Acts 22:22-29

 Your citizenship matters. Ours is not in this world but in the heavenly realm. Paul’s citizenship was by his birth in Tarsus…Jesus purchased ours with His death and resurrection. 

In Christ we are born into the family of God.

With this gift comes great responsibility to represent Jesus and the love of God to others. With it comes the power of Holy Spirit to accomplish it. The Father loves all of His creation. He doesn’t care where you come from.

Evil has no hold on you and Holy Spirit will protect you from the evil that encapsulates the world. Put on the full armor of God especially the helmet of salvation.

The Jews listened to Paul’s account of his conversion, but the mention of his being sent to the Gentiles, was so contrary to all their national prejudices, that they would hear no more. 

Acts 22:22-29

22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” 23 Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.”

27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”

He said, “Yes.”

28 The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.”

And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

Paul’s audience reacts violently to his speech, and the Roman commander seeks to learn why the Jewish people are so upset with Paul by using torture. Paul escapes flogging by calling attention to his Roman citizenship. Paul’s Jewish opponents may be actually tearing their garments because they believe he is committing blasphemy or taking them off in order to kill Paul by stoning him. Paul appeals to his Roman citizenship and his judicial standing. Roman law forbade the punishment of a citizen without a trial. Paul’s citizenship is by birth, due to him being from Tarsus—a municipality of the Roman. Faithlife Bible.

The Jews did not hate all Gentiles. In fact, they permitted God-fearing Gentiles to worship in the Court of the Gentiles. A Gentile could even become a proselyte, recognized as a Jew, by being circumcised and obeying the laws of Moses. Thus the Jews in this passage were not upset about allowing Gentiles to worship God, but at the idea that Gentiles could be on an equal footing with them before God without being proselytes. The fact that the Gentiles could come to God directly by faith in Jesus Christ was offensive to them.

The scourge was a leather whip, studded with pieces of metal or bone, fastened to a wooden handle. Paul had been beaten before with whips and rods. But scourging was worse. The punishment was used to cripple for life or to kill. The victim endured this torture either stretched out on the floor, tied to a pillar, or tied to a hook suspended from the ceiling. The Roman law was that no Roman citizen could be chained, scourged, or killed without a proper trial. Failure to obey this law resulted in severe punishment for the one who commanded the illegal punishment. Paul had been chained and was about to be scourged without any formal charges having been made.

Originally the privileges of Roman citizenship were limited to free people living in the city of Rome. Later, citizenship was granted to others living in the Roman Empire. Ultimately God used Paul’s Roman citizenship to spread the gospel to Rome. NKJ Bible.

The Jews listened to Paul’s account of his conversion, but the mention of his being sent to the Gentiles, was so contrary to all their national prejudices, that they would hear no more. 

Their frantic conduct astonished the Roman officer, who supposed that Paul must have committed some great crime. Paul pleaded his privilege as a Roman citizen, by which he was exempted from all trials and punishments which might force him to confess himself guilty. The manner of his speaking plainly shows what holy security and serenity of mind he enjoyed. As Paul was a Jew, in low circumstances, the Roman officer questioned how he obtained so valuable a distinction; but the apostle told him he was free born. 

Let us value that freedom to which all the children of God are born; which no sum of money, however large, can purchase for those who remain unregenerate. This at once put a stop to his trouble. Thus many are kept from evil practices by the fear of man, who would not be held back from them by the fear of God. The apostle asks, simply, Is it lawful? He knew that the God whom he served would support him under all sufferings for his name’s sake. But if it were not lawful, the apostle’s religion directed him, if possible, to avoid it. He never shrunk from a cross which his Divine Master laid upon his onward road; and he never stept aside out of that road to take one up. Matthew Henry.