Acts 22
Standing on the barracks steps with Roman soldiers at his back, Paul tells the crowd in Aramaic the story of his conversion on the Damascus road; the crowd listens until he mentions the Gentiles, then demands his death.
Summary
Paul addresses the crowd from the barracks steps in Aramaic: 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 bring those who were there 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. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I answered: who are you, Lord? He said: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice. I said: what shall I do, Lord? The Lord told me to go to Damascus and there it would be told me what to do.
Paul continues: Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all Jews living in Damascus, came to me and said: Brother Saul, receive your sight. In that very hour I received my sight and saw him. 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. When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Jesus, who said to me: make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me. Lord, I said, they know that I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 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. He said to me: go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Up to this word they listen; then they raise their voices: away with such a fellow from the earth! The commander orders Paul to be examined by flogging. When they stretch him out with straps, Paul asks the centurion: is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned? The centurion goes to the commander: what are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. The commander asks Paul: tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He says yes. The commander says he bought this citizenship for a large sum; Paul replies he was born a citizen. Those who were about to examine him withdraw; the commander is alarmed that he had bound a Roman citizen. The next day he has Paul brought before the chief priests and the council.
- Acts 1Chapter 1 is a prologue and a hinge.
- Acts 2Pentecost is the structural and theological engine of the whole book.
- Acts 3Chapter 3 is the first miracle narrative in Acts, and its structure follows a pattern the book will repeat: the sign, the crowd, the sermon, and the opposition (which comes in chapter 4).
- Acts 4Chapter 4 is the first formal opposition scene in Acts, and it establishes a pattern: arrest, interrogation, the apostles' refusal, release, prayer, and the Spirit's confirmation.
- Acts 5Chapter 5 is one of the most dramatically concentrated in the book.
- Acts 6Chapter 6 is transitional but efficient.
- Acts 7Chapter 7 is the theological and dramatic climax of the Jerusalem section.
- Acts 8Chapter 8 is the first chapter of the middle section — Judea and Samaria — and it works by juxtaposition.
- Acts 9Chapter 9 contains the first telling of Paul's conversion (the other two are in chapters 22 and 26), and it is worth reading all three consecutively to see how Luke shapes each one for its audience.
- Acts 10Chapter 10 is the structural pivot of the first half of Acts and one of the most carefully constructed chapters in the New Testament.
- Acts 11Chapter 11 has two movements.
- Acts 12Chapter 12 is the last major Peter chapter in Acts, and it works as a deliberate counterpoint to the Herod material.
- Acts 13Chapter 13 is the beginning of the long Pauline section, and it opens with a scene worth pausing over: the Spirit speaks during a worship service in Antioch — while they are worshipping and fasting — and sets Barnabas and Saul apart for a specific but unnamed work.
- Acts 14Chapter 14 completes the first missionary journey and its most memorable episode is the Lystra scene (verses 8-20).
- Acts 15Chapter 15 is the structural centre of Acts and one of the most important chapters in the New Testament.
- Acts 16Chapter 16 is one of the richest in Acts.
- Acts 17Chapter 17 covers three cities and demonstrates the range of Paul's rhetorical repertoire.
- Acts 18Chapter 18 is relatively measured in tone after the drama of chapter 17.
- Acts 19Chapter 19 is the longest account of Paul's settled ministry in any city and falls into two parts.
- Acts 20Chapter 20 is the most elegiac in Acts.
- Acts 21Chapter 21 is the beginning of the long arrest sequence that occupies the rest of the book.
- Acts 22Chapter 22 is the second telling of Paul's conversion (the first is in chapter 9, the third in chapter 26).
- Acts 23Chapter 23 is structurally a thriller: the Sanhedrin hearing (verses 1-10), the night vision in the barracks (verse 11), the assassination plot (verses 12-22), and the extraordinary military escort to Caesarea (verses 23-35).
- Acts 24Chapter 24 is the first of three formal hearings in Acts — before Felix (24), before Festus (25), and before Agrippa (26) — and it establishes the pattern the others follow: Jewish accusation, Paul's defence, Roman incomprehension of the internal religious question, and a procedurally inconclusive result.
- Acts 25Chapter 25 is a pivot chapter.
- Acts 26Chapter 26 is the third and final telling of Paul's conversion (compare chapters 9 and 22) and the most rhetorically elaborate.
- Acts 27Chapter 27 is one of the most detailed sea narratives in ancient literature and is written in the first person plural (the we-passage resumes at verse 1), which gives it its immediacy.
- Acts 28Chapter 28 is the ending the book has been building toward, and it rewards slow reading.