The Jews React and the Romans Intervene: Acts 22:19-29
June 9, 2024 Speaker: Bob DeWaay Series: Acts of the Apostles
Scripture: Acts 22:19-29
In this section Paul recounts how he told the Lord at his conversion that his willing collaboration in the stoning of Stephen and persecution of believers in Jesus might influence his former Jewish associates to believe in Christ. This is not what happened and Paul tells how Jesus sent him “away to the Gentiles.”
Hearing this claim, the leadership in Jerusalem created a tumult and stated that Paul should not be allowed to live. We discuss how this episode fits into the narrative unity of Luke/Acts. Simeon’s speech in Luke 2 which he gave “in the Spirit” set the stage for many things to follow. At the end Acts in chapter 28 we find the same themes of Messianic salvation and Jewish rejection.
One of Paul’s earlier speeches in Acts 13 shows the same theme. The Jewish leadership in Jerusalem was hostile to the claims that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and that He was sending His witnesses to the Gentiles to cause salvation to go to the ends of the earth. We discuss several passages in Isaiah that predict this. We also have a discussion about authorial intent and how the writer determines the meaning, not the readers.