I Was Shown Mercy

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1 Timothy 1:12–17 ESV
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul has been shown mercy. But the Lord’s plan for Paul is different than that of Peter.
The Lord uses tensions of society to plunge Paul into a path that will eventually take him to Rome as a prisoner.
But we also see in this passage the false accusation against Paul, that he had brought a gentile into the inner courts of the temple. What the unbelievers did not know is that not only had the curtain been torn but the wall had been broken down. But this great crime of bringing gentiles into the holy of holies was not done by a person bringing a gentile past the wall that separated the court of the gentiles from the inner court.
It was an inside job - the Lord Jesus Christ had come from the holy of holies in the heavens and taken on flesh and in his incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension he has broken down the wall from the inside and brought gentiles into a full relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Acts 21:40 ESV
40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:
(1) The testimony of Paul (Acts 22:1-21)
The Hebrew language - Acts 2 the speak in other languages and are accused of drunkenness
Not everyone has a Damascus road testimony but everyone needs to be born again
Paul has a personal testimony - it is his, and he shares his spiritual journey

The venerated Gamaliel, a Pharisee and teacher, influenced the Sanhedrin not to oppose the apostles. He spoke not from sympathy for the church, but from insight into God’s sovereign working on earth (cf. v. 39).

GAMALIEL I (Γαμαλιήλ, Gamaliēl). A first-century AD teacher of the law of Moses, under whom Paul studied (Acts 5:34; Acts 22:3). He was part of the school of Hillel and a member of the Sanhedrin.

zealous - one who is deeply committed to something and therefore zealous—‘enthusiast, zealous person.’ ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων τοῦ θεοῦ καθὼς πάντες ὑμεῖς ἐστε σήμερον ‘being deeply committed to God even as all of you are today’ Ac 22:3.
devout - pertaining to being reverent toward God—‘reverent, pious.’ ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος δίκαιος καὶ εὐλαβής ‘this man was righteous and pious’ Lk 2:25. Simeon, waiting for the Lord, devout
The deity of Jesus - who are you Lord
The Righteous One - Jesus is the promised Messiah.
(2) The hatred of the crowd (Acts 22:22-23)
v22 Up to this word they listened to him...
It was all good up to the Gentiles
Jesus is Lord, Jesus is the Righteous One
They wanted to execute him because they could not allow those who were far away.
What stirs up trouble in the church? Pride, personal issues, power.
Is anyone too far away from God?
(3) A citizenship that is free (Acts 22:23-29)
James Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era
The rights of a Roman citizen

The Romans evaluated a person’s status based on whether the person was a citizen or a foreigner, patron or client, free or slave, ethnic Roman/Latin or not, voluntary ally or conquered enemy, male or female, and married or unmarried.

For example, a well-educated, wealthy, noncitizen, former slave would have been thought lower in status than a poor, uneducated, freeborn citizen.

citizens could vote and had greater legal rights than non-citizens

At the other end of the spectrum, a Roman citizen was required to possess wealth greater than 250,000 denarii, or $10 million, to become a senator.

could appeal a legal decision to the emperor

Paul’s status as a Roman citizen was more important to the Romans than his religion.

Roman Attitudes toward Other Religions Page 108

A citizen could not have been executed in the ways Tacitus describes: dismemberment by wild dogs, crucifixion and death by fire.

however, on rare occasions citizens could be crucified but this was usually reserved for slaves and vicious prisoners of war.

This agrees with a Roman law, the lex Iulia, that forbids a Roman citizen from being beaten or bound by a magistrate without provocation or by any other person in any circumstance.

Christians and Roman Law Page 162

This confirms what we know about Roman law, that a citizen could be flogged after a legitimate trial and sentencing.

a Roman citizen was not allowed to take part in a religion not sanctioned by Rome

Since Roman citizens could form a legal marriage only with other citizens, even after retirement neither their marriage nor their children would be recognized legally.

The Roman Military Page 177

At times emperors addressed this by recognizing the marriage of a retired Roman soldier and recognizing as citizens children born to this union after his retirement.

The Roman Military Page 177

Children born before his retirement probably were never granted citizen status.

commanders of the troops and often their centurions were citizens- this could be earned through faithful military service
The governors of Roman provinces exercised police powers through his command of the legions, if any were stationed in the province, or more often through a smaller military unit made up of auxiliary troops composed of non-Roman citizens.

Throughout the Empire there were four main types of cities: the Roman colony, the municipality, the temple city and the traditional Hellenistic city. The Roman colonies and municipalities were especially privileged under Roman law. Around six hundred cities in the Empire, most in Spain and North Africa, fell into one of these two, very similar, categories. In all the eastern provinces there were strikingly few Roman colonies and municipalities. This is probably because the network of existing Hellenistic cities was so dense that it was not possible to insert many new colonies.

In the early Empire era, the most important type of city was the Roman colony. Its original settlers were Roman citizens sent out from Italy or from Roman legions. Non-Romans who lived in or around them were often granted Roman citizenship as well. Colony citizens, because of their Roman citizenship, were exempt from tribute and most forms of taxation, and their government was based on a Roman model. Philippi was such a colony (Acts 16:12), as was Corinth, where Roman colonists lived together with noncitizen Jews and Greeks (Acts 18:4–8). The ancient Greek city of Corinth had been destroyed a century earlier by the Romans. It was refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Caesar moved a number of poorer Romans from Rome to Corinth to populate the new colony.

Originally, Roman colonies were settled by Roman citizens with a standard Roman city constitution. Beginning with Claudius, Rome began to confer the title of Roman colony on existing cities. This practice became widespread in the second century

Other cities were known as municipalities or municipia. This title originally referred to free or federate cities that enjoyed some degree of autonomy. During the Empire, Roman municipalities usually came into existence when a previously existing city, which had a large number of Roman citizen residents, was designated a city with full Roman citizenship rights. The city was allowed to govern itself and in return promised to render military service and active political support to Rome. A city that received this benefit would enjoy immunity from all state taxes and freedom from oversight by the provincial governor.

A number of Greek city-states had voluntarily allied with Rome at one time or another and thus enjoyed a special status as free or federate cities. Unlike those in Roman colonies, its citizens did not become Roman citizens. A federate city like Athens paid no tribute to Rome and was independent of the provincial government of its province (Achaia). Ephesus was a free city in the province of Asia. It had its own senate and assembly and considered itself the principal site for the worship of the goddess Artemis. But a free city’s independence lasted only as long as Rome trusted the city’s leaders. This helps explain why the clerk of the assembly in Acts 19 was so anxious to avoid a public disturbance over the activities of Paul. He realized that the Romans might look on unauthorized meetings, which could not readily be explained, as seditious and consequently revoke their free status.

During this time of Pompey (67 BC), Tarsus was made capital over the Roman province of Cilicia, and Jews began to receive Roman citizenship. Antony, who controlled the eastern provinces, declared the city free in 42 BC. Tarsus continued to receive special privileges under Augustus, who exempted the city from imperial taxation because Athenodorus, his teacher and friend, was a Tarsian. Tarsus grew into a cultural and intellectual center. Stoic philosophers like Athenodorus, Zeno, Antipater, and Nestor lived in the city in the first century AD.
Philippians 3:20 ESV
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
We have a citizenship in heaven
Christ came from the Holy of Holies to deliver us
Our mandate to the Gentiles
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