Arrested in Jerusalem, Paul gives his testimony to the Jews who had dragged him from the Temple. BRUCE C WEARNE continues his in-depth look at the Acts of the Apostles…
And so having made way for him to do so, Paul stood there on the steps, indicating to the people that he was about to speak. And when all was sufficiently still he addressed them in Hebrew: “Fellows, brothers and fathers, hear this defence which I will now make to you.”
Hearing him address them in the Hebrew dialect, they quietened down even more and so he began: “I am a Jewish man, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, trained in strict accordance with our ancestor’s law, with just as much zeal for [the honour of] God as you have shown today. I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting both men and women and taking it upon myself to hand them over to prison. The high priest and the whole council of elders can confirm my testimony. For from them I received letters [authorising my mission] to the brethren, and I journeyed to Damascus in order to arrest them and to bring them bound to Jerusalem to be punished.
“And so I made my journey and drew near to Damascus. It was about noon when a powerful light from the heavens suddenly shone all around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you in hot pursuit of me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth – the one for whom you are in hot pursuit.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but [could not tell you about what I heard because] they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What am I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that has been decided for you to do.’ And so, because I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. That was when a devout man according to the law, by name of Ananias, well regarded by all the Jews living there, came to me, and standing by my side said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight’. And in that very hour I did receive my sight and I saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Just One and to hear a voice from His mouth; for you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Get up now and be baptised, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’ After, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in thee. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was shed, I also there was standing by and approving of it, keeping the garments of those who killed him.’ And He said to me, ‘Get going; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ “
Up to this point the crowd had listened to him. Now they lifted up their voices and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow! He does not deserve to live!” – Acts 21:40-22:22/transliteration by Bruce C Wearne
St Paul (taken outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London). PICTURE: David Adams
IN A NUTSHELL
Paul is able to calm the crowd and explain to them who he is, what he has been doing and what he believes.
So Paul gives his story. He addresses the Jews in their own language (Aramaic). Did the tribune need an interpreter to assess Paul’s address. He realised that Paul was no terrorist when he had spoken to him in Greek. But would Paul’s message get through to the crowd? Reading it again we wonder if Paul thought he was close to convincing them. Wouldn’t they want to believe that the Messianic promises from Moses and the prophets had come true? The Messiah had come and many Jews, Paul says, will attest to what I say. So then, to push home his advantage, Paul gets personal.
Paul tells how he had hounded the followers of The Way in the same way that this mosh-pitted frenzy had bashed him to within an inch of his life. He tells the crowd that he was complicit in the murderous death of Stephen, a confession of sin that recalls Stephen’s accusation of the Sanhedrin according to how the Scriptures reveal the complicity of God’s own people in the death of God’s own Son. He then gets even more personal, telling them how this Messiah, Jesus, appeared to him. It is as if there is a pause and then: “And Jesus said to me: Depart; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!”
This is the context in which God has sent him to the Gentiles, to the non-Jewish world who had not yet heard of God’s favour and of His promises. But the crowd erupts in total antagonism. Paul claims to have been sent as an emissary with a message from the Lord, just as Jesus’ apostles had been sent. They have been sent by the One inhabiting the heavens of the heavens, who rules over all. But the crowd interprets this as Paul’s self-condemnation, just as Paul had earlier on heard Stephen’s witness as mere self-condemnation.
Recall once more that Luke’s aim is to tell the story of what Jesus continued to do after His ascension to Glory (Acts 1:1). He’s the One who, by His word, got the apostles and Paul and those living in Jerusalem who believed in Him, into this fearsome jam. Paul, in pursuing Jewish believers in Israel’s Messiah, is met by the person he has been relentlessly pursuing. Jesus turns Paul around. Now he will find himself being pursued and persecuted by those with the very same zealotry that previously had taken hold of him.
We also read this as Luke’s account of the strengthening of his own faith through the ongoing support and encouragement of the Spirit. Paul’s confession that the Messiah had sent him to tell the news to all Gentiles might have been fiercely resisted by people from the Messiah’s own nation, but Luke has heard this as a message of inestimable benefit.
