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. 23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, 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. 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? 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. 27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 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. 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. (Acts 22:22-30 KJV)
The Sanhedrin Divided
Paul was going on with this account of himself, had shown them his commission to preach among the Gentiles without any harsh remarks about the Jews, and we may suppose he planned next to show how he was afterwards, by a special direction of the Holy Spirit at Antioch, appointed to this service—how tender he was toward the Jews, how respectful to them, and how careful to give them the precedence in every place he visited, and to unite Jews and Gentiles in one body; and then to show how wonderfully God had supported him, and what good had been done for God’s kingdom among men, without harming the true interests of the Jewish church.
But whatever he planned to say, they decided he would say no more: they listened to him up to this word. Until then, they had heard him with patience and some attention. But when he spoke of being sent to the Gentiles, though it was what Christ himself told him, they couldn’t tolerate it, not even hearing the word “Gentiles,” so great was their hatred and jealousy. At the mention of this, they lost all patience and forgot all rules of decency and fairness; thus they were provoked to jealousy by those who were no people (Romans 10:19).
They became furious and outraged at Paul for mentioning the Gentiles as included in God’s grace, thereby justifying his ministry to them.
They interrupted him by raising their voices to confuse him and prevent anyone from hearing him. Those who refuse to be ruled by reason often refuse to hear it if they can avoid it. The spirit of opposition to the gospel of Christ often shows itself in silencing its ministers, as the Jews did Paul. Their ancestors had said to the best of prophets, “See not” (Isaiah 30:10), and now they said to the best of preachers, “Speak not.” “Stop—why should you be struck?” (2 Chronicles 25:16).
They cried out against him as one unworthy of life, let alone liberty. Without weighing the arguments he had made in his defense or trying to answer them, they shouted with confusion: “Away with such a fellow from the earth, who claims a commission to preach to the Gentiles—it is not fit that he should live.”
So it is that the greatest blessings to their age are often treated as burdens or threats. He who deserved the greatest honors is condemned as not even worthy of life. God and the world have very different views of good people, though they both agree they are unlikely to live long. Paul says of the godly Jews that they were people “of whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38), and so they are removed so the world may be justly punished by their absence. The ungodly Jews say of Paul, “It is not fit that he should live,” and want him removed so they can be rid of him, like the two witnesses (Revelation 11:10).
They went wild against Paul and against the chief captain for not immediately handing him over or killing him on demand (Acts 22:23). As men completely consumed by rage, they shouted like wild animals, cast off their clothes as if to say they would tear him to pieces if they could reach him. Or they did so in readiness to stone him, as those who stoned Stephen had done (Acts 22:20). Or they tore their clothes as if he had spoken blasphemy, and threw dust into the air in disgust or as a sign they were ready to stone him if allowed. But why try to explain these outbursts when they themselves couldn’t? All they wanted was to show the chief captain how enraged they were, hoping he would let them have their way with Paul.
The chief captain protected Paul by ordering him brought into the barracks (Acts 22:24). A prison sometimes becomes a refuge for good men from mob violence. Paul’s time had not yet come; he hadn’t finished his testimony. So God raised up someone to protect him when none of his friends dared appear for him. “Grant not, O Lord, the desire of the wicked.”
The captain then ordered him to be tortured to extract a confession of some crime that would explain such an outburst from the crowd. He ordered Paul to be examined by scourging, to find out why they were shouting against him. This was unjust; instead, he should have seized some of the loudest rioters and questioned them—yes, scourged them—about what they had against a man who had just offered a sound defense and hadn’t done anything worthy of death or chains. It made no sense to ask Paul why the crowd was shouting against him.
He knew he had done nothing to deserve it; if there were any cause, let them say so. No one is bound to accuse himself, even if guilty—much less should someone be forced to confess when innocent. The captain clearly didn’t understand the Jewish people if he assumed Paul must have done something terrible simply because they shouted against him. Didn’t they shout the same way against Jesus: “Crucify him, crucify him,” when Pilate found no fault in him? Is this a fair reason to flog Paul—because a lawless mob yells without stating a charge?
