Acts 22:1-5 relates how Paul tells the Jerusalem crowd of his origins. He was trained as a Pharisee in Jerusalem, passionate for God and the Law, so much so that he led the persecution against believers in Jesus many years ago. The Sanhedrin sponsored his efforts and authorized him to travel to foreign cities and arrest believers there.
In Acts 22:1-5Acts 22:1-5 commentary, commentary the Apostle Paul attempts to defend himself against a misinformed crowd bent on taking his life. The previous chapter ended on a comma as Paul began to speak to the mob “saying,” (Acts 21:40Acts 21:40 commentary). Paul will try to make peace with the crowd and sway them to faith in the Messiah.
He has returned to Jerusalem after years abroad in Greece and the Roman province of Asia (the western region of modern-day Turkey). Many co-ministers and friends accompanied him to Jerusalem, some of whom were Gentile believers (Acts 20:4Acts 20:4 commentary). The Holy Spirit informed Paul many times that “bonds and afflictions” waited for him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary). While in Jerusalem, Paul agreed to pay the temple expenses for four Jewish believers who had taken a vow.
He sponsored them in an effort to show that he did not preach against the Mosaic Law. But while in the temple, some hostile Jewish men visiting from the province of Asia saw Paul and attacked him. They stirred up the crowds against Paul, speaking a lie that he had brought one of his Gentile friends into the inner court of the temple, which was forbidden. Paul had done no such thing. But the crowds attacked him anyway.
The local Roman commander intervened and saved Paul from being beaten to death by the mob. While escorting Paul up the stairs to question him in the barracks, the Roman commander was surprised to hear Paul talk to him in the Greek language. Paul requested the chance to speak to the belligerent crowd below, and the commander obliged him.
Paul addresses the crowd in the common language of first-century Judea, “the Hebrew dialect,” probably meaning Jewish Aramaic (Acts 21:40Acts 21:40 commentary). He begins:
“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you” (v. 1).
At the outset, Paul explains why he is speaking to the crowd. He wants them to hear his defense. Earlier, he had no opportunity to speak out. He had been overwhelmed by the crowd attacking him. Rather than hide from the crowd, Paul wants to try to persuade them to change their minds about him and about what he represents.
The slander spoken against Paul had been “This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place” (Acts 21:28Acts 21:28 commentary).
Now, safely away from the crowd, standing above them on the stairs to the barracks, with Roman soldiers guarding him, Paul speaks in his own defense. He appeals to the fact that both he and the crowd are Jewish, addressing them as Brethren and fathers.
Both terms are familial, appealing to common cause and close bonds. The term Brethren invokes the sense that Paul is on the same side as the Jews, that he grew up alongside them as a brother, and that they share the same heritage and values. The term fathers is respectful and humble. If Paul were really preaching against the Jewish people, against Jewish Law, and against the temple, he would gladly distance himself from the Jews, rather than call them his Brethren and fathers.
The audience perks up at his opening remarks:
And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; (v. 2).
There had already been “a great hush” (Acts 21:40Acts 21:40 commentary) on the crowd when Paul first indicated he was going to speak to them, but now they became even more quiet. No one whispered to his neighbor, no one shifted where he stood. No one wanted to miss what this man was about to say. The reason they became even more quiet was that they heard that Paul was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, probably Jewish Aramaic.
This may have been of interest to some in the crowd because Paul was first accused by Jews from the province of Asia (probably from Ephesus where Paul lived for several years—Acts 19:10Acts 19:10 commentary). Since the accusation came from diaspora Jews not native to Israel, the local Jews may have thought Paul was also from Ephesus. But his ability to skillfully speak in the Hebrew dialect may have caused his audience to realize their mistake, and to wonder who this man was, and how he spoke like a local.
With the crowd’s full attention, Paul continues: and he said,“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today” (vs. 2-3).
Paul gives his testimony. Much of it will be a retelling of the events of Acts 8:1Acts 8:1 commentary, 9:1-309:1-30 commentary. Paul will explain how he went from being a devout Pharisee who hated Christ to a believer who preached Christ, even to the Gentiles. Paul starts at the beginning, explaining that he, like the crowd, is a Jew. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia. Tarsus was the capital city of Cilicia, a Roman province in southern-central Asia Minor/Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Although he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, Paul stresses that he was brought up in this city, Jerusalem. Again, Paul is identifying himself with the crowd—they are his Brethren and fathers, and he is a Jew who was brought up in the city of Jerusalem. He speaks the Hebrew dialect.
