Teacher: John M. Brown, Flatwoods Church of Chris, Sun. Bible Class

Teacher: John M. Brown, Flatwoods Church of Chris, Sun. Bible Class

ACTS Chapter 22

Teacher: John M. Brown, Flatwoods church of Chris, Sun. Bible Class

I. PAUL’S DEFENSE OF HIMSELF, vv. 1-21

Reread the latter verses of chapter 21 to note the context — Also remember that the charge against Paul was that he spoke against the people (the Jews), the law and the temple (21:28). What Paul mil do in his defense is establish first that he is a Jew, then tell about the reason he “changed religions” (that is, he will describe his conversion).

  1. Introductory Remarks, vv. 1-2
  2. Paul asks for the crowd to hear his defense (the word here, APOLOGIA, is the word from which we get “apologetics – see 25:16; Phil, 1:7, 17).
  3. He spoke to them in Hebrew.
  4. Paul’s Life as a Jew, vv. 3-5
  5. Paul was born in Tarsus and brought up in Jerusalem.
  6. He had been taught by Gamaliel (cf. 5:34) “according to the perfect manner of the law.”
  7. He was zealous toward God, even to the point of persecuting Christians.
  8. Paul points out that the high priest and elders can verify all this!

(*Note that, chronologically, Paul had been a Christian more than 20 years)

  1. Paul’s Conversion, vv. 6-16
  2. Paul relates the details (see also 9:1-18).
  3. Notice that Paul had been chosen to be a witness of Jesus! (cf. 1 Cor. 15:8)

THOUGHT QUESTION: Why was Paul’s conversion so unique?

  1. Note also what Ananias told him: “And now why tamest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
  1. Paul’s Commission to the Gentiles, vv. 17-21
  2. Paul relates the vision he received, while in a trance in the Temple praying (remember the charge, that he spoke against the Temple: yet he prayed there!)
  3. Paul’s response to the vision and the Lord’s charge.
  4. Compare 21:21 with Acts 9:29-30

II. THE JEWISH RESPONSE & PAUL’S CITIZENSHIP, vv. 21-30

  1. The Jewish response, vv. 21-22
  1. The reaction is one of violent opposition – it seems that they are listening to Paul cautiously until he mentions the Gentiles! (Remember the riot had begun by the accusation that Paul had taken Gentiles into the Temple)
  1. Their action: crying out, casting off their outer garments, and throwing dust

(compare 2 Sam. 16:13)

  1. Paul is ordered to be scourged, v. 24 (“examined by scourging”)

What was involved in scourging?

Notice the reference from THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA

Roman Scourges.

SCOURGE, skurj, SCOURGING, skur’jing

A Rom implement for severe bodily punishment. Horace calls it horribile flagellum. It consisted of a handle, to which several cords or leather thongs were affixed, which were weighted with jagged pieces of bone or metal, to make the blow more painful and effective. It is comparable, in its horrid effects, only with the Russian knout. The victim was tied to a post (Acts 22 25} and the blows were applied to the back and loins, sometimes even, in the wanton cruelty of the executioner, to toe face and the bowels. In the tense position of the body, the effect can easily be imagined. So hideous was the punishment that the victim usually fainted and not rarely died under it. Eusebius draws a horribly realistic picture of the torture of scourging (HE, IV, 15). By its application secrets and confessions were wrung from the victim {Acts 22 24). It usually preceded capital punishment (Livy xxxiii.36). It was illegal to apply the flagellum to a Rom citizen (Acts 22 25), since the Porcian and Sempronian laws, 248 and 123 BC, although these laws were not rarely broken in the provinces (Tac. Hist. iv.27; Cic. Verr. v.6, 62; Jos,

BJ, II, xiv, 9). As among the Russians today, the number of blows was not usually fixed, the severity of the punishment depending entirely on the commanding officer. In the punishment of Jesus, we are reminded of the words of Ps 129 3. Among the Jews the punishment of flagellation was well known since the Egyp days, as the monuments abundantly testify. The word “scourge* is used in Lev 19 20, but ARV translates “punished,” the original word bikkoreth expressing the idea of investigation. Dt 25 3 fixed the mode of a Jewish flogging and limits the number of blows to 40. Apparently the flogging was administered by a rod. The Syrians reintroduced true scourging into Jewish life, when Antiochus Epiphanes forced them by means of it to eat swine’s flesh (2 Mace 6 30: 7 1). Later it was legalized by Jewish law and became customary (Mt 10 17; 23 34; Acts 22 19; 26 11), but the traditional limitation of the number of blows was still preserved. Says Paul in his “foolish boasting”: “in stripes above measure,” “of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one,” distinguishing it from the “beatings with rods,” thrice repeated (2 Cor 11 23-25).

The other OT references (Job 6 21; 9 23; Isa 10 26; 28 1518 pio, shot]; Josh 23 13 [B-”, ahotet]) are figurative for “affliction.” Notice the curious mixture of metaphors in the phrase “overflowing scourge” (Isa 28 15,18).

henry E. dosker

  1. Paul Reveals His Roman Citizenship, vv. 25-29
  2. Paul inquires about the legality of what is about to take place, in light of the fact he is a Roman citizen (a status of great importance in that time)
  3. Paul’s Roman citizenship was from birth.
  4. This fact brought a halt to what they were about to do (compare 16:37-39)
  1. Paul is brought before the Sanhedrin, v. 30