Cq – Paul is Protected by Roman Law 22: 22-29

Paul is Protected by Roman Law
22: 22-29

57 AD

Paul is protected by Roman Law DIG: What was it that turned the crowd against Paul? What does throwing off their cloaks and throwing dust into the air mean? How serious was the flogging that Paul was about to receive? Why was Paul’s Roman citizen considered superior to that of the Roman commander Lysias? How was Paul’s status as a Roman citizen an asset in his ministry to the Gentiles in verses 25-29 (also see 16:37-38)?

REFLECT: How is your citizenship an asset for spreading the gospel? How can you better use this asset? Think of someone (or perhaps several people) whose salvation has been the cry of your heart for a long time. How does their continued refusal to receive Messiah affect you? How do you personally judge the success of any undertaking – spiritual or otherwise? Why are end results often a poor judge of that?

On a human scale we cannot judge Paul’s visit to Jerusalem a success. Perhaps his experiences in places like Athens (to see link clkci Cb – An Unknown God in Athens) and Yerushalayim will teach us to think differently about success and failure. Hopefully, we will come to understand that in our lives in service to Messiah, success is obedience to Him, not results we can measure.

I’m sure Paul wanted to bear fruit in Yerushalayim more than any other place on earth. Yet we see him face greater opposition and struggle in Jerusalem than virtually anywhere in his ministry. In the Holy City, Paul was forced to measure his ministry strictly on his obedience to the Spirit, not outward results. Unfortunately, the Jews didn’t think much of Paul’s purpose on this earth. Once he acknowledged the importance of the Gentiles to God (see Cp – Paul’s Testimony on the Temple Steps), he lost his audience. Sadly, their personal need to feel superior exceeded their desire to be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3b).

Paul desperately wanted the Jews to receive Christ. Was he a failure because they rejected him? Was his testimony shared in vain? Absolutely not. God had compelled Paul to go to Jerusalem (see Ck – Paul Went on to Jerusalem Despite Warnings). He had warned him of hardships. He had given Paul an opportunity to share his testimony with the very crowd who had just tried to kill him. Did they hear Paul’s message? Oh, yes. Otherwise, they would not have responded so emotionally. Few of those in hearing distance that day forgot Paul’s testimony. We cannot judge effectiveness from immediate results. According to John 14:26, the Holy Spirit can remind a person of truth taught long ago. When we obey God, we find great comfort in leaving the consequences up to Him.

Paul avoided a flogging because God equipped him with Roman citizenship even before his birth. God used every ounce and detail of Paul’s past, even his unique citizenship. I want God to use every ounce of me too. Paul poured himself out like a drink offering in Jerusalem. He received little encouragement to preach while he was there – but he continued. Paul’s certainty of what he had been called to do was exceeded only by his certainty of who called. Paul considered Him who called, worth it all.⁵²⁷

The anger of the mob: Up to the point when Paul said: For I will send you far away to the Gentiles (see Co – Paul’s Arrest in Jerusalem), the Jews kept on listened to him. But the very mention of Gentiles stopped Paul’s speech because the Jews objected to the idea that Gentiles being granted equality with Jews. In their eyes, proselytism (making Gentiles into Jews) was fine; but evangelism (Making Gentiles into believers without first making them Jews) was an abomination.⁵²⁸ So, they raised their voices, saying: Away from the earth with this fellow! For he’s not fit to live! They wanted to kill him (22:22). In the period leading up to the Revolt (66-70 AD), the Zealots took the law into their own hands in increasingly violent ways, executing actual, or even potential collaborators with Rome without consulting or being authorized by the Great Sanhedrin.

As they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and throwing dust into the air while demanding the blood of Paul (22:23). The reference to throwing off their cloaks seems to allude, as in Stephen’s case (7:57-58), to the removal of outer clothing in preparation for stoning. The action of throwing dust into the air is a mourning custom attested to when Job’s friends arrive to comfort him over the deaths of his sons and daughters: Each one tore his robe and threw dust into the air onto their heads. Then they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him because they saw that his pain was very great (Job 2:12-13). Several biblical passages also suggest that people expressed their grief by rolling in the dust (Jeremiah 6:26; Micah 1:10).⁵²⁹

We must remember the volatile climate in Yerushalayim at that time (see Cn – Paul’s Advice from Jacob and the Elders at Jerusalem), when there was no love lost for the Goyim, much less for a mission to the Gentiles. This would be especially true if Paul was suggesting that some Gentiles might be taking the place of some Jews (who rejected Paul’s message) in the Kingdom of God. To them, Paul seemed to be disloyal to all that was Jewish.