Paul claimed his rights as a Roman citizen, which exempted him from such treatment (Acts 22:25). As they tied him with leather straps to the whipping post, like a criminal from whom they wanted to extract a confession, he didn’t shout about the injustice but calmly pointed out that their actions were illegal against a Roman citizen. He had done this once before at Philippi after being scourged (Acts 16:37); here he used it to prevent the flogging. He asked the centurion nearby: “Is it lawful for you, being Romans yourselves, to scourge a Roman citizen who hasn’t been condemned?”
His tone showed the holy calm and courage he had, undisturbed by fear or anger despite the danger and indignities. Roman law (the lex Sempronia) forbade any magistrate from punishing or condemning a Roman citizen without a hearing. Any magistrate who violated this could be punished. Every person has the right not to be wronged unless wrongdoing is proven—just as every Englishman is guaranteed by Magna Carta not to lose life or property except by trial by jury.
The chief captain was shocked and afraid. He had mistaken Paul for an Egyptian rebel and was surprised he spoke Greek (Acts 21:37), but now he was even more stunned to learn Paul was a Roman citizen—an equal. Many people of great worth are despised simply because they aren’t known—treated as garbage when, if their true character were known, they’d be recognized as the noble people of the earth. One of the centurions told the captain (Acts 22:26): “Be careful what you do—this man is a Roman citizen. If we mistreat him, it could be considered an offense against Rome.”
They all knew how seriously this privilege was taken. Cicero praised it: “O sweet name of liberty! O noble law of our citizenship!” It was a crime to bind a Roman citizen, much worse to beat him.
The centurion continued: “We’d better be careful. If this man is a Roman and we mistreat him, we risk losing our positions at the very least.” The chief captain asked Paul directly (Acts 22:27): “Tell me—are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” Paul said, perhaps showing some proof. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have believed him. The captain compared their statuses and found Paul’s to be superior. The captain admitted, “I became a Roman citizen by paying a large sum.” Paul replied, “But I was born a Roman.”
Some think this was because Paul was born in Tarsus, a city granted Roman privileges. Others think his father or grandfather earned citizenship through military service and passed it on to him. Either way, Paul rightfully used his status to protect himself, as we are all entitled to use lawful means for our own preservation.
This stopped the abuse immediately. Those preparing to scourge Paul backed off (Acts 22:29), afraid of getting into trouble. Even the captain, though likely well-connected, was afraid—he hadn’t beaten Paul but had bound him for punishment. Many are deterred from doing wrong by fear of human laws, though not by fear of God. This shows the value of human law and authority, and why we should thank God for them. Even when rulers don’t specifically support God’s people, general principles of justice and fairness can check the lawless and limit their evil. That’s why we owe it to those in authority to pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1-2)—so we can live peaceful, godly lives.
The next day, the captain brought Paul before the Sanhedrin (Acts 22:30). He first removed his chains, so they wouldn’t bias the court against him or make the captain guilty of binding a Roman citizen. He summoned the chief priests and the entire council to judge Paul’s case, seeing it was a religious matter best handled by them. Gallio, in a similar case, had dismissed Paul’s accusers when he saw it was about their own law (Acts 18:16), but this Roman officer, though a soldier, kept Paul in custody and appealed to the Jewish court.
- We might hope he meant to protect Paul, assuming that though the mob was angry, the educated and honorable elders would be fair. The prophet once thought the same (Jeremiah 5:4-5), but was disappointed.
- But what is said here is that the captain simply wanted to know why Paul was accused. He might have learned this directly from Paul in private, and maybe even been persuaded to become a Christian. But powerful people often keep such truth at a distance—preferring to know just enough of God’s ways to talk about them, but not enough to challenge their conscience.