At some point in his youth, Paul came to Jerusalem from Tarsus to train to become a Pharisee. His teacher was a notable and respected Pharisee; Paul was educated under Gamaliel. Gamaliel appeared in the book of Acts many years earlier, when the Apostles were on trial (Acts 5:27Acts 5:27 commentary).
In that episode, the Apostles Peter, John, and the other ten had been performing miracles and preaching in the outer porch of the temple, when the priests had them arrested. Many in the Sanhedrin (the council of elders) wanted to put the Apostles to death, but Gamaliel spoke wisdom to prevent this. He reasoned that if the Apostles were really doing God’s will, then it was unwise to oppose them, but if they were not backed by God, they would fail all on their own (Acts 5:34-39Acts 5:34-39 commentary). The Sanhedrin heeded Gamaliel’s wisdom that day and freed the Apostles.
This same wise Pharisee who was a “teacher of the Law, respected by all the people” (Acts 5:34Acts 5:34 commentary) had educated Paul during his years as an apprentice Pharisee.
This education was strictly according to the law of our fathers. Again, the excuse to attack Paul that day was because of the lie that he preaches “to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place” (Acts 21:28Acts 21:28 commentary). Here Paul is showing that this murderous mob doesn’t know anything about him. He was in fact a Pharisee trained by a highly respected teacher, Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers—the Jewish Law, the Law of Moses.
Paul was educated by Gamaliel because he also was zealous for God just as you all are today. Paul acknowledges the crowd’s zeal for the law of our fathers, again identifying himself with them, that he was and is just as zealous for God, at the same intensity as you all (the crowd) are today.
The crowd’s zeal was being misapplied, but Paul is hoping that because of their zeal for God, they might hear what God has done through sending His Son, the Messiah, Jesus. Paul is telling them that he is just like them and knows exactly how they feel about their law and their God. But this zeal controlled Paul, and led him to work against God’s will, as he will detail to the crowd. He describes to the crowd to what extremes this zealous dedication took him:
I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished (v. 4-5).
Paul does not mention the stoning of the deacon, Stephen, after he rebuked the Sanhedrin during his trial. Paul was present at this murder and approved of it (Acts 7:58 - 8:1Acts 7:58 - 8:1 commentary). After several trials against the Apostles, the Sanhedrin finally gave in to its desire to kill followers of Jesus. After stoning Stephen, the dam broke and the persecution of the believers began in earnest.
Motivated by his zeal, Paul volunteered to take charge of this persecution. He was given this role possibly because he was “advancing in Judaism beyond many of [his] contemporaries among [his] countrymen, being more extremely zealous for [his] ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:14Galatians 1:14 commentary). He was zealous not just for Judaism, but also for the Pharisaical establishment, their system of definitions and rules added to the law. Paul’s prominence as a zealous, ladder-climbing young Pharisee allowed him the opportunity to spearhead this persecution.
He persecuted this Way (the Way was what Christianity was called in its early years—the Way of Jesus Christ). He was binding and putting both men and women into prisons. In Acts 8Acts 8 commentary, commentary Luke, the author of Acts, describes how Paul persecuted this Way:
“But Saul [Paul] began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.” (Acts 8:3Acts 8:3 commentary)
Here in Acts 22Acts 22 commentary, commentary Paul is now suffering “bonds and afflictions” (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary) from Jews hostile to the gospel, just as he had inflicted bonds and afflictions on believers decades early. He not only arrested believers but probably participated in violent abuse against them as well. Elsewhere in scripture, Paul describes himself as having been a “blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Timothy 1:131 Timothy 1:13 commentary).
Paul says here that he persecuted this Way to the death. This could be read two ways, both of which are true. The first is that he persecuted this Way with the sole aim of destroying it, putting this “false religion” to death so that no one would believe in or even speak the name of Jesus ever again (Acts 4:17-18Acts 4:17-18 commentary).
However, Paul also persecuted believers to put them to death physically. He was complicit in the untold deaths of the believers he arrested. Later in Acts, when he has the opportunity to give his testimony to King Agrippa, Paul will explain “not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them” (Acts 26:10Acts 26:10 commentary).
Of those whom he arrested, he played a role at their trials, having the power to vote in favor of their execution, which he did. The goal was for these deaths to frighten other believers to give up their faith to avoid the fate of their friends. However, martyrdom often has the opposite effect, as it did in the case of Christianity.
