The CommunionFire Commentary On The Book Of ACTS Chapter Twenty-Three

TWENTY-THREE  English Standard Version

Jesus is Lord of St. Paul's life v.11
KEY VERSE v.1 The witness of St. Paul
KEY VERSE v.6 His witness is to the hope and the resurrection of the dead
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The Ongoing Ministry of Jesus in around and through the Church
Yellow/gold = Seeing Jesus continued ministry
Teal/blue = Seeing the action of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus
Burgundy/red = Seeing the ongoing and evolving mission/witness of the Church to the Testimony of Jesus

1 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 

2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 

3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” 

4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God's high priest?” 

5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.

It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 

7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 

8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit,

that is why they are Sad-U-C!  : )

BUT the Pharisees acknowledge them all (resurrection, angels, spirit). 

that is why they can say, That's how "Far-i-see!"  : )

9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, 

“We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” 

10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

11 The following night the Lord stood by him (Paul) and said, 

“Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

A Plot to Kill Paul

12 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 

13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. 

14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. 

15 Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

St. Paul's Background:

​the apostle, was born about the same time as our Lord.

His circumcision-name was Saul, and probably the name Paul was also given to him in infancy “for use in the Gentile world,” as “Saul” would be his Hebrew home-name.

He was

a native of Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, a Roman province in the southeast of Asia Minor.

That city stood on the banks of the river Cydnus, which was navigable thus far; hence it became a center of extensive commercial traffic with many countries along the shores of the Mediterranean, as well as with the countries of central Asia Minor. It thus became a city distinguished for the wealth of its inhabitants.

Tarsus was also the seat of a famous university, higher in reputation even than the universities of Athens and Alexandria, the only others that then existed.

​Here Saul was born, and here he spent his youth, doubtless enjoying the best education his native city could afford. HIS RELATIVES—His father was of the straitest sect of the Jews, a Pharisee, of the tribe of Benjamin, of pure and unmixed Jewish blood (Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5).

We learn nothing regarding his mother; but there is reason to conclude that she was a pious woman, and that, like-minded with her husband, she exercised all a mother influence in moulding the character of her son, so that he could afterwards speak of himself as being, from his youth up, “touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:6).

We read of his sister and his sister's son (Acts 23:16),

and of other relatives (Rom. 16:7, 11-12).

There is no indication that Paul was ever married.

Though a Jew, his father was a Roman citizen. How he obtained this privilege we are not informed. “It might be bought, or won by distinguished service to the state, or acquired in several other ways; at all events, his son was freeborn. It was a valuable privilege, and one that was to prove of great use to Paul, although not in the way in which his father might have been expected to desire him to make use of it.” 

16 Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. 

17 Paul called one of the centurions and said,

“Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” 

18 So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said,

“Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” 

19 The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately,

“What is it that you have to tell me?” 

20 And he said, 

“The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. 21 But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” 

22 So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

23 Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spear men to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.[a] 

​24 Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” 

25 And he wrote a letter to this effect:

The Letter to Governor Felix

26 “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.  28 And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. 29 I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. 30 And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

31 So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 

32 And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. 

33 When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. 

34 On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.

​Footnotes: Acts 23:23 That is, 9 p.m.English Standard Version (ESV)The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

HIS EDUCATION AND CAREER

Perhaps the most natural career for the youth to follow was that of a merchant. “But it was decided that… he should go to college and become a rabbi, that is, a minister, a teacher, and a lawyer all in one.” According to Jewish custom, however, he learned a trade before entering on the more direct preparation for the sacred profession. The trade he acquired was the making of tents from goats' hair cloth, a trade which was one of the commonest in Tarsus. His preliminary education having been completed, Saul was sent, when about thirteen years of age probably, to the great Jewish school of sacred learning at Jerusalem as a student of the law. Here he became a pupil of the celebrated rabbi Gamaliel, and here he spent many years in an elaborate study of the Scriptures and of the many questions concerning them with which the rabbis exercised themselves. During these years of diligent study he lived “in all good conscience,” unstained by the vices of that great city.

Read more at: http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/paul.html

​Paul’s Sister & Nephew
Acts 23:16-22

Paul had one passion, namely, Christ, and thus the passage before us is the only reference we have to any of the Apostle’s natural relatives—his sister and her son—both of whom are unnamed.

Whether his sister and his nephew were Christians, we are not told. The latter’s eagerness to save his uncle from imminent danger suggests he had a deep regard for him. How could mother and son be so closely related to the mighty Apostle, and not share his devotion for Christ!

If mother and son were among his kinsmen at Rome whom Paul mentions (Romans 16:7, 11), then they might have come up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast. While there the son heard of the plot to kill his notable uncle, and thus became the means of his escape from death. Ever grateful for the assistance of those who loved him in the Lord, Paul must have been thankful for the nephew who came to him as soon as he heard of the intention of the Apostle’s foes to get rid of him. Here, again, we wonder at the silence of Scripture as to the identity of many it mentions! Why does Paul give us the names of other women and their sons, yet withhold the names of his own dear sister to whom he must have been attached in childhood, now, probably, a widow, and her son?

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