Lesson 405

(Lesson 405)(09-24-12) Acts 22:22-30, Acts 23:1-10, "And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. Then 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. On 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 brought Paul down, and set him before them.

Acts 23:1-10, "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day."

And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God. And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle."~

In this lesson, Paul speaks to the leadership of the Jews from the steps of the temple. When he told them his concience was clear before God the high priest commanded that he should be slapped in the mouth. When Paul told the high priest that God would punish him for abusing the law and accused him of hypocracy, they all went into a rage demanding that Paul be punished for reviling the high priest.

Paul, recognizing that the crowd was split about fifty fifty Sadducees and Pharisees, told them he was a Pharisee, knowing he would set them against each other because the two sects disagreed on whether or not the dead would be resurrected. This touched off another rage during which the Roman soldiers again rescued Paul and took him inside the castle.

The actions taken by the Jews in this lesson remind us of some of the problems that exists among today's Christians.

There are many "Christians" who can easily be sent into a meaningless rage, sometimes even to the point of splitting up congregations, over things that a prayerful study of the bible leaves no room on which to disagree.~