After talking about the riot in Acts 21 last night with my wife, she came to the conclusion that the Jews who were beating Paul couldn't have been Christ-followers. I begged to differ. I believe that Christ-following Jews couldn't separate their heritage and moral upbringing from their newly found faith in Jesus. It was almost as if, to them, Paul was calling people to follow Christ but ignore God, if that makes any sense.
Radical extremist Christians can be pretty nasty people. Ever heard of the KKK, "Christians" who bomb abortion clinics or the baptist "church" in Kansas whose web address is godhatesfags.com?
Are those people genuinely following Jesus? That's debatable for sure (yet, we still cannot conclusively make judgments as to whether they are indeed saved or not), but I believe the Jews here had a legitimate struggle with knowing exactly what to follow. If you've been a Christ-follower for long, you'll know the tension I'm talking about when I ask, "Are we supposed to follow all the laws in the Old Testament?"
If your answer is no, then what about the 10 Commandments or the principle of tithing 10% of your income, for example? You might say, "that's different?" Is it, though? That little tension multiplied by a thousand would be what's happening with the Jewish people in the first century (on display in Acts 21-22).
Acts 22 (Read it here)
It all comes to a head when Paul arrives back in Jerusalem and he is dragged out of the temple and is immediately beaten by an angry mob of Jews. They believe Paul has forsaken the ancient Jewish laws handed down by Moses from God and is leading a generation away from God. Each is punishable by death. Yet a Roman commander gives him temporary safety.
After clearing up some confusion with the Roman commander, who thought he was an Egyptian insurrectionist, Paul was even given the opportunity to speak to the crowd that had just delivered him over to be tried as a criminal.
Paul begins his speech in a respectful manner, calling all those who have just beat him and had him arrested, "brothers and esteemed fathers." (v. 1) That alone blows my mind. The crowd was even more interested to hear Paul when he spoke in Aramaic and not Greek. (v. 2)
First and foremost, Paul validates himself by saying he was educated by the respected leader of the Jewish high council, Gamaliel. (v. 3) He admits to persecuting Christ-followers (vs. 4-5) before meeting Jesus on the way to Demascus. (vs. 6-8)
He recalls the fact that Jesus himself led a respected Jew, Ananias, to restore his sight (due to the blinding light in which Jesus appeared) and notified him of how he had been chosen to know [God's] will and share it with everyone!. (vs. 11-15) He was baptized immediately afterwards, too. (v. 16)
He shared with them a vision he had of the men of Jerusalem not accepting his testimony about Jesus appearing to him. (vs. 17-18)
God nailed that one, didn't He?
But Paul thought that his previous reputation as a Christian persecutor would give his testimony even more credibility. He had even agreed with the killing of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. (vs. 19-20)
As soon as Paul said that he was sent by God to preach to the Gentiles, the crowd instantly interrupted him, not believing what they were hearing and, again, wanting him dead! (vs. 21-22) In fact, many took off their coats in preparation to stone him. (v. 23)
The crowd was getting so uncontrollable that the commander had thought he had no choice but to discipline Paul himself to appease the mass of people right outside. Yet, the commander still didn't understand why they hated him so much (v. 24, makes sense because the commander is a Gentile). But right before the lashing was to commence, Paul challenged the presiding officer when he asked, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?" (v. 25)
The officer went directly back to the commander with the news that Paul was a Roman citizen. (v. 26) Apparently, the commander failed to get that tidbit of information. (v. 27)
The commander stated that he actually paid to become a Roman citizen. (v. 28) Tarsus, where Paul was born, was not recognized as a free city. This means that even though Tarsus was part of the Roman empire, it wasn't in direct control by Rome. Therefore, he would be classified as a second-class Roman citizen. It would be like a person born in Puerto Rico assuming that he's a full-fledged American; technically true, but not in the eyes of most people.
But a Roman citizen is a Roman citizen, technically speaking. So the soldiers refrained from interrogating him and the commander refused to have him whipped or punished in any way without a trial. (v. 29) So the commander decided, much like Pilate wanted, to delegate that responsibility to someone else. The trial that he set up was with the leading priests and the high council; the same council that condemned Jesus to die. (v. 30)
Come back tomorrow to see how that goes...
Questions
1.) How can people follow (or say they follow) Jesus and ignore God? Is that possible? If so, how?
2.) The Jews obviously had difficulty separating the law from faith in Christ. How do you incorporate the Old Testament and its many laws into your life as a Christ-follower? Or do you? If not, why don't you?
3.) Have you noticed the similarities between Paul and Jesus' persecution? Do you believe that Paul was noticing these similarities, too? If he did, how do you believe that made Paul feel?
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