Paul, Romans and Legal Rights

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 22:22-29

As Paul addressed the mob, things went along for a short time in calm, and then he mentioned taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, and the mob went wild, demanding Paul’s murder. The Roman commander ordered Paul taken into the barracks where he ordered Paul to be interrogated.

At this point in the story, it is interesting to note that in the Roman worldview, the victim of a violent attack by a mob is arrested and interrogated, while the perpetrators of the violence are not; obviously this Paul guy did something, let’s make him tell us what he did.

Paul was to be encouraged to be forthcoming by flogging. This was the same kind of thing done to Jesus before His crucifixion; Paul was stripped naked, and his hands were tied to the top of a high post. If the post was high enough, his feet would actually have been off the ground, and then he would be struck repeatedly with a leather whip that was weighted down on the ends with bits of bone and rock that would rip his flesh apart… while being asked questions. This would have been by far the most severe torture he had ever endured up to this point, and it would likely result in lifelong injury or death if it went on long enough.

I have often been accused of having a rather odd sense of humor, and with that in mind I tell you that what happens next strikes me as one of the funniest scenes in all of Scripture; there is naked Paul tied to this post, his feet probably off the ground, and he asks a question…

“Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” (22:25b)

The centurion who was tasked with getting a confession from Paul got a bit of a shock with that innocent little question and went straight to his commander, who received a shock of his own, and went directly to Paul:

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

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

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

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. (22:27-28)

 

The commander’s comment in 22:28 can be taken more than one way, but for me it looks like kind of an insult, as though he were saying that he had to pay a lot to become a citizen and now anybody can be a citizen. Whatever was going through his mind, Paul had the higher status, having been born a citizen. Notice that the men who were about to commit a serious crime got out of that room “immediately” and Luke tells us the commander himself was “alarmed”; this had been a close call for all concerned.

Now the Roman commander had a call to make: What was he going to do with Paul? We’ll find that out next time, in what I think is another one of the funniest scenes in Scripture…

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After the Purification

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 21:27-22:21

When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

Acts 21:27-29

With these words, the riot begins. In reading them, we cannot but notice that what served as the catalyst to all that would follow was no misunderstanding, for what we have here is a bald faced lie, followed by a substantial misrepresentation. In fact, if you look closely, it isn’t an appeal based upon a religious difference, it is an appeal based upon national pride and cultural identity; no sir, this is no mere doctrinal dispute.

The crowd goes berserk, and Paul is beaten with intent to commit murder in cold blood.

The Roman commander on duty responds quickly and leads his soldiers into the fray. As one might expect of Romans, they quickly place Paul under arrest, and with great difficulty, they manage to get him out of the crowd’s grip. As they proceed away from the mob, Paul asks to be allowed to address the crowd, and remarkably, the commander agrees…

Luke records his words in 22:3-21; he tells the people of his birth and heritage as a Jew among Jews, of his training, and of his bloodthirsty pursuit of Christians. He tells of his mission to Damascus to persecute in that city, and of how the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him on the Damascus road, telling them all about that experience and of his call to bring the good news to faraway places; the crowd remained silent up to this point, but Paul would never finish telling his story…

It would seem that there was a spirit in play on that fateful day, a spirit that was not at all a holy one. What happened next?

For that dear reader, we will have to wait until next time…

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There are instances under the sun…

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Don Merritt

…that really make you wonder what is going on. I happened across one of those incidents recently, an incident that has reminded me of why I have little confidence in human institutions… and no, I’m not referring to anything you have heard about or seen on the nightly news.

It seems that a few weeks ago, a young lady checked into a Davenport, Iowa hospital to have a baby. Actually, she was there to have her labor induced early because of pregnancy complications. She did what every other expectant mom does, she signed all of the forms they gave her and went where the hospital personnel told her to go and let the doctors and nurses practice their professions. The next day, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, and all was well. The day after that, mother and child were discharged from the hospital; everything was still going along nicely for the next day or two, when she received a telephone call…

This particular young woman is a new single mom who shares an apartment with a female roommate, but after her delivery, she was spending a few weeks at her parents’ house so she can have some help with the baby until she can make better living arrangements; not an ideal situation to be sure, but there it is.

The call she received was from her roommate telling her that the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) had just been pounding on her door demanding to see the young lady and her newborn child immediately. Apparently they were very forthcoming with information, having told the roommate that they were investigating allegations of illegal drug use and child abuse on the part of the new mother, resulting from information provided to them by the hospital about a drug test they had given the newborn. Both young women were paralyzed with fear, for they had both heard tales of horror from other single moms who have had dealings with DHS.

The next day, DHS returned to the apartment; then the threatening phone calls began.

