Acts 22:22 – 23:11
Dawn Sermons in Acts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”
This is not how you address the Sanhedrin. Peter addressed them in Acts 4:8, “Rulers of the people and elders.” Paul looks intently at the council and says “Brothers.”
And Paul looks intently at them. This means he wasn’t floundering around. He wasn’t avoiding eye contact as would a guilty person. His conscience is clear before God, he tells them his conscience is clear before God. And what that means is that the Sanhedrin are not judging Paul alone. They stand in judgement of God. Because Paul is one who has studied the Word of God broadly and deeply.
Tribune vs. High priest. Sadducees vs. Pharisees.
The centurion and tribune’s fear of the emperor vs. the high priest’s lack of fear of God.
The centurion and the tribune understood that their authority was for the service of the citizens of Rome. But the high priest didn’t think that way. He abused his authority to serve himself and his desires.
Citizen by birth. If you were a Roman citizen by birth, you wouldn’t be afraid of any false accusations. You wouldn’t be afraid of threats. Because the law protects you. The Word of your emperor keeps you safe. And for fear for the emperor, no Roman centurion would dare to lay even a finger on you. But the high priest of the Jews commands the men to strike Paul on the mouth, even after Paul confesses a clear conscience before God. And Paul curses the high priest in response, without knowing he was the high priest. But once he found out, he submitted to what God’s Word had to say about honoring the positions of authority.
We are citizens of heaven by birth.
Why did the Sadducees not believe in the resurrection? Why did the Pharisees believe in it?
We see Paul’s attitude as he reveals his Roman citizenship. He was loving and kind to the Jews. He called them his fathers and brothers. And Paul could very well have received the flogging. To Paul, suffering was a glory and a joy. Every mark he had on his body was a mark of Jesus Christ. Gal. 6:10. Rom 8. Col. 1. Phil. 2.
And if he had taken on all those blows, it would have been gain to him.
When they stretched out Paul in the stocks back in Philippi, his feet were stretched to their extremity. And how did Paul respond? He was singing.
He didn’t have a martyr complex. Don’t just be a martyr and look for self-pity. Don’t aggravate people on purpose so that you would be glorified.
If the Roman centurion had Paul flogged, it would have meant death for the centurion. Why? Because Paul was a Roman citizen. And not only that, he was a citizen by birth. Meaning that he’s a first-class citizen. The tribune was also a citizen, but he bought his citizenship for a large sum of money. So it would’ve been a second-class citizen unlawfully flogging a first-class citizen, it would’ve spelled death for the tribune and the centurion.
Gospel principle: The Law is there to serve the citizens.
The high priest used the law to serve himself.
The Jews became servants to the law. The law turned them into slaves. Why? Because they used the law to serve themselves. If only I obey enough, I will be saved. See? The law became a means to an end. And it was a means to their own purposes.
A person like that could never identify with the writer of Psalm 1. Ps 1:2.
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
If the law is just a means to an end, then you would meditate on the end and not the means. Money is a means to buy breakfast, but now you are meditating on what to have for breakfast and not the money.
Paul understood that the law was meant to serve the citizens.
NOTES:
The name of the Roman tribune is Claudius Lysias. We know this because in Acts 23:26-30, he writes a letter to the governor Felix, and it opens with “Claudius Lysias, to his excellency the governer Felix.”
The Ananias of Acts 23:2 is not the same Ananias of John 18:13. This Acts 23 Ananias is the son of Nebedaeus, and was a brutal and violent man who ruled as high priest from 48-59 AD.
Paul has been away from Jerusalem for about 8 years, and the high priesthood back then kept changing hands. One year Ananias, another year Caiaphas. and so he doesn’t know who the high priest is. But once he realizes that he’s cursed the high priest, he retreats immediately.
See this. He knows that this high priest doesn’t uphold the law of God. But he still shows respect toward the position. Why? Because God is the emperor, and this Ananias is the high priest, and God’s Law says “You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Ex 22:28. Do you see? So Paul fears God enough not to curse this high priest Ananias.
The Roman commanders feared the emperor enough not to strike this first-class citizen.
What does this have to do with the Gospel?
The first thing to do to turn a negative situation into a positive testimony is to first accept that the situation is from God.
The second thing to do is to see your negative situation as an opportunity.
19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
This reminds us and points us to Christ, who received His suffering as from the Father, for the good of the people.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
What did Paul’s family do to become Roman citizens? We don’t know. But we do know that it came to be by the providence of God.
Notice this. That Paul simply has to say, “I am a Roman citizen by birth” and the Roman centurion in charge of a hundred men, and the Roman tribune in charge of a thousand back off. Every single Roman soldier draws back immediately, and the man in charge of a thousand is afraid.
The people back off when they see a worldly title. But they attack when they hear of Paul’s heavenly calling. See?
It was a power struggle between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And it was over the law. Both were trying to use the law to secure for themselves power and authority. The Pharisees in particular made up even more laws, laws regarding how to keep the law. Lawception. And so when Paul aligns himself with the Pharisees, when Paul says “It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” (23:6), the Pharisees stand up and say “We find nothing wrong in this man.” And they come up with all kinds of reasons to defend Paul. “What if a spirit spoke to him? What if an angel spoke to him?” (23:9).
And the council
