ACTS 22
Act 22:1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now
unto you.
It seems ironic that someone who is trying to tell the good news of how to have
eternal life, everlasting joy, peace, riches in heaven and all good things to
come when Jesus returns, should have to make a defense for himself.
They took religion more serious than we do today. In most cases where someone is
persecuted for his faith, it is the religious crowd that does the persecuting.
In fact that is one way to pick out whether or not a religion is false. If the
religion puts to death, persecutes or confiscates the property of a dissenter,
then we can mark it down as a false religion. They don't even have a clue of who
God is much less Jesus Christ.
Words of Jesus to verify the above comments:
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Joh 16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father, nor me.
Jesus said also that ye shall know them by their fruits. The use of torture,
death and persecution is not bearing the fruits of the spirit which are love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance
(self-control).
Act 22:2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them,
they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Act 22:3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia,
yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the
perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all
are this day.
Paul knew the law probably better then his persecutors. As a persecutor, he was
chief of them all. The difference between Paul and the ones who was doing the
persecuting now is that Paul repented and believed in Jesus Christ. This made
all his past sins erased and all things became new. Repent means to turn around
and change. Go the other way. Turn from sin and turn to Christ. All one has to
do to turn his life around is to repent and believe the gospel.
Act 22:4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering
into prisons both men and women.
Act 22:5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the
elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to
Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be
punished.
Act 22:6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto
Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about
me.
Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me?
To persecute one believer in Jesus, is to persecute Jesus Himself.
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
Act 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but
they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
In Acts 9:7 it says they heard a voice but didn't see any man.
Perhaps Paul at first thought that the men with him didn't hear anything but
later after speaking with them found that hey heard a voice but didn't hear what
the person said and didn't actually see the person speaking. I'm sure they heard
Paul's side of the conversation. Another thought is the translators made a
slight error but it doesn't change the meaning of what Paul is trying
to say only that those that were with him was not being judged and the vision
was not for them but was for calling Paul into the ministry.
Act 22:10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me,
Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which
are appointed for thee to do.
Act 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the
hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
It seems that the men with Paul were not blinded by the light and were protected
from its rays.
Act 22:12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good
report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
People of good reputation are more believable. That is why preachers of the
gospel need to live what they preach and be reliable.
1 Timorthy 3:7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without;
lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Act 22:13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive
thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
Act 22:14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou
shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of
his mouth.
Act 22:15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and
heard.
It was God's will for Paul to know His will. He learned this directly from Jesus
since the New Testament as yet was not written. He already had the knowledge of
the law but something more was needed both for his own salvation and for the
salvation of those that would hear him.
God also wants us to know His will and unless we receive a revelation the same
as Paul, the way we learn His will is to read the written word He has provided
us with. Any new revelation will not contradict the word that is written.
God gave us a cloud of witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus and the acts of
the apostles afterward. If we study the writings of the New Testament authors,
we can see that they said things a little different, including some things while
others remembered other things and yet they all preached the same gospel. Paul
preached faith and James preached faith with works but they are the same if one
really studies Paul. Paul never said that we are saved by grace and we can go
back into sin and still be saved. In fact he refutes that many times in his
writing. I believe the works Paul refers to is not good works of living in
holiness and obeying the Holy Spirit but the works of the law and trying to be
saved by the ordinances and works of the law. That was fulfilled by Christ and
we are not saved by keeping the rituals of the law but we are saved by God's
mercy and grace in which we did nothing to deserve. After receiving Christ we
have a new master and we are not to sin a little bit every day and do as we
please expecting to make heaven our home. We are to obey the word of God and
seek the will of God at all times.
Act 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
The water itself does not wash away sins but the calling on the name of the Lord
will wash away sins. The baptism in water represents what has taken place in the
heart of Paul. We can rejoice in this conversion but the gospel was sent to the
Gentiles by this man's faithful ministry.
