Acts 22:1-30

What is the theme of this chapter?

Paul's appeal and defense.

What is the key verse(s) of this chapter? Verse 21

And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’

What can I apply to my life from this chapter (things to do/avoid)?

I can be respectful and tactful when talking to people about Christ, like Paul was when addressing both the Jews and Romans.  His words were calculated to pacify his hearers and draw them into sympathy with himself and his point of view.  Blunt outspokenness is much more apt to offend than to convince.   

Additional observations/questions:

According to verse 16 of this chapter (as well as others — Mk 7:1-5; Heb 9:10), water baptism is a natural symbol for washing or cleansing, not of Christ's death, burial and resurrection like we practice today.  This interpretation of baptism can only come from are Romans 6:3-4 and Col 2:11-14, in which there are no references to water at all.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Rom 6:3-4). 

 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross (Col 2:11-14).

In Acts 22, Paul relates what took place at the time of his conversion.  He was converted when water baptism was still required for salvation (Mk 16:16; Acts 2:37-40).  Not that water baptism in itself could wash away sins, of course, but as an expression of faith.

Also interesting to note that later, using the same word "wash" (Gr., apolouo), Paul had written to the Corinthians:

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:11).

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).

No water in these passages either.

Acts 22:25-30

But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.


a Roman citizen - "If it was—and it was—a violation of Roman law to scourge a Roman citizen, how much more flagrant a violate to scourge him without even a hearing!  Not far from this spot the Lord Jesus Christ had been scourged by the Romans, yet Paul now could and did claim exemption as a Roman citizen.  Indeed the record of the Acts depicts him, on several occasions, standing on his rights as a Roman." (Stam)

a large sum - "In the reign of Claudius, contemporaneous with these events, Roman citizenship could be purchased for what would be a princely sum for a soldier.  Somehow Paul's parents had earned Roman citizenship before Paul's birth." (Ryrie)

"It is known that, under the emperor Claudius, his wife Messalina and his chief ministers sold the Roman citizenship.  It was most likely through having purchased the privilege under that emperor that the chief captain bore the name Claudius (Lysias)." (Walker)

had bound him - "The Roman method of scourging was to strip the man and either tie him to a pillar in a bending position or to stretch him on a frame.  He was then lashed with leather thongs weighted with pieces of lead.  The verb here used is peculiar to this verse, and means 'to stretch forward' into a position for scourging." (Walker)

the council - "The Sanhedrin.  Somehow the Sanhedrin had interposed itself so that Paul's case did not get directly and immediately referred to the Roman governor in Caesarea." (Ryrie)

commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet - "Probably this session was not held in the regular chambers of the Sanhedrin, or Romans soldiers would not have been allowed inside, nor in the castle, for Lysias, and his soldiers, later had to to 'down' to it (See Acts 22:30; 23:10).  Perhaps it was held in some neutral place.  The fact that a mere 'chief captain' over a thousand Roman soldiers could summon the Jewish Sanhedrin to a meeting indicates how subservient Israel, and even its Supreme Court, had become to Rome." (Stam)

Acts 22:17-24

When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.


‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ - "We know from the record in Acts 9 that his very life was in danger at that time (Ver. 29) ..." (Stam)

I will send you far away to the Gentiles - "The reference to the Gentiles, joined with Paul's claiming a divine commission, set off the mob again." (Ryrie)

"He had avoided mentioned the Gentiles until now, deferring this until he had first showed the Jews how he loved them and how only at the divine command, specific and repeated, had he left the favored people to go to the Gentiles.  But they 'gave him audience' only 'unto this word' and then, as when fire is set to an explosive, they burst forth in a demonstration of uncontrolled rage that immediately terminated the apostle's address.  They should have been interested in the salvation of the Gentiles (See Gen 22:18; Isa 56:6-8) but their intense national pride had blinded them to all else the apostle had said, so that they cried: 'Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live!'" (Stam)

throwing off their cloaks - "I.e., their outer garments.  The apostle well knew what this meant.  They were prepared to stone him if only the chief captain would hand him over to them (See Acts 22:20)." (Stam)

he should be examined by flogging - "People were scourged with a whip of leather thongs, the tips of which were embedded with metal or bone pieces.  Christ was scourged in this way (Matt 27:26)." (Ryrie)

