CHAPTER 23
What Paul suffered and said when he went down to the council, he both did and spoke straightforwardly.
Acts 22:30-23:1-5 But on the next day, wishing to determine with certainty what the accusations by the Jews were, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. And bringing Paul before them, Paul, gazing at the council, said, "Men, brothers, I have lived before God with a perfectly good conscience up to this day." But the high priest Ananias commanded those standing near him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you who have been puffed up! And do you sit to judge me according to the law, and command me to be struck contrary to the law?" Those who were standing nearby said, "Do you insult the high priest of God?" Paul said, "I did not know, brothers, that he is the high priest; for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"
“ God will strike you, you who have been puffed up .” It is worth asking how the same speaker elsewhere says, “When condemned we bless, when persecuted we endure,” (1 Cor. 4:12) whereas here, on the contrary, he not only condemns but also curses. And we say that these expressions are more a matter of boldness than of anger. For he did not wish to appear scornful toward the centurion. If he himself refrained from sparing the rod, as though about to be handed over to the Jews to be beaten by their servants, he would have made that man more brazen. But this is not, as some say, addressed to the child, but to the one who gave the command, for whom he immediately pleads. For knowing that one must also restrain righteous anger and hide rightful indignation, he speaks as if repenting: “ I did not know that he is the high priest ,” although he knew.
For he said, " And do you sit to judge me according to the law ." But he pretends an ignorance that does not harm, but is economical. For there is also a stronger use of frankness by way of handling. For often frankness at an inopportune time harmed the truth, but a timely handling accomplished the matter at hand. [SEVERUS]
" I did not know, brothers ," and what follows. Some say that he did not know that he was the high priest, having returned after a long time, not being related to the Jews, and seeing him among many others; for the high priest was no longer obvious, many being present and different. Therefore, as not knowing, he reasonably defends himself as if there were an accusation, and bring forward, " You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people ."
Acts 23:5-7 Knowing that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul cried out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and the resurrection of the dead I am being judged." When he had said this, a conflict arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided.
Again he speaks in a human manner, and does not everywhere enjoy the benefit of grace. And at this time and after these things he wished to divide the multitude which was of one mind against him. And in this place he does not lie: since by his ancestors he was a Pharisee. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 23:8-9a For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and argued, saying, "We find nothing mistaken in this man."
The Sadducees , being arrogant, perhaps do not even know God. Therefore, they do not wish to believe in a resurrection. But the Pharisees confess both . And indeed there are three. How then does he say, “ both ”? Either because he calls spirit and angel one, or because the word does not speak only of two, which is what “both” chiefly signifies, but also of three. Therefore one ought not from the outside to judge the writings of plain and unschooled fishermen with the exacting judgments of a scholar. [CHRYSOSTOM]
Acts 23:9b-11 But if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, let us not fight against God. When there was a great disturbance, the centurion, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them and bring him into the barracks. And the next night the Lord, standing by him, said, “Take courage, Paul; for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
“ If a spirit spoke to him .” The statement can be understood in two ways. For something is lacking to complete the sense so that it may be read therefore: If a spirit or an angel spoke to him, it is unclear, he says; or as the phrase must be taken from the Pharisees: If a spirit spoke to him or an angel, instead of “Behold, I speak about the resurrection,” it is evident that the word about the resurrection was taught either by the Holy Spirit or by an angel. [AMMONIUS]
On the plot devised by the Jews against Paul, and their report of it to Lysias; in which it is related that Paul was sent by Lysias to the governor at Caesarea with a detachment of soldiers and scribes.
Acts 23:12-35 But when it became day, the Jews made a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty of those who had made this plot; and they came to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves by a curse not to eat or drink until we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, together with the council, give orders to the commander to bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to examine the matter more exactly; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near you." When the son of Paul's sister heard of the ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Bring this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him." So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to say to you." So the commander took him by the hand and withdrew privately and asked, "What is it that you have to tell me?" He said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you that you bring Paul down tomorrow to the council, as though they were going to investigate more closely about him; do not be persuaded by them. For there are more than forty men who are lying in wait for him from them, who have bound themselves by oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are now ready and are waiting for your consent." Then the commander dismissed the young man, charging him, "Tell no one that you have informed me of this." And having called two of the centurions, he said, "Prepare two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of the night; and set beasts of burden ready, so that they may set Paul on them and convey him safely to Governor Felix." And he wrote a letter in this form: "Claudius Lysias to his Excellency Governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, when I came with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. I wished to know the charge for which they accused him, so I brought him down to their council; and I found that he was accused about questions of their law, but had no charge deserving of death or imprisonment. When a plot against the man was made known to me, I sent him at once to you, and ordered the accusers to state before you what they had against him." The soldiers, according to their order, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris; and on the next day they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the barracks. When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. When he had read it and inquired from what province he was, and had ascertained that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear you when your accusers arrive." And he ordered him to be kept in Herod's praetorium.
“ bound themselves ,” that is, they declared themselves outside of faith in God, unless they did the things they boasted of. If then they lied about the promise, as indeed they lied, they are accursed; or if it even happened that they murdered, again as murderers they would have bound themselves, whether God, although the priests pretended otherwise. [AMMONIUS]
The binding is therefore to be understood in a double sense: one, as directed to God alone, in the manner of being unattainable by all or by many; the other, as imposed upon all creation and upon the holy incorporeal powers and alien to God, as assigned to the Devil, because of the alienation of the good in purity; in this way now also they subject themselves to the curse. We therefore think that this is often rightly spoken of as a curse [κατάθεμα]. For in truth such a thing is not appointed to God, but is rather appointed to the Devil, being subjected and condemned together with him.