Paul’s Arrest
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2018 · 14 January 2018
This evening, we want to put in perspective Paul's ministry as a prisoner. He was put in jail for a short time in Acts 16 at Philippi, together with Silas. But the Lord sent an earthquake and the jail opened, and he was able to save the jailer and his household. But beginning in Acts 21, he really becomes a prisoner from that point on.
And he gives six separate defenses for his actions. The first defense begins in Acts 21:18; the second in Acts 22:30, etc. Now, the first defense, is before the council. The second, the third and the fourth was before the governors who are Felix and Festus; the fifth one was before the king, and the last one before the Jews. The first two came in Jerusalem, the next in Caesarea and the final was in Rome.
Now, in Acts 21, we come to the first of these defenses. And it is given before the mob at Jerusalem, where he is accused. So we can name this, "How to give a positive testimony in a negative situation." And really, that could be the title of the rest of the book of Acts, because it continually is a negative situation in which Paul gives a positive testimony.
Christians are faced at times with the dilemma of how to give a positive testimony in a negative situation. This maybe on the job, you have given indication that you are a Christian, and somebody has criticized you, and so every time the opportunity presents itself to open your mouth, you sort of struggle in your heart. Some of us get into situations where great disasters occurs and the world watches to see if our faith is any good or not.
As we come to the Apostle Paul, we see a man who knew how to take a negative situation and make it into a positive testimony. We are going to see now his boldness. As a prisoner from here on out, we can begin to understand how Paul viewed his imprisonment. Paul always viewed his situation as something that God authored. He is always a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
In Philippians 1:13 he says, “It has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ.” And so consequently, being in prison just represented a new ministry. And in Philippians 4:22, he says, “All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.” This means he is winning people to Christ who were available to be reached through prison.
And then he says in Philippians 1:12, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel.” And God uses him to give a glorious testimony; positive witness in every one of those trials, even though they were all negative situations.
In Acts 21:27, we are reminded that Paul has arrived in Jerusalem. The Jewish Christians there in Jerusalem had heard that he was anti-Jewish; that he had thrown out the Jewish customs, and he was against the ceremonies and tradition of Jewish life, and all that was not true. Paul was himself still very much Jewish.
Here he was at the feast of Pentecost. He attended the synagogues on the Sabbath. He had taken a Nazarite vow himself in Acts 19, and shaved his own head. The Apostle Paul had not thrown out the Jewish traditions. He was in transition. It was taking time for those old things to die. But some of the Judaizers that told these Christians he was anti-Judaistic, and so they were anti-Paul.
And when he arrived in town with all his Gentiles friends, because he came there to bring money to the Jerusalem saints because they needed it, and to show love from the Gentile churches, and his welcome was good from some. But the others were greatly concerned because the tens of thousands of Jewish Christians thought he was anti-Jewish.
And so in order to change his reputation, they had him go to the temple, fulfill a Nazarite vow with four other guys, pay the bill for the whole thing in hopes that the Jewish Christians would say, "Hey, if he would do that, he's certainly not as anti-Jewish as we have been led to believe." And he did that, and although the text says nothing about it, that it must have had a positive effect on the Jewish Christians.
But, it did not have any effect on the non-Christians Jews. So we meet the mob in verse 27, “Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him.” They are a group of people, who are trying to murder the Apostle Paul, without knowing what they are doing, or why they're doing it.
The Jews from Asia are not from China but from Asia Minor. And Asia Minor was a Roman province in which where the cities of Ephesus Laodecea, Philadelphia, Thyatyrus, Sardis, and Smyrna are, which are mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3. These Jews are likely from Ephesus. And they knew Trophimus in verse 29, who was an Ephesian. So they recognized Paul from the synagogue there.
Now, there had been a riot back in Ephesus earlier in Acts, where they tried to kill Paul, but cooler heads prevailed, and they couldn't accomplish it. But now they really saw their opportunity because there were no Gentiles, because before they had squashed the riot. But now there were just Jews, so when they saw him in the synagogue, they stirred up all the people.
Here is Paul finishing up his Nazarite vows, and a whole bunch of these Jews from Ephesus descend on him. Verse 28, “crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
Historians tell us there could be 2 million people there at Pentecost. That is why those Asian Minor Jews were there. This is 50 days after Passover. And it was the Old Testament feast of harvest sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, and sometimes called the Day of First Fruits. And the feast of Pentecost became associated with the celebration of the birthday of the Law, which means they were celebrating Jewishness to its nth degree.
Paul wanted to be there, which indicates that he does revere the Law. In Romans 7:22, he said, "I delight in the Law of God." So he wasn't anti-Jewish Law. Secondly it was a Jewish celebration of the law, which means that the crowd was hyper concerned about the Law and its sanctity. So they stirred up the crowd, when they start yelling, "Help" as if some blasphemy has occurred.
