A citizen by birth
Walking through the Book of Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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A citizent by birth
A citizent by birth
A citizen by birth
, Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. 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?” 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.” So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 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. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. 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?” 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.” So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 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. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
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?” 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.” So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 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.
But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
Many times, when God appoints to fulfill a task for Him or to pursue a ministry for Him, our efforts are met with challenges and confrontation.
When Charles Simeon was appointed as the pastor of the church in Cambridge, England, in 1783 he was delighted. The people of the church did not share his joy. Many of the prominent members of the church opposed his convictions on reaching the lost with the gospel. To show their displeasure they locked their pew boxes during the service, which means, people would have not way to enter to sit in a pew. So, they left them empty so that those who came to hear Simeon preach had nowhere to sit and had to stand or sit in the aisles. Eventually God began to work, and Simeon’s ministry had a powerful influence on the nation of England and the world through his efforts to encourage missionary work. During his darkest days of opposition Simeon wrote these words: “In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience.... It was painful indeed to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought that if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would on the whole be as much good done as if the congregation were doubled and the blessing limited to only half the amount. This comforted me many, many times, when without such a reflection, I should have sunk under my burden.”
Rev. Simeon learned that opposition does not mean that we are doing things wrong—often it is evidence that we are doing things right. If we allow ourselves to be deterred from doing anything unless we have complete approval, it is certain that we will never accomplish anything of value. Rather than being discouraged by opposition, we should take comfort in God’s faithfulness and keep on doing what is right. We see this same steadfast and perseverance in the ministry of Paul. Paul is being challenged at every turn as he seeks to do God’s will in reaching out with the gospel to the Gentiles. In our time together last week, we showed that with every test comes, a testimony and that has still this week proved to be true. Much of Paul’s testimony from last week was designed to present him as a faithful, law-abiding, and temple-honoring Jew, and Paul also reminded his fellow Jews of his previous zealous service in persecuting the Christian when he was fully practicing Judaism. This reminder served to legitimize his faithfulness and also to reflect a present similar faithful commitment now that he had found the true Messiah, which is Jesus Christ our Lord. But as we see, mob violence erupted, with another cry for Paul to be put to death (vv. 22–23). The commander is once more concerned to protect Paul (cf. 21:32–36), but he directs that Paul be scourged and interrogated, since the charge against him is as yet unclear (v. 24). While Paul is being prepared for this inquisition, he asks whether it is legal to scourge a Roman citizen who has not even been found guilty (v. 25). This leads to a dialogue with the commander about Roman citizenship (vv. 26–28), paralleling the dialogue in 21:37–39 about Paul’s identity. The questioning process ceases (v. 29), and the commander attempts to find out from the Jewish Sanhedrin about the accusation against Paul (v. 30). Thus, Paul’s Jewish and Roman credentials are considered in 21:37–22:30, and he is shown to be ‘fully a member of the two worlds to which he has been sent’. And my brothers and sisters are we not as Christian fully members of two worlds, as we have citizenship in this world as well as in heaven.
Let us pray…
; Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live. And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.
A citizenship that is hidden but when examined gives hope
The text said that the crowd listened to Paul ‘up to this word.”
Well what word was that pastor? It was the word of testimony about his ministry to the Gentiles. They could not tolerate the suggestion that Gentiles could be saved without first becoming Jewish proselytes. If this were true it would make Gentiles spiritually equal to the Jewish people before God—this was the most blatant heresy imaginable to this crowd. Just look at the passage before our text.
, “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” After his conversion and a brief period of ministry in Damascus, Paul spent three years in Arabia. Having returned to Jerusalem he has an encounter with the Lord. Here we see even further evidence that Paul had not rejected his Jewish heritage because he is praying the temple. Here Paul is remembering a special time with the Lord back in Jerusalem, around , Paul saw the Lord and hear Him when the Lord shared with him, his plight in his called to witness the gospel to the Gentiles. “ Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me. Regardless of the fact that Paul when he was Saul was a vicious proponent for the Jews against the church then, does not seem to impress the Jews and their leadership now. Paul had fearlessly proclaimed the faith he had once tried destroy, and they would not hear it. The Lord hinted at what He would make clear later in 22:15, that Paul would be a witness for Him to all nations.
Just the mere mention of his God-given ministry to the Gentiles reminded them of their main grievance against him. His association with the Gentiles provoked such a violent reaction towards him that was simply chilling. They raised their voices and shouted, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth! Please understand the very gravity of those words. Then they follow that statement with this “For he should not be allowed to live.’ With all this shouting, they were also throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air.
Luke 13:51 say this, ‘But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.’
