Paul the Roman Citizen - Acts 22

²³ As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵ As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹ Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

Paul is misunderstood by everyone.  His own people, the Jews, don’t understand him and believe he is a violator of their religious laws.  His nationality by birth, the Romans, don’t understand him, has him in chains, and can’t figure out what he has done for the public to want his death.  He has to feel like a man without a country.

Paul had brought this up before under a similar circumstance in a different city.  I tend to think that Paul is tired of being beaten.  I also believe that he is very cleaver and knows that he can put pressure on the Jews through the Romans.  I personally even wonder if he believes that this is the only way he can reach the message of Jesus to the Jews since his testimony will be forced on them through the Roman military power.  They will have to listen if they take him to trial.

He as a citizen of Rome will have more rights than the Jews.  Since he was born a citizen he has a higher claim of being a Roman than someone who had to "buy" their citizenship as the commander referenced.  Therefore, the commander has no intention, nor does the centurion, of harming Paul in any way lest they be put in prison for falsely accusing and punishing a Roman citizen without a trial.