Paul’s Testimony
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 28 January 2024
Throughout the history of God’s people, it has always been true that there are those who have been willing to give a testimony for God or for Christ against all odds. It didn’t really matter what the situation was or how negative it was or how impossible it seemed, there were always those faithful who were willing to go against the situation to give a positive testimony in a negative situation.
Through the history of modern days; there’s also been suffering for Jesus Christ in many places in the world and continues to be so today. Perhaps into the tribulation, which may not be far away, where we find that those who name the name of Jesus Christ and refuse the mark of the beast will pay with their lives; and yet there will be such great evangelism that many will become believers.
The presentation of the gospel has a positive power, but it is a positive power in the midst of a negative situation, because Satan will do everything he can to hold on. If it is actually facing the world and proclaiming the truth of the gospel to somebody who is in Satan’s domain, there’s going to be a negative factor somewhere. So you might as well realize it and get on with it.
For the apostle Paul, it’s just one negative situation after another, it never phased him. Now he comes to Jerusalem in Acts 21. It’s the final step in his third journey, which is the last journey that he ever made as a free man. The next trip that he makes back toward Rome is as a prisoner. It’s still a missionary journey, because whether he was in or out of chains, he never changed what he said.
When he arrives in Jerusalem, he finds out that there are some Jewish Christians that think he’s anti-Jewish, that think he doesn’t believe in the traditions and the ceremonies of Israel. And some of those Judiazers were still used to the customs of Israel, because it was hard to separate religious custom from just the custom of life, from the culture. And so some were still doing Jewish traditions.
So when Paul arrives, the elders of the Jerusalem church are concerned that he’s going to be hated by the Jewish Christians, and so he does something to try to gain their approval. He goes to the temple with some folks taking a Nazarite vow, to separate yourself for God. So he participates in order to show these Jewish Christians that he was not against the ceremonies of cultural Judaism.
But while he was in the temple, he was seen by some people. They were some non-Christian Jews from Asia Minor. When Paul was in Asia Minor, he dramatically affected the entire province. In the three years in Ephesus, he not only established the church at Ephesus, but also six other churches. Jews had been converted from Judaism to Jesus, and the rest of the Jews hated him.
And now here are some of these Jews in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, which is occurring at this time. While they’re there, they spy on Paul in the temple going through this Nazarite purification ceremony. In the riot in Ephesus, Gentile heads prevailed and saved his life. But now this was a mass of Jewish population. So we find that he is attacked and jailed in Acts 21:27.
This is his arrest and first defense. From here on out to the end of the book, Paul is a prisoner, and he also gives six different defenses of himself. First the attack on Paul in verses Acts 21:27 to 30. The Jews from Asia Minor, stirred up all the people, who laid hands on him crying out, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man that taught all men against the law and this place.
And further he brought Greeks into the temple, and has polluted this holy place. Of course Paul didn’t do that, they just lied. “And all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and took Paul, and drew him out of the temple; and at once the doors were shut.” So they grabbed him right in the middle of the conclusion of his Nazarite purification vow, and they did it to kill him.
Well, the mob really didn’t know what was going on. But they were all trying to kill Paul. Immediately, the commander took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they ceased beating Paul. Then the chief captain came and took him, and commanded that he be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was and what he had done.
The only problem was Paul hadn’t done anything. But the Romans didn’t know that, he assumed that he had done something. Well, a mob is a body of people with no head. They were just doing what everybody did. So he gets no answers. And he commanded him to be carried into the barracks. They had to lift him over their heads and carry him through the people into the barrack.
As they go up the stairs, the crowd surges up screaming for his death. Do you know why all those people were in the temple ground that day? They were there to worship God. Wasn’t Judaism the right religion? It was all right up until the cross. After the cross, it ceased to be. It became just pagan worship. Christianity qualified absolutely truth, and outside of that, truth is incomplete and is the same as error.
Well, this commander assumed that he was this guy, this assassin. Paul said, ‘I am a man who’s a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia.” Listen, Tarsus ranked with Alexandria and Athens. Tarsus meant education, culture and art. And he says, “I want to speak.” And the man who was the commander wanted to find out what was going on, so he figured this is my chance to hear what’s happening.
Paul didn’t try to run from it, because it was a God-ordained situation. Now, let us study the apology or defense of Paul. The word apology in the Greek, apologia, means a speech in defense of. The extended passage of his defense begins in Acts 21:37 through Acts 22:21. His speech in defense of is basically biographical and experiential. So he spoke to them in their own Hebrew language.
