Under Arrest
Acts 21-23
Paul the Disciple
Paul the Misunderstood
Paul in Chains
Paul on Trial
Paul the Disciple
In chapter 21 Paul is heading away from Ephesus and on his way to Jerusalem, and all along the way, Paul is portrayed as faithfully following in the footsteps fo Jesus, persistently seeking out the will of God, no matter what the personal cost.
He’s portrayed as the model disciple – the model follower of Jesus:
And Paul is literally following the footsteps of Jesus – to go to Jerusalem no matter what awaited him there.
Acts 21:10-16:
“10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
15 After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
Paul is literally following the footsteps of Jesus – to go to Jerusalem no matter what awaited him there.
Remember, Luke wrote the Gospel according to Luke, and the book of Acts – 2 parts of 1 2-volume book.
And, you see some similarities between Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem in Luke’s Gospel, and Paul’s journey to Jerusalem in the book of Acts.
Luke 9:22 Jesus tells his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
This is his fate awaiting him in Jerusalem; And then shortly after that,
Luke 9:51 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
You’d almost expect in light of what he has predicted would happen to him, he’d decide not to go to Jerusalem; or at least, be hesitant and reluctant in heading towards Jerusalem;
But what it means that he “set his face” to go to Jerusalem – another way to translate that is that he was determined to go to Jerusalem; he resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
He knew what awaited him there, and he was determined to go despite that;
And the reason, was that he was determined to do the will of God – no matter what the cost:
Luke 22:42, the famous scene of Jesus’ being in the garden of Gethsemane, where it’s easy to think that Jesus is wavering, but he is only calculating the cost of what he’s about to endure – suffering and dying as the savior of sinners; and just thinking about that suffering is causing him intense suffering;
but, he isn’t wavering; he comes out of that time of reflection still determined to submit to the will of God – even though he wishes the will of God might be different for him – he’ll submit to it no matter what – no matter the cost, no matter the personal sacrifice, no matter what because living for and honoring and serving and obeying the Father are the primary ideals of his heart and what he would always do to perfection – even when doing that involved the most intense suffering one could ever endure;
and so he prays: Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
And this same basic pattern is repeated in Paul’s life – that Paul knows what is awaiting him in Jerusalem; and all the other believers know what’s awaiting for him in Jerusalem; yet despite all of that he is determined to go to Jerusalem –
back in ch 20:22, Paul said, “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.”
and here in chapter 21 – “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus”.
Just as Jesus did – he set his face towards Jerusalem –
and they had the same inclusion that Jesus had in the garden: “The Lord’s will be done” –
Paul is willing to submit to God’s will even when that costs him greatly.
And all of this is no different from what Jesus told Paul in his words to Ananias at Paul’s conversion (9:16) “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name”);
And this is no different we saw Paul tell other believers (14:22 “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God);
And we see Paul living out what he tells others, and living up to what Jesus told him.
He – just like Jesus – has set his face to go to Jerusalem, no matter what awaits him there;
They went each with a different purpose: Jesus went as Savior; Paul goes as witness. But both involved suffering.
And if Jesus went to Jerusalem as Savior for you at such a great cost to him; then we ought to go wherever he calls as witness for him, no matter the cost.
“Discipleship” is a common word but a neglected concept in our culture of nominal Christianity.
A common word, but a neglected concept, because in our culture of nominal Christianity we have normalized “no-cost” discipleship which is no discipleship at all;
which is only willing to follow Jesus so far… only until it begins to really cost and require sacrifice; but that’s not really following him at all.
and we would do well to be inspired by Paul’s courage, and willingness, and sacrifice.
Paul the Disciple; Paul the Misunderstood:
Paul we see here is misunderstood – even though he and with the help of the other believers in Jerusalem – goes to great lengths to make sure that he isn’t misunderstood – he is still misunderstood.
