Acts 21-22: Dual Citizenship

We follow Paul’s final steps toward Jerusalem as warning after warning lands, and he still chooses obedience over safety. Then we watch the tension explode into a mob, a public defense, and a moment where Paul’s citizenship changes everything while challenging us to think about our own. 
• Paul’s journey from Tyre to Caesarea and the repeated Spirit-given warnings 
• Agabus’ prophecy and Paul’s willingness to suffer for Jesus 
• Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem and the elders’ plan to address rumors 
• The temple accusation that sparks a riot and nearly kills Paul 
• Paul’s defense in Aramaic and his retelling of the Damascus road conversion 
• The crowd’s reaction to the mission to the Gentiles 
• Paul’s Roman citizenship halting an unlawful interrogation 
• The closing reflection on dual citizenship and Christian boldness 

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Transcript

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This is the Out Loud Bible Podcast, and this is Mike. Well, last time in the Book of Acts, we read about how Paul and his companions were trying to get back to Jerusalem after a missionary journey,

Setting Up Paul’s Final Journey

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hopefully in time before the Pentecost feast. Now he had said that the Holy Spirit had warned him multiple times that he was going to face persecution and rough times in Jerusalem, yet he knew he had to go there anyway. And so he didn't have time to stop in Ephesus to visit his church friends there, but he did invite the elders of that church to come visit him, and there they had a really heartfelt, very sad meeting where he told them they would never see him again. And after a lot of hugs, kisses, and goodbyes, they're on their way again. We pick up that story here in Acts chapter 21. We'll read Acts 21 and 22 in the New English translation today. Well, after we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea, and sailing a straight course we came to Kos. On the next day to Rhodes, and from

A Spirit Warning In Tyre

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there to Patara, and we found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went aboard and put out to sea. After we sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre because the ship was to unload its cargo there. After we located the disciples, we stayed there seven days. They repeatedly told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. When our time was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us outside of the city, and after kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. And then we went aboard the ship, and they returned to their own homes. We continued the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemaeus, and when we had greeted the brothers, we stayed with them for one day, and on the next day we left and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. And while we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it,

Agabus Predicts Chains In Jerusalem

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and said, The Holy Spirit says this, this is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles. When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem, and then Paul replied, What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except the Lord's will be done. After these days we got ready and started up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea came along with us too and brought us to the house of Nason of Cyprus, a disciple from the earliest times with whom we were to stay. And when we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly, and the next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were there. When Paul

Meeting James And A Temple Vow

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had greeted them, he began to explain in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard this, they praised God. And then they said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they're all ardent observers of the law. They've been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews now living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, or live according to our customs. What then should we do? They will no doubt hear you've come. So do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may have their heads shaved, and then everyone will know there's nothing in what they've been told about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with the law. But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we've written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality. Well, then Paul took the men the next day, and after he had purified himself along with them, he went to the temple and gave notice of the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them. When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia who had seen him in the temple area stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, Men

Accusations Spark A Violent Mob

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of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this sanctuary. Furthermore, he's brought Greeks into the inner court of the temple and made this holy place ritually unclean. For they had seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, in the city with him previously, and they assumed Paul had brought him into the inner temple courts. The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together, and they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple courts, and immediately the doors were shut. While they were trying to kill him, a report was sent up to the commanding officer of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd, and when they saw the commanding officer on the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the commanding officer came up and arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He then asked who he was and what he had done. But some in the crowd shouted one thing and others something else, and when the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth because of the disturbance, he ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks. When he came to the steps, Paul had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob, for a crowd of people followed them, screaming Away with him. As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commanding officer, May I say something to you? The officer replied, Do you know Greek? Well, then

Paul Speaks From The Steps

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you're not that Egyptian who started a rebellion and led the four thousand men of the assassins into the wilderness some time ago. Paul answered, I'm a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please allow me to speak to the people. When the commanding officer had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and gestured to the people with his hand. When they had become silent, he addressed them in Aramaic. Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense that I now make to you. When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter, and then Paul said, I'm a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city,

Paul Tells His Conversion Story

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educated with strictness under Gamaliel, according to the laws of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today. I persecuted this way, even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. And as I was en route and near Damascus, about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me, and then I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus, the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting. Those who were with me saw the light, but didn't understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me, so I asked, What should I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Get up and go to Damascus, and there you'll be told about everything that you've been designated to do. Since I couldn't see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus, led by the hand of those who are with me, and a man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, came to me and stood beside me, and said to me, Brother Saul, regain your sight. And at that very moment I looked up and I saw him, and then he said, The God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a command from his mouth, because you will be his witness to all people of what you've seen and heard. Now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name. When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance, and saw the Lord saying to me, Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me. I replied, Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues who believed in you. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing nearby, approving and guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him. And then he said to me, Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Now the crowd was listening to him until he said this, and then they raised their voices and shouted, Away with this man from the earth, for

Rome Steps In And Citizenship Saves Him

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he shouldn't be allowed to live. And while they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust in the air, the commanding officer ordered Paul to be brought back into the barracks. He told them to interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash so that he could find out the reason the crowd was shouting at Paul in this way. When they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, Hmm, is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen without a proper trial? When the centurion heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it, saying, What are you about to do for this man's a Roman citizen? So the commanding officer came and asked Paul, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He replied, Yes. The commanding officer answered, I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money. But I was even born a citizen, Paul replied. Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen, and that he had had him tied up. The next day, because the commanding officer wanted to know the true reason Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them. We will see Paul's defense before the Sanhedrin next time, but for now, consider how Paul's dual citizenship gave him confidence and boldness

Dual Citizenship And Christian Boldness

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in these situations. He spoke the common language Greek, and he also spoke the language of the Jews, Aramaic, and when he addressed the Jews, he relied on his citizenship as a Jew from Tarsus and Cilicia to appeal to them and relate to them and have them listen to what he was saying. But then when he was speaking to the Romans, he spoke in the common tongue and relayed how he was a Roman citizenship and he had the rights thereof. We, too, if we belong to Christ, have dual citizenship. We're citizens of this world, we live here, but we also have citizenship in heaven. Paul himself writes this in his letter to the Philippians, Philippians 3.20, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our dual citizenship should give us boldness in interacting with people here on earth. Now, of course, we can relate to people as being citizens of this earth, and we can relate to the pain and the difficulties and the struggles, and we can talk to people about what life is like before Christ, and we know what it's like to live in sin and deal with the consequences of our own sin and other people's sin. And we can relate to people in that way, but with our citizenship in heaven, that can also give us boldness to live this life with that perspective in mind, that we know that we're not made for this. We're made and meant for more. We can boldly live this life on earth with a sense of hope and peace and faith in something that we can't see, which should inspire the people of this world to see that and wonder why we're able to do that, because they don't have that citizenship yet. And that might make some enemies in the meantime, that might make our life difficult in the meantime, but that's when our citizenship in heaven helps us give us the boldness to know that we don't have to yield to the world's ways of doing things, and there's nothing the world can do that can truly hurt us. What citizenship do you tend to lean more on? Your citizenship with the world, where you just try to not cause ripples and not cause conflict with the people of the world, just let them do their thing, or too much leaning on the citizenship of heaven, where I'm bound for heaven and I don't care what happens to the world, they can figure it out on their own. We have to manage the tension of both of these citizenships being true, our dual citizenship right now as we live on earth, but point everyone to the possibility of citizenship in heaven, so that when one day the earth will pