1“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make to you.”
2When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet.
He said, 3“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today. 4I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5as also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
6“As I made my journey and came close to Damascus, about noon suddenly a great light shone around me from the sky. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.’
9“Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of him who spoke to me. 10I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 11When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
12“One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, 13came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him. 14He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. 15For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
17“When I had returned to Jerusalem and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’ 19I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you. 20When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’
21“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”
22They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”
23As they cried out, threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air, 24the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that. 25When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?”
26When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”
27The commanding officer came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”
He said, “Yes.”
28The commanding officer answered, “I bought my citizenship for a great price.”
Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.”
29Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him. 30But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Jews, he freed him from the bonds and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
Exercising Our Civil Rights
23 As they cried out, threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air, 24 the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that. 25 When they had tied him up with straps, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?” 26 When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”
God knows the time and the place where you were born. If you are a believer living in a Middle Eastern Arab country, you might have few rights. If you are a believer living in North Korea, you might have no rights. If you are a believer living in the United States, you might have many rights. Paul shows us here that as a Roman citizen, he had certain rights, and he exercised them. It doesn’t always mean that it will turn out well. In God’s sovereignty, He knew that as Paul proclaimed his rights as a Roman Citizen, it would lead to the sharing of the gospel to the Emperor in Rome, who was the top man in the world at that time. This was all in God’s plan. But, Paul did what he could to preserve his life in the moment. He knew the Jewish authorities had a target on his back, so he exercised his rights to protect his own life. I suppose one could argue that Paul should have just stayed quiet about his rights, and he might have escaped the fate that awaited him.
This leads me to think of my rights as a follower of Jesus in modern-day America. Our Christian beliefs are challenged more and more each day by others and by our government. God is a God of order and not chaos. As we take a stand (our Constitutional right) against the rampant godlessness and chaos in our society, it may cost us emotionally, spiritually, and cost us in other ways to appeal to our rights as American citizens. But we must do so. We must not remain silent in the hopes of saving our own temporary skin. Much is at stake. I am thinking of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, who politely declined the opportunity to cook and sell a wedding cake for the wedding of a gay couple.
Phillips took a stand and declined to participate in a celebration that went against his religious beliefs. It cost him dearly. There were tremendous court costs and personal anguish incurred as the case progressed. Eventually, the Supreme Court heard the case and gave Mr. Phillips a narrow victory. They ruled that the Civil Rights Commission had not acted properly, as they had shown hostility to Mr. Phillips because of his religious beliefs; hence, their decision was vacated. This decision leaves the question open as to what would have happened if the commission hadn’t been hostile to Mr. Phillip’s religious beliefs. Regardless of the outcome, like the Apostle Paul, we must work within whatever system God has sovereignly placed us. It may cost us, but we must speak up. When we do speak up, we should do so with courtesy, and we must exhibit all of the fruit of the Spirit as outlined in Galatians 5:22. We are to be the salt and the light in the world. Be that, but as best as you are able, be at peace with all men.