When Paul arrives t Jerusalem, he is welcomed by the Christians there; but he is at the same time warned that there are many Jewish Christians, who have been misinformed about Paul and so misunderstand him;
21:19-26
So the misunderstanding is that Paul is telling Jewish people to abandon the law of Moses;
And at the end of that passage you see a reference to the decision of the Jerusalem council – which is a reminder that this matter was already debated and settled:
that Jews could continue to observe aspects of the law of Moses but Gentiles didn’t have to, and Paul himself was in agreement with the resolution – and so there’s no truth in this – but even though it’s false, Paul agrees with their recommendation to go to extra lengths to display the false nature
And, ironically, it is the proposed solution, that ends up getting Paul into trouble – but not with the people they feared;
we really don’t know if this worked in putting to ease the concerns of the Jewish Christians, but we do know that it sort of back-fired in the end, as the very solution proposed is what got Paul into trouble with Jewish people who were in Jerusalem, from Asia – where Paul had run into trouble previously.
vv27-29
And, what we see here is that this is not the kind of misunderstanding that people couldn’t understand if they wanted to understand; but the problem is that they don’t want to understand; because they are so threatened and offended by Paul’s message that they don’t want to understand him because they want to find some way to discredit him; attack him; prevent him from continuing to spread his message.
And so he’s misunderstood in terms of his message and in terms of his actions.
First – half-truth – speaks against Temple –
not denigrating temple, but showing that it’s true glory was found not in itself but in Jesus – (same with Jesus, Stephen);
but they didn’t want to hear that, because if that was true it condemned them, because they had rejected the true temple in favor of the temporal temple;
second charge was simply false; it is a lie – it’s not that they thought they saw him bring Gentiles into the temple but were mistaken; rather, it was a lie, based on an assumption, motivated by prejudice:
They hadn’t in fact seen Paul bring Gentiles the temple; they had seen Paul previously (not in the temple) with Gentiles; and then they had seen Paul in the temple;
And being convinced he’s against the temple, well of course he must have brought them in;
but they hadn’t seen that, because it didn’t happen. It’s a false accusation, occasioned by their assumption about him – an assumption which was motivated by their prejudice against Paul.
And this accusation is serious – because they’re talking about the holy place – where Gentiles were forbidden to be;
Gentiles could be in the outer court of the temple, but leading in to the inner court was a warning which warned foreigners about foreigners going no further, on pain of death.
And it certainly would have put Paul’s life at risk if he had brought them in;
and so their hatred towards Paul runs so deep that they are willing to see him wrongly put to death.
When you try to be a witness towards Jesus – you need to realize that sometimes your message will be misunderstood; and sometimes you will be misunderstood.
People will always misunderstand the gospel: legalism; license.
Sometimes you will be persistently understood in a way that goes directly against how you’ve sought to be abundantly clear; sometimes you will be characterized in a way that you wouldn’t ever wish to be characterized.
Maybe your family will think you’re a mindless follower in a cult; or maybe your co-worker will think you’re a hateful bigot; or maybe your friends will think you’re a boring kill-joy;
It’s no fun to be misunderstood; it’s no fun to be falsely accused; especially when those things result in your being rushed by a frenzied crowd, beaten, imprisoned, and put on trial;
but Paul trusts God through it all.
Paul the Disciple; Paul the Misunderstood;
Paul in Chains:
in chapter 22, Paul is rescued from the crowd by being arrested by the Roman commander; and he allows him to speak to the crowd, in which he basically recounts his testimony of conversion to Christ; but his mention of his mission to the Gentiles, gets the crowd further stirred up and so the Roman commander wants to punish and interrogate Paul, but once he discovers Paul is a Roman citizen, then he is the key figure in protecting Paul and delivering him from the Jews safely to Rome.
His chains end up keeping him safe;
Paul is delivered from his Jewish enemies by the pagan Roman authorities; and that his citizenship of Rome is what leads to his protection even while in chains and his eventual escort to Rome.
But, of course, the ultimate reason Paul is kept safe, is because of the providence of God watching and keeping him because of God’s plan to bring him safely to Rome –
And in Chapter 23, the Jews plot against Paul to kill him;
but Even this plot against him, though they are numerous and though they are zealous to kill Paul (solemn oath not to eat anything until they’ve killed him), they are ultimately powerless because God protects Paul, because God’s plan is for Paul to go on to Rome to continue to witness to the name of Jesus and nothing can hinder that plan.
And God is faithful to that promise to bring Paul to Rome, and even uses his chains as the primary means to do it.
And this marks the end of Paul’s mission as a free man; which is ironic because now, in chains, Paul will eventually take the gospel further than he ever had or could before;
Even Paul in prison, is Paul preaching; even Paul bound in chains is Paul looking for opportunities and taking every opportunity to be a witness for Jesus.
23:11 – after Paul is taken on put on trial, Jesus appears to him to encourage him saying this: “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
This imprisonment is opportunity for Paul to testify about Jesus; and will be the occasion for more opportunity to testify about Jesus.
