Chapter 21
Verse 1 – “And it came to pass” is the aorist active indicative of the verb ginomai. We now face a whole new section in the book of Acts.
1. From this point the book of Acts changes.
2. In the rest of the book Paul is a prisoner.
3. Acts 21-23, Paul is a prisoner in Jerusalem; 24-26, he is a prisoner in Caesarea; 27-28, he is a prisoner in Rome.
4. While Paul is bound the Word of God is never bound. Paul is a prisoner but this places no restriction on the Word of God.
5. The principle of true guidance in the life of Paul. Through the Word of God and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit speaking through others, Paul was warned to stay away from Jerusalem. Paul is going to ignore three warnings: the Tyreaneans, verses 3-4; of Agabus, verses 10-11; of his companions, verse 12.
6. There is the principle of false guidance, i.e. guidance through circumstances, demotion, rationalism, traditionalism, the advice of nice people, and sincerity. Circumstances can be true guidance but it has to be circumstances plus doctrine.
7. Paul seems to have been misled by emotionalism and traditionalism.
“after we were gotten from them” – old English for “after we departed from them”; “and had launched” – set sail; “we came with a straight course to Coos.”
A small island.
Verse 3 – “And when we had discovered Cyprus.” That is, sighted Cyprus.
Verse 4 – Paul gets his first warning that he is out of the geographical will of God. “And finding disciples” – aorist active participle for a)neuriskw [a)n = he kept searching; euriskw = to search], he searched again and again. It took some time to find believers.
“we tarried there for seven days” – the seven days gave Paul a chance to minister to these people, and these people had the opportunity of warning Paul; “who said to Paul” – they said, and the point is, aorist tense, they said it at different times. For seven days born again believers in the city of Tyre said to Paul on different occasions told him, warned him, that he was out of the geographical will of God; “through the Spirit” – by means of the Holy Spirit; “that he should not go up to Jerusalem.” This is God the Holy Spirit using these people to warn Paul.
7. Paul should be heading west to Italy, France and Spain. He will do this later on, on his fourth missionary journey.
8. Instead, he is heading east to Jerusalem.
9. Paul is both emotionally and traditionally tied to Jerusalem.
10. Paul is moving out of the geographical will of God. When he walks through the gates of Jerusalem then he will be out of the geographical will of God.
11. Paul is Jonah in reverse. Jonah should have gone east, and went west; Paul should have gone west, and he went east.
12. Guidance is a matter of doctrine. While people are warning Paul these warnings cannot make him change his mind, they can just make him examine his own understanding of the Word of God.
Verse 5 – “And when we had accomplished those days.” The word “accomplish” is e)cartizw. It means to completely and fully equip people within an
allotment of time. It means that Paul kept teaching and teaching and teaching during those seven days, and when he was through they were fully equipped for God’s plan for their lives in that particular spot.
“and they all brought us on our way” – propempw means to have respect for someone and to escort them, to accompany someone with respect. They showed Paul the highest respect.
Verse 6 – “And when we had taken our leave one of another.” “Taken our leave” means to express farewells.
“and they returned home” – one Greek word that isn’t translated here is i)dioj: “they returned to their own homes.” That means that seven days later they had enough doctrine so that they could move back into their area of service and serve the Lord just as faithfully where they were as Paul would where he was. This is what Bible doctrine does. I)dioj means private. Each one had a private life, but that private life now had Bible doctrine which would carry them through and cause them to glorify God in their area.
Verse 7 – Ptolemais at this time was primarily a Greek colony; “saluted [greeted] the brethren.” Wherever Paul went he tried to find believers and spend some time with them.
Verse 8 – Caesarea is about 60-65 miles from Jerusalem. “Philip the evangelist” – the ice-breaker of the early church; “which was one of the seven,” i.e. one of the original seven deacons of Acts 6:5.
“and abode with him” – the reason being that there were going to be two more warnings to Paul.