You see shaking the dust off your feet is a gesture of warning and of disassociation from those who oppose the will of God. We can take the mention here of the ‘flinging dust in the air’ by the crowd to be similarly expressing of their rejection of Paul’s mission seeking to save the Gentiles. This crowd appears to be ‘repelled by the wickedness of Paul’s words. Their only answer seem to be a whole repertoire of shouting, tearing the garments, and throwing dust in the air. They are having a murderous tantrum. As the situation deteriorated, the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. As the commander in charge he wanted a deeper understanding to the ruckus and rank rejection of Paul and his mission. So, he directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. Pastor, what was flogging. Flogging was administered by whipping the bare backs of prisoners whose hands and feet were bound, rendering them helpless. The phrase “by His stripes we are healed” refers to the punishment Jesus Christ suffered—floggings and beatings with fists that were followed by His agonizing death on a cross—to take upon Himself all of the sins of all people who believe Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
Luke refers to the Roman practice of examining someone by flogging. This involved whipping with leather thongs, to which rough pieces of bone or metal had been attached. The whips used were made of braided leather, with pottery shards and sharp stones affixed to the ends, which tore open, the flesh of the prisoner with each cruel swing of the whip. When we picture this terrible, inhumane form of physical punishment we recoil in horror. Yet all we need to do is look towards the cross and we will see another servant leader as He dealt with such brutal treatment. The physical pain and agony were not all Jesus suffered. He also had to undergo the mental anguish brought on by the wrath of His Father, who punished Him for the sinfulness of mankind—sin carried out in spite of God’s repeated warnings, sin that Jesus willingly took upon Himself. He paid the total price for all of our transgressions.
Flogging was ‘a murderous instrument of torture, much more fearful than the Roman guards rods at Philippi. A slave or alien could be flogged in order to make him confess the truth (the theory being that he could not be trusted to confess it without such persuasion).’As in 21:30–40, the commander is concerned to protect Paul from mob violence, but he offers him a different form of violent justice in search for the truth where the charges against Paul were not yet clear. At this point Paul’s dual citizenship is still hidden but about to be revealed and a new hope arises.
A citizenship gained by rebirth.
, 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?” 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.” So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.”
However, as they stretched him out to flog him, stretching him out with make his body more taut and magnify the effects of the flogging. But Paul said to the centurion standing there, ‘Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?’ ‘Uncondemned, and without due process’.
Well pastor, what did it mean to be a Roman citizen?
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.
· A male Roman citizen enjoyed a wide range of privileges and protections defined in detail by the Roman state. A citizen could, under certain exceptional circumstances, be deprived of his citizenship.
· Roman women had a limited form of citizenship. They were not allowed to vote or stand for civil or public office. The rich might participate in public life by funding building projects or sponsoring religious ceremonies and other events. Women had the right to own property, to engage in business, and to obtain a divorce, but their legal rights varied over time. Marriages were an important form of political alliance during the Republic.
· Client state citizens and allies of Rome could receive a limited form of Roman citizenship such as the Latin Right. Such citizens could not vote or be elected in Roman elections.
· Freedmen were former slaves who had gained their freedom. They were not automatically given citizenship and lacked some privileges such as running for executive magistracies. The children of freedmen and women were born as free citizens; for example, the father of the poet Horace was a freedman.
· Slaves were considered property and lacked legal personhood. Over time, they acquired a few protections under Roman law. Some slaves were emancipated because of services rendered, or through a testamentary provision when their master died. Once free, they faced few barriers, beyond normal social snobbery, to participating in Roman society.
Paul previously asserted that he was a citizen of Tarsus, but now he insinuates that he is also ‘a Roman citizen’. ‘The practice of possessing full dual citizenship was thoroughly established about the reign of Claudius.’ As a Roman citizen, Paul could rightly appeal to be delivered from scourging as a form of inquisition. However, Rapske more accurately observes that in this context, while Paul’s self-disclosure indicates that ‘he has some confidence that his Roman citizenship may make a difference in his treatment, its manner suggests that Paul is still prepared to suffer or even die without complaint if it is disregarded’.
, Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Claims to Roman citizenship were generally accepted at face value, since the penalty for making a false claim was death. To subject a Roman citizen to be flogged could destroyed Lysias’ military career or even cost him his life.
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.’ This moved the commander to approach Paul and ask whether it was true. ‘Yes, I am,’ he answered. Then the commander said, ‘I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.’ The expression (‘at a considerable cost’) could refer to money or capital. The price paid for citizenship in the Claudian period was actually ‘the bribe given to the intermediaries in the imperial secretariat or the provincial administration who put his name on the list of candidates for enfranchisement’. ‘But I was born a citizen,’ Paul replied. Luke reveals for the first time that Paul has Roman as well as his Greek (Tarsian), citizenship was inherited from birth. As a person who was a Roman citizen by birth, Paul outranked the commander. Considering Paul’s appearance and condition, the commander was perhaps both amazed and sarcastic in his response to this revelation. Johnson rightly observes that ‘Paul’s appeal to his Roman citizenship saves him from a flogging and places him under the protection of the empire, but also makes him captive to its judicial process. But we as Christians have a similar yet greater claim because we are citizens of heaven. We are Citizens by our rebirth through Jesus Christ our Savior.
, But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like this glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” There is the promise from the low that when He returns we will be totally conformed to His will and transformed to His will. This will be accomplish through His great propose and power over our lives. As we engaged in our fully heavenly citizenship.
