Acts 22:22-30
²² And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. ²³ And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, ²⁴ The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. ²⁵ And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? ²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
TRANSCRIPT
I greet you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our text for tonight’s message is taken from Acts 22 verse 22 to 30. When Paul arrived at Jerusalem, the Jews from Asia had accused him of being anti-Jew, that he was against the Jewish people. They also accused him of opposing the Law – that he had blasphemed the temple by bringing in the Gentiles. These three false accusations were very serious. So much so that the people were stirred up and they almost killed Paul if not for God’s intervention by bringing the Roman soldiers. The Roman soldiers arrested Paul and although he was badly beaten, injured and bound in chains, instead of moving away from the multitude who were trying to kill him, he asked for permission to speak to them. Last week we have considered how the Apostle Paul had responded to the people. He shared with the Jewish crowd his life before conversion. And then the went on to speak on the circumstances leading to his conversion. And finally, his life after conversion. Today we will consider “The People’s Response to Paul.”
I. The Reaction of the People
And our first point is: “The Reaction of the People.” Did they accept, or did they reject Paul’s testimony? Let us begin with verse 22. “And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.” If you remember the situation was very chaotic, from one end to the other end, the people were screaming. Then, all of a sudden there was a great silence because the people were surprised, how this man was not afraid. He still had the courage to speak to them. They almost killed him. But they were even more surprised when he could speak in their own Hebrew dialect, mostly likely Aramaic. So, they became even more quiet and they listened attentively to what he had to say. I think the people could accept Paul’s testimony that he was born a Jew. I think they could also accept that he was a student of Gamaliel, the renowned Jewish rabbi. And how he saw a bright light on the road to Damascus and Jesus appeared to him and called him. They would have no problem with all that.
But the moment Paul spoke about God sending him to minister to the Gentiles, that was the final straw. Because they could not tolerate the fact the Gentiles could be saved without first becoming Jewish proselytes. That would mean that the Gentiles were spiritually equal to the Jews. Therefore, they raised their voices and said, “away with such from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live”. In other words, anyone who dared to put the Gentiles on an equal footing with the Jewish people in God’s salvation plan should not be allowed to live on this Earth. He or she should not be allowed to corrupt this earth – that person should be killed.
Have you ever shared with someone, and that person is able to accept everything you say, but the moment you touch on a particular subject, all of a sudden you strike a nerve? For example, when you are sharing the gospel, and the person is able to accept that we are all sinners, the wages of sin is death, Jesus is our Saviour who can save us from our sins, he can accept all that. But the moment you talk about Jesus being exclusively the only saviour of the world, or salvation is only by grace alone through faith not of works lest any man should boast, all of a sudden, you strike a nerve. And you see a negative response. Should we then shy away from speaking the truth? Do you think Paul did not know that the moment he spoke about God sending him to minister to the Gentiles, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, that the Gentiles could be saved in the same way the Jews could be saved, it would surely trigger an adverse reaction? But that did not stop him from speaking the truth.
One amazing thing about the dynamics of preaching is that when we preach, we can see the faces of the people – the reactions, whether they are happy or sad, whether they understand what we are saying or are confused, whether they accept or reject what we say – oftentimes we can tell by their faces. So there’s always this temptation to stop what we are saying when we can see that the people are offended. Even though we know it is the truth and they need to hear the truth, should that stop us from speaking the truth? God forbids.
We must not allow the negative reactions from the people to stop us from speaking the truth, whether in evangelism or discipleship, on the pulpit ministry, teaching the children in the Sunday school or even in the day-to-day conversations we have with our children at home or with our friends and colleagues at work. There will always be negative reactions, but we must never let that deter us from speaking the truth. Of course, if the negative reaction is because we have said something wrongly, we have said something untrue, something controversial, disrespectful, or insensitive, then we should stop, or even apologise. But I’m referring to those times when we are speaking the truth. Never let the negative reactions deter us from upholding the truth of God’s Word.
Let us move onto verse 23. “And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,” which means that they removed their outer coats, most likely they were preparing to stone Paul to death. So, they took off their clothes, or coats, and then prepared themselves to stone him. To throw dust into the air was an expression of their great anger. What was the cause of this great anger?
