Paul Gives His Defense - His Witness - Acts 22

22 ¹ “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

² When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Now Paul speaks in Aramaic, the Hebrew language, this gets their attention quickly and they listen.  He calls out to them as brothers and fathers.  They are of the same race and all kin through Adam.

Then Paul said: ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

Paul explains that he was just as they are and he too persecuted followers of the Way.  He has sympathy towards them as he was one of them.

⁶ “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

⁸ “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ⁹ My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰ “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹² “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴ “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

¹⁷ “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹ “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

Is this a defense for his supposed crime or is this a witness to the Jews?  Paul has told his story exactly how it has happened to him.  He has witnessed to his encounter with Jesus and to how he was a well-studied student of their own religion and why he had to leave Jerusalem.  He includes the event of the death of Stephen.  How he was there and it was done under his approval.  This obviously had a tremendous impact on Paul.

If you had to provide a defense of your actions for believing and following Jesus, would you provide your witness, your testimony?  I hope that you do, for it is your testimony of your salvation and encounter with Jesus that makes your life's purpose and should define all the other actions you've taken.  If not, how can you reorganize your life and remember your salvation so that your actions are oriented towards following your Savior?

²² The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

Why is it that the Jews go into a rage when he says that the Lord sent him to the Gentiles?  Isn’t this a manner of a type of racism?  Isn’t this the same as the Nazi’s hating the Jews?  Except here it is the Jews hating everyone who isn’t a Jew?  In fact, this sounds a lot like the Islam jihadists of today, as they reject and have no respect for anyone who is not a “follower” of their perception of their religion.

Just as they hated Jesus and crucified Him, they cry out that Paul should be killed and “is not fit to live”.  The Jews are very far away from knowing Jesus or the Lord they claim to follow.