speak to him, and he had spoken to the Lord Jesus. He had the right to say what he had seen, heard, and personally experienced.
DEMONSTRATING GOD'S LOVE