Born a Citizen

Acts 22:26-29 
26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.” 27 Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.”  28 The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”  29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

Paul used the law as a way not to avoid mob violence, but to further give a defense of the hope in Jesus and the words of life that are the gospel.  So fear in the Roman ranks caused the beatings to stop and the rule of law and its consequences to surface.  This was all part of God's work to move Paul safely elsewhere to give his defense of the gospel to many more besides the mob at hand.  The sovereignty of God fills the pages of Acts here as it does throughout the Bible.