A few days later, she discovered what DHS was talking about; the drug test of the baby revealed that the baby had tested positive for the pain medication that his mother had been given by the doctors during the course of her delivery, which according to DHS is a cause of action to investigate child abuse, even though mothers are given drug tests before they receive any medication, and in the case of our young lady, that test was completely clean, according to the mom’s doctor who attempted to intervene with DHS; sadly DHS didn’t accept the doctor’s calls, while the hospital claimed they have no responsibility to intervene with the exculpatory information, and DHS claimed that no intervention would matter anyway, for the law does not allow a child abuse investigation to stop based upon anything other than meeting all statutory requirements, even if they find evidence that the original report was inaccurate, erroneous, fraudulent, incomplete or misleading.

Yep, there are instances under the sun that really make you wonder what is going on…

Anybody want to have a baby in Iowa?

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Paul’s Arrival in Jerusalem

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 21:17-26

When Paul arrived in Jerusalem he was warmly greeted, and the next day he reported to James and the elders of the church about his adventures among the Gentiles. They received his report with joy, and no doubt were also happy to learn that he was not guilty of the things that were being said about him in Jerusalem, for it would seem that many Jewish Christians had been told that Paul was telling Jews in faraway places that they should not observe the Law of Moses.

We know from Paul’s letters that he often spoke highly about the law, we also know that he often spoke harshly about Jews who insisted that Gentile believers be circumcised, and that Paul himself claimed that he was not under the law as a Christian, but that he observed the law when dealing with Jews, and not when dealing only with gentiles. At no point in his letters or recorded remarks does he advise Jewish Christians not to live according to the Law.

As you see, there are some fairly fine lines here, and one might understand how a Jewish Christian might misunderstand Paul’s position… especially when his position was deliberately misrepresented by those who sought to discredit him.

James proposed a solution to this problem: Paul could join in a purification rite which would be a very public demonstration that Paul had not rejected Jewish law or custom; surely this would convince anyone who harbored a genuine misunderstanding about Paul’s teaching that he had not done the things he had been accused of; Paul quickly agreed to this and participated, in accordance with Jewish practice.

What follows demonstrates to us very clearly that there was something much more sinister afoot than a simple misunderstanding…

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Paul Sails to Jerusalem

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 21:1-16

After the long farewell to the elders from Ephesus, Paul and his party returned to the ship and set sail. Much of this passage tells of the ports of call along the way, and in some instances of ports where Paul and his party were able to meet with other believers while the ship was loading or unloading cargo. It would seem that everywhere they went; Paul was warned not to go to Jerusalem.

Luke has not told us why Paul was so intent upon visiting Jerusalem as opposed to returning to Antioch and reporting to the elders there in the church that had actually commissioned his journey; we can only speculate about his thinking. Yet whatever his reasons were, he was determined in spite of the warnings that the Holy Spirit was giving him.

They arrived in the port city of Caesarea where a prophet by the name of Agabus gave Paul yet another warning with a dramatic illustration of what would happen to him in Jerusalem and everyone begged him once again, not to go:

When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” (21:12-14)

Looking at this moment in purely human terms, it would be easy to conclude that Paul was acting rashly, that he was just being stubborn; we might even wonder if he had some kind of martyr complex. Oh I know that we really won’t confine ourselves to this moment, since we have all read further in the story of Acts, not to mention through Paul’s letters, and we know that the ultimate result was that the Gospel would go to places it might not otherwise have been, and that letters were written that are now part of the Scriptures, that might not have otherwise been written.  Try to step back from all of that and ask yourself a question: If the Holy Spirit was leading Paul to Jerusalem, then why was the Holy Spirit warning him not to go there?

At this point in the story, in spite of all the nice little “Sunday school” answers we have heard over the years, there really is no way for us to know; perhaps Luke will give us some clues in the chapters that follow… or perhaps Paul was making a big mistake, and God used him to spread the Gospel anyway…

One thing however is certain, Paul’s companions finally gave up trying to talk him out of the trip, and left everything to God’s will, for they were willing, when all was said and done, to place their faith in God.

I would suggest that this is a pretty good lesson for us to learn as well.

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A Sober Farewell, part 4

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Don Merritt

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Acts 20:32-35

With these words, Paul concludes his farewell to the elders of Ephesus. By committing them to God and “the word of his grace”, Paul is reminding them that it is only through their relationship with God and the truth of His gospel that they will grow and prosper spiritually and thus be sustained through the challenges they will face. So it is with us today…

Then he turns to an area of temptation that cannot be avoided for those who find themselves in a position of leadership; he reminds them of the fact that at no time over the past three years has Paul of his companions ever asked for any enrichment financially. Rather, he reminds them that it was by the work of his own hands that all of his party was sustained. Notice that he says that it is by “hard work” that they help the weak. In this, Paul is not referring to those who are poor or disadvantaged in monetary terms, but rather it was the elders themselves who were the “weak” ones, for this is not a monetary admonition as much as it is a spiritual one. In fact, the really interesting, and frankly significant aspect of this admonition is that it was by his hard work to pay his way that he supplied the spiritual needs of his (spiritually) weak brothers, for he took the earthly element of money completely out of the picture by hard work.

I mention this because it is entirely counter-intuitive for most of us today, for so great is our attention to money and material things. Once again, notice that throughout the entire farewell, Paul’s emphasis has been entirely on spiritual concerns, and not those of this world.

Luke ends the section in vv. 36-38 with their last tearful moments together, and then Paul heads for his ship, never again to see these dear ones. Luke picks up in chapter 21 with Paul’s journey to Jerusalem, where a whole new set of adventures await his arrival.

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A Sober Farewell, part 3

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Don Merritt

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Acts 20:25-31

Bad Moon Rising

Paul begins this part of his farewell by telling the Ephesian elders that they will never see him again, and as we see in Acts 21:11, he has in mind a prophecy about coming troubles in Jerusalem, to which he is about to travel. He continues by warning them that they will be dealing with “savage wolves” that will come upon the church after he leaves. Clearly, these “wolves” are false teachers, many of whom will arise from among the believers themselves, who will seek to lead the entire flock astray.

Looking at these verses, we can see that Paul has been warning the leaders about this for quite some time, and while his presence has kept false teaching at bay for three years, it will soon be up to them to protect their flock as a shepherd protects his. In all of this, Paul makes a curious point: He is not to blame for what is coming, precisely because of his continual warnings, and the fact that he has ensured that they all understand Gods entire will. Interestingly, this carries with it the implication that God’s will for them and the church is that they be tested by false teaching, which is not the way we usually understand such threats today.

In any case, as we know from Paul’s letters later on, that trial did sweep through the churches of Asia.

Next time, Paul completes his farewell and prepares to sail…

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Photo of the Week: July 6, 2016

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Don Merritt

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Crazy dogs, fireworks and insomnia

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Don Merritt

NOTE: This post originally ran here 4 years ago, and I thought it might be fun to share it again.

Never be fooled by an innocent little face, this dog is a madman!

…and I must add that cute only goes so far!

Over the past several nights, people in the area have been testing out their fourth of July fireworks, including firecrackers, cherry bombs and M-80’s.  They begin in the afternoon and continue throughout the evening, making this crazy mutt go more and more insane.

Oh, and did I fail to mention what happens when the big fireworks show kicks off at around 9:30 or so?  Bedlam!

Running around the house, jumping up on people, panting, whining, scratching, ripping things up…  Does it ever end?

When things finally wind down sometime after 11, he settles down… and then the neighborhood dudes with firecrackers resume their assault on the night.  Bedlam reigns in the house into the wee hours.  The dog jumping on your face just about the time you think you might get to sleep some time after 3 am… (isn’t there an ordinance or something about shooting off firecrackers at 3 am?)

In our house, the week of the fourth of July each year is sometimes called “Nights of Rage”

Oh, how much fun this is!

Yes, I know this is not like my usual post, but who can think when they haven’t slept in days? Hopefully the folks in the area will run out of either ammo or money soon…

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A Sober Farewell, part 2

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Don Merritt

And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Acts 20:22-24

Paul’s Mindset

Paul’s mindset now comes into the discussion as he tells the elders about his intention to go to Jerusalem. He says that he doesn’t know what may happen to him there, and that everywhere he goes the Holy Spirit warns him of hardship and prison, and then he makes the statement that is the key in understanding his way of thinking: his life means nothing to him.

In several of his letters, Paul speaks of putting self to death, of life by the Spirit as opposed to life by the flesh, of the “old man” as opposed to the “new man”.  As you know, each of those passages is about mindset, about setting aside selfish motivations and interests in favor of serving the Lord and serving other people. To Paul, this meant that we set everything aside and are all in for the Gospel… but what does it mean to us?

In my experience, when Paul talks about death to self, we talk about other selfish people. In passages where Paul uses the expression “Spirit” and “flesh”, it seems that we talk a lot about the sins of others. When he talks about the new man and the old man, we like to talk about the shortcomings of others. When Paul talks about how he is all in for the Gospel no matter what the cost, we like to talk about the plans we have for next week that make it impossible for us to serve.

OK, maybe you’re right; maybe I’m painting with a broad brush. Yes, fine, maybe I’m being a little too direct… but you aren’t going to tell me that you have no idea what I’m talking about are you? You did notice that I used the word “we” didn’t you?

Yep, you’re absolutely right: Paul was an apostle, and they are kind of special. None of us are apostles, so maybe we don’t have any reason to have that kind of mindset…

But we are leaders, aren’t we?

Here’s a scary thought: This short paragraph is the set up for what he is about to say to the leaders from Ephesus… I’ll bet you can’t wait to see what he said next!

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