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Bible chapter guide
Acts 22
From the steps of the barracks Paul addresses the crowd in Hebrew and tells of his conversion on the road to Damascus. When he speaks of being sent to the Gentiles, they shout him down; about to be flogged, he says he is a Roman citizen.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Standing on the barracks steps, Paul quiets the crowd by speaking in Hebrew. He tells them he was born in Tarsus, brought up in Jerusalem under Gamaliel, and persecuted the Way until a light stopped him on the Damascus road and Ananias restored his sight. They listen until he says the Lord sent him far away to the Gentiles; then they shout that he should not live. The commander orders him examined by flogging, but as he is being tied Paul asks the centurion whether it is lawful to scourge an uncondemned Roman, and the commander, who bought his own citizenship, learns that Paul was born a citizen.
What the lab shows, and where to look
The lab has little of its own for this chapter, because Paul is standing in one place. Paul's Roads folds the speech into the 'Jerusalem: arrest' stop, which spans 21:27 to 23:11. To see the places the speech looks back on, open Tarsus, his birthplace, then switch to the early years route: 'The Damascus road' stop dates the conversion to about AD 34, and the first stop in Jerusalem is Stephen's death, which Paul recalls in 22:20.
- Jerusalem: arrest (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Tarsus · Paul's Roads
- The Damascus road (Early years) · Paul's Roads
- Jerusalem: Stephen (Early years) · Paul's Roads
Questions people ask
How was Paul a Roman citizen?
By birth. When the commander says he paid a great sum for his citizenship, Paul answers that he was born a Roman (22:28), so his father or an earlier ancestor already held it. How the family got it, the text does not say.
Why did being a Roman stop the flogging?
Roman law protected citizens from being beaten or tortured without a trial, and Roman writers such as Cicero treat flogging a citizen as an outrage. Paul's question is phrased exactly on that point: a Roman, and not found guilty (22:25). The commander was alarmed because he had already had him bound (22:29).
What language did Paul speak to the crowd?
Acts calls it 'the Hebrew tongue' (21:40; 22:2). Many scholars think Luke means Aramaic, the everyday language of Judea, which Greek writers often called Hebrew; others take it as Hebrew itself. Either way the point is the same: the crowd fell quieter because he spoke their own tongue rather than Greek.
See it in the Labs
- Paul's RoadsThe Damascus road (Early years) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsJerusalem: arrest (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen