Sermon Tone Analysis

Let them go !

Let those men go!

, But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, "Let those men go.

36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent to let you go.

Therefore, come out now and go in peace."

37 But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly?

No! Let them come themselves and take us out."

38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

39 So they came and apologized to them.

And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia.

And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, "Let those men go.

36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent to let you go.

Therefore, come out now and go in peace."

37 But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly?

No! Let them come themselves and take us out."

38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

39 So they came and apologized to them.

And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia.

And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

Here in , The final section of this chapter where it covers the release of Paul and Silas by the magistrates.

Magistrates wanted to let them go in silence, wanted to let them go in secret and who wanted to let them go simply breaking of a Roman statue would not be reveal.

These are the same magistrates who effectively gave them a public apology after they reveal themselves to be Roman citizens, unjustly treated.

Paul’s insistence upon such vindication shows a concern with the public standing of the mission of the newly found church.

Paul was concerned that agents of the gospel who are Roman citizens and their converts deserve to be protected from harassment and mistreatment of the Roman officials.

However, despite the focus of the chapter on the social, economic, and political implications of the Christian mission, Luke concludes with a simple picture of Paul and Silas meeting with the believers in Lydia’s house, encouraging the nascent church.

This passage shows us Paul sovereignly seeking to protect those in the church, it shows Paul refusing to allow the Roman Goverment to not acknowledge it wrong doing by letting them go is secret.

And we see Paul and Silas, sharing God’s power of deliverance and encouraging others in the church.

Let us pray....

Let them go...sovereignty seeking to protection those in the church

, But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

The presumption here is that all the prisoners had been returned to the jail and secured once more.

The officers here called the magistrates are also those in verse 38 who carried a rod or staff, symbolizing their task of carrying out arrests and punishments.

The text here gives no reason for this apparent about-face on the part of the magistrates.

They could hardly have been ignorant of the earthquake and its aftermath, and maybe were afraid of divine retribution if they continued to keep Paul and Silas captive.

We see in , a quick repetition of what was just said from the jailer, “The magistrates have sent to let you go.

Therefore, come out now and go in peace.”

This command must have been particularly aggravating since it was communicated by the same men who had stripped naked, beaten, and dragged Paul and Silas into prison only days before.

Yet, repetition of the magistrates’ order for the release of the prisoners highlights the fact that the Roman government wanted to quickly put this problem behind them with as little fanfare and possible.

That is what the text says, ...therefore come now and go in peace.

This urgency adds a spotlight to the strangeness of Paul’s immediate response.

Paul’s immediate response is not the response of someone desperate for deliverance, Paul’s response is not the response of someone seeking a quick release, but Paul’s response is the response of someone who is determined not to be dismissed and disrespected as though having no value or worthy of respect and protection as a child of God.

In , But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly?

No! Paul refuses another opportunity for freedom because this freedom is a farce, this freedom is fraught with the full weight of illegal guilt, this freedom does not address the facts at hand.

What are the fact at hand in this case?

Well, Paul wants to make three important points concerning them as he seeks to sovereignly protect those in the church.

(1) Paul is saying here do you understand that they beat us publicly?

Do you understand that we have been humiliated for no good reason?

Do you understand that we had done nothing wrong?

Do you understand that the owners of the slave girl lied to the authorities because of their loss of income because from her fortune telling?

(2) Do you understand that we should have never been treated so harshly and unfairly?

Why?

Because we are Roman citizens and it is against Roman law as citizens to be dealt with in such a horrible, unfair manner.

(3) Do you understand that we were uncondemned, that there was no trial, that we were never given the opportunity to share our side of the story, that there were no charges applied, but we were just thrown into prison.

And now all of a sudden you want to right all those wrongs by simply letting us go! NO! NO! NO! Now you want to let us go and ask us to go quickly and to go in peace without in acknowledgement of what was done?

And without any assurance that others in the church would not be treated as such later?

No, this is not going to work for me, all freedom is not free, whom the Son sets free is free in deed.

Paul knew as Roman citizen’s, they should not have been treated accordingly.

They should have not been publicly beaten without a trial, and they should have not been thrown into prison, which was against Roman law and custom.

Look at

, But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you about to do?

For this man is a Roman citizen."

27 So the tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"

And he said, "Yes."

28 The tribune answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum."

Paul said, "But I am a citizen by birth."

29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.”

This offense could not be handed in secret; what had been done in darkness must now come to the light.

Paul derides their attempt to sweep this injustice under the carpet (‘And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?’) and demands some form of public recognition of the evil done to them (‘No!

Let them come themselves and escort us out’).

Paul was not in the habit of insisting on his own rights, many times Paul deny himself, so why did he do so here?

The refusal to settle without a public act of vindication shows a concern with the public standing of the mission of the church.

Acts of ignorance and injustice must not be allowed to masquerade as truth and justice in the public eye.

Paul and Silas were not simply demanding satisfaction for the abuse of their personal rights.

Here in the text the context suggests a wider concern, ‘specifically with the fate of the mission before Roman magistrates, reacting to their proud and suspicious citizens’.

When you look that the total picture there are four scenes in the Book of Acts in chapters 16–19 that feature accusations against Christians in similar sequences of events, let’s look at them;

, But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, "These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.

21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice."

22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice."

22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

, But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

, But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, "This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law."14

But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.15

But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves.