Chapter 22

Acts 22:1–2. Men, brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now make before you. And when they heard that he addressed them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more quiet. And he says: He spoke from the steps. And from this position there was great ease, since he addressed the people while standing on high, and bound at that. What is equal to this spectacle, to see Paul bound with two chains and addressing the people? How was he not thrown into confusion, seeing so great a populace set in hostility against him? ‘Men, brothers and fathers.’ The word ‘fathers’ is to give honor; the word ‘brothers’ is a mark of kinship. Notice that his speech is both free of flattery and full of gentleness. For he did not say ‘Masters’ or ‘Lords,’ but ‘Brothers,’ which they most longed for. ‘I am no stranger to you,’ he says, ‘nor am I against you.’ ‘And when they heard… in the Hebrew tongue.’ You see how the sameness of speech won them over; for they had a certain reverence toward that language.

Acts 22:3–4. I am a man, a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering up to prison both men and women, as the high priest also bears me witness, and all the council of the elders. He prepares the way for his discourse, beginning thus: ‘I am,’ he says, ‘a man, a Jew’—which they most of all desired to hear. But that they might not again suppose he meant the nation rather than the religion, he adds: ‘brought up in this city.’ He shows his great diligence concerning the worship of God; seeing that, leaving so great a homeland lying so far off, he chose to be brought up here for the sake of the law. He did not simply say ‘with Gamaliel,’ but ‘at the feet,’ indicating his perseverance, his constant attendance, his diligence in listening, his great reverence toward the man. ‘Taught according to the strictness of the ancestral law’—not simply ‘of the law,’ but ‘of the ancestral.’ What then? If you knew the law exactly, do you not defend it, nor love it? ‘Zealous,’ he says. And since he had spoken great praises of himself, he makes the discourse common to all: ‘As you all are this day.’ Notice how many witnesses he brings forward: the council of elders, the high priest, those in the city. Up to this point he had them as witnesses; but the rest of his account is without witnesses.

Acts 22:5–8. From whom also I received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring those who were there bound to Jerusalem to be punished. And it happened, as I journeyed and drew near to Damascus about noon, that suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute.’ For lest you think the affair was a matter of anger, he shows that he did it all out of zeal, not out of vainglory.

Acts 22:9–13. Those who were with me saw the light and became afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about all that is appointed for you to do.’ And since I could not see because of the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who were with me, I came into Damascus. And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well attested by all the Jews dwelling in Damascus, came to me, and standing by said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And in that same hour I looked up at him. ‘They saw the light.’ This happened fittingly, for he alone had to be counted worthy of that voice. For since the duller sort are persuaded rather through sight, those men saw the light and became afraid; yet the light did not work upon them so much as upon him. For it even blinded his eyes, and through the things befalling him it granted to them also to see, if they were willing. But it seems to me that they did not believe, by a divine dispensation, so that they might be trustworthy witnesses. ‘Being led by the hand by those with me, I came to Damascus.’ Well is the city added, so that they might recognize that he had been a persecutor. And he weaves the testimony both through persons and through facts, both his own and others’: the priests, the elders, his fellow travelers; facts bear witness to facts, not the person only. But there is Ananias, an outsider; then the fact itself, the recovery of sight.

Acts 22:14. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you beforehand to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.’ Well did he say, ‘of our fathers,’ to show that they were not Jews but estranged from the law, and were not acting out of zeal. ‘And to see the Righteous One.’ For now he says only this much: that if he is righteous, then these men are guilty.

Acts 22:15–18. For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you delay? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it happened, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not accept your testimony concerning me.’ ‘That you will be a witness for him.’ For this reason: because you will not betray the sight and the hearing. ‘What you have seen and heard,’ he says. Through both of the senses he confirms him. ‘You will be a witness,’ he says, ‘to all men’—not to your own people only, but also to strangers. For this is what witnesses are: they convince not those who already know, but those who do not know. And this is a great prophecy; and see how it has come to fulfillment. For to all men he became a witness through what he did, through what he suffered, through what he said.

Acts 22:19–22. And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I was imprisoning and beating in the synagogues those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was shed, I myself was standing by and consenting to his killing, and guarding the garments of those who slew him.’ And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ And they listened to him up to this word; then they lifted up their voice, saying, ‘Away with such a man from the earth, for it is not fitting that he should live!’ Why did he say, ‘They themselves know’? He said it not contradicting Christ, but wishing to understand a thing so beyond expectation. But Christ did not explain it to him; he only told him to depart. ‘And when the blood of Stephen was shed,’ and what follows. He reminded them of a cruel murder; for at that time Stephen had rebuked them in this very matter, and they could not bear it.

Acts 22:23–29. And as they were crying out and throwing off their garments and casting dust into the air, the tribune commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering that he be examined by scourging, so that he might learn for what cause they so cried out against him. But as they stretched him out with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion standing by, ‘Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?’ When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and reported it, saying, ‘Take care what you are about to do; for this man is a Roman.’ Then the tribune came and said to him, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ The tribune answered, ‘I acquired this citizenship for a large sum.’ And Paul said, ‘But I was even born one.’ Immediately, then, those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the tribune also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman and that he had bound him. ‘So that he might learn for what cause.’ And yet he ought to have learned it from those who were crying out, and asked whether they suspected him of any of the things alleged; but he simply gratifies the authorities and acts to please them. For he was not seeking how he might act justly, but how he might quell their anger, unjust though it was. ‘A man who is a Roman.’ Paul did not lie in saying ‘a Roman.’ For the sake of patronage his father had purchased this title with money, since those deemed worthy to be called by this name enjoyed great honor at that time. And he says this so that, if scourged, he might not become an object of contempt. For if they had scourged him, they would have given the matter another turn and killed him; but as it is, even if for no other reason, yet for this very one, they not only did not scourge him but even released him. Two charges Paul lays against the act of punishing him: one, that it was without trial; the other, that they meant to punish a Roman; and for this reason he cast them into still greater fear. ‘And Paul said, I was even born one.’ Notice that his father too was a Roman. For before Paul was born, Cilicia had already come under the Romans, and so his father, as having come under their power, had necessarily to be a Roman. And meanwhile, according to the prophecy, Paul was bound in Jerusalem, and the prophetic word came to pass. What, then, comes of this? Having loosed him, the tribune brought him down to the Jews. So it was no falsehood; for the tribune was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, that is, a man of distinguished rank.

Acts 22:30. On the next day, wishing to know for certain why he was being accused by the Jews, he loosed him from his bonds and commanded the chief priests and all their council to assemble; and bringing Paul down, he set him before them. And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, ‘Men, brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God up to this day.’ And the high priest Ananias commanded those standing by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, ‘God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall; for do you sit judging me according to the law, and yet, contrary to the law, command me to be struck?’ And those standing by said, ‘Do you revile the high priest of God?’ Paul said, ‘I did not know, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’