Acts 21:37-22:21

21:37 | Even in this tense situation, the fruit of the Spirit was evident in Paul’s life as he politely asked the commander for permission to speak.

21:37-39 | The commander mistook Paul for an Egyptian false prophet who had raised an army in Jerusalem, so he was surprised when Paul spoke to him in Greek. The Roman army put down the rebellion of the Egyptian, but the prophet himself escaped.

22:1-21 | The word translated defense (apologaeia) provides the root meaning for the word apologetics, the discipline of giving sound reasons for faith in Christ. Paul exemplified apologetics at work by defending his faith before a hostile audience: he understood the language and the culture; he demonstrated his life before and after Christ; he gave evidence of God’s work in his life; and he focused on Christ.

22:3 | Because the Jews were accusing Paul of attacking the Jewsih faith, the first thing he established was that he was a Jew.

22:4 | “The Way” was a name for the budding Christian movement of the first century – the movement Paul had previously persecuted.

22:5 | Everyone knew of Paul’s reputation. When Paul was converted in an encounter with the resurrected Christ, he was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus to persecute the Jewish believers in that city, even asking for a letter of commission from the high priest in Jerusalem to carry out his work of persecution.

22:6-16 | Paul’s testimony is recounted five times in the NT(9; 22; 26; Phil. 3; 1 Tim 1:12-17). Few conversions in the history of the church have been as unexpected and as dramatic as his.