22
📚“Men, brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now make to you”. 2 📚And when they heard him speaking to them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept even more silent. And he said, 3 📚“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel 📖, and taught according to the exact manner of the Law of the fathers, and was zealous 📖 toward God, as all of you are this day. 4 📚And I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women; 5 📚as also the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify for me. From them I received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring those who were there bound to Jerusalem, to be punished.
6 📚“And it came about that as I travelled, and had come near to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light around me. 7 📚And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8 📚“And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
9 📚“And those who were with me certainly saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. 10 📚And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord 📖?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There it will be told you about all the things which you are appointed to do.’ 11 📚And when I could not see because of the glory of that light, I came into Damascus, led by the hand by those who were with me.
12 📚“And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the Law, having a good testimony among all the Jews who lived there, 13 📚came to me, and stood there, and said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And that same moment I saw him.
14 📚“And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you, that you might know his will, and see that Just One, and hear the voice of his mouth. 15 📚For you will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 📚And now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
22:14-16 These words are not recorded in chapter 9. The “Just One” is a very fitting name for Jesus – Acts 3:14.⚜
22:16 Notes on baptism at Acts 2:38; Matt 3:2; Mark 16:16. In Ananias’ words we can see that it is the visible symbol of inner cleansing from sin. This inner cleansing is by the blood of Christ – Heb 9:14.⚜
17 📚“And it came about that when I had come again to Jerusalem, as I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, 18 📚and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me.’
19 📚“And I said, ‘Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you. 20 📚And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, consenting to his death, and watched the clothing of those who killed him.’
21 📚“And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”
22:17-21 This event is not recorded in chapter 9. It probably occurred sometime during his visit there shortly after his conversion (Acts 9:26-30).⚜
Paul a captive Roman citizen
22 📚And they listened to him until this word, and then raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not right that he should live”.
22:22 See Acts 19:36. Here is another example of the Jewish prejudice against other peoples which was common in those times. They considered themselves superior to other peoples and did not want the “Gentiles” to be considered on an equality with themselves. Injustice, violence, threats and even murder were tools to maintain their prejudice.⚜
23 📚And as they cried out and threw off their clothes, and flung dust into the air, 24 📚the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he must be investigated by whipping that he might know why they cried out so against him. 25 📚And as they bound him with leather straps, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen, and not condemned?”
26 📚When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman citizen”.
27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” He said, “Yes”. 28 📖And the commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this freedom”.
22:25-28 See Acts 16:37-38. Paul saw no reason why he should endure another unjust beating.⚜
And Paul said, “But I was born free”.
29 📚Then immediately those who were going to investigate him left him, and the commander also was afraid, after he found out that he was a Roman citizen, and because he had bound him.
Paul before the Jewish religious leaders
30 📚On the next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council 📖 to appear, and brought Paul down and placed him before them.