The trump card of Paul: The commander had had enough! Although Claudius Lysias didn’t understand Paul’s speech because it was given in Hebrew, he knew hostile and violent reactions when he saw them, and was prepared to take drastic action to restore order. So, the commander ordered Paul to be brought into headquarters at Fortress Antonia. His assumption was that Paul was the obvious cause of the problem, and he was determined to get to the bottom of the matter very quickly.⁵³⁰ He said Paul should be examined by flogging (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Lr – The Soldiers Mock Jesus), so that he might find out why they were shouting against him so (22:24). The scourge (Latin: flagellum) was a fearful instrument of torture, consisting of leather tongs, weighted with rough pieces of metal or bone, and attached to a stout wooden handle. This was a much more severe beating than was given to him with rods in Philippi (16:22). If the man did not actually die under the scourge, he would certainly be crippled for life.⁵³¹ The commander still didn’t know the reason for the uproar because Paul’s speech was in Hebrew so he was determined to whip it out of him (see the commentary on the Life of Solomon Af – Prisoners for ADONAI).

To get the truth in the shortest time possible, the Romans simply tied the hands of a prisoner around a stone pole with straps and literally whipped the prisoner until he either died or was willing to say whatever was necessary to get the torture to stop! So, when they stretched him out with straps, Paul said, almost sarcastically to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen without due process” (22:25)? He did not flaunt his Roman citizenship, but only used it unless it was absolutely necessary. In this case . . . it was absolutely necessary! Now when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it, saying sharply, “What are you going to do? For this man is Roman” (22:25-26). Since Paul had not been charged, nor had the commander been informed of the grounds for a charge, flogging him prior to trial would have been a misuse of authority for which the commander himself would have been held responsible. By questioning the flogging, Paul was saving the commander as well as himself.⁵³²

By now Lysias must have been thoroughly confused about Paul. At first he mistook him for an Egyptian revolutionary. Then he learned that he was a Jew and a citizen of the important city of Tarsus, a man of some culture who spoke polished Greek. Then he learned Paul was a Roman citizen. But the surprises were not over. Soon he would learn that Paul was born a Roman citizen, an even higher status than Lysias himself!⁵³³

The commander, being acutely aware that he was in trouble for having arrested and mistreated a Roman citizen, came and said to Paul, “You? a Roman?” And Paul said, “Yes” (The commander assumed this to be true because certain death awaited anyone falsely claiming Roman citizenship). The commander answered, “I bought my citizenship for a large sum” (22:27-28). This was, of course, not actually the case, because it was not legal to do so. What is meant is that through the paying of a bribe, citizenship had been illegally obtained. This was certainly possible, and in fact during the reign of Claudius there seems to have been considerable trafficking in citizenships. That the commander had the same name Claudius, points to his having obtained his citizenship during the reign of Claudius, for it was customary to take the name of one’s sponsor or patron. Probably Lysias had worked his way up through the military ranks but would have been barred from the rank of commander because he was not a Roman citizen. Therefore, he solved his problem with a bribe!⁵³⁴ Paul’s reply, however, came with quiet dignity: But I was born one. Unlike Lysias, Paul had not obtained his citizenship by birth. Not only had he violated Roman law, but had also abused a Roman of higher rank than himself! Again, the commander had badly misjudged his Jewish prisoner.

Earlier had told the commander that he was a citizen of Tarsus. But that alone didn’t make him a Roman citizen because Tarsus was a free city, not a Roman colony like Philippi. So Paul’s family obtained citizenship by some imperial decree and so Paul was born one. Therefore, those who were about to interrogate him instantly drew back from him (22:29a). They were afraid of even being associated with the flogging of a Roman citizen.

