Acts 21:37—22:21 (ESV)✞: Paul Speaks to the People
Having been arrested in the last passage Paul is now being hauled into the barracks – not just because of the arrest but for his safety, since the crowd seems to be on the verge of tearing him apart!
We saw in that passage how confusing things were, with different people in the crowd shouting different things, but now we see that even the “tribune”—the one who’s in charge of arresting Paul—doesn’t know who he is:
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.”
So the tribune gives him permission, and Paul motions to the crowd with his hand. I may have mentioned this before but this was a thing that public speakers did in Paul’s day; this motion with the hand was a signal that a speaker was about to give a speech. When the crowd sees this a great hush falls over them; I assume, given all of the confusion, they’re eager to hear what exactly is going on. He starts off simply by saying, “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you” (v. 22:1✞), but because he says it in Hebrew, the language of his Jewish brethren, they get even more quiet; perhaps many of them didn’t know who Paul was (like the tribune), but others are likely heartened to hear Paul speaking to them in the language of their own religion/culture. Regardless, they’re hanging on his every word!
As will I, as I now go through it piece by piece…
3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.
As a side note it appears that Christianity is still being called “the Way” at this time, but that’s not Paul’s point. (In this post I’ll still keep referring to “Christians” and “Christianity,” for the sake of simplicity.)
Paul starts his speech by making a point that, frankly, a lot of Christians still make today when sharing the Gospel: “I was once just like you! In most ways I still am just like you!” And Paul is talking [primarily] to a group that is like him: they are being zealous for God, and attempting to put down what they consider to be heresy. Maybe not to the point that Paul was, when he was actively pursuing Christians to imprison and execute them, but they’re not that far off since they’re doing the same to him at this moment!
If we think about it, of all the crowds that should be receptive to the message of the Gospel in exactly the way Paul received it, this is the one!
6 “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone 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 of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light 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, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’ 11 And 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.
One of the interesting things about Paul’s speech is what the crowd reacts to and what they don’t. Case in point: I would have thought that the crux of the matter here is this man called Jesus, whom the Christians are claiming to be the Christ, which the Jews would consider to be blasphemy. But here Paul discusses Jesus appearing to him, post-crucifixion, and striking Paul blind for persecuting Him, but no mention is made of the crowd stirring.
Even when Paul goes on to describe the miracle of him receiving his sight back, they don’t seem to react:
12 “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
I’m guessing this specific crowd wasn’t part of the religious leaders who had Jesus crucified—I believe this is about 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection—but Paul is still telling them that Jesus’ crucifixion wasn’t justified, and he’s relaying Ananias calling Jesus “the Righteous One” (which I’m guessing is an Old Testament quote but I don’t know from where), and he’s even saying he was baptised into Jesus’ name, but the crowd isn’t getting angry.
17 “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and 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 know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’
This is an interesting insight into Paul’s state of mind when he was newly saved in Jerusalem: again, given his background, and the fact that he was now a Christian—in this case it’s not even a pun to say that he “saw the light”—it seems he fully expected his fellow Jews, even Jewish religious leaders, to come to faith in Jesus as well. Jesus has to explicitly tell Paul, “they will not accept your testimony about me,” and even then Paul is confused; why wouldn’t they?!? They know who Paul is, they know how Paul was persecuting the Christians—even killing them in his zeal—so why wouldn’t they come to faith just like he did, given the same facts?
I think this is a way of thinking that many Christians still find ourselves falling into: I look at my own background, and how (and why) I came to faith, and there’s a temptation to think that anyone else with a background similar to mine would come to faith if I explain the Gospel to them in the same way it was explained to me. I’m a pretty rational, logical person, and that’s how I came to faith in Christ, so I’d expect that other white, male, middle-aged Canadians, who are also logical and rational (in their own minds), would probably be convinced by the same kinds of arguments I was. But that might not be the case; many will hear the exact same message I heard and either not take it in or reject it outright; others might be convinced by a miracle, which never would have worked with me. (I can say that because God didn’t use a miracle with me, He used other means.)
And, although this isn’t Paul’s point, I think this is actually a strong argument as to why Christians should attend a local church, and become part of a church community. Different people respond to different things; many people might initially respond to a particular presentation of the Gospel because it suits their personality type, but then upon further reflection it might not “take hold.” But being in regular attendance at a local church provides so many ways to water those seeds:
- Hearing a new sermon every week allows different forms and aspects of the Gospel to be continually received. 30 some-odd years into being a Christian I still sometimes hear things in sermons and think to myself, “huh, I never thought of that!”
- The opportunity to interact with other Christians on a regular basis provides a number of benefits:
- I see how God is working in others’ lives, especially when it’s different from how He’s working in mine
- I not only have a community of people who can bring my problems to God in prayer but I have the opportunity to pray for them
- I hear how others are taking in the Word, or what they’re getting from the sermons, which is often different from my own reactions
- I have the opportunity to serve others. There’s no better way to become more like Jesus than to follow His example by serving others.
I’m not trying to argue against Jesus’ parable of the sower1; He was quite explicit that sometimes seed falls on rocky ground where there seems to be genuine faith but the troubles of this world end up choking it out. But how do we know the difference between a person who isn’t actually saved and a person who is saved but in an early state, who hasn’t fully formed their theology and really, fully devoted their life to serving Jesus? Frankly, we don’t. Attending a local church will help the one who is saved; for the one who isn’t saved, who just had seed falling on shallow soil… maybe they’re just not saved yet. Go to any local church and I’m sure you’ll find stories of people who’d attended services for years but were never saved… until they were.
Finally, Paul ends his speech with this:
And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
Frankly, I don’t think he intended to end the speech there, I think he fully intended to keep going, but at this mention of going to the Gentiles the crowd reacts: this is the point they can’t stomach. The next verse makes that very clear:
Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”
They haven’t raised a problem with Paul’s claims about Jesus, or with the miracles of Jesus striking Paul blind and them healing him again, but at the mention of going to the Gentiles the crowd is incensed.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave that point until I blog the next passage – and, given my blogging schedule, I’m going back into the Old Testament for a while! So I’ll come back to the crowd’s response to Paul after I’ve gone through II Kings…
Footnotes
- See Matthew 13:1–23 (ESV)✞ and/or Mark 4:1–20 (ESV)✞ and/or Luke 8:4–15 (ESV)✞. ↩
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