OPEN BOOK – HINTS FROM THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS: TESTIMONY
Arrested in Jerusalem, Paul gives his testimony to the Jews who had dragged him from the Temple. BRUCE C WEARNE continues his in-depth look at the Acts of the Apostles…
And so having made way for him to do so, Paul stood there on the steps, indicating to the people that he was about to speak. And when all was sufficiently still he addressed them in Hebrew: “Fellows, brothers and fathers, hear this defence which I will now make to you.”
Hearing him address them in the Hebrew dialect, they quietened down even more and so he began: “I am a Jewish man, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, trained in strict accordance with our ancestor’s law, with just as much zeal for [the honour of] God as you have shown today. I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting both men and women and taking it upon myself to hand them over to prison. The high priest and the whole council of elders can confirm my testimony. For from them I received letters [authorising my mission] to the brethren, and I journeyed to Damascus in order to arrest them and to bring them bound to Jerusalem to be punished.
“And so I made my journey and drew near to Damascus. It was about noon when a powerful light from the heavens suddenly shone all around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you in hot pursuit of me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth – the one for whom you are in hot pursuit.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but [could not tell you about what I heard because] they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What am I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that has been decided for you to do.’ And so, because I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. That was when a devout man according to the law, by name of Ananias, well regarded by all the Jews living there, came to me, and standing by my side said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight’. And in that very hour I did receive my sight and I saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Just One and to hear a voice from His mouth; for you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Get up now and be baptised, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’ After, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in thee. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was shed, I also there was standing by and approving of it, keeping the garments of those who killed him.’ And He said to me, ‘Get going; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ “
Up to this point the crowd had listened to him. Now they lifted up their voices and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow! He does not deserve to live!” – Acts 21:40-22:22/transliteration by Bruce C Wearne
St Paul (taken outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London). PICTURE: David Adams
IN A NUTSHELL
Paul is able to calm the crowd and explain to them who he is, what he has been doing and what he believes.
So Paul gives his story. He addresses the Jews in their own language (Aramaic). Did the tribune need an interpreter to assess Paul’s address. He realised that Paul was no terrorist when he had spoken to him in Greek. But would Paul’s message get through to the crowd? Reading it again we wonder if Paul thought he was close to convincing them. Wouldn’t they want to believe that the Messianic promises from Moses and the prophets had come true? The Messiah had come and many Jews, Paul says, will attest to what I say. So then, to push home his advantage, Paul gets personal.
Paul tells how he had hounded the followers of The Way in the same way that this mosh-pitted frenzy had bashed him to within an inch of his life. He tells the crowd that he was complicit in the murderous death of Stephen, a confession of sin that recalls Stephen’s accusation of the Sanhedrin according to how the Scriptures reveal the complicity of God’s own people in the death of God’s own Son. He then gets even more personal, telling them how this Messiah, Jesus, appeared to him. It is as if there is a pause and then: “And Jesus said to me: Depart; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!”
This is the context in which God has sent him to the Gentiles, to the non-Jewish world who had not yet heard of God’s favour and of His promises. But the crowd erupts in total antagonism. Paul claims to have been sent as an emissary with a message from the Lord, just as Jesus’ apostles had been sent. They have been sent by the One inhabiting the heavens of the heavens, who rules over all. But the crowd interprets this as Paul’s self-condemnation, just as Paul had earlier on heard Stephen’s witness as mere self-condemnation.
Recall once more that Luke’s aim is to tell the story of what Jesus continued to do after His ascension to Glory (Acts 1:1). He’s the One who, by His word, got the apostles and Paul and those living in Jerusalem who believed in Him, into this fearsome jam. Paul, in pursuing Jewish believers in Israel’s Messiah, is met by the person he has been relentlessly pursuing. Jesus turns Paul around. Now he will find himself being pursued and persecuted by those with the very same zealotry that previously had taken hold of him.
We also read this as Luke’s account of the strengthening of his own faith through the ongoing support and encouragement of the Spirit. Paul’s confession that the Messiah had sent him to tell the news to all Gentiles might have been fiercely resisted by people from the Messiah’s own nation, but Luke has heard this as a message of inestimable benefit.
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