1Paul declareth at large the manner of his conversion and call to the apostleship. 22At the very mentioning of the Gentiles the people exclaim furiously against him: whereupon the chief captain ordereth to examine him by scourging: 25which he avoideth by pleading the privilege of a Roman citizen. 30He is brought before the Jewish council.
1MEN, 1brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
1 He calls the common people, who were equal to him in age, brethren, and their elders and rulers, fathers, that by this appellation he might stir them up to favorable audience. See similar example in Stephen, Acts 7:2.
2(And when they heard that he spake in the 2Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
2 That is, the Syriac language, which had a remarkable agreement with the Hebrew and therefore was reckoned for one language. For, the people of the Jews, after the Babylonian captivity, had by their continual commerce with the Syrians and Assyrians very much mingled the purity of the Hebrew language with those languages.
3 Ia am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city 3at the feet of Gamaliel,b and taught according to 4the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was 5zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
a Acts 9:11; 21:39; 2 Cor. 11:22.
3 That is, under the instruction and supervision of that famous doctor of the law Gamaliel, of whose respect among the people is testified, Acts 5:34. And this phrase is taken from this that the teachers sat higher in raised chairs or seats and the disciples on lower benches before their feet, as is also said of Mary, Luke 10:39.
b Acts 5:34.
4 Or, according to the sharpness. Gr. according to the exactness; that is, the Pharisaical, which was accounted by the Jews for the best and the strictest observer of the law. See Acts 26:5; Philip. 3:5.
5 That is, a zealot for the law of God, but without understanding, as Paul adds, Rom. 10:2.
4Andc I persecuted 6this way 7unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
c Acts 8:3; 9:1; 26:9; 1 Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13; 1 Tim. 1:13.
6 That is, this doctrine or religion. See Acts 9:2 and 19:9, 23.
7 That is, to bring them to death, as was done to Stephen, Acts 7:60.
5As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estated of the elders: from whom also I received letters 8unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
d estate of the elders: holding office as elders*
8 That is, the Jews and their rulers, Acts 9:2, whom he calls brethren because they were of one race, though bitter enemies of the Christians.
6Ande9it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenlyf there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
e Acts 9:3.
9 See of this event, Acts 9:3, and the following verses, with the annotations concerning it.
f 1 Cor. 15:8; 2 Cor. 12:2.
7And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
8And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
9And they that were with me saw indeed the light, andg were afraid; but they 10heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
g Dan. 10:7.
10 Namely, with understanding of the words; for, otherwise they heard the sound. See the annotation at Acts 9 on verse 7.
10And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
11And when I could not see 11for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
11 That is, the exceeding brightness of this light had so scorched mine eyes, that, as it were, scales were come upon them, Acts 9:18.
12Andh one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
h Acts 9:17.
1312Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, 13receive thy sight. And the same hour 14I looked up upon him.
12 Namely, sent by Christ by a vision; Acts 9:10.
13 Or, look upwards.
14 Or, I became looking upon him.
14And he said, The God of our fathers hath 15chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see 16that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
15 Or, before ordained. The Greek word signifies as much as, taken by the hand.
16 That is, Jesus Christ, Who knew no sin, although He was condemned as One Who was unrighteous, Isa. 53:11; Acts 3:14; 1 John 2:1.
15For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
16And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away 17thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
17 That is, for a sign and seal that your sins are washed away by the blood and the Spirit of Christ; a phrase which is often used of the sacraments. See Mark 1:4; Eph. 5:26, which is more clearly expounded in Mat. 3:11; 1 Peter 3:21; 1 John 1:7.
17Andi it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in 18a trance;
i Acts 9:28.
18 Gr. standing out; whereof see Acts 10:10. This seems to have happened after that he was returned out of Arabia to Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, Gal. 1:18.
18And saw him saying unto me, 19Makej haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
19 This entire narration of Paul, as also the previous one, serves for this purpose, to show the Jews that not out of ignorance of the promises made to the Jews, nor of any faction against them, but only being pressed by the voice and will of God, he was gone to the Gentiles to preach the Gospel to them.
j Mat. 10:14.
19And I said, Lord, they know thatk I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
k verse 4.
20Andl when the blood of thy 20martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
l Acts 7:58; 8:1.
20 Gr. martyros; from which comes the word martyr, because they give testimony to the truth of the Gospel with their blood, of whom Stephen was the first after the resurrection of Christ.
21And he said unto me, Depart: form I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
m Acts 9:15; 13:2; Gal. 1:15; 2:8; Eph. 3:8; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11.
22And they gave him audience 21unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Awayn with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
21 Namely, because they could not endure that the Gentiles would be made equal to them or advanced above them, they were so disturbed about it.
n Acts 21:36.
23And as they cried out, and cast off their 22clothes, and threw 23dust into the air,
22 Or, cloaks, upper-garments.
23 Namely, out of fury as mad men. Others think that they did thus to show that according to their law he ought to be stoned as a blasphemer; for which purpose served the casting off of their clothes, Acts 7:58, and the throwing of dust instead of stones which they did not have there.
24The 24chief captain commanded him to be brought into 25the castle, and badeo that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
24 Namely, the colonel or commander of the castle Antonia, called Claudius Lysias; Acts 23:26.
25 See thereof Acts 21:34.
o invited, asked, told*
25And as they bound him 26with thongs,p Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is 27a Roman, and 28uncondemned?
26 That is, they bound him that his limbs were stretched out on a stake or pillar to be scourged.
p leather straps.
27 That is, one who has the right of a citizen of the city of Rome. See verse 28.
28 That is, without having taken due cognizance of matters.
26When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
27Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.
28And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free 29born.
29 Namely, not that he was born in the city of Rome, but in the city Tarsus in Cilicia, whose citizens had obtained from the Emperor Augustus the citizenship of the city of Rome, because, in his wars against Brutus and Cassius, they had associated with him and suffered much, being thereby deprived of their means. See Chrysostomos Dion, in Tars. 2, and Cassius Dio, lib. 47. Pliny also calls the same a free city, Historia naturalis, lib. 5, cap. 27. See also the annotation at Acts 9 on verse 11.
29Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
30On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and 30brought Paul down, and set him before them.
30 Namely, out of the castle Antonia (which was situated on a high place) going down somewhere into a place of the yard of the castle, or thereabouts, where he sent for the council of the Jews. For, it is not likely that he brought Paul into the temple itself, seeing Lysias and his (men) were Gentiles, and therefore were not permitted into the temple itself, and yet it appears nevertheless in Acts 23:10 that he and his soldiers were present there.