The reaction of Lysias: And the commander also was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman and that he had bound him to be flogged (22:29b). This was the second time Roman law and justice came to Paul’s aide. On learning Paul’s citizenship, the whole procedure was stopped immediately. Lysias was quite alarmed when he realized that he had placed Paul in chains. To subject a Roman citizen to the flagellum could have destroyed Lysias’ military career or even cost him his life. Evidently the Julian and Porcian laws protected Roman citizens from being placed in chains without due process. But Paul’s situation was complicated by the fact that his detention could be considered protective custody rather than an arrest. Nevertheless, from that point on, Lysias treated Paul with great respect. But, he still didn’t understand the Jewish charges against Paul. Examination by flogging was obviously out of the question. So, the commander turned to another avenue for answering his questions, the Jewish Supreme Court or the Great Sanhedrin.₅₃₅

Paul’s conduct throughout his ordeal provides us with an example for all believers of how to give a positive testimony in negative circumstances. Five principles can be seen.

First, Paul accepted the situation as God ordained it. Facing persecution never caused him to be unfaithful to God’s plan. He had known for some time that he faced arrest when he arrived in Jerusalem (20:22-23, 21:4 and 10-13). He calmly accepted the will of ADONAI, telling those trying to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem, “I am ready not only to be bound but to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Yeshua” (21:13)!

Second, Paul used his circumstances as an opportunity. The mob had not gathered to hear him preach but to kill him (22:22). Paul, however, used that occasion to proclaim to them how God’s saving power had transformed his life.

Third Paul was conciliatory toward his persecutors. He did not threaten the hostile mob or seek revenge. Instead, he courteously addressed them as brothers and fathers (22:1), and even assigned to their vicious beating of him the noble motive of zeal for Ha’Shem. Paul practiced the command that he had written earlier to the believers in Rome, “Bless those who persecute you – bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14). He was like his Savior, who when He was abused, He did not return abuse. While suffering, He made no threats. Instead, He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously (First Peter 2:23).

Fourth, Paul praised the Lord. His defense to the mob focused not on his impressive credentials and achievements, but on what God had accomplished in his life. That was consistent with his words to the church at Corinth: So that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in ADONAI” (First Corinthians 1:31).

Fifth, and most important, Paul maintained the proper attitude – one of selfless love. It was his love for other believers that brought him to Yerushalayim (to deliver the collection from the Gentile churches). It was his love for his unsaved fellow Israelites (Romans 9:1-3), that led him to evangelize the hostile mob. And it was his love for God that motivated his love for people and caused him to give glory to Him.⁵³⁶

A closer look at Paul and Roman citizenship: There are only two places in the book of Acts where Paul’s Roman citizenship really become an issue, in Acts 16:37-39 and 22. In both cases Paul only draws his citizenship to the attention of Roman authorities and those working under them, and in both cases Paul’s announcement is made for the purpose of influencing their improper conduct towards him. In the vast majority of material in Acts that involves Paul, the matter doesn’t come up at all. In view of this, it might be better to ask why the matter comes up were it does in Acts 16:37-39 and 22, rather than asking why doesn’t it come up elsewhere and earlier in Acts.

In Acts 16:37-39, Paul does not mention his Roman citizenship until after he is released after his flogging at the hands of the Roman authorities. And here, Paul does not mention it while still within earshot of the volatile Jewish mob, even when he was addressing the commander, for the very good reason that this would not have helped his cause with the Jewish audience. It would have merely amounted to pouring gas on an already raging fire. Paul only chose to use his Roman citizenship when if furthered the advancement of the gospel, not when it merely personally advantageous for him to do so. Paul’s sense of identity came first from his faith in Yeshua, secondly from his Jewish heritage, and only thirdly from his Greco-Roman heritage.

From now on, Paul’s Roman citizenship and Roman law will dictate how the narrative will proceed, determining not only who will try Paul’s case, but ultimately, where he will be tried. It will also affect how Paul is treated while in Roman custody. The narrative, from now on, not only moves inexorably forward toward its geographical destination of Rome, but it also turns on all things Roman.⁵³⁷

You reign, Lord! The world is firmly established – it will not move. You will judge the peoples with fairness. So let the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar – and all that fills it; let the land rejoice – and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing with joy before You, for You are coming to judge the earth. You will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with Your faithfulness (Psalm 96:10-13). I put my trust and reputation in Your hands, Lord, for You will make all things known.⁵³⁸