The Book of Acts
Paul's Clear Conscience, #2
Acts 22:30–23:3
Last time we met, Paul was speaking before the Jewish Sanhedrin in defense of his ministry to the Gentiles. They have accused him of being anti-Jew, and so far he has caused a riot and been given the opportunity to speak before the crowd that gathered outside of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem.
The Roman official in charge, Claudius Lysias, unable to understand what Paul said, because he spoke in Hebrew, and desiring to get to the bottom of what is goin on, decides to convene the Jewish Sanhedrin and let them handle the problem.
So in the first few verses of Acts 23, that's what's going on. Paul is defending himself and his actions by putting the responsibility on God. It was God that called and commissioned him to be a missionary to the Gentiles, and any problems with that should be directed to Him. In fact, as we saw last week, he maintains that his conscience is clear.
Well, when he said that, the high priest came unwelded.
verse 2
Don't confuse this Ananias with Ananias and Sapphira or Annas who was the former high priest. This is a different guy. This Ananias was one of the most profane and disgraceful men to ever serve as high priest.
Anything historians record about him is bad. Josephus said “he took all the tithes that were to be distributed for the living of the common priests and stole all of it.” He assassinated anybody and everybody who got in his way. He lined his own pockets with offerings and tithes to God.
He was very pro-Roman, which was unacceptable for a Jewish high priest, so his own people hated him.. And finally, in 66 AD, four years before the destruction of Jerusalem, a group of Jewish insurrectionists started a war against Rome primarily to get rid of Ananias. They found him hiding in an aqueduct, dragged him out, and murdered him and his brother.
And now, it is this man who will stand in judgment of Paul that gives the order for Paul to be samcked in the mouth.
Now, it’s interesting to look at the word that is translated "strike" or "smite" in older translations. The word means “a blow with a full fist, or a weapon.” So this isn’t just a slap. This isn’t your momma touches your lips and saying, "no-no". This is one of the temple police, with full force, hitting Paul in the mouth.
In fact, the word “strike” is the same word used in Acts 21:32 where it says, “The mob was beating him.” So, this isn’t just slapping him. This is a full shot in the mouth, and it must have come as a shock to Paul who had just finished his opening sentence when this guy belted him in the mouth.
Now, let’s think about that. After all, Paul is human, and he’s already been through an awful lot. I'm afraid that sometimes we elevate these guys to superhuman status and assume they always did the right thing and responded the right way.
That's why I'm kind of encouraged by what we read in
verse 3
Paul just kind of lost it for a minute, and personally, I'm glad he did because that is proof he his human just like the rest of us!
In fact, if you want to translate the conversation into today's language, the high priest said, “Punch him in the mouth,” and Paul said, “Do it, and God will punch you in the mouth, you big phony.”
However you translate it, he uses very strong language. And depending on your own spiritual maturity level, you might want to say, "Way to go Paul!"
But if you think about it from a more spiritual viewpoint, you might say, “Paul, don't you remember what Peter wrote about Jesus and how he did not return evil or suffering when He was threatened and reviled? And how He just trusted God to make the right judgment about such things?
You know what my answer to that is? Yes, he knew, but he wasn't Jesus! This is Paul. Just let him be Paul. My old preacher friend, Dan Pruitt, always said, "Jesus said 'Turn the other cheek'. He didn't say what to do after that!"
And what we have here is a great illustration of how the old man, the old self, can suddenly express itself. You and I understand that. Get hit in the mouth after you’ve been beaten and hauled around and accused wrongly, and see how you react!
He’s human, and he understood this struggle between the old man and the new man. He had an old will, and a Christian. He knew Christian principles, but couldn't seem to stop the old nature from taking control sometimes.
Jesus didn’t have that problem. There was no old nature to react. But you study Jesus’ life, and you’ll find that there were times when He had righteous indignation. He made a whip and scourged the temple. He did that twice, and He had a few choice words for the Pharisees – not unlike this statement.
He said, “You are not whitened sepulchers full of dead men's bones. Outside, everything looks nice, but inside, you stink!
They used to paint the tombs because if a Jew touched a dead body or something defiled by a dead body, he was defiled. So, in order to keep you from leaning on a tomb or stumbling into one, they painted them white, so you could see them and avoid them. So Jesus said, “That’s what you are. You’re phonies. Outside, you’re clean. Inside, you’re defiled.”
Paul says, “You’re a whited wall,” and I don’t think his reference is to the words of Jesus, but to the words of Ezekiel in chapter 13 verses 10 to 16 where Ezekiel pictures a wall built with bad mortar.
The application is the same. Everything looks good. It's a nice strong, substantial wall. But if all the mortar's rotten, it is unstable. And you can see the picture; here’s a lovely wall. The first guy that comes along and leans on it, the whole wall falls down. That's what Paul is saying, “You’re a phony. You look good on the outside, but there’s nothing there.”
By giving the order for Paul to be struck in the mouth, the high priest had violated the law. That's why Paul says what he does.
verse 3
Jewish law said, “He who strikes the cheek of an Israelite, strikes, as it were, the glory of God.” Striking a Jew was the same as striking God!
Furthermore, Jewish law safeguarded the rights of a man, and he was innocent until proven guilty. And Ananias had no business touching him by way of the Jewish law; he had no business touching him by way of criminal punishment, either. He wasn’t even accused of anything, let along judged of it to be guilty.
So Paul says, “Here you are, the great judge who’s going to judge me, and you’re breaking the law.”
By the way, what he said actually turned out to be a prophecy.
“God wills strike you, you whitewashed wall!” It wasn’t long until that’s exactly what happened. God took his life, and he was murdered.
So I'm willing to give Paul a little bit of room to be a man. He had a fiery temperament. Remember, before he became a Christian, he was breathing out threatenings against the church! He was slaughtering Christians! He was a fiery guy !
In fact, it's pretty amazing that you have to travel from chapter 9 all the way to chapter 23 before you see any demonstration of his old nature, especially when you consider how many times he was beaten and cursed and threatened.
And, this outburst is not the end of how Paul reacts.
Notice how those who heard what he said responded:
verse 4
So how did Paul answer? I’ll tell you next week.
Let’s pray.