Philippians 1:12-18
“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
The thing that Paul cares about most of all – the thing he cares about no matter what his situation; the thing he cares about more than his situation; and the thing he uses every situation as an opportunity for – is to preach Christ – even imprisonment – far from him seeing it as a hindrance; far from him seeing it as an excuse to commiserate with a pity party – rejoices in the fact that Christ can be preached through it.
And if Paul could point people to Christ while in chains, then we ought to reconsider those things we consider hindrances.
Because chains don’t hinder the gospel, because nothing can hinder the gospel –
Sneak peak ahead to the end of Acts: “When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.”
So, he’s on house arrest, for two years we’re later told. And the last sentence of the book of Acts is this: “He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ – with all boldness and without hindrance!”
And, it seems like an unfinished ending to the book, but actually, the purpose of the book has been fulfilled
And we can learn from Paul in Chains, because Paul in chains teaches us that the situations we find ourselves in – any situation – even the seemingly unideal ones – are far from being hindrances are opportunities – if only we have the spiritual sensitivity and insight to see them.
And, how many times – if you’re like me it happens a lot – when you think, “Oh, that would have been an opportunity if I had recognized it before it was gone!”
Let’s pray that we like Paul can see that every circumstance we find ourselves in can be opportunities for the gospel.
Paul the Disciple; Paul the Misunderstood;
Paul in Chains; Paul on Trial:
After Paul is arrested, (ch 23) he is put on trial before the Sanhedrin – the Jewish ruling council – to defend himself. This is really his second defense – once before the crowd, and now before the Sanhedrin. And one of the reasons we’re taking these last chapters of Acts in such big chunks is because Paul defends himself numerous times, and generally speaking, they follow some main similarities; and that is that his defense takes two main points:
Defends himself by drawing attention to his transformed life; He defends himself by claiming that the real issue for why he’s on trial, is because of his belief in Jesus’ resurrection.
-His Transformed Life (22:1-5)
He recounts that he was: a Zealous Jew; that he persecuted the Church; that he was against Jesus’ followers more than anyone – as much as a person could be against Jesus’ followers; but then he became one of Jesus’ most faithful followers and loyal servants.
And the implication is: How do you explain that? Except that he had a personal encounter with the living Jesus.
Encountering Jesus changes a life. It doesn’t make us perfect in this life, it doesn’t necessarily make us better than the next person, but it makes us better than we were yesterday, or a week ago or month ago or years ago;
it makes us more like Jesus;
and Paul’s only explanation is that on the road to Damascus he saw a dead man – or, one that was supposedly dead, and he saw that supposed dead man alive; and he saw that supposed cursed blasphemer in his glory; and he fell down blind at the sight;
In other words, it all boils down to: Jesus, whom they had killed, was in fact alive:
-The Resurrection
23:6
the real issue for why he’s on trial, is because of his belief in Jesus’ resurrection.
Because ultimately, it’s not Paul that’s on trial; it’s the gospel that’s on trial. And Paul isn’t just trying to turn Pharisee and Saducee against one another here – although he knows that will be the result – but he’s trying to bring the main issue back into focus and put and keep it at the center – and throughout Paul’s coming defenses all throughout the rest of his defenses in the book of Acts, this is the issue that Paul insists is at the center of it all and the issue that he keeps putting in primary place: the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead, and his belief in that reality.
And that’s been true for Christians ever since. Whether literally on trial, or whether under persecution without a trial, or whether on trial in the court of public opinion;
though there may be many implications, ethical issues, or other things that people think are the main issue; the real issue is that Christians believe Jesus was raised from the dead.
And that is the issue that is the ultimately dividing line between all of humanity – their response to that reality
Because if Jesus was raised from the dead, that changes everything.
Listen: if what Jesus said about himself and claimed for himself wasn’t true, then if there was anybody ever to earn the number 1 spot on God’s “do not raise from the dead” list – it would be Jesus – because if what he said about himself and claimed for himself wasn’t true, then he was the greatest blasphemer and God-dishonorer of all time;
and he should be ignored and despised by all who are godly.
but: if he was raised from the dead, then that is God’s stamp of validation on everything Jesus said; that is the proof that everything he said about himself and claimed for himself was true; and he can’t be ignored; and he can’t be despised.
And we must bow before him, because not only did he rise, but he reigns; he reigns over all; every life, every part of every life.
And if we know that he died for us, then we will gladly yield and give our lives to him.