Chapter 23

Paul, looking intently at the council. He no longer addresses the multitude, nor the people. And as for the words, I have lived in all good conscience before God to this day, that is, I am not conscious of having wronged you in anything, nor of doing anything that deserves these bonds.

Acts 23:3–5. You sit to judge me according to the law, and yet, transgressing the law, you order me to be struck?—that is, being yourself liable and, as it were, deserving ten thousand blows. Do you revile God’s high priest? I did not know that he was high priest How then did you say, ‘You sit to judge me according to the law’? But he feigns ignorance—an ignorance that does no harm, but rather builds up. Yet I am fully persuaded that he genuinely did not know that the man was high priest, since he had returned only after a long absence, had not associated with the Jews, and saw him in the midst of many others. For the high priest was no longer recognizable among so many and various people. He calls him a whitewashed wall because, although his outward appearance was splendid—as one who vindicated the law and judged by the law—his mind was filled with lawlessness; and so Paul exposes the mere outward guise of his external disposition.

Acts 23:6–7. When Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council: Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

Acts 23:8. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both. ‘I am a Pharisee.’ Again he speaks in a human manner, yet everywhere he enjoys grace. Nor does he lie here either, for he was a Pharisee by descent. Since those men were unwilling to state why they were judging him, he is at last compelled to declare it himself: ‘Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged.’ And from their own accusation and slander he commends himself. The Sadducees, being rather crude, perhaps did not even know God; hence they do not believe that any resurrection takes place. ‘But the Pharisees acknowledge both.’ Yet there are three things; how then does he say ‘both’? But spirit and angel are one, he says; and the word ‘both’ is used even of three. For one must not judge the writings of unlettered men and fishermen by the precise correctness of outward learning. From this, heresies are born.

Acts 23:9–10. And there arose a great clamor; and the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended, saying: We find nothing evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. And as the dissension grew great, the tribune, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered the troops to go down and seize him from among them and bring him into the barracks. ‘But if a spirit has spoken to him.’ Something is lacking to complete the thought, so that it should read thus: ‘But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him’ the contrivance of his speech, that he might escape the plot—it is unclear, he says. Or the phrase is to be taken as spoken by the Pharisees: ‘But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him’—that is, See, in speaking about the resurrection he is plainly one who has been instructed in the doctrine of the resurrection, whether through the Holy Spirit or through an angel. ‘The tribune, fearing.’ He is afraid that Paul might be torn to pieces, since Paul had said that he was a Roman, and the matter was not without danger. And so the troops seize him as their own, I suppose.

Acts 23:11–13. On the following night the Lord stood by him and said: Take courage, Paul; for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so must you also bear witness in Rome. When it was day, some of the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse, declaring that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this plot. ‘The Lord stood by him.’ Since the Lord always gives comfort in afflictions; yet before Paul fell into danger He did not appear to him (for He trains us also in the midst of dangers); and after appearing, He again leaves him to be saved by human means.

Acts 23:14–15. We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, together with the council, notify the tribune to bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you intended to examine his case more closely. And we, before he comes near, are ready to kill him. ‘They bound themselves under a curse.’ That is, they declared themselves to be outside the faith in God if they did not carry out what they had resolved. So whether they broke their promise—as indeed they did—they are accursed; or whether they had succeeded in murdering Paul, again, as murderers, they made themselves accursed, or rather God made them so.

Acts 23:16–24. Now when the son of Paul’s sister heard of the ambush, he came and entered the barracks and reported it to Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said: Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to report to him. So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said: The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, since he has something to tell you. The tribune took him by the hand and, withdrawing privately, asked: What is it that you have to report to me? He said: The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they intended to inquire more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him; and now they are ready, awaiting your consent. So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him to tell no one that he had disclosed these things to him. And calling two of the centurions, he said: Prepare two hundred soldiers to proceed as far as Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, from the third hour of the night. And provide mounts, so that they might set Paul on them and bring him safely through to Felix the governor. ‘Now when the son of Paul’s sister heard of the ambush.’ This belonged to God’s providence—that they did not realize he would overhear. Again Paul is saved by human foresight. And Paul lets no one learn of it, not even the centurion, so that the matter might not become known. It is no fault in Paul that he feared dangers, but rather a weakness of nature (for he was a man), and a credit to his resolve, that, even while dreading death and blows, he did nothing unworthy of himself out of this fear.

Acts 23:25–35. He wrote a letter in this form: Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, when I came up with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he is a Roman. And wishing to know the charge for which they accused him, I brought him down to their council. I found him to be accused concerning questions of their law, but to have no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that a plot was about to be made against the man by the Jews, I sent him to you at once, charging his accusers also to state before you the matters against him. Farewell. So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. On the next day they let the horsemen go on with him and returned to the barracks. They entered Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and presented Paul also to him. When the governor had read it and asked from what province he was, and learned that he was from Cilicia, he said: I will hear you when your accusers also arrive. ‘But having no charge deserving death.’ See here too a letter that contains a defense on his behalf and an accusation against those men. And see how, by the verdict of those outside the faith, Paul is declared innocent—as Christ also was by Pilate. ‘And he ordered him to be kept under guard in Herod’s praetorium.’ It is noteworthy that there was a praetorium of Herod in Caesarea.