Verse 9 – and aside on Philip the evangelist. The daughters’ prophesying apparently had to do with predicting the future. Perhaps they were mentioned at this time because Paul was gong to come into some serious trouble by going to Jerusalem.
Verse 10 – “And as we tarried there many days.” Apparently they had quite a ministry. The believers were oriented to grace, in contrast to Jerusalem which was only about 60 miles away.
Verse 11 – And when he [Agabus] was come unto us [to Paul and his companions].”
“he took Paul’s girdle [belt], and bound his own hands and feet” – and then Agabus gives his message; “Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this belt, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles [Romans].” This is a perfect prophecy of what is going to happen in the next few chapters.
Verse 12 – “And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought” – imperfect tense, which means “we kept on imploring/exhorting—“not to go up to Jerusalem.” Now the travelling seminary plus the congregation combine to beg Paul to stay out of Jerusalem.
“Then Paul answered [had an answer which came from his soul]” – a)pokrinomai [a)po = preposition of ultimate source; krinomai = to judge, to discern, or to answer]. The passive voice means that Paul received and answer from the ultimate source of himself, which is his soul.
Verse 13 – “What mean ye” is incorrect. It is an idiom for “What are you doing?”
“to weep and to break mine heart” – they were so serious about their warning and so certain that they were right that Paul should not go to Jerusalem, that is had been confirmed in so many different ways and “through the Holy Spirit.” Agabus was right; the people of the city of Tyre were right; and Paul was wrong. To see this great man moving in the wrong direction causes them to weep. They add their tears to the warning, which shows something of their love and respect for him. Their weeping broke his heart.
“I am ready” – literally, “I have readiness.” The verb is e)xw, present linear aktionsart, “I keep on having,” and then the noun “readiness.” This is a Greek idiom for combat readiness. He is ready to enter the fray at any moment.
“to be bound” as indicated by the message of Agabus, “but also to die” as indicated by the warnings of others. This is an attitude expressed correctly in Philippians 1:20, 21. However, while the attitude is true and biblically accurate, and while the attitude is based on Bible doctrine, it is out of place because Paul is moving in the wrong way geographically. In other words, it is possible to have a right attitude in the wrong place. You can also have a wrong attitude in the right place. Paul should be on his way to Rome and to Spain but he is on his way to Jerusalem. Even so, Paul also has the right to make his own mistakes without interference from others.
Principle: Basically every believer is a believer-priest, and every believer must be guided by the Word of God. It must be what the Word has to say, and therefore the more we know of the Word the greater becomes the factor of divine guidance and doing the will of God.
Verse 14 – “But when he would not be persuaded.” They tried persuasion; they did not try bullying. The word for “persuasion” means that they merely communicated information without comment. They presented what God the Holy Spirit had made real to them; “we ceased” – h)suxazw which means to live peaceably, to live in a relaxed manner. It also means to allow someone the use of their own volition. In other words, this is a verb of privacy.[1] Even though they knew Paul was wrong they did not leave him. There is a basis for separation from believers when there is apostasy, or when they are trouble-makers; but Paul is neither of these, he is a great believer taking a wrong turn. The Lord will deal with Paul through discipline and the grace of God will eventually triumph by turning cursing into blessing. The application to us: Putting others in the Lord’s hands and not interfering with their privacy or volition is a major step toward becoming a mature believer.
“the will of the Lord come to pass” – they put Paul in the Lord’s hands.
Verses 15-19, the trip from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Paul is not out of fellowship and out of the geographical will of God until he goes through the gates of Jerusalem.
Verse 15 – “ we took up our carriages.” The word “carriage” means baggage; “and went up to Jerusalem.” Caesarea is a sea port; Jerusalem is located in hill country at a higher altitude inland.
Verse 16 – “with whom we should lodge” is an idiom which simply means that they spent the last night with Mnason before going up to Jerusalem.
Verse 17 – “And when we were come to Jerusalem.” At this point Paul gets out of fellowship geographically; “the brethren received us gladly.” Possibly he was received gladly because with Paul money came through the door: the offering that had been taken over a period of time in Greece and in the Roman province of Asia.