Basically, it was racial prejudice. The fact that they could not accept the Gentiles to be spiritually equal with them, that was what tipped the scales. They could accept all the other things Paul had said – he was born a Jew, he was a student to Gamaliel, all that. But not this. And their anger caused them to be pushed beyond the ability to reason. They refused to remain listening to Paul’s explanation anymore. This is another important lesson for us to learn. Sometimes, you and I can be found on the other side of the spectrum. As in, we are offended by something someone has said. It can be the truth, it can be something said about our families, something said about our personal lives, about our decisions, and we are not happy. Because of that, we shut our hearts and refuse to listen anymore. You know, there are some people who say, ‘You can speak against me, I can accept. But you cannot speak against my children. That is something I cannot accept’.
You know my friends, then that is a subject that strikes at the very heart of our nerves. All of us must understand there will always be people who will speak against something or someone very precious to us. We cannot stop the people from speaking, but what you and I can do is agree or disagree with the things being said. By way of testimony, as a pastor, there were many things said to me and about me. Do I agree with all those things? No. Some of those things I did agree. Others, I totally disagreed. And I would even say that they were malicious attacks, false accusations evil lies. So, what do I do? Shut myself, isolate myself and not listen anymore? No. I will continue to listen. Those things which I think is true, I will accept. Those things that I think is wrong, unbiblical, not truthful, I reject. That is the only way you and I can learn and grow. So do not shut ourselves and then refuse to listen anymore just because of something said against us at the very onset. You can have the right to reject, you can have the right to agree or disagree. There will be such circumstances, such situations.
II. The Attitude of Paul
Our second point is: “The Attitude of Paul.” Look at verse 24. “The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.”
The chief captain, or commander could not understand the reason why the crowd was shouting against the Apostle Paul. So, he ordered Paul to be brought into the Roman barracks, so they could scourge him to find out the real reason. In those days, the Romans would have a wooden handle with leather strips attached to it. At the end of the leather strips, they would fasten pieces of metal or bones. Using this instrument, they would scourge or whip the person. And his skins would be ripped apart. It was one of the most painful forms of torture. Some of the victims would die because of the loss of blood, or because of infection. To examine means to investigate. In other words, the purpose was to extract information by way of torture. To force the person to reveal certain information which otherwise he would not reveal. So, using this form of torture, they force the person to reveal certain things.
This kind of torture is not uncommon, even in modern times. I remember several decades ago, when the Criminal Investigation Department in Singapore known as the CID, when they arrested the secret society gang members, they would subject them to all kinds of horrendous kinds of torture to force them to reveal secrets about their gangs. Sometimes they would use the telephone book. You may be surprised. Why use the telephone book? In those days, there was no internet. The only way to find out a person’s telephone number was through the telephone book. You can imagine the entire country’s telephone numbers would be in this one book. So, it was a very thick book. They would put this book against the body of this person, and then beat the person. There would be no visible injuries, but there would be internal injuries. The purpose was to extract information that, otherwise, he would not reveal. Very similar to what the Romans were planning to do to the Apostle Paul. But the difference was that it was many times worse because scourging was one of the most painful torture.
At this point in time, it is worth it for us to remember our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Do you remember our Lord Jesus, he endured Pontius’ Pilates scourging. John 19 verse 1 says this: “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him.” Jesus willingly subjected himself to the scourging because of you and me. He loved us so much that He was willing to be scourged, even before He went to the cross. That is our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the victim was being scourged, he might struggle, due to the intense pain. Therefore, the Roman soldiers had to bind Paul. Look at verse 25. “And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by”. Fortunately, Roman citizens were exempted from scourging. Even more so, when that Roman citizen had not yet been found guilty. So, Paul said this: “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?”.
Notice Paul did not scream or shout. He remained very calm in the midst of adversities. He simply informed the centurion that it was a violation of his rights as a Roman citizen. My friends, there may come a point in time when our rights may be violated, or we may be wrong. We can gently declare our rights, we can express our disapproval or disagreement, but we do not need to scream or shout. We do not need to be disrespectful and then lose our Christian testimony. Sometimes we may not be guilty initially, but subsequently. By that, I mean that initially we may not be guilty. We may be the victim, we may be falsely accused, but subsequently, in our response, in our actions, we say all kinds of wicked things. We say all kinds of wrong things. And then, we become guilty. So let us remember that not just initially but even subsequently, we must always protect our Christian testimonies.
Paul calmly said to them “is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?” Verse 26: “When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.” If you remember in Acts 21 verse 39, maybe you can turn with me to this verse. Let me read for you. Paul said: “I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city”. Notice Paul simply said he was from Tarsus, a city in Cilicia. Now the question is this: why did he not reveal that he was a Roman citizen? Did he do that on purpose? We do not know the reason Paul did not reveal his Roman citizenship at the very onset. I do not think Paul was malicious in keeping this fact from the chief captain and then waited for the very moment he was about to be scourged and then cried out: ‘There, I got you. You didn’t know that I am a Roman citizen, right? You didn’t ask. It is your fault. Now you are caught. I want to appeal.’ It would be most foolish for Paul to do that. Paul would not have done that.