Paul also punished believers of the Way and “tried to force them to blaspheme,” meaning he tried to make believers disavow Jesus, probably by inflicting physical pain on them, so that they would say Jesus was not the Messiah and recant their faith. Paul did all this while “being furiously enraged at” believers (Acts 26:11Acts 26:11 commentary). His actions were motivated by hatred.
Thus, Paul can understand the point of view of the crowd to whom he is speaking. He used to be just like them, if not more so. But his hope is that their hearts will be changed by his testimony, just as God changed his heart while Paul was violently persecuting the Way. Paul attests to the crowd that if they do not believe what he is saying about his past, the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify to the truth of it.
It was the high priest and the Sanhedrin (the Council of the elders) who deputized Paul: From them he also received letters to the brethren, letters which gave him jurisdiction in other cities where Jews lived to arrest those who believed in Jesus (during Paul’s persecution, believers of the Way of Jesus were only Jewish; the gospel did not spread to Gentiles until Acts 10Acts 10 commentary). In his later testimony, Paul specifies that he had “the authority and commission of the chief priests” (Acts 26:12Acts 26:12 commentary).
The brethren Paul is referring to in the phrase I also received letters to the brethren are the Jewish leaders (Pharisees and elders) in cities outside of Jerusalem, to whom Paul would show his letters from the high priest that he had the authority to arrest whomever he suspected to be a believer in Jesus. These were Jewish brothers.
With these letters of expanded authority, Paul describes how he started off for Damascus. The community of believers in Jerusalem at that time numbered over five thousand men and women (Acts 4:4Acts 4:4 commentary), and had “scattered” when Paul began persecuting the Way (Acts 8:1Acts 8:1 commentary). Some believers had apparently scattered as far as Damascus, a city in Syria, 140 or so miles north of Jerusalem. Paul’s purpose in Damascus was to arrest the believers who were there, in order to extradite them back to Jerusalem for trial, as prisoners to be punished, possibly even to be put to death.
Paul reveals all the shameful, awful details of his past to this crowd that wants to kill him so that they will know how much he has in common with them. He was also zealous for the Law as they are zealous, he comes from the Pharisee establishment, he once hated the Way of Jesus to the point of arresting believers and voting for their deaths. The Sanhedrin can back up everything he is saying. Paul used to be the most dangerous, eminent enemy of those who believed in Jesus. He tells the crowd this to explain how his heart was totally changed, in hopes that they might also turn from hating Jesus to believing in Him.
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Acts 22:1-5 meaning
In Acts 22:1-5Acts 22:1-5 commentary, commentary the Apostle Paul attempts to defend himself against a misinformed crowd bent on taking his life. The previous chapter ended on a comma as Paul began to speak to the mob “saying,” (Acts 21:40Acts 21:40 commentary). Paul will try to make peace with the crowd and sway them to faith in the Messiah.
He has returned to Jerusalem after years abroad in Greece and the Roman province of Asia (the western region of modern-day Turkey). Many co-ministers and friends accompanied him to Jerusalem, some of whom were Gentile believers (Acts 20:4Acts 20:4 commentary). The Holy Spirit informed Paul many times that “bonds and afflictions” waited for him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary). While in Jerusalem, Paul agreed to pay the temple expenses for four Jewish believers who had taken a vow.
He sponsored them in an effort to show that he did not preach against the Mosaic Law. But while in the temple, some hostile Jewish men visiting from the province of Asia saw Paul and attacked him. They stirred up the crowds against Paul, speaking a lie that he had brought one of his Gentile friends into the inner court of the temple, which was forbidden. Paul had done no such thing. But the crowds attacked him anyway.
The local Roman commander intervened and saved Paul from being beaten to death by the mob. While escorting Paul up the stairs to question him in the barracks, the Roman commander was surprised to hear Paul talk to him in the Greek language. Paul requested the chance to speak to the belligerent crowd below, and the commander obliged him.
Paul addresses the crowd in the common language of first-century Judea, “the Hebrew dialect,” probably meaning Jewish Aramaic (Acts 21:40Acts 21:40 commentary). He begins:
“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you” (v. 1).
At the outset, Paul explains why he is speaking to the crowd. He wants them to hear his defense. Earlier, he had no opportunity to speak out. He had been overwhelmed by the crowd attacking him. Rather than hide from the crowd, Paul wants to try to persuade them to change their minds about him and about what he represents.
The slander spoken against Paul had been “This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place” (Acts 21:28Acts 21:28 commentary).