Verse 18 – the word for “elder” here refers to preachers. In Jerusalem there are many churches. Generally speaking the pastors held their church meetings in homes. James is the head of the local churches in Jerusalem and therefore they have a convocation of pastors only.
Verse 19 – the report begins. “And when he had saluted [greeted] them, he declared.” The word “declared” is e)xhgeomai, it means to narrate in detail; “what God had wrought among the Gentiles by [“through”, dia plus the genitive] his ministry.”
Verse 20 – while the elders glorified the Lord because of the report they seemed to be more concerned about the fact that Paul was present in Jerusalem, and that Paul was a controversial figure. They were disturbed by having someone who would come in and upset the apple cart. Remember that in Jerusalem were a lot of lazy pastors who did not know the Word and were not oriented to the plan of God or the grace of God, and they are not teaching spirituality by grace. As a result of their inconsistency (they did teach salvation by grace) they did not teach spirituality by grace. They simply took for the Christian way of life what they had always known: the Mosaic law.
Verses 21-40, out of the will of God. Now begins a series of disasters that lead to a maximum catastrophe in the life of the apostle Paul, a total disorientation to the grace of God. In verses 21-24, the bad advice from the Jerusalem pastors.
Verse 21 – “And when they heard it [Paul’s report]” is an aorist active participle, “And having heard it.” The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, which is “they glorified.” “They glorified” is an imperfect active indicative. The indicative mood always indicates where the participle goes. The imperfect tense is an inchoative imperfect which means “they began to glorify.” They didn’t glorify linear aktionsart past time, they began to glorify the Lord.
“and [but] they said” – they glorified the report which they couldn’t criticise—you can’t argue with success—they were embarrassed at the fact that they were entertaining at that moment a controversial figure, a person who in many cases had been the object of their scorn in sermons. They now focus their attention on getting Paul into legalism. They are going to entrap him in a legalistic gimmick so that they can stand up and say Paul has changed his mind! They are going to start involving him in a legalistic action to neutralise the grace of God in his life when the very strength of his life is grace.
Notice what they said: “but they said unto him, Thou seest, brother.” The word “seest” is qewrew from which we get our English word “theory.” It means to be a spectator, to observe a situation, and to draw conclusions from the situation that may or may not be true. What they say here is true but their conclusions are wrong. What it is that Paul must observe? It is “how many thousands of Jews” to show that they have had some success too. They can’t argue with the fact of Paul’s narration a he gave it which spells out God’s blessing—“what God had wrought,” and therefore success. You can’t argue with success.
But on the other hand they are now arguing with him in a very subtle way: they, too, have had success. They have enlisted many thousands of Jews for legalism in phase two. There is nothing from Paul in terms of numbers but when they come back on him they come back with numbers. They are in the numbers game; “there are” – e)imi; “which believe” – perfect tense: they have believed in the past with the result that they are always saved; “and they are zealous for the law.” They do not use the ordinary words for “there are,” they use u(parxw which means to subsist: u(parxw, “and they keep on subsisting zealous for the law,” literally, present active indicative.
They subsist zealous for the law
1. The decadence of the Jerusalem church can be observed from the fact that there are thousands of Jewish believers using the law for spirituality. The word “subsist” means that they are devoted entirely to the Mosaic law.
2. These believers are legalistic and totally ignorant pf phase two doctrine.
3. Their desire/objective is for Paul to cater to their legalism.
4. Therefore the pastors at Jerusalem invite Paul to an act of legalism, but they do not invite him to teach their congregation.
5. What they invite Paul to do is not an application of expediency or the law of love because this act constitutes a compromise of doctrine.
6. These pastors have misunderstood and abused the doctrine of the Mosaic law.[2]
Verse 21 – begins the paragraph where Paul gets out of the operational will of God. At this point, because there are Jews which believe by the thousands and are using the Mosaic law for phase two, there is going to be some serious trouble.
