Paul�“A Roman Citizen

Acts 22:22–30
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Citizenship

The crowd listened until Paul made this last statement (v. 22). Then they started shouting, “Get rid of this man! He doesn’t deserve to live.” For Paul’s sake, it was probably good that the courtyard was paved. Had there been stones lying around the Jews may have stoned him to death. To the Jews he was a traitor. In their thinking God never sent a Jew to the Gentiles. They were so upset after hearing Paul’s testimony that they tore off their garments and scooped up dust and threw it into the air (v. 23). This shocked the Roman soldiers, as they had not been able to understand a word of the language in which Paul had addressed the crowd. The Roman soldiers were afraid that the crowd might go on a rampage so they believed they must get Paul to talk fast. When they saw the crowd’s reaction they gave the order, “Scourge him” (v. 24). Paul was no stranger to beatings.

There are times for a believer to claim his civil rights. We should be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, but there is no virtue in suffering merely for suffering’s sake. At this point Paul produced his Roman citizenship (vv. 25-27). To scourge an uncondemned Roman citizen was serious business. No one had the rights of a Roman citizen except the elite, and these people, it has been said, would pay the equivalent of $50,000 in our money in order to become a Roman citizen (v. 28). When Paul said, “I was born a citizen” this probably meant that his Jewish father or grandfather had bought their Roman citizenship. Since Paul was a Jew, these Roman guards were still curious as to why Paul was hated so much by his own fellow Jews (v. 29). So they released Paul, but ordered the Sanhedrin to hold a special session in order to straighten out the matter (v. 30).

Application

I need to ask myself - What do I appreciate most about being a citizen of my country? What rights do I have as a citizen of this country in which I was born and live? More important than this, what rights do I have as a citizen of heaven? Only because of what Christ has done for me.

Acts 22:22-30 (English Standard Version)

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