Now, safely away from the crowd, standing above them on the stairs to the barracks, with Roman soldiers guarding him, Paul speaks in his own defense. He appeals to the fact that both he and the crowd are Jewish, addressing them as Brethren and fathers.
Both terms are familial, appealing to common cause and close bonds. The term Brethren invokes the sense that Paul is on the same side as the Jews, that he grew up alongside them as a brother, and that they share the same heritage and values. The term fathers is respectful and humble. If Paul were really preaching against the Jewish people, against Jewish Law, and against the temple, he would gladly distance himself from the Jews, rather than call them his Brethren and fathers.
The audience perks up at his opening remarks:
And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; (v. 2).
There had already been “a great hush” (Acts 21:40Acts 21:40 commentary) on the crowd when Paul first indicated he was going to speak to them, but now they became even more quiet. No one whispered to his neighbor, no one shifted where he stood. No one wanted to miss what this man was about to say. The reason they became even more quiet was that they heard that Paul was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, probably Jewish Aramaic.
This may have been of interest to some in the crowd because Paul was first accused by Jews from the province of Asia (probably from Ephesus where Paul lived for several years—Acts 19:10Acts 19:10 commentary). Since the accusation came from diaspora Jews not native to Israel, the local Jews may have thought Paul was also from Ephesus. But his ability to skillfully speak in the Hebrew dialect may have caused his audience to realize their mistake, and to wonder who this man was, and how he spoke like a local.
With the crowd’s full attention, Paul continues: and he said,“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today” (vs. 2-3).
Paul gives his testimony. Much of it will be a retelling of the events of Acts 8:1Acts 8:1 commentary, 9:1-309:1-30 commentary. Paul will explain how he went from being a devout Pharisee who hated Christ to a believer who preached Christ, even to the Gentiles. Paul starts at the beginning, explaining that he, like the crowd, is a Jew. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia. Tarsus was the capital city of Cilicia, a Roman province in southern-central Asia Minor/Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Although he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, Paul stresses that he was brought up in this city, Jerusalem. Again, Paul is identifying himself with the crowd—they are his Brethren and fathers, and he is a Jew who was brought up in the city of Jerusalem. He speaks the Hebrew dialect.
At some point in his youth, Paul came to Jerusalem from Tarsus to train to become a Pharisee. His teacher was a notable and respected Pharisee; Paul was educated under Gamaliel. Gamaliel appeared in the book of Acts many years earlier, when the Apostles were on trial (Acts 5:27Acts 5:27 commentary).
In that episode, the Apostles Peter, John, and the other ten had been performing miracles and preaching in the outer porch of the temple, when the priests had them arrested. Many in the Sanhedrin (the council of elders) wanted to put the Apostles to death, but Gamaliel spoke wisdom to prevent this. He reasoned that if the Apostles were really doing God’s will, then it was unwise to oppose them, but if they were not backed by God, they would fail all on their own (Acts 5:34-39Acts 5:34-39 commentary). The Sanhedrin heeded Gamaliel’s wisdom that day and freed the Apostles.
This same wise Pharisee who was a “teacher of the Law, respected by all the people” (Acts 5:34Acts 5:34 commentary) had educated Paul during his years as an apprentice Pharisee.
This education was strictly according to the law of our fathers. Again, the excuse to attack Paul that day was because of the lie that he preaches “to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place” (Acts 21:28Acts 21:28 commentary). Here Paul is showing that this murderous mob doesn’t know anything about him. He was in fact a Pharisee trained by a highly respected teacher, Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers—the Jewish Law, the Law of Moses.
Paul was educated by Gamaliel because he also was zealous for God just as you all are today. Paul acknowledges the crowd’s zeal for the law of our fathers, again identifying himself with them, that he was and is just as zealous for God, at the same intensity as you all (the crowd) are today.
The crowd’s zeal was being misapplied, but Paul is hoping that because of their zeal for God, they might hear what God has done through sending His Son, the Messiah, Jesus. Paul is telling them that he is just like them and knows exactly how they feel about their law and their God. But this zeal controlled Paul, and led him to work against God’s will, as he will detail to the crowd. He describes to the crowd to what extremes this zealous dedication took him:
I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished (v. 4-5).
Paul does not mention the stoning of the deacon, Stephen, after he rebuked the Sanhedrin during his trial. Paul was present at this murder and approved of it (Acts 7:58 - 8:1Acts 7:58 - 8:1 commentary). After several trials against the Apostles, the Sanhedrin finally gave in to its desire to kill followers of Jesus. After stoning Stephen, the dam broke and the persecution of the believers began in earnest.