“And they are informed of thee.” ‘They are informed’ is kathkew which means to be taught this. The pastors themselves had been running down the apostle Paul. The word is used for oral teaching in the local churches. They have been maligning Paul personally and trying to discredit him because they did not understand grace, and not understanding grace the only thing they could do was to attack a grace teacher. Paul is a grace teacher. This is an aorist active indicative: the aorist tense indicates that throughout the entire city of Jerusalem pastors were attacking Paul. “Of thee” is literally concerning thee.
“that thou teaches all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses” – the word for “forsake” is that from which we get our English word “apostasy” – a)postasia. It simply means to defect from the Mosaic law, and they mean that Paul is not using the Mosaic law as a way of life. The Mosaic law was given to the Jews as a way of life, it is not a way of life for the believer in phase two. Cf. Galatians chapter three.
“neither to walk after the customs” – customs simply means the traditions of the Jews.
Verse 22 – “What is it therefore?” is literally, “What is to be done about this problem?”
“the multitudes must needs come together” – “come together” is not found in the original. The multitudes refer to the thousands of Jews of verse 20. They are believers but in phase two are using the Mosaic law instead of knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit which equals the production of divine good. Their ignorance of doctrine plus the law results in the production of human good. There are no dynamics in the Jerusalem church. “When they have heard that you have come” is what they are saying. Already the pastors were on the panic button because Paul’s very presence creates a problem for them. First of all, Paul is a controversial figure and he might stir them out of their legalistic lethargy. The very place where the church began historically on the basis of grace is now in reality a place where Satan has made great inroads. The only way that Satan can make inroads with the believer is to infiltrate the mind through false doctrine—the doctrines of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1. There is no doctrinal emphasis in Jerusalem, believers are not spiritually self-sustaining, legalism is the order of the day, and Paul is the great danger to legalism.
Verse 23 – “Do therefore this.” The word “do” is an aorist active imperative. They are ordering Paul to do this; this is not a request. They are saying in effect, You have embarrassed us by your presence, Paul; now you are going to have to do something do something about it. The Greek says, “Do this.”
“that we say to thee” – we will instruct you. “To thee” is dative of disadvantage.
1. This is dative of disadvantage. It is to Paul’s disadvantage to do this, i.e. the system to which he is about to embark.
2. The advice of the Jewish pastors in Jerusalem is both dishonest and blasphemous.
3. Paul did not need to go into the temple to commit an act of legalism, in order to vindicate his ministry of the grace of God. The grace of God does not have to have apology; it needs no defence. The grace of God is its own defence and it’s own power. The temple is something to be avoided, as per the epistle to the Hebrews.
4. The ignorance of legalism of these pastors carry the day. Paul was snowed by their advice; he obeyed them. He is an apostle; he is not subject to the commands of pastors.
5. Principle: When a believer becomes involved with legalism he immediately becomes unstable and inconsistent.
6. Here is Paul’s inconsistency. He refused good advice to stay out of the city and took the bad advice to go into the temple and offer a vow.
7. By coming to Jerusalem Paul is out of the geographical will of God.
8. By entering the temple for vows he will be out of the operational will of God.
9. The vow: God never authorises any believer to compromise doctrine by offering vows. Vows today are an act of legalism generally committed by believers minus doctrine.
10. A correct doctrinal application would have neutralised this situation.
Verse 24 – “Then take” – “take” is an aorist active participle modifying “do this”; “purify thyself” is in the passive voice and should be “receive purification.”
What does it mean to take a vow? The vow starts by going into the temple. When they went into the temple they declared their intention to take a vow. Usually they had committed some sin or they wanted to make points with God. When they declared their intention they had to do certain things: a) they had to let their hair grow; b) they had to go on a certain rigid type of diet; c) they had to come up with a monetary offering within 30 days; d) the priest takes a razor and shaves all of their hair which is then collected and taken to the altar and burned. That means that God has heard his prayer and has forgiven him, and everything is all right spiritually. They haven’t requested Paul, they have ordered him. The word for “purification” is a)gnizw. This involves taking the Nazarite vow of Numbers chapter six, and traditional things have been added since the time of Numbers six.
