The confrontation with Jewish leadership in Jerusalem comes again to center stage when the Roman commander ordered the chief priests and Council to assemble to hear Paul defend himself. Paul claimed to have lived his life with a clear conscience. We point out that this meant his dedication to the Law when living under it and his behavior as well as a Christian.

When the high priest commanded Paul to be struck, Paul strongly replied saying that God would strike him and called him a “whitewashed wall.” When informed that this was the high priest, Paul back tracked and cited OT scripture about not speaking against the leader of the people.

The issue over some time was their claim that Paul spoke against Moses and the temple. Paul showed he respected Moses’ teaching. He then stated that he was on trial for the hope of the resurrection of the dead.

This created a division in the angry crowd as the Pharisee’s believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural. Paul announced that he was a Pharisee.

The mob became more agitated and created great danger to Paul. This led to the Roman commander intervening to save Paul and will lead to appearances before Roman authorities. We discuss many matters revealed in the Bible which help us understand how we relate to civil and religious authorities.