Have you ever encountered someone who would ask you a question, but he or she would not tell you the background of the question? He or she would not tell you everything, or only reveal certain things of the whole matter and then withhold the rest from you. And when you respond to the question insufficiently because you do not understand or know what the question was all about, that person would say: ‘There, I got you. I have proven you to be wrong.’ It is like the ‘ah ha moment’. My friends, there will always be such people around us, but as believers, we must never do that. You and I must always uphold the truth. If you and I could anticipate that our lack of explanation, lack of communication, would lead someone to come to the wrong conclusion or make the wrong decision, then we need to clarify ourselves at the very onset before we allow that person to make a mistake and then we confront him or her. Do not do that.
Why do I share about this? Because, if you and I were to apply this principle in our lives, whether it be in the relationships between pastors and members, members and members, husbands and wives, parents and children, we would remove all kinds of unnecessary problems. Never deliberately withhold truth from a particular matter and then wait for the opportunity to confront the person when he or she makes the mistake. I do not think that Paul was such a person. He did not purposely withhold this truth that he was not – that he was a Roman citizen from the very onset. He could have said that. But I do not think that he did that on purpose, but I am drawing this spiritual lesson which all of us can apply into our lives.
A centurion was someone in charge of one hundred soldiers. A chief captain, or commander, was someone in charge of one thousand soldiers. So, the chief captain would have several centurions serving under him, and when one of the centurions learned about Paul being a Roman citizen, he immediately informed the chief captain, because the Romans’ law disallowed Roman soldiers to be scourged. So even if the chief captain were to scourge Paul, it could even cause him his military career, or perhaps even his life. It was a very serious offense. That was the reason why verse 27 tells us: “Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.” Verse 28: “And the chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.”
Although Roman citizenship was not for sale, however if you study church history, or history of the world, you will learn that during the time of the emperor Claudius, the people could obtain Roman citizenships by bribery – paying a large sum of money to the authorities. Remember, the chief captain’s name was Claudius Lysias. Apparently, he had named himself after the emperor Claudius. Perhaps, after he received his Roman citizenship. And how did he receive his Roman citizenship? He said this: “With a great sum obtained I this freedom”, which means he ‘bought’ his Roman citizenship. So in a sense, he was speaking to Paul in a sarcastic fashion, ‘Did you also pay a great sum of money to obtain this freedom as a Roman citizen?’ But Paul replied: ‘I was born a Roman citizen’. Unlike the chief captain, Paul did not obtain his Roman citizenship by bribery, but by birth. That is what it means.
Verse 29: “Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.” Immediately, all the soldiers who were preparing to investigate Paul by ways of scourging, they withdrew themselves. Even the chief captain was afraid when he knew that Paul was a Roman citizen because it was not only illegal to scourge a Roman citizen, it was also illegal to bound a Roman citizen before he could have a proper hearing. So, he released him, and he brought Paul before the Jewish judges – the Sanhedrin council. Since the riot was started by the Jews, and the Jews were the ones who disagreed with Paul, it was a Jewish matter. So he turned Paul to the Jewish Sanhedrin council. That is found in verse 30. Let us look at the final verse 30: “On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews”, which means he still did not know the reason why Paul was accused by the Jews. “he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.” So, Paul was released by the Romans and he was made to stand before the Sanhedrin council. Now the ball was in their court.
Next week, we will consider how Paul responded to the Jewish leaders. Did he compromise, or did he continue to speak the truth? Can anything stop him from speaking the truth? If there’s one lesson for us to take home tonight: is there anything that will stop us from speaking the truth? Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this blessed Friday prayer meeting. We thank Thee for how Thou hast brought us together, to unite our hearts, to submit our prayers and supplications unto Thee. And even for this opportunity for us to consider a portion of Thy Word. We acknowledge that Thy Word is infallible and inherent. Thy Word is what we need in our lives. We thank Thee that Thou hast given us this opportunity to consider this passage. O Lord, tonight we have seen the reaction of the people. They did not accept Paul’s testimony, and they have closed their hearts. They have shut themselves from hearing his explanation any further. We learn to draw lessons from this passage. Help us not to behave like how the people reacted. There will be circumstances in our lives, there will be situations. We pray that we will always use Thy Word as a yardstick as we respond and react to the different circumstances, and may Thou find us faithful in the way we live our lives. And we also learn from Paul’s attitude, how he responded in a very calm fashion. Though his rights were violated, he did not respond in an arrogant manner or disrespectful manner. He simply and calmly informed the centurion that he was a Roman citizen. And we believe that Thy servant did not purposely withhold this truth from the chief captain at the very onset. He did not do that on purpose. We do not know the reason why, but he was not malicious.