“with them and be at charge for them” – pay for them, dapanaw. In other words, Paul was to pay for theirs as well as his own; “that they may shave” – future middle indicative. The vow was no good unless all of the hair on the head was shaved off. They picked this up from Egypt. The Egyptian priests were always clean-shaven because they were constantly taking these vows.
“that all may know [through observation] that they were not properly informed” – in other words, they wanted Paul to be a legalist in Jerusalem. This was a compromise of doctrine. They wanted Paul’s message of grace to be neutralised.
“but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law” – this was their whole objective.
Verse 25 – a directive from the first council: this doesn’t apply to Gentile believers, but you, Paul, are a Jewish believer. They are saying that the Gentiles are not under these vows.
“save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication” – things connected with Gentile temples. Everything they mention occurs in a Gentile temple.
What was behind the dishonesty and the blasphemy of these Jerusalem pastors? Ignorance of Bible doctrine. They were not aware of the grace principle in doctrine, the grace operation of phase two. We are saved by grace; we are to live by grace. “As ye have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him.”
Verse 26 – “Then Paul took the men.” The Greek word doesn’t mean to take at all, it means a great deal more than this. Paralambanw means to take responsibility for paying for their vows in the temple; “and next day” – the day after he received that very poor advice to go into the temple and take a vow.
“purifying himself” – this is an aorist passive participle of the verb a)gnizw. In the active voice the word means to purify, in the middle voice it means to purify one’s self, but this is in the passive voice which means that Paul went through the purification rites of the temple. It should be translated “he received purification.” Here is the apostle of grace receiving purification rites! This is a monstrous sin. Here is the lowest point in the life of Paul; “entered into the temple” – he entered into the temple before he did any of these things. The English translation of the KJV does not give the correct order of the sentence.
“to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification” – to signify means to give public notice. They had to stand up before the people in the temple and say that they were now taking and then specify the things they would not do—all of the taboos. Then they would receive the purification rites. The accomplishment of the days of purification simply means he agreed to do this for thirty days.
“until that an offering should be offered for every one of them” – that occurs at the end of thirty days when the priest shaves off all of the hair of his head, including his face, his beard. The words “for every one of them” goes with the first part of the verse which says he took charge, he took the responsibility for every one of them.
Corrected translation: “And he entered into the temple with them, having taken charge of these men, and in the temple having receive purification, and he made public testimony that he would accomplish the days of purification, until the time that the offering should be offered for each one of them.”
7. This sin is a compromise with legalism.
8. Paul has no ministry in Jerusalem because he abandoned grace.
9. This is the year 57-58 AD and he will have four years of discipline: two years in Caesarea and two years in Rome.
10. Jerusalem will get one more crack at the grace doctrine message, and this will be accomplished through the epistle to the Hebrews written in 67 AD.
11. Paul did not take a grace stand, he compromised grace.
12. Therefore Paul will not have a grace ministry in Jerusalem. So eliminate the apostle of grace as being ever able to do anything for Jerusalem.
Verse 27 – the discipline begins. What is the thing best used to obscure the truth of the gospel? Lack of law and order, rioting, mob action, mob violence. The only thing that saved Paul’s life was the fact that the Roman empire best exemplified the principles of law and order. The Romans would not tolerate rioting.
“And when the seven days were almost ended.” This is not a seven-day vow, this means that every day Paul has been coming into the temple. He comes in every day and announces his asceticism. Paul has had six days to change his mind about what he was doing and to clarify his thinking, but he is out of fellowship. This should read, “But when the seven days were about to receive consummation.”
“the Jews which were from Asia” – the word “from” a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. This means Jews from the ultimate source of Asia, the Roman province; “saw him” – aorist middle participle, which means they caught a glimpse of him in the temple; “stirred up” – third person plural imperfect active indicative of sugxew [xew = to pour; sug = from the preposition sun] which means to be suddenly poured together. It means when you pour something together and you get a reaction. Eventually it meant to throw into confusion, then to start confusion, and then a word for rioting. So the confusion starts, the beginning of a riot. It isn’t the riot proper, it is how the riot gets started. When these Jews saw Paul from different points in the crowd they began to tear through the crowd and they rushed him.
