Acts 23

Please read all of Chapter 23.

Paul is called in front of the Sanhedrin to testify with them to the Commander of the Roman regiment. Paul makes a strong statement to start the exchange...he says, "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." Which immediately draws a strong response from the High Priest, who has him struck. Why is this such a terrible thing for Paul to say?

Think about who Paul was again...if Paul had not gone off into this blasphemous sect, he could very well have sat on that council. He was a star student of the greatest Jewish teacher of the era. He was a rising star...and then he went off into the weeds, turning his back on Yahweh! And he has the nerve to stand in front of them and declare that he has a clear conscience? The pig!

Ananias has him struck immediately, despite the fact that he is doing it in front of the Commander. this shows something about Ananias and about the Jewish society of the time. It was very much against the rules to strike someone in the Temple. After all, this is God's house...not in the modern vernacular but literally it was God's throne room! Imagine if your pastor had your elders or church council beat someone up in the sanctuary! But Ananias was a man known for his cruelty and violence. His rise to power reflected the growing agitation and violence in Jewish culture of the day. With this rising violence, even in front of the very soldiers who were called upon to quell that violence, shows it was a growing problem in the land.

Paul responds to this strike by calling him a "white-washed wall". What does that mean? Some suggestions from our class spoke of a falseness or fake clean. Something pretty on the outside but not within. This is what Paul meant but to an even deeper level. Back in those days, to go to the Temple one had to been ceremonially clean. That means all the food restrictions and most importantly, to not have been around dead people or animals. To touch them would make one unclean until they could go through purification rites. To assist in this, they would whitewash the tombs, so it was apparent where they were. By calling him a whitewashed wall, Paul was saying that Ananias was unclean, even full of death inside...ouch. He is calling him a hypocrite...

So, Paul then calls to mind a fight that has been building in the temple for many years: The Sadducees vs. the Pharisees. Let's look at the two beliefs structures in the Sanhedrin:

Pharisees:
The party of the people - the were the power behind the synagogues
Believed the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament) and the oral traditions were both authoritative and binding. This includes what we think of as the Old Testament, with the prophets, history and other books.
Unclear on opinion on Freewill vs. predestination - road the middle ground
Believed in a hierachy of angels and demons
Believed in the resurrection of the dead
Believed in the immortality of the soul and eternal rewards
Were champions of human equality
Emphasized ethics, rather than theology

Sadducees:
The ruling party in the Temple - they held the ultimate power there
Denied the oral law
Literal interpretation of the Mosaic law
Absolute belief in the rules of Levitical purity
Believed in free will only
No resurrection, no life after death and no angels or demons
No spiritual world
Only the Pentateuch was scripture

(Main source for above: NIV Study Bible - chart p.1506)

An interesting note on the Pharisees vs. Sadducees battle: It only had a few more years of fighting left. When the Temple fell a decade or so later, the Sadducees fell with it, never to return. When God allowed His house to be cleaned, He did a thorough job...

Paul lights a match on this argument and immediately his accusers begin to fight among themselves. This is a battle that had been raging for years, so it did not take much. Paul definitely fit in with the Pharisees. Even if he did not start out believing, he had seen enough angels to make it awfully had to deny them! That very night, a angel is sent by God to assure him that he will survive Jerusalem and got to Rome.

The next day, a mob makes a bold public statement: they would fast until they can kill Paul. Note: they did not take a Niacean vow, just a public vow. It was not with God on their side, only themselves. Word is out about this vow. It gets to Paul's nephew, who tells Paul. He sends him to the Centurion who takes him to the Commander who listens...why would he listen to a prisoner? A few things come to mind: one is that Paul is a citizen and another is that maybe it is starting to appear to the local Roman leaders that Paul is not the one who is the issue here. Not that it mattered to much. If it would end the disturbance, they would eliminate him immediately...

The Roman response is to send Paul onto the Governor, Felix. He sends a troop of over 200 soldiers. Why so many? If he sends fewer, he is inviting an attack. And an attack on Roman soldiers is never acceptable. If the force is overwhelming, they may think twice...if they don't think twice, the force should be able to crush them! The chapter ends with Felix agreeing to hear the case....

May you be blessed as you consider where your theology falls...what do you believe about God?

God bless you today!

D