Sermons Worth Stealing - Pt 15

And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 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?” Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God's high priest?” 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.’” 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.” (Acts 23:1-6 ESV).

Paul had just begun to speak to the Sanhedrin council, when the high priest unlawfully ordered him to be struck (it was unlawful to strike a man who had not yet been condemned). Paul correctly predicts Ananias’ demise in verse 3, as he will be killed by his own people at the start of the Jewish war. There are a lot of theories (total speculation, of course) about verses 4-5 and Paul’s disrespect for Ananias, but whatever the case, we should take Paul at his word that he did not know who he was addressing. It is noteworthy, however, how quick they were to point out that fact, yet ignore the willful violation made against Paul. At that point, he would have no question about whether he would receive a fair hearing from them. Paul then uses the fact that the Sanhedrin council was made up of both Pharisees and Sadducees to his advantage. The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection, but the Pharisees did, and the division between them because of it was great. Paul’s statement makes that division so sharp that it became violent (v. 6). The Roman tribune then feared that Paul would be torn to pieces, and had the soldiers remove him and take him to the barracks. Paul’s statement that set it in motion was “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;” and every word of it was true. Paul had been raised a Pharisee (cf. Philippians 3:5-9), and it was indeed because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the hope, that he was on trial. The Jews then sensed that Paul’s fate was slipping away, so more than forty of them conspired to kill him, taking an oath not to eat or drink until they had done so. Such an oath was a serious matter. But Paul’s sister learned of the plot and sent her son to warn him. Paul then sends his nephew to tell the tribune, Lysias. He then composed a letter to Felix the governor (verse 26-30), putting himself, of course, in a favorable light. At his orders, Paul gets an escort of two hundred soldiers to deliver him and the letter to Antipatris by the dark of night. Upon reading the letter and questioning Paul as to his birthplace, he ordered Paul held in Herod’s praetorium as he awaits his accusers for a hearing. This was to be the beginning of the greatest missionary work known. For Paul, the great news was that God was with him at every turn! He will be with us as well!