“they laid hands on him” – e)piballw [ballw = to throw; e)pi = upon] means to attack, to attack with violence.
Verse 28 – “Crying out” – they were shouting; “Men of Israel, help” – the word is not “help,” it is a present active imperative of bohqew [boh = to yell; qew = to run] which is an assembly call, come in and get with this thing. In other words, “Down in this spot, come and help us eliminate this bird.”
“This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law” – Paul wasn’t teaching against the law, he is actually lined up with the law. To them he isn’t keeping the Sabbath and he is not going through all of the legalistic things that have been added to the law; “and this place” – the temple.
“and further brought Greeks into the temple” – this is the excuse to kill him. Greeks/Gentiles is a reference to Trophimus; “and hath polluted [desecrated] this holy place” – the reason for this false charge is that religious people are always guilty of mental attitude sins. This is the dominant characteristic of religious and/or self-righteous people. Trophimus was not in the temple, they merely said this because they are jealous. Jealous people are not interested in facts; they will always condemn without trial, without one shred of evidence.
Verse 29 – “(For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus” – they had seen before is a past perfect periphrastic, they had been noticing them on a number of occasions: “whom they supposed that Paul had brought Trophimus into the temple).” The word “supposed” is nomizw which means they assumed. No facts! The facts are that Paul did not bring Trophimus into the temple. They wanted an excuse to kill Paul. That is religion! These people add a lie to the situation in order to get Paul wiped out.
Verse 30 – “And all the city [Jerusalem] was moved.” The word to move here means to stir into violent emotion – kinew, from which we get the English word kinetic energy. It means to start a riot, it means lack of law and order, a violent and emotional type outbreak; “and the people ran together” – this means the formation of a riot.
“and they took Paul [seized him violently], and drew [dragged] him out of the temple”—they are observing the protocol of religion: no killing in the temple. The word for drag here is the imperfect active indicative which means they dragged him by his heels; “out of the temple” – out of the way of religion. Here is the hypocrisy of religion. Religion sponsors this thing but does not want any blood in the temple.
“and forthwith [immediately] the doors were shut” – the priests are on the inside and can go through their ritual. While they are going through their ritual they close and lock the doors and there is a riot taking place on the outside.
Verse 31 – “And as they went about to kill him.” The words “went about” means they sought to kill him—zetew, present active participle, this kept on being their desire; “to kill him” – aorist tense of a)pokteinw [a)po = ultimate source; kteinw = to kill or annihilate], they want to kill from the ultimate source of themselves. They personally are so far from law and order that they have actually lost their freedoms. What the Jews are doing here to Paul at this moment in 57 AD will destroy them within ten years. Nothing is ever gained by rioting. When people destroy law and order they destroy their own freedom. Becoming part of a mob means the surrender of volition to that mob and becoming enslaved to that mob. A person is a slave the moment he gets into a riot.
“tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that Jerusalem was in an uproar” – the chief captain is the tribune in the Latin, and in the Greek he is called a chiliarch—xiliarxoj, the commander of a thousand. He is the garrison commander and he represents the only hope for divine institution #4. In fact, it is the Roman garrison here that is going to protect the freedom of the people from religion. By now the Jews are totally under their religious leaders and their freedom would be destroyed except for one thing: the presence of Rome. Rome represents divine institution #4; Rome represents law and order.[3]
Verse 32 – “Who immediately took soldiers.” It was his responsibility to keep law and order, and a riot means trouble for law and order. Rome’s policy was law and order throughout the empire. There is no idea here of catering to the religious Jews, as in the case of Pontius Pilate; a riot is a riot regardless of who was involved and while religious leaders were behind this he moved right in to stop the riot.
“took soldiers” – the word for “took” here means to grab those who happened to be handy: paralambanw; “and ran down unto them: and when the people saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating Paul.” They ceased and desisted—pauw, aorist tense: in a point of time when they saw. In other words, before they would stop rioting they had to see force. The middle voice says they made a decision to stop rioting right then and there, the presence of the military persuaded them. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that the riot was calmed down, at least temporarily; “from beating” – present active participle of the word tuptw, which means they were constantly beating.
Three things should be obvious at this point: a) Paul is under divine discipline but not under the sin unto death. God still has a purpose for Paul; b) If God had not kept Paul alive there would be no Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, etc.; c) Grace finds a way to turn cursing into blessing.
Verse 33 – “Then the chief captain came near [approached], and took him [Paul].” He personally took Paul, this time e)pilambanw which means he seized upon. The tribune walked right up to the mob and the mob moved back and ceased beating Paul. The mob backed off leaving Paul between the mob and the Romans. This man is cool, brave, and stabilized personally—and an unbeliever. He walks out and seizes Paul but does not come to any assumptions at the moment; “and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was and what he had done.” As soon as Paul is bound he starts to enquire, to make an investigation. The word for “demand” is punqanomai which means to investigate, to make an inquiry, to ascertain the facts. He is not jumping into something half-cocked. The word is in the imperfect middle indicative. The imperfect tense means he kept on trying to ascertain the facts. The middle voice is reflexive, which means he himself did this. This was his custom, he never walked into a situation and made a decision until he had some facts; “who he was” is a present active optative, and the optative indicates that he hoped that he had finally picked up the Egyptian (but he hasn’t).
The contrast between Rome and the Christian church in Jerusalem (not religion), for in Jerusalem there are thousands of believers.
1. While the Jerusalem church gives no help to Paul he is now thrown into the hands of the Roman empire whose emphasis on law will support him and protect him. The Jerusalem church did not protect Paul; the Roman empire does protect Paul. The contrast shows that the Jerusalem church generally is carnal. Where law and order exists it is better to fall into the hands of an unbeliever than to fall into the hands of a carnal Christian. There is nothing worse than a carnal Christian, and carnal Christians en masse. Here, the carnal religious people riot; the carnal Christians give bad advice contrary to the grace of God, and in between are unbelievers operating under the divine institutions which God has used to protect human freedom.
2. The Roman empire gives Paul a fair shake, in contrast to the Jerusalem church which gave Paul a bad time and bad advice.
3. Paul would have been beaten to death except for the rescue of SPQR under the divine institution #4.
4. It becomes obvious that an apostate and legalistic Jerusalem church has no influence. Principle: Whenever you find churches becoming apostate, departing from doctrine; and whenever you find them becoming legalistic, they have absolutely no influence within the community or the national entity. The church loses its impact when it loses its spiritual life. It is the Bible doctrine of the church and the spiritual life of the church that has impact upon the community.
5. The greatest believer of the Church Age should have been welcomed with open arms by the Jerusalem church and given the widest possible hearing. They should have had Bible classes all over Jerusalem but instead they would not even let him speak to the church.
6. Instead we find them encouraging the apostle of grace to abandon grace for a legalistic practice in the temple.
7. Paul was alone in the temple at the mercy of the crowd, and the riot would have killed Paul except for the overruling will of God using Rome.
8. The Jerusalem church offers no prayer for Paul as they did for Peter.
9. The Jerusalem church had neither power nor protest with man; they had no power or prayer with God.
10. Ignorance of doctrine and compromise has ruined the Jerusalem church. At that very moment they were hungry and starving, yet they were being fed by the very money that Paul had brought.
11. It is going to be difficult for Paul to explain to the Roman officer in the Roman Army what he is doing in the middle of a riot.
Verse 34 – the confused and inconsistent accusations of the mob. “And some cried [kept shouting, imperfect tense] one thing, some another, among the multitude.” Immediately the officer realises that he is not going to get a deposition from the crowd that makes sense. A verbal deposition is impossible.
