Acts 22 · The Lantern

“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I am about to make.”

"He spake unto them," it says, "in the Hebrew tongue, saying, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you." Mark his address, at once so free from all flattery, and so expressive of meekness.

"Men, brethren, hear ye the account which I now give unto you," etc. Paul, being inclined to simplicity of heart, told the people, in order, how he had been chosen by the Lord when he was a persecutor of the church; he did not even fail to mention, with a broken heart, his crime relating to Stephen's blood; but he said that he had heard from the Lord, whom he could not oppose,…

The expression "fathers" is a sign of respect, and the expression "brethren" is an indication of kinship. Notice, his speech is both free from flattery and full of gentleness. He did not say "lords," but "brothers," which was especially pleasing to the people. I am not a stranger to you, he says, nor am I against you.

When they heard that he was speaking to them in Hebrew, they were still more quiet; and Paul went on:

“I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, but I was brought up in this city under the teaching of Gamaliel, and educated in accordance with the strict system of our ancestral law. I was as zealous in God’s service as any of you who are here today.

"I am a man," he says, "which am a Jew:" which thing they liked most of all to hear; "born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia." That they may not again think him to be of another nation, he adds his religion: "but brought up in this city." He shows how great was his zeal for the worship, inasmuch as having left his native city, which was so great and so remote too, he chose to be bro…

Educated according to the truth, being a zealot of the paternal law. In Greek it is added more: Being a zealot of God, according to that in Romans: For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

With such a beginning he paves the way for his speech: "I," he says, "am a Jew." To hear this was most pleasant of all for them.

In my persecution of this cause I did not stop even at the taking of life. I put in chains, and imprisoned, men and women alike —

And to that the high priest himself and all the Council can testify. For I had letters of introduction from them to our fellow Jews at Damascus, and I was on my way to that place, to bring those whom I might find there prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.

While I was still on my way, just as I was getting close to Damascus, about midday, suddenly there flashed from the heavens a great light all around me.

I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

‘Who are you, Lord?’ I replied. Then the voice said ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’

The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the speaker’s voice.

"And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me." But in another place he says, "Hearing the voice, but seeing no man." It is not at variance: no, there were two voices, that of Paul and the Lord's voice: in that place, the writer means Paul's voice; as in fact Paul here adds, "The voice of Him that spake u…

Paul, speaking of his deeds, says that his companions saw the light there some time ago, yet that they did not drink in the voice with their ears; but then, at the time when he fell blind, his companions are said also to have heard the voice. Thus the work of the narrator varies.

This was done with purpose, since he alone was to hear that voice. And since rather ordinary people trust sight more, those who were with Saul only "saw the light and were filled with fear; but did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me." And the light produced such an effect not for them, but for Saul; therefore it deprived him of sight, and not them; but at the time when t…

Then I said ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ ‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ The Lord said to me, ‘and there you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’

In consequence of that dazzling light I could not see, but my companions held me by the hand, until I reached Damascus.

It was of Him, too, that he had said in a previous passage: "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only God; " so that we might apply even the contrary qualities to the Son Himself-mortality, accessibility-of whom the apostle testifies that "He died according to the Scriptures," and that "He was seen by himself last of all," -by means, of course, of the light w…

"And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus." See how great was the excess of the light.

"Those who were with me led me by the hand into Damascus." The mention of the city is fittingly added so that the Jews would know that Saul was a persecutor. Paul-Saul interweaves the testimonies of persons with the testimonies of circumstances, both those concerning himself and those concerning others; the witnesses are the priests, the elders, the companions.

There a man named Ananias, a strict observer of our law, well spoken of by all the Jewish inhabitants, came to see me.

Standing close to me, he said ‘Saul, my brother, recover your sight.’ And then and there I recovered my sight and looked up at him.

Then he said ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to learn his will, and to see the righteous one, and to hear words from his lips;

for you will be a witness for him to all the world of what you have just seen and heard.

And now why wait any longer: Be baptized at once, wash away your sins, and invoke his name.

After my return to Jerusalem, while I was praying one day in the Temple, I fell into a trance,

and saw Jesus saying to me ‘Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘these people know that I used to imprison and scourge, in synagogue after synagogue, those who believed in you;

and, when the blood of your martyr, Stephen, was being shed, I was myself standing by, approving of his death, and took charge of the clothes of those who were murdering him.

But Jesus said to me ‘Go; for I will send you to the Gentiles far away’.”

Up to this point the people had been listening to Paul, but at these words they called out: “Kill him! A fellow like this ought not to have been allowed to live!”

As they were shouting, tearing off their clothes, and throwing dust in the air,

the commanding officer ordered Paul to be taken into the Fort, and directed that he should be examined under the lash so that he might find out the reason for their outcry against him.

But just as they had tied him up to be scourged, Paul said to the captain standing near: “Is it legal for you to scourge a Roman citizen, unconvicted?”

"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?" Paul lied not, God forbid: for he was a Roman. If there was nothing else, he would have been afraid to pretend this, lest he should be found out, and suffer a worse punishment.

For the divine command made what seems shameful honorable. Thus the apostle called himself at one time a Pharisee and at another a Roman, not because he was afraid of death but because it was fair to do so in a fight. Likewise he appealed to Caesar upon learning of the Jews' plot against him.

"Is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman citizen, and uncondemned?" Paul did not lie in saying that he was a Roman, because his father, for the sake of status, had purchased this title with money, since those deemed worthy of being called by this name enjoyed great honor. Paul says this so that, in the event of his punishment, they would not begin to treat him with contempt.

On hearing this, the captain went and reported it to the commanding officer. “Do you know what you are doing?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

So the commanding officer went up to Paul and said: “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” replied Paul.

“I had to pay a heavy price for my position as citizen,” said the officer. “I am one by birth,” rejoined Paul.

Let it suffice to the martyr to have purged his own sins: it is the part of ingratitude or of pride to lavish upon others also what one has obtained at a high price. Who has redeemed another's death by his own, but the Son of God alone? For even in His very passion He set the robber free.

But how is it possible to be both from Tarsus and a Roman? Hear then the Philippians, when they dragged Paul and Silas before the rulers into the marketplace, since the Pythoness' slave-girl was released, what do they say?

"But Paul said: and I was born in it." Look: his father too was a Roman. Before Paul was born, Cilicia had already come under Roman rule, and therefore his father, as one who had come under their authority, necessarily had to be a Roman. Paul, according to the prophecy, was bound in Jerusalem, and the prophetic word was fulfilled. What happens next?

The men who were to have examined Paul immediately drew back, and the officer, finding that Paul was a Roman citizen, was alarmed at having put him in chains.

On the next day the commanding officer, wishing to find out the real reason why Paul was denounced by the Jewish leaders, had his chains taken off, and directed the chief priests and the whole of the High Council to assemble, and then took Paul down and brought him before them.

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