AP

Studies in Acts

An Apologia (Acts 22:1-23)

How did the mistreated apostle address his audience? The mob had violated the fraternal bond and just now had almost killed him as an enemy of God’s people. But just like Stephen, he acknowledged his loving and intimate relationship with this people, addressing them as “brothers” and the older ones as “fathers”! He continued to see himself as an Israelite alongside them (cf. Romans 9:1-5). Next, he asked them kindly to listen to what he was about to explain in his own defence. He made it as easy as possible for them to listen to him. The crowd thought he was a Hellenist. These Greek-speaking Jews no longer spoke ancient Hebrew fluently. Aramaic was the language of their fatherland. The Jews from Asia who had accused Paul were generally only Greek-speaking. But to the surprise of the entire multitude, that “enemy of his people” spoke fluent Aramaic, their mother tongue! Or was it Hebrew, as the text states literally? In so doing, he brought them in, and the plaza became even quieter.

Faithful to his Jewish descent and faith

No, Paul was no transgressor of the law and enemy of the Jewish people. On the contrary, he continued, I am a purebred Jew, born in the diaspora, in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised here in Jerusalem. I have been trained as a scribe at the feet of the famous rabbi, Gamaliel. My so-called “apostasy” was therefore not caused by any lack of education. From him I learned to observe the Law and the traditions of our ancestors as strictly as possible (cf. Galatians 1:14). I had then as fervent a zeal for God as you are displaying today when you want to kill me. (This was a zeal “without understanding” [Romans 10:2], but Paul did not add that here).

I persecuted Jesus’ followers fiercely (Acts 22:4-5)

Many of his listeners perhaps didn’t know Paul at all. They hated him simply because he was proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah. But did they know how fiercely Paul had persecuted the teaching and followers of Jesus twenty years earlier? Paul recounts: I wanted to destroy that Jesus-movement root and branch. As an inquisitor I had innocent men and even women thrown into prison and locked up. The “zeal” of his listeners had just now almost cost Paul his life, but through his own “zeal” some Christians had indeed lost their lives. An incredible story? The highest Jewish authorities, the High Priest, and the Sanhedrin, can confirm that I have indeed been a fanatical inquisitor. They granted me written authority to arrest followers of Jesus as far away as Damascus. I would bring them bound to Jerusalem so they could face trial here. At that time, I was a zealot for God’s law, God’s house, and God’s people. Precisely the opposite of what the Jews from Asia are claiming about me (Acts 21:28). A series of divine miracles was needed to change me.

Jesus of Nazareth converted me from persecutor to preacher (Acts 22:6-11)

Paul goes on to tell how the miracles had taken place, and how he was changed from a persecutor into a preacher. Not by means of people bringing him around, but by means of God’s Son arresting him. With this, he moved into a testimony about what God and the Lord Jesus had done with him. “It happened near Damascus. Around noon, when the sun was at its highest and was shining its clearest light. Suddenly I was surrounded by a light from heaven that was even brighter than the midday sun.” This was the first miracle. Such a light indicated a divine appearance, something his listeners understood immediately. God is light. He dwells in the light and shines in the light (Exodus 13:21; Psalm 104:2; Habakkuk. 3:4; 1 John 1:5). “This heavenly light was so overpowering that I fell to the ground because of it. Then a second miracle occurred: I heard a voice that called out my Hebrew name twice: ‘Saul, Saul.’”  That too pointed to a theophany. Paul’s listeners knew from Scripture that when God called people, he often repeated their name: “Abraham, Abraham” (Genesis 22:11; cf. 46:2). From the burning bush he said: “Moses, Moses” (Exodus 3:4). In the tabernacle he called: “Samuel, Samuel” (1 Samuel 3:10). It was clearly God who was calling Paul. “Why are you persecuting me?” the voice asked. So, the zealot for God was in fact an opponent of God! “Who are you, Lord?” I asked. And then came the shocking answer: “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.” The crucified Jesus was alive after all! He had really been raised from the dead and taken up into heaven, as his apostles were testifying. God stood at Jesus’ side and Jesus stood on the side of those whom I was persecuting all the way to fire and sword. “Why are you persecuting me?” he had even asked.