"His address, delivered in Hebrew, had borne the air of a confidential communication to the Jews alone, with the result that Lysias and his soldiers could only listen with vain curiosity and perhaps impatient suspicion.  And now, at this renewed and persistent uproar, Lysias evidently suspected that Paul was guilty of some grievous crime.  He therefore commanded that the apostle be brought into the castle to be 'examined by scourging' (Ver. 24).  This was far more brutal than our so-called 'third degree.'  It was a series of whippings inflicted to extort an admission of crime." (Stam)

"Alas, Paul's hopes and prayers regarding Jerusalem had not be realized.  His 'heart's desire and prayer to God ... that they might be saved' (Rom 10:1) had not been fulfilled.  He had not been permitted to proclaim 'the gospel of the grace of God' (Acts 20:24) to them.  He had not been 'delivered from those who did not believe in Judaea,' nor had the sacrificial ministration from the Gentile churches been 'accepted of the saints' there (Rom 15:30-31).  If they accepted the money (which we are not told) it had certainly not served to bring them closer to their Gentile brethren in Christ.  If the unbelieving Jews were Paul's bitter enemies then 'James and the elders,' along with any of the twelve apostles who were present, were his very doubtful friends.  Neither now, nor later, do we find one of them standing at his side, even though James, Cephas and John had officially and publicly acknowledge him, some years back, as the apostle of grace and the apostle to the Gentiles.  Indeed, the compromise which James and his party had persuaded Paul to make had produced nothing—but this uproar—while they stayed in the background.  Yet the apostle had acted only out of love for his kinsmen and his Lord, and it was thus, in the providence of God that Israel received one final touching testimony to Christ from the lips of one who had even been instructed to leave them to their fate." (Stam)

Acts 22:1-16

“Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.” And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’ And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’


Gamaliel - "A respected rabbi who followed the liberal interpretations of Hillell, another rabbi who lived shortly before the time of Christ. His popularity demanded that the Sanhedrin listen to him. Paul was a student of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3)." (Ryrie)

"The word means 'the reward of God.' We may safely regard him as identical with the famous Rabbi Gamaliel, grandson of that Hillel who founded the more liberal of the two schools into which the Pharisees were divided. He was a man of great learning and noble character, the first of those seven eminent Jewish doctors of divinity who alone were styled Rabban (Master). He had studied Greek literature, and was in advance of most of the Rabbis in culture and liberality. He was held in the highest possible repute by the Jews, and was honourably named 'the beauty of the Law.' He is said to have died eighteen years before the destruction of the temple. As we know, Saul of Tarsus was one of his pupils (Acts 22:3)." (Walker)

being zealous for God as all of you are this day - "Note how skillfully he implies that he is no longer such (Cf. Gal 1:14) while Acts 21:20 informs us that even the Jewish believers in Judaea were still zealots for the law." (Stam)
‘Who are you, Lord?’ - "The cause of the great uprising that followed Paul's address should be kept in mind as we read this part of the narrative.  The multitude raised no commotion as the apostle related how he had found Jesus to be the Messiah.  Tens of thousands in Jerusalem believed this and the rest tolerated it (See Acts 21:20).  What enraged them was Paul's preaching of the finished work of the now-risen Christ and the consequent replacement of the law by grace sufficient for uncircumcised Gentiles as well as Jews (Acts 21:28).  This was the issue even among the believers at Jerusalem (See Acts 21:20-21).  And this is still the great issue today.  'Christianity' as an offshoot of Judaism, with believers in Christ under the law, is tolerated, but true Christianity, with its freedom from the law and its riches of grace cannot be countenanced!  Even some leaders of Fundamentalism pronounce it anathema.  This, the glorious all-sufficiency of Christ, is what Satan hates and opposes most bitterly." (Stam)

did not understand the voice - "They did not hear (understand) the 'voice' (so translated because the verb is followed by an accusative); however, Acts 9:7 states that they did hear the 'voice.'  But this should be translated 'sound' (because the verb there is followed by a genitive).  Thus there is no contradiction." (Ryrie)

"There is no contradiction between Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9.  Paul's companions heard the voice, but did not understand anything being said." (Stam)

Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. - "Lit., 'Having arisen, be baptised; and wash away your sins, having called on the name of the Lord.'  Baptism does not wash away sins." (Ryrie)

"...it is evident that Paul was thoroughly converted on the road to Damascus, yet at that time water baptism was still required for salvation (Mark 16:16) thus he was called upon to 'wash away his sins' by water baptism, not that water in itself could wash away sins, but as an expression of faith.  When God said water baptism was necessary to salvation faith would respond by being baptized." (Stam)