What is the meaning of Acts 22:1-5?

1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. 2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) 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. 4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 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. (Acts 22:1-5 KJV)

William Burkitt’s Commentary

Here begins Apostle Paul’s apology, or defensative plea, which he makes for himself before the people in Jerusalem, who, in the foregoing chapter, had so injuriously treated him: In this apologetical narration, we have these particulars observable.

First observe, With what lenity and mildness he speaks to his cruel and pestilent persecutors, the people of the Jews; he accosts them with titles of respect and honour;  Men, brethern, and fathers; not with opprobrious invectives; he does not render evil for evil, or railing for reviling; he had not so learned from Christ, he know how to suffer reproach for the gospel; but to persecute his persecutors with hard names and characters of reproach, was a piece of zeal which Paul and the holy sufferers of those times were little acquainted with.

Observe, 2. How the apostle insinuates himself into his auditors so that he might gain their attention to what was spoken;  Men, brethern, and fathers, hear ye, I pray,  my defence which I make unto you. There is a lawful and pious insinuation for gaining the attention of our auditors, which the ministers of Christ may and ought to make use of; as the workman that would drive his nail dips it in oil. We gain the auditors’ attention by courteous and loving compellations:  Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken.

Observe, 3. The apology or plea itself, in which he sets before them,

1. His extraction,  I am a Jew, born in Tarsus.

2. His education,  brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.

3. His profession,  he was zealous towards God; that is, he was one of the sect among the Jews which was called Zealots and was very strict and exact in the observation of the law.