And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. (23) And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, (24) The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. (25) And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? (26) When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. (27) Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. (28) And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. (29) Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. (30) On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.
It is worthy remarking, that the Jews did not attempt to interrupt Paul, as long as he continued to relate the circumstances of his conversion: but, when he came to speak of the Lord's commissioning him to the Gentiles; their anger could not be any longer restrained. And, Reader! you may remark it, as one universal principle, which pervades the whole human race, by the fall. God's sovereignty in the call of his Church, as distinguished from the Adam-nature fall, is the subject of hatred in every man's breast, before that the Lord hath made him acquainted with the plague of his own heart, and the grace of God, in bringing him out of it. The Lord Jesus taught his disciples to expect this. He showed them, that in preaching these truths, they must look for the malice of the world; and not marvel at their hatred, John 15:18-21. And, agreeably to this standard of our Lord's, it is this doctrine, which calls forth the particular displeasure of the ungodly. Let the Reader remark it, as he passeth on in life, for it is worth his closest observation. Preachers of the word, yea, what in the present hour, are called Gospel preachers, if they throw into the back ground, the Lord's distinguishing love to his people; and never speak of the Lord's sovereignty, in the eternal choice of his Church, before all worlds; they may, and will, pass by, for the most part, without calling forth, as Paul here did, the outcry, and interruption of the world. But God's sovereignty, and Christ's special love, with the Holy Ghost's distinguishing grace; if these are insisted on before the people, depend upon it, these will rouse the resentment, and call forth the indignation, of all, who know nothing of these precious truths in their own souls. Yea, not only the ungodly world, but yet more pointedly professors of the Gospel, whose knowledge consists in head-apprehension, not heart-influence; these will be more bitter than even the openly profane. And nothing upon earth, can more decidedly shew, the blindness, ignorance, and prejudice of the human mind, untaught of God!
I cannot suffer the Reader to proceed, without calling upon him again in this place, as in the former Chapter, to remark, how the Lord, by his overruling providence, checked the Centurion's thongs, as he had done before the violence of the Jews, by the sight of the Roman Captain, from pulling his servant in pieces. It is very blessed to behold, what slender means the Lord at times makes use of to stop the enemy's hand. The want of sleep in king Ahasuerus, laid the foundation for the deliverance of the whole Jewish nation from destruction, Esther 6:1, etc. The dream of another Eastern monarch gave birth to the introduction of Daniel, and his companions, to the highest places, in the empire, Daniel 2:1 throughout. And here, the presence of this Roman Captain before the Jews, saved Paul from immediate death; and afterwards, the mere privilege of a Roman Citizen, from all the unfeeling cruelties of the Roman punishment. Reader! what a blessed thing it is, to eye Christ, as the Prophet saw him, behind the vast machine, of wheel within wheel, in the government of the Universe? Ezekiel 1:27-28. What a yet sweeter view in this contemplation is it, to behold the Church, and all its concerns, with every individual of it in the Lord's hands? Ephesians 1:22. And, what a still higher source of comfort, holy joy, and confidence, than all, is it, when by faith, full, firm, ardent, unceasing faith, we can live upon Christ, in the assurance, that in this government, and this concern of the Lord Jesus, he is unceasingly engaged for his people, and extending to the least, as well as the greatest, all that we are interested in, for life, and death; and time, and eternity!
It should seem, that Paul's freedom, arising from birth, could not have been as was usual with the children of the Romans, in the city of Rome, for Paul was born, as he had just before said, at Tarsus, and was a Jew. But Tarsus was made a free city by Mark Anthony, so reported by Pliny; and hence his birthright. Be this however as it might be, it was a very happy circumstance in this critical moment, and the Apostle, though prepared for bonds or death, had an undoubted right to avail himself of his citizenship, that he might escape unjust oppression.