Act 22:17 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even
while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
While I don't go along with all that goes on in these modern times that are
claimed to be by the Holy Spirit, not all strange behavior is to be discounted
and laid aside as apostate or of the flesh. Here we see Paul was in a trance. He
prayed and went into a trance. He heard from God. While I know a lot of things
may be for show but there are genuine occurrences of people who "fall out under
the power" of the Holy Spirit. If it is not in the bible, we don't have to
believe it but some things people are criticizing is in the New Testament
whether we like it or not. Paul was in a spiritual trance and heard from God. We
must be careful in trying to use discernment that we not become accusers of the
brethren and accuse falsely. Barking and making animal sounds is not in the
bible as a sign of the Holy Spirit's presence but having visions, dreams,
trembling and speaking in tongues is in the New Testament.
I remember back in the Kentucky Avenue Church of God (Akron Ohio) as a child, I
use to see young people go to the front to kneel and pray. Soon some, not all
would begin to tremble and shake under the presence of God. Who am I to
criticize those that are seeking God in this manner?
I have seen some on the Internet attribute this to something else other than God
and it scares me. I grew up in these things and have seen both good and bad
things. Some people just get a little excited in the flesh and don't know how to
react to the presence of God. That doesn't mean it is not "of God". Lets
use a little compassion and wisdom.
I do know this: If God's presence came into our midst in a strong powerful way,
none of us could stand upright before Him. I threw this in just so we can be
careful not to false accuse. We have to discern, we have to check everything out
by the word of God but we still have to be careful not to pluck up wheat in the
process.
Walk in love and understanding. Discern but with the heart of God.
Act 22:18 And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of
Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
Act 22:19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every
synagogue them that believed on thee:
Act 22:20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing
by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
Act 22:21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the
Gentiles.
God is so good. Notice in speaking with Paul that Jesus didn't dwell on Paul's
past sins of persecuting believers. Once God forgives our sins, they are put
away. He doesn't even mention it to Paul. Paul brought up his past sins. Perhaps
Paul was hoping that he would be of influence to the Jews in Jerusalem since he
was once one of them that persecuted the Christians. He was hoping to change
their minds as his mind was changed but Jesus told him that his words would not
be received and they would even hate him more than ordinary Christians that did
not have a past of persecution others.
Verse 21 is the words of Jesus that should bring joy to our hearts. Here is
where Jesus tells Paul to preach to the Gentiles. We see the heart of Paul was
to reach his brethren first but God says to go to the Gentiles and because of
that, we today can hear the gospel in our language and in our own land.
Act 22:22 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.
This is proof that the Jewish traditional religion had long since left the
original law given by Moses and they were now just a religion. They didn't know
God and didn't know Jesus. They were stirred up with such hate that they didn't
want Paul to live. This is never the fruit of the spirit of God.
Under the law, Israel was allowed to punish offenders of the law and sometimes
with the death penalty. However, this should have been done with mourning and
sorrow, not in hate. This judgment under the law was changed with the coming of
Jesus. Now we have mercy. The day of mercy is here. None of us could keep the
law in all points. Sooner or later we would break one of the commandments and be
doomed to hell forever. Christ kept the law in all points and his keeping of the
law and fulfilling the sacrificial requirement of the law made the way for all
who would believe in Him to escape the judgment of breaking the law and receive
the gift of eternal life.
Act 22:23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust
into the air,
We can see clearly a wrong spirit here. This is typical of a religious spirit
rather than the spirit of God. A person who loves God never desires the death of
any person but grieves over the loss of a soul.
Act 22:24 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.
Act 22:25 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?
Act 22:26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain,
saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
Act 22:27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a
Roman? He said, Yea.
Act 22:28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this
freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
Act 22:29 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.
Act 22:30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he
was accused of 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.
Rome ruled much of the known world at that time. For Jews to arrest a Roman
would have been a serious crime and would threaten their safety as a nation.
Little did they realize that in less than seventy years, they would cease to be
a nation until 1948.
We see later that Paul's arrest leads to his being able to share the gospel of
the death and resurrection of Jesus to leaders and rulers in high places. Paul
still wanted to reach those that was in the position he once held himself.
