Acts 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. It records the events leading to

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

's imprisonment in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The book containing this chapter is

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

. This

chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

is divided into 30 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

containing the text of this chapter are: *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...

(AD 325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

(330–360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is a bi-lingual Greek and Latin manuscript of the New Testament written in an uncial hand on parchment. It is designated by the siglum D or 05 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and � ...

(~400) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

(400–440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering of New ...

(~450; extant verses 21–30) * Codex Laudianus (~550)

Locations

The events in this chapter took place in

. Some other places are also mentioned in this chapter: *

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

* Tarsus

Paul's speech in the Temple (verses 1–21)

This part contains the first in a series of Paul's apologetic speeches (verse 1: "... to you now in ydefence", Greek: προς υμας νυνι απολογιας, ''pros humas nuni apologias''). Paul's opening words use the language and address designed to stress a commonalty with his audience (verses 1–2), and to emphasize that he, like them, is a 'zealot for God' (verse 3) with a 'strict seminary education rooted in Jerusalem'; both are consistent with Paul's own claims about his education in .

Verse 1

:''Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.'' The address to "men, brethren, and fathers" matches the opening words used by

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

in his address to the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

in Acts 7:2.

Verse 3

: aul said:''"I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of

Gamaliel Gamaliel the Elder (; also spelled Gamliel; ''Rabban Gamlīʾēl hazZāqēn''; ''Gamaliēl ho Presbýteros''), or Rabban Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century CE. He was the son of Simeon ben Hillel a ...

, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today."'' *"This city": refers to

. An alternative argument, that "this city" refers to Tarsus, does not match Paul's argument here.

Verse 8

: aul said:''"So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, whom you are persecuting.'"'' The detailed record of Paul's conversion story here indicates that this account is important for Luke, even with some differences from the record in chapter 9, thus shedding 'an interesting light on Luke's practice as a narrator', who 'sees no difficulty in the fact that the retold story is slightly different each time'. The story is further repeated in

Acts 26 Acts 26 is the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the period of Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but Holman states that "uniform ...

Verse 12

: aul said:''"Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there,"'' *" Ananias": is given a little more background detail by Paul compared to the previous account in chapter 9, which is "relevant to his claim to be working within a framework of observant Judaism".

Verse 16

: aul retold that Ananias said to him:''"And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."'' *"Be baptized": In chapter 9, the significance of baptism was only alluded to briefly, without explanation, but here it is made explicit: 'it is to do with cleansing from sin, and calling on the name of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

Verses 17–18

: aul said:'"Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.'""'' *"I returned to Jerusalem": likely refers to the visit of Acts 9:26, and Galatians 1:18. Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905)
''Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers''. Acts 22.
London : Cassell and Company, Limited, 905-1906Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.

Paul the Roman (verses 22–29)

When Paul mentioned the Gentiles, the audience was again stirred up and behaving riotous (verses 22–23), so the tribune decides to remove Paul for further interrogation in the barracks, that is 'the examination of witnesses by torture' (verse 24), which was a routine practice in both Greek and Roman judicial systems. At the last moment, Paul reveals a little more of his citizenship status (verse 25) that 'produces consternation and dismay among the soldiers and minor officials into whose hands he has fallen' (verses 26–29).

Verse 28

: ''The commander answered, "With a large sum I obtained this citizenship."'' ::''And Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."'': NKJV The claim of Paul to be 'free-born' here means that his citizenship status 'goes back at least to his father's generation, possibly earlier, to the period of the civil wars, when Roman generals granted citizenship to a number of individuals and associations in the Greek East who had supported their cause'. The citizenship status of the tribune (whose name is Claudius Lysias; cf. ) corresponds to the record of 'the growing laxity of citizenship grants, which were widely reported to be freely available for money' during the reign of

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

Caesar (Dio Cassius, 60. 17.5–6).

Paul to be brought before the Sanhedrin (verse 30)

The tribune 'ordered' the Sanhedrin to meet, although only in an advisory capacity, to 'help him determine whether or not Paul had a case to answer in Jewish law'.

References

Sources

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Acts of the Apostles 22