Acts
22:1 ¶ Men, brethren, and fathers, hear
ye my defence which I make now unto you. 2 (And when they heard that he spake in the
Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Acts 22:3 ¶
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city
in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and
taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was
zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. 4
And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into
prisons both men and women. 5 As also
the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from
whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring
them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. 6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my
journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from
heaven a great light round about me. 7
And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8 And I
answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom
thou persecutest. 9 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. 10 And I said,
What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus;
and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to
do. 11 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. 12 And one Ananias, a
devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which
dwelt there, 13 Came unto me, and
stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I
looked up upon him. 14 And he said, The
God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see
that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of
what thou hast seen and heard. 16 And
now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord. 17 And it came
to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the
temple, I was in a trance; 18 And saw
him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they
will not receive thy testimony concerning me. 19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned
and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: 20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was
shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the
raiment of them that slew him. 21 And he
said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
Paul addresses the
crowd in Hebrew and we have his words from the Greek translated into English
for us.
Back in Acts 5 Gamaliel
gave sage advice to the council. He warned them to be careful in their handling
of Christ’s disciples. He mentioned a revolt led by a Theudas, which was a
common Hebrew name, and should not be confused with the Theudas referred to by
the Jewish general turncoat and historian Josephus who mentioned a much later
rebel by that name. Gamaliel places Theudas’ uprising before Judas of Galilee’s
which was during the reign of Herod. If Jesus was like one of them then the
Apostle’s efforts would come to nothing as their leader was dead. But, if this
was of God they cannot fight it because they would be fighting God. It is
interesting that this doctor of the Law would even consider the truth of
Christ. But this is not salvation, this hedging your bets. It is not salvation
to say, well, I’ll believe on Christ just in case He’s real. That is not faith.
In verse 4 Paul admits that
he persecuted and killed Christians or rather had them killed. Notice further confessions.
1Corinthians
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles,
that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of
God.
Philippians
3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the
church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
1Timothy
1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in
unbelief.
Acts
26:9 I verily thought with myself, that
I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many
of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief
priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue,
and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I
persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Paul then recounts his
road to Damascus experience with Christ that is recorded in Acts 9 and which he
retells again in Acts 26. But, note that the Holy Spirit allows him to retell
from memory with certain details changed as he stresses this or that. There are
a few things this tells us. First the account is from memory so minor
variations are to be expected, secondly it’s the overall gist of the event that
the Holy Spirit wants us to remember not necessarily exact word-for-word
details, third Luke and the translators and copyists throughout the millennia
made no effort to make the accounts line up exactly, and four, the Holy Spirit
uses all three recountings to give us a full picture of the intentions of God
for Paul. These things show the influence of the Holy Spirit upon them and how
the Bible is a living book and not a textbook or an instruction manual. It is a
fluid conversation between you and your Creator as He takes you through His
ministry of reconciling mankind to Himself.
Paul admits to being
the young man who held the clothing of those who stoned the martyr, Stephen.
Acts
7:58 And cast him out of the city, and
stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet,
whose name was Saul.
Paul also admits that
God has a special mission for him to the Gentiles.
Romans
15:16 That I should be the minister of
Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering
up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
We have to ask, why then was he so determined
to confront the Jews if his mission was to the Gentiles. Well that is clear;
Romans
9:1 ¶ I say the truth in Christ, I lie
not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish
that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to
the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of
the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
His love for his
people, his ethnicity and heritage, would not let him give up on them and made
his journey to Rome that much harder.
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