Oh Lord, we pray that as we draw valuable lessons from this passage, help us that we will always uphold Thy truth, we will always be truthful in our conversations, in our dealings with people, that our yay be yay, our nay be nay. That if we anticipate that our lack of explanation or lack of communication will lead a person to come to the wrong conclusion or make a wrong decision, at the very onset, we will clarify ourselves rather than mislead anyone for the person to make a mistake and then confront that person. God forbids. Oh Lord, Thou knowest our hearts. So, help us that we will always be truthful. And we pray that Thou would teach us and continually teach us as we draw valuable lessons from the book of Acts. Help us to apply them into our lives too. This is what we need as we live our lives on this Earth. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SERMON OUTLINE
THE BOOK OF ACTS30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #3: The Church and the Sacraments30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #3: The Church and the SacramentsActs 2:41-47
30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #2: The Church and Fellowship30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #2: The Church and FellowshipActs 2:42
30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #4: The Church and the Prayers30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #4: The Church and the PrayersActs 2:42
30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #1: The Church and The World30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #1: The Church and The WorldActs 2:42
Always Ready to Defend the FaithAlways Ready to Defend the FaithActs 6:8-15
The First ChristianThe First ChristianActs 11:19-26
Low ExpectationsLow ExpectationsActs 12:1-19
Message 5: The Church & DiscipleshipMessage 5: The Church & DiscipleshipActs 14:20-28
God Encouraged His ServantGod Encouraged His ServantActs 18:9-17
The End of the Second Missionary JourneyThe End of the Second Missionary JourneyActs 18:18-28
The Beginning of the Third Missionary JourneyThe Beginning of the Third Missionary JourneyActs 19:1-7
The Riot at EphesusThe Riot at EphesusActs 19:21-41
The Characteristics of a Faithful ServantThe Characteristics of a Faithful ServantActs 20:1-6
The Lord's Day Worship ServiceThe Lord's Day Worship ServiceActs 20:7-16
The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant (Part 1)The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant (Part 1)Acts 20:17-19
The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant (Part 2)The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant (Part 2)Acts 20:20-24
A Charge to Keep (Part 1)A Charge to Keep (Part 1)Acts 20:25-28
The Believer's Conviction (Part 1)The Believer's Conviction (Part 1)Acts 21:1-6
The Believer’s Conviction (Part 2)The Believer’s Conviction (Part 2)Acts 21:7-16
Paul’s Arrival At JerusalemPaul’s Arrival At JerusalemActs 21:17-26
Paul's Arrest at JerusalemPaul's Arrest at JerusalemActs 21:27-39
Paul's Response to His ArrestPaul's Response to His ArrestActs 21:40-22:21
The People’s Response to PaulThe People’s Response to PaulActs 22:22-30
Paul Stood Before the SanhedrinPaul Stood Before the SanhedrinActs 23:1-11
God's Miraculous Deliverance (Part 1)God's Miraculous Deliverance (Part 1)Acts 23:12-17
God’s Miraculous Deliverance (Part 2)God’s Miraculous Deliverance (Part 2)Acts 23:18-35
The Accusers before the Roman Governor FelixThe Accusers before the Roman Governor FelixActs 24:1-9
Paul’s Defence Before FelixPaul’s Defence Before FelixActs 24:10-21
Felix's Response to Paul's DefenceFelix's Response to Paul's DefenceActs 24:22-27
Paul’s Defence Before FestusPaul’s Defence Before FestusActs 25:1-12
Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 1)Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 1)Acts 25:13-27
Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 2)Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 2)Acts 26:1-18
Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 3)Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 3)Acts 26:19-32
A Friend In Need Is A Friend IndeedA Friend In Need Is A Friend IndeedActs 27:1-12
What Can Trials Do To Us?What Can Trials Do To Us?Acts 27:13-26
The Prophecy Came to PassThe Prophecy Came to PassActs 27:27-44
Paul's Arrival at RomePaul's Arrival at RomeActs 28:1-16
The Story Did Not End HereThe Story Did Not End HereActs 28:17-31
