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)
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)
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