Look what they accuse him of. "He teaches all men everywhere." That is so general. And notice the accusation, "against the people." So he is accused of being anti-Semitic. Now, as a Jew, that makes no sense. But that is an accusation that is still going on today. Jewish people have never been able to live with the fact of the conversion of a Jew to a Christian, because the Jewish person associates his religion with his race historically.
But the one who would reject the Messiah actually would be rejecting his own Judaism. The real rebel against Judaism is the unbelieving Jew who will not accept his Messiah. The Christian Jew is the one who has accomplished that which God has designed to be accomplished through Judaism; that has faith in his Messiah who has come and died and is risen, and living and interceding for us today.
To become a messianic Jew by coming to Jesus Christ, is for many Jews a rejection of everything that Judaism is, when in fact it is the very opposite. To reject Jesus Christ is to reject everything that Judaism is. And when they said he is against the Law, they meant he is anti-God. He is anti-Moses and anti-biblical. And then to sum it up, “And against this place that is the temple.”
So they accused him of blaspheming the Law, blaspheming God, and blaspheming the temple. Verse 29 says, “For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.” They didn't see him in the temple. That was another lie. Paul just spent seven days going through a Nazarite vow, so how can he turn around and bring a Gentile in there?
But even if Paul had taken Trophimus in there, it would not have been Paul that died, it would have been Trophimus. Paul couldn't be killed because he was a Jew. So the whole thing was a pretense and the mob had no idea what they were doing. Verse 30, “And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.”
They wanted to get him out of there so they could go on worshipping God, while they killed Paul. This is what they did at the trial of Jesus. They wanted to make sure they didn't violate the Sabbath while they executed the Messiah. Butin the great providence of God, the life of Paul was not yet over.
And so God activated the Romans. Verse 31, “Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.” Outside the temple area, on the north side adjacent was Fort Antonia, which had a great observation tower from which you can see right into the temple court. And it had at least 1,000 well trained Roman soldiers.
They did not allow any civil disorder. Verse 32, “He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.” Verse 33, “Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done.”
Agabus the prophet’s prophecy comes to pass. The Jews have captured him, and now they deliver him to the Gentiles, who chain him. And they did it because they assumed that he was a rebel leader. Well, Romans were good at trying to bring about justice. And so this commander wanted to find out what Paul was accused of, who he was and what was going on.
Verse 34, “And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks.” Verse 35 says, “When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.” The disappointed crowd now was screaming what it had screamed 25 years before to the Messiah.
Verse 36, “For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!” And that's what they said to Jesus. That means kill him. And the chief captain can't figure out what he has done, or even who he is. In all of this, the Apostle Paul hasn't struggled or said anything. Paul was really humble. He submitted to God's plan, even though it involved suffering at the hands of the world.
Now we are going to see the defense of Paul. The word defense in Greek is apologia, from which we get apology and apologetic. Look at Acts 22:1, “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.” Now, an apology often has a negative meaning. It used to have a positive meaning. To give an apology was to give a reason for your behavior or a reason for what you believe in.
It is a testimony of his experience and what God has done in his life. But let us watch how Paul makes something positive out of a negative situation. Verse 37, “Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek?” Greek was the language of those who had been outside Jerusalem and educated elsewhere.
Because he thought that Paul was nothing but a common rebel rouser. He did not know that this man was an intelligent, cultured, educated man with a Greek upbringing. Verse 38, “Are not you that Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?” In 54 A.D., Josephus says there was an Egyptian rebel, who got 4,000 assassins to create havoc in Jerusalem and the governor killed either 400 of them, and routed them all.
And always when the feast days occurred, there was the threat of the assassins trying to attack Jews. Now, when the commander saw them grabbing Paul, he thought that they have caught one of those assassins, maybe that Egyptian himself. But of course when Paul said to him in Greek, "Can I speak to the people?" he knew that such an Egyptian rebel rouser would not be cultured enough to speak Greek.
Verse 39, “But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.” Tarsus was ranked with Athens and Alexandria as a city of culture, art and education. And Cilicia was the territory surrounding Tarsus. That was enough to show that he was a cultured, educated man.
Paul only knew how to deal with a situation one way, confrontation. There is something exciting about that kind of boldness. Verse 40, “So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language.” It's really Aramaic. So to turn a negative situation into a positive one, you have to do two things.
One: Accept the situation as from God and use it as an opportunity. Because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow. Look how He accepted the suffering. He did not deserve to suffer. Similarly you are going to suffer when you too don't deserve it. And when Jesus was reviled, He did not revile in return. He just said, "God, I accept that it is from you.”
Two: Turn it into an opportunity. Jesus in the midst of that negative situation redeemed you and me. Paul always got into a negative situation in Acts. After Paul preached a sermon they were furious. They said, "We absolutely forbid you to preach." And he answered, "who shall I obey, you or God?" And they beat him up and threw him in jail. But Paul was filled with boldness, and he spoke the Word, and many people got saved. May we do the same, let’s pray.