Acts 22:22-30 - Paul revealed his Roman Citizenship

The crowd had listened to Paul intensely when he started out in Aramaic, recounting his conversion and mission to the Gentiles. At this point their fury was triggered because Paul spoke of his calling to the Gentiles. They went into a rage, and mayhem broke lose again. They threw off their cloaks, tossed dusts into the air and raised their voices in unison, shouting “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for they should not be allowed to live.” They literally were crying out for his blood.

Bear in mind that the commander did not understand what Paul was saying as he was speaking to the crowd in Aramaic. Seeing the unruliness, Claudius Lysais, the commander, decided to interrogate Paul under scourging. So he ordered Paul into the barrack to be flogged with a fearful instrument that had often left a person crippled or half dead.  The commander’s intention was to find out the truth from Paul himself. And fortunately for Paul, citizens of Rome were legally exempted from this mode of treatment. While the soldiers were preparing and tying him up for the flogging, Paul questioned a centurion who was standing nearby. He asked that centurion if it was lawful for him, an uncondemned Roman Citizen, to be treated this way.

Realizing that it was not legal, that centurion quickly and duly told the commander that Paul was a citizen of Rome, and had questioned his intention to scourge Paul. Quickly, the commander came to Paul and asked him if he was really a citizen of Rome. He couldn’t believe his ears when Paul said, yes. For the commander had acquired his citizenship with a large sum of money. This implied that he had to bribe to get his citizenship. Hence he was surprised when Paul told him that he was born a Roman citizen. With that revelation, everything changed. They let go of Paul immediately, and the commander himself shuddered to think of how close he came to beating a Roman citizen up illegally. The commander was now responsible in his capacity to protect Paul who was a citizen of Roman.

Wishing to know why the Jews had treated Paul that way, the commander ordered all the chief priests and the Sanhedrin to be convened on the next day. When the council was in session, he brought Paul, who was now freed, down to the session and set him before the council.

While Paul’s mission would include suffering for the sake of Christ, he also exercised the wisdom of God not to shortcut his own mission. It is foolhardy to think that we need to suffer unnecessarily. We mustn’t glorify needless suffering. Learning from Paul, we should exploit our God given wisdom, co-operate with the law of the land in ways that we do not dishonor God.