Motivated by his zeal, Paul volunteered to take charge of this persecution. He was given this role possibly because he was “advancing in Judaism beyond many of [his] contemporaries among [his] countrymen, being more extremely zealous for [his] ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:14Galatians 1:14 commentary). He was zealous not just for Judaism, but also for the Pharisaical establishment, their system of definitions and rules added to the law. Paul’s prominence as a zealous, ladder-climbing young Pharisee allowed him the opportunity to spearhead this persecution.
He persecuted this Way (the Way was what Christianity was called in its early years—the Way of Jesus Christ). He was binding and putting both men and women into prisons. In Acts 8Acts 8 commentary, commentary Luke, the author of Acts, describes how Paul persecuted this Way:
“But Saul [Paul] began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.”
(Acts 8:3Acts 8:3 commentary)
Here in Acts 22Acts 22 commentary, commentary Paul is now suffering “bonds and afflictions” (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary) from Jews hostile to the gospel, just as he had inflicted bonds and afflictions on believers decades early. He not only arrested believers but probably participated in violent abuse against them as well. Elsewhere in scripture, Paul describes himself as having been a “blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Timothy 1:131 Timothy 1:13 commentary).
Paul says here that he persecuted this Way to the death. This could be read two ways, both of which are true. The first is that he persecuted this Way with the sole aim of destroying it, putting this “false religion” to death so that no one would believe in or even speak the name of Jesus ever again (Acts 4:17-18Acts 4:17-18 commentary).
However, Paul also persecuted believers to put them to death physically. He was complicit in the untold deaths of the believers he arrested. Later in Acts, when he has the opportunity to give his testimony to King Agrippa, Paul will explain “not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them” (Acts 26:10Acts 26:10 commentary).
Of those whom he arrested, he played a role at their trials, having the power to vote in favor of their execution, which he did. The goal was for these deaths to frighten other believers to give up their faith to avoid the fate of their friends. However, martyrdom often has the opposite effect, as it did in the case of Christianity.
Paul also punished believers of the Way and “tried to force them to blaspheme,” meaning he tried to make believers disavow Jesus, probably by inflicting physical pain on them, so that they would say Jesus was not the Messiah and recant their faith. Paul did all this while “being furiously enraged at” believers (Acts 26:11Acts 26:11 commentary). His actions were motivated by hatred.
Thus, Paul can understand the point of view of the crowd to whom he is speaking. He used to be just like them, if not more so. But his hope is that their hearts will be changed by his testimony, just as God changed his heart while Paul was violently persecuting the Way. Paul attests to the crowd that if they do not believe what he is saying about his past, the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify to the truth of it.
It was the high priest and the Sanhedrin (the Council of the elders) who deputized Paul: From them he also received letters to the brethren, letters which gave him jurisdiction in other cities where Jews lived to arrest those who believed in Jesus (during Paul’s persecution, believers of the Way of Jesus were only Jewish; the gospel did not spread to Gentiles until Acts 10Acts 10 commentary). In his later testimony, Paul specifies that he had “the authority and commission of the chief priests” (Acts 26:12Acts 26:12 commentary).
The brethren Paul is referring to in the phrase I also received letters to the brethren are the Jewish leaders (Pharisees and elders) in cities outside of Jerusalem, to whom Paul would show his letters from the high priest that he had the authority to arrest whomever he suspected to be a believer in Jesus. These were Jewish brothers.
With these letters of expanded authority, Paul describes how he started off for Damascus. The community of believers in Jerusalem at that time numbered over five thousand men and women (Acts 4:4Acts 4:4 commentary), and had “scattered” when Paul began persecuting the Way (Acts 8:1Acts 8:1 commentary). Some believers had apparently scattered as far as Damascus, a city in Syria, 140 or so miles north of Jerusalem. Paul’s purpose in Damascus was to arrest the believers who were there, in order to extradite them back to Jerusalem for trial, as prisoners to be punished, possibly even to be put to death.
Paul reveals all the shameful, awful details of his past to this crowd that wants to kill him so that they will know how much he has in common with them. He was also zealous for the Law as they are zealous, he comes from the Pharisee establishment, he once hated the Way of Jesus to the point of arresting believers and voting for their deaths. The Sanhedrin can back up everything he is saying. Paul used to be the most dangerous, eminent enemy of those who believed in Jesus. He tells the crowd this to explain how his heart was totally changed, in hopes that they might also turn from hating Jesus to believing in Him.