He defends himself on two counts: his motive and his deed. So there he stands at the top of the stairs. And he uses the words of Stephen, when he started his defense. “Brothers and fathers.” When you share Jesus Christ with people, it is more important that you communicate the truth of Christ than your experience, right? You have to explain who Christ is and what He has done.
There is power in personal testimony when the emphasis is God. What God has done in his life. Now his defense has three parts: his conduct before his conversion, verses 3 to 5; the circumstances at his conversion, verses 6 to 16; and his commission after conversion, verses 17 to 21. Conduct before, commission at event, and commission after; and the center point is his conversion.
Acts 22:1-3, “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” 2 When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter. 3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.”
He begins by showing them that his motive was never anti-Jewish. I’m a zealous Jew. He’s proud of it, and he should be. It conciliates them immediately. This is no foreigner. And, you know, most of the mob don’t have any idea who he is. There’s just that little group that started the thing that know. Paul was cultured and educated, and they got the message just from the fact that he was from Tarsus.
Yet brought up in this city. Educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. It was significant, because Gamaliel was the greatest teacher of his day. He was a Pharisaic leader of great eminence. He was the greatest disciple of Hillel. There were two Jewish rabbis who became the heads of two strains of Jewish interpretation: Shammai and Hillel.
Shammai was a very conservative, and Hillel was the broad. Then he adds, “And I was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers.” The word “taught” here means carefully trained. Now the law of the fathers is simply the Old Testament tradition: the historic faith of Judaism. That meant the extreme, strict interpretation. He says, “I was trained to the strictest degree in legalism.”
Josephus the historian says, “You could divide the philosophies of Judaism into four parts. Sadducees were the religious liberals, who didn’t believe in resurrection or miracles. The Pharisees were the strict legalists. Essenes were scribes, et cetera. Then you had the Zealots who were super-nationalistic, anti-Roman, super-pro-Jewish and extremely legalistic.
He says, “You are beating me up; because you think this is pleasing to God.” Acts 22:4-5 says, “I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, 5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.”
So what does he do? He calls in the high priest to be his witness. Then he said, “If that isn’t enough, why don’t you check with the Sanhedrin, all the council of the elders.” You say, “Well, how in the world did they know his zeal?” “Because it was from them that I received the letters to the Jewish brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them who were there bound unto Jerusalem to be punished.”
Verse 6-7 says, “As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And in this, he gives all the glory to God. Now get the picture. He is going to Damascus for the purpose of extraditing Christians to be punished.
Verse 8-10 says, I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.”
He says, “Look, if you don’t believe that this happened, you find those guys who went with me to capture those Christians, and they’ll tell you that it happened.” He has put the burden of proof on the people. What are those other guys doing while that was going on?” Well, they all fell down on the ground, The Bible says that they heard the noise, but they couldn’t distinguish the articulation.
When God speaks directly, it isn’t for public consumption. It teaches the sovereignty of God. If you ever have any doubt about who initiates salvation, just remember the conversion of Paul. Salvation is an act of God. God had chosen him. God had appointed his destiny. This is God’s plan. One of the most exciting concepts in the Bible is to realize that I am a part of a Godly plan.
Verses 11-15, “Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there, 13 came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.
14 And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth, 15 since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.” Paul hasn’t even inactivated his will, and God already is giving him his whole layout on his destiny before he’s even made a statement of his faith.
Well, he is lead into Damascus. Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there.” Because he wants the people who are hearing him to know that Christianity was not something concocted by a bunch of anti-Jewish people. It was Jesus of Nazareth that spoke to him. It was Ananias who was a devout Jew, who was involved.
Ananias said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’” God gave him the power to announce that miracle. The first person he saw after the blindness was Ananias. And he said, “The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from His mouth. See, this whole transformation is all involving features of Judaism.
The point is this: the God of Israel chose and transformed the life of Saul. God did it. Paul is giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. Number one, accept the situation is from God. Number two create an opportunity. Number three: do everything you can to win the audience, find common ground. One of the most important things in sharing your faith is to be conciliatory.
I was speaking to a Jewish person one day, and I just started by saying, “The dearest friends in all the world to me are Jewish. The people I love more than anybody are all Jewish. I spend more time with Jewish people than any other people. You know who they are? Abraham, David, Jesus, Paul, Peter and every one of them is a Jew. And when you talk about your transformation, talk about it from God’s side. Let us pray.