Reaction to Paul’s Prophetic Vision – Acts 22:22-29

When Paul says God sent him to the Gentiles, the already angry crowd begins to demand that he be killed. Why does Paul’s prophetic vision receive such a violent reaction?

Because they shout and throw dust cloaks into the air, it appears that they take Paul’s speech as blasphemy.

Rather than accomplishing his goal (reconciliation with the Jewish crowd), he has angered them even more.  The seeds of the nationalistic rebellion against Rome are already present in Jerusalem in the late 50s. The revolt begins only about eight years after this event. The nationalistic fervor that fuels that rebellion is already at work in the Temple.

Paul is taken to be interrogated by the Romans, who likely have no idea what he has said to the crowd. Typical interrogation by the Romans included torture, but only after other means failed to turn up the facts. This is not a punishment but a method of extracting the truth during the “fact-finding” portion of Paul’s trial.  Since Paul is to be flogged, the commander seems to have assumed that Paul is, in fact, a troublemaker, and he wants to get to the facts immediately.

While they were preparing him for this, Paul mentions that he was a Roman citizen. Why does he wait until he is arrested, bound, and about to be flogged?  Paul may have waited to put the Roman soldiers in a difficult position, but they must now make amends for withholding Paul’s rights as a citizen.

The centurion in charge of the interrogation immediately reported to Tribune Claudius Lysias that Paul was a Roman citizen. The tribune says he “bought his citizenship for a large sum” (22:27 ESV). Could someone actually purchase a citizenship? Mark Anthony sold Roman citizenships, and later Claudius’s wife, Messalina, sold citizenships (Cicero, Philippicae, II, 92; V, 11-12). The Philippics (or Philippicae) are fourteen speeches (44-42 BC) condemning Mark Anthony after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Tarja, The Trial of Paul, 82). Suetonius tells a story about Nero granting citizenship certificates to some young Greek dancers because he liked their performance (Sherwin-White, Roman Law and Roman Society, 146-149). (See this post on the possibility Paul was from a wealthy family.)

Paul was born a citizen. Likely, Paul’s citizenship was granted to his father or grandfather for services rendered to the empire, possibly as slaves. While this is speculative, many scholars have suggested that his family served as tentmakers in the military. Paul had a higher social status than a Roman tribune. Paul has dual citizenship from Tarsus and Rome. He was born a Roman citizen rather than having purchased it. In addition, Paul is well educated (speaking Greek and Aramaic) and may come from a wealthy family.

Paul’s citizenship is indeed a serious problem for the Romans responsible. Cicero said, “To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to slay him almost an act of murder” (Verrine Orations, 2.5.66, cited by Witherington, Acts, 677-78).

Paul’s Roman citizenship is important for the rest of the story because it determines who will hear Paul’s case and decide his fate (Rome, not the Jews). Paul’s treatment throughout the rest of the book of Acts is based on Paul’s legal status as a Roman citizen.