"What does it mean that our citizenship is in heaven?"
Answer: A citizen is a person who legally belongs to a country and has the rights and protection of that country. Citizens adopt the culture and practices of the nation or kingdom to which they belong. Every human being is born into the kingdom of this world, in which Satan rules.
says, In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Consequently, we all grow up adopting this world’s culture, practices, and values. Satan kingdom confuses us, , Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God has made.
Satan kingdom deceives us, , For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life- is not from the Father but it from the world.
Satan’s kingdom enslaves its citizens, , Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness.
Because of our darkened hearts and minds, we blindly follow our leader, Satan, into the very sins that pull us deeper into slavery. And we remain captives in this kingdom of sin, headed for destruction, until adopt a new leader, who Jesus, who frees us!
, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us.
, For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Those who do not know Christ live only for this world and the pleasure they can find for themselves.
They are “citizens” of this world and live by its rules and value system.
When we are born again by faith in Jesus Christ, we are born into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus spent much of His earthly ministry explaining the Kingdom of Heaven, , From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He compared it to many things, including a wheat field in which weeds grew along with the wheat. These plants appeared identical at first, but were separated at the harvest. The truth is, often the citizens of heaven and those of this world appear identical, and no one but God knows the difference. Many people may appear to be citizens of heaven, when, in fact, no rebirth has ever taken place in their hearts.
, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
God knows each and every person who walks or have ever walked on the face the earth. But the knowing that is in question here, is whether God you and I in a saving, because He has saved us or not! And because of this salvation we are now children of God who have citizenship in heaven.
When God grants us citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, we become “new creatures” (). He sends His Holy Spirit to indwell our spirits, and our bodies become His temple. The Holy Spirit begins to transform our sinful, worldly desires into those that glorify God. His goal is to make us as much like Jesus as possible in this life. We are given the power and privilege of exiting the world’s flawed value system and living for eternity. Being adopted into the family of God means that we become citizens of an eternal kingdom where our Father is the King. So, our focus turns toward eternal things and storing up treasure in heaven. God considers us ambassadors to this earth until our He sends for us and we go home.
We live for a short time in these physical bodies, anticipating the bright future in our real home. While here, we share Abraham’s experience, living “like a stranger in a foreign country. . . looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” God has given us a citizenship that commands a hearing and deliverance.
A citizenship that commands a hearing and deliverance
, 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. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why the Jews were accusing him, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
The discovery that Paul was a Roman citizen brought an immediate halt to the proceedings. Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately they ‘stood back’ and they were afraid, because he was a Roman citizen. Even the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains that ‘he had bound him, all without due process. Alarmed at how close he had come to flogging a Roman citizen, Lysias immediately ordered them to loose him. You see, it was possible to arrest a Roman citizen who appeared to be a threat to public order, but it was illegal to inflict on a citizen ‘the disgrace of being led in public bonds. However, the commander still wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews and kept him in prison until he could use the Sanhedrin in an advisory capacity. Claudius Lysias did not seem to have progressed much beyond the state of confusion he had expressed in 21:33–34, yet he continued to pursue the truth about Paul. So, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Although the authority of a Roman military officer to order a formal trial by the Sanhedrin has been questioned, it is possible that an informal meeting could have been required, ‘to serve as a fact-finding (and fact-understanding) commission, allowing it to make inquiries and present a report to him’.
He realized that the Jewish authorities should examine a matter of Jewish law, and he hoped to determine what he should do with Paul by their decision. The Council was doubtless glad to be summoned, giving its members the chance to present their case against Paul. So, the commander brought Paul and had him stand before them.
He used his Roman citizenship only as a means of seeking fair treatment when misrepresentation of his social and political significance had serious implications for the public standing of the mission. In Jerusalem, he was particularly concerned that the real reasons for Jewish opposition should be understood and identified, even by the Romans.
We persecuted believers today might similarly seek legal and political protection, where mob violence and personal attacks for religious reasons are overlooked by the authorities or are justified for various reasons. Like Paul, they may also seek to obtain a proper exposure of the issues involved in opposition to their pattern of life and testimony to Jesus. But Christians have nothing to fear from systems that seek justice, for ‘if a Christian has integrity, then the state has nothing to fear from the believer and the believer can make the case that nothing that has been done is designed to undercut that state’s right to both exist and create a society of law, order, and peace’.
, Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. There was once a great missionary by the name of George Muller
George Müller (1805–1898) was born in Kroppenstaedt, Prussia, the son of a tax collector. Before he became a Christian, George had the reputation of a liar and a thief. After accepting Christ as his personal Savior, he was used in remarkable ways though he had no formal financial backing he was bless by God to provide for over 10,000 orphans during his lifetime.
When a man asked George Mueller the secret of his service, Mueller responded: “There was a day when I died, utterly died; died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied to show myself approved only to God.”
Paul said something similar in the New Testament,
18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. To Live Is Christ Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. -
20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. -