For Paul during this time, such an experience had turned his entire pharisaic house upside down. For his listeners this was an equally shocking testimony about three facts. First, that Jesus obviously was not dead, as the Sanhedrin had claimed (Matthew 28:11-15), that he had risen and ascended to heaven, there to be clothed with divine glory. Second, that he had spoken to Paul from heaven. Third, that he was united to his persecuted believers. This divine revelation was directed only to Paul. His companions did see the supernatural light, for that shone around them as well. They also heard a voice, but they did not understand what was said. This was a new miracle: ‘I was the only one who both saw the light and understood what Jesus said.’

Jesus placed a royal claim upon me and had already established his plan for my apostolic labour. For when I asked with deep humility: ‘Lord, what must I do?’ he said to me: ‘Rise and go to Damascus; there you will hear exactly what has been arranged for you and what you must do.’ In this way, Jesus of Nazareth, whose corpse had allegedly been stolen, had spoken to Paul from heaven. What a renewed testimony this was about his resurrection from the dead and exultation as Lord and Messiah! (cf. Acts 2:36). Now for the third time, Paul had called him “Lord,” the same title that Israel used to address God. ‘But since I had been blinded completely by the intensity of that heavenly light, my companions had to take my hand and lead me to Damascus.’ This was a poignant testimony! The entire multitude could now learn what God had done with Jesus of Nazareth; the humble rabbi who had died on a cross. The radiant light of his heavenly glory had struck Paul with blindness!

A godly Jew gave me God’s commission that I must testify about Jesus (Acts 22:12-16)

And from whom did Paul learn in Damascus what God’s commission for him was? Not from someone who was hostile toward the Law, the temple, and the Jewish people, as they were claiming about Paul. ‘There came to me a man by the name of Ananias, one who faithfully observed the Law and who is highly respected by all the Jews living there.’ Paul’s listeners would easily have agreed with this if they had known him. (At this point Paul did not think to mention Ananias’ preparation for their meeting [cf. Acts 9:10-16].) “This man stood before me and said: ‘Saul, brother, receive your sight again!’ That very moment I could see again, and I looked at him. For me this new miracle was the proof that God had sent this man to me.’ Without mentioning Jesus’ name, with these words Paul was also testifying about the Lord Jesus. Initially his heavenly glory had blinded Paul, and now Jesus had given him back his sight. Was this not clear proof of his superhuman power? These two divine interventions had changed Paul from a persecutor into a follower: the appearance of the resurrected Jesus, and the message that he had received through Ananias from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

This message contains four items:

First, the God of our fathers earlier appointed you to know his will about Jesus. He wanted to justify sinners by pure grace through faith in Messiah Jesus. The special revelation of God’s will lent to Paul’s preaching the same authority as that of Moses and the Prophets. It also confirmed that Paul’s gospel involved not setting aside the law but fulfilling the law (Romans 3:21-22).

Second, God has given you the privilege of seeing the Righteous One. This was a messianic title that the Jews knew from the Scriptures. This is what God had called Jesus of Nazareth. Many Jews had rejected him because he was too humble (Isaiah 53:2). But God called him the Righteous One or the Completely Innocent One. Were Paul’s listeners still looking for a glorious Messiah? Well then, God had granted Jesus such unspeakable glory that Paul had become blinded by it!

Third, in addition, God counted you worthy of hearing the voice of Messiah Jesus from heaven. Clearly, and in the Hebrew language, Paul had heard him say call: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? . . . Rise, go to Damascus. There you will be told what task has been given to you.’

Fourth, in this way God had equipped him for his new task and had told him through Ananias: ‘You must testify about him to all people, concerning what you had heard and seen from the Righteous One.’ Namely, that Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead and had received the highest glory in heaven. As a witness of that, Paul had equal standing with the other apostles.

For three days he could see nothing, and he touched no food (9:9). Then Ananias had healed him from his blindness, had communicated to him God’s commission, and finally had encouraged him: ‘Come, Saul, why are you hesitating? Call upon his name, be baptized, and be washed from your sins.’ Be baptized and thereby receive the sign and seal that accompanies God’s declaration that your sins are washed away by the blood and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Paul had done this. With these words he was confessing to his listeners: through these divine miracles, I have radically repented from my rejection of Messiah and my persecution of Christians. Was he not thereby indirectly calling upon all of them to follow his example?

Jesus sent me to the Gentiles (Acts 22:17-21)

Immediately after his call, Paul began testifying in Damascus and environs about Messiah Jesus. Only after about two or three years did he return to Jerusalem, but he did not mention this at that moment, along with other details that Luke tells us in Acts 9. ‘Now the big question: Why did I go to the Gentiles? Well, not on my own initiative. It all began with what I experienced after my return to Jerusalem. On a certain day, when I was praying in the temple, I entered into a trance.’ Wisely, he was letting them know that for him as a good Jew, even after his conversion to Messiah Jesus, the temple was still the sacred place of prayer. Jews from Ephesus had accused him of defiling the temple, but he had not ceased from being a law-observing Jew.

‘As I was praying, I was suddenly struck with a vision. In that vision, I received another glimpse of the exalted Lord and Messiah, but now without being blinded. In the temple, of all places, which according to some people I have allegedly defiled, he told me: Leave Jerusalem as soon as possible, for they refuse to accept any of your testimony about me.’ He left unmentioned the fact that several prior attempts to kill him had been plotted by Greek-speaking Jews (Acts 9:29). ‘I did not agree with the Lord about this, however. As a converted inquisitor I thought I was just the right man to persuade my former collaborators of their error. I brought this to the Lord’s attention. I said: “Lord, they know that I was the one who went from one synagogue to another to imprison and chain the people who believed in you. When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I stood by in agreement and watched over the garments of those who put him to death. Who better than a converted persecutor to persuade such persecutors of their sin?” In Romans 9:3 Paul had already written that he yearned deeply for Israel’s salvation. But the Lord put an end to the conversation. He rejected Paul’s objections by saying: “Go, for I am sending you far away, to the Gentiles.” He had already told him why: “Jerusalem will not receive from you any testimony about me” (v. 18).

Jerusalem rejects Paul’s final apostolic testimony (Acts 22:22-23)

Paul’s narrative about his life had been a powerful testimony about the Lord Jesus. For those who understood well, it contained a summons to penitence and conversion. Perhaps he had wanted to call the multitude explicitly to this response, as Peter had done years earlier (Acts 3:19). But he did not get the opportunity to do that. Until now, the crowd had listened to him in silence, even when he had mentioned Jesus. But as soon as he said that God had commissioned him to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles, a terrible riot broke out. Not because people were objecting to his preaching to Gentiles, for the scribes and Pharisees also went over land and sea to make a single convert (Matthew 23:15). But at that point they would demand of such a Gentile that he would become a Jew and begin living according to the Law of Moses, but according to Paul, that was no longer necessary. He was proclaiming the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for all who accepted him in faith as their Saviour. According to Paul, Jews and Gentiles were saved in the same way: by Jesus alone, by grace alone, and by faith alone.

This enraged the crowd. This man was misunderstanding Israel’s unique position! They were right after all: what he was teaching was going against the elect nation, against the Law, and against the temple. This kind of person was certainly capable of bringing Gentiles into the temple. An ear-piercing scream erupted: “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!” Almost thirty years earlier, a Jewish multitude had raised approximately the same cry before Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:18). Had Paul also shouted something similar when Stephen had testified before the Sanhedrin: “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56-57)?

They were beside themselves. With shrieking they waved their garments. If they had been able, they would have stoned Paul on the spot, just as they had Stephen. But unfortunately for them, he was in Roman custody and for that reason they threw handfuls of dirt into the air, where Paul stood chained between the soldiers on the steps above. In so doing, a large crowd was rejecting Paul’s final public testimony. Everything that he had communicated about the present glory of Jesus of Nazareth and the revelation of the God of their fathers was now being rejected with loud shouting. “Away with that man and with everything he is proclaiming! We Jews want to remain God’s only people. We refuse to tolerate anyone next to us who is not a Jew.”

We don’t know whether Paul’s testimony brought about faith among some in the crowd. We do know that after this speech, the responsibility of everyone for rejecting Messiah Jesus became even more serious. For a man had just spoken in Jerusalem who had seen the risen Jesus in heavenly glory (cf. Ezekiel 2:5). Because of this, any innocence on their part was taken away. The destruction of Jerusalem would be a just recompense (Luke 21:5-24). As far as the temple was concerned, for which they were so zealous, it had completed its function and could now be torn down.

Question:

Can you name the points where Paul explicitly wanted to meet his hearers where they were at?

– Alida Sewell