Purified, Pounded, and Permitted to Speak

Acts 21:26-40

Arrested in the Temple

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

27 Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place." 29 (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

30 And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. 31 Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another.

So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. 35 When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36 For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, "Away with him!"

Addressing the Jerusalem Mob

37 Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, "May I speak to you?"

He replied, "Can you speak Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?"

39 But Paul said, "I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people."

40 So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,

Paul attended the seven days of purification at Jerusalem (John 11:55) before the Passover and ended that time by going into the temple to offer the obligatory sacrifice (Acts 24:17) of alms.  He purified hims according to the ceremonial law but may have been thinking of how Jesus cleansed him as he now celebrated the Lord’s Supper in communion with the Lord of the Sabbath whose blood and body he now celebrated as the other apostles did at that Passover meal in the upper room while He was still in bodily form on earth.  Some devout Jews saw him their and falsely accused him of teaching “all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place.”  They did not even listen to hear how the scriptures showed the gospel and work of Jesus the Christ their long-awaited Messiah in His people to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17) and come into the each of them as temples of the living God (Isaiah 66:1-2, Acts 7:48-49, 17:24-26, 1 Corinthians 3:16) in fulfillment of the words Jesus reminded him them of.  Instead, the angry religious zealots pounded Paul and sought to kill him as they did Jesus when He spoke the truth that upended their religious control over the people with added laws and deaf ears to the scriptures which they claimed to be defending.  The Roman garrison commander stopped them pounding Paul and chained his hands and feet to take him away as a criminal or instigator of the riot in the temple.  Just before being dragged into the Roman barracks, Paul asked and was given permission to speak in his defense as a citizen of Rome and Jew of Tarsus.  He then began his speech of defense of the gospel (Philippians 1:7, 1 Peter 3:15) as we must also always be ready to do in testimony of our Lord’s work in us and through us to bring this good news of reconciliation and redemption in Christ Jesus.  This means we should be looking for opportunities even in adversity and trials because we have been purified by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God whose blood we celebrate at the new Passover of our sins in the Lord’s Supper of communion and as we endure the verbal and physical pounding of disbelief and rejection based on our identity in Christ we too can seek permission to speak instead of fighting back and arguing our rights.  We can, however, use our rights as Paul did as a citizen to provide the opportunity to speak and even sometimes find protection from the angry mob with torches and pitchforks who oppose the gospel because they are unwilling to admit their sin and need of repentance to redemption.  Let us follow the methods and purpose of Paul in these times with faith in and strength of the acts of the Holy Spirit of God working in and through us (Matthew 10:19-20) to speak of the purification of the blood of Jesus and endure the pounding of resistance that some may hear with opened ear and turn to Him from sin and find eternal life.  We speak the words of this life.