“and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult” – “certainty” means accuracy; so he is going to have Paul removed: “he commanded him to be carried into the castle.”
Verse 35 – the reaction of the mob. Paul is now being taken up the stairs, and when that happens the mob rushes Paul and the Romans. They know that under Roman justice they have very little chance; “for the violence of the people” – dia plus the accusative, “because of the violence of the people.”
Verse 36 – “For the multitude of the people followed after.” Follow after means they charged; “screaming, Away with him.” They uttered the same words that the Jewish mob uttered years before at the crucifixion. Obviously they want his death.
Verse 37 – the word “castle” here refers to what was really a fort. It was constructed by Mark Anthony. “May I speak unto thee?” The manner in which he said this is interesting. First, he spoke Greek and that shocked the tribune. But that isn’t all, he spoke the Greek of aristocracy and now the tribune gets a terrible shock. Here is a man who speaks like an aristocrat, therefore he is not just some lawless person the mob is beating up.
“Canst thou speak Greek?” – he didn’t mean just Greek, he meant aristocratic Greek. He is utterly shocked. The tribune’s native language was Latin; he also understands Greek. So he is at least bi-lingual, as were all of the great Romans in that part of the world. This indicates that Paul and the tribune, in the midst of all this screaming and yelling, are carrying on a conversation. Both of them are cool: Paul because he has thee inner resources of doctrine and the tribune because he represents the best in the Roman empire.
Verse 38 – a reference to criminal activity of one who is called the Egyptian. “Art not thou that Egyptian” – the garrison commander has made up his mind that he has finally captured the head of a great criminal ring known as the Sacarii. In reality he has not; “which before these days [three years ago] madest an uproar” – the Egyptian had his revolution in 54 AD. He had announced himself as a prophet because he knew that this was the only way to get to the people as far the people were concerned. He knew that the Jews wanted to overthrow Rome and so he announced that he was a prophet who had come to deliver them. This means that a lot of the religious Jews fell in with this gangster. This is typical of religion, just as it uses communism today in order to obtain communistic objectives. “Madest an uproar” is an old English phrase for a revolt. The Greek word is a)nastatow and it means to cause an uprising.
“and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men who were murderers.” His organization is described by the word “murderers” – sikairioj, taken from the dagger which they used. The organization managed to arouse some thirty thousand people in Jerusalem who bought this revolt. On a given date the Egyptian called them all up on to the Mount of Olives and told them that when they prayed the walls of Jerusalem would fall. He stood up and prayed, and while he was doing so the Roman garrison came out and hit them, killed four hundred, took two hundred captives; and the gangster element that started the whole thing, and which was made up of about four thousand people, escaped back into the Negev where they continued their operations for the next forty years.
Verse 39 – Paul answers the question. “But Paul said.” Here are the facts; “I am a man, a Jew of Tarsus.” He said he was a Jew here because he is not the Egyptian. He is talking to the Roman officer, he isn’t telling the Jews he is a Jew. The fact that he is of Tarsus would give the Roman his first clue. Tarsus had been made a free city; “a citizen of no mean city” – an adjective, a)shmoj, plus the negative: “no insignificant city.” This is an idiom designed to rather play it down, but the tribune recognises it was one of the great cities of the empire.
“I beseech thee, suffer me [permit me] to speak to the people” – the word “beseech” is deomai, a polite request. This indicates that both Paul and the tribune are both objective in a pressure situation. It tells us that Paul is cool under fire, which is expected because he has a tremendous mass of Bible doctrine. It also shows that when certain divine laws are followed by the human race it produces unusual people in good leadership. The tribune represents everything that is good in the Roman empire because he is cool, relaxed and objective, and is actually making an investigation on the spot before he makes his next decision. He is going to make his decision on the facts of the case.
Verse 40 – “And when he had given him licence [granted him permission], Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people [to get some silence].”
“And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue.” This is not the Hebrew tongue, it is the Hebrew dialect—Aramaic which was the idiom language of their country. He is now going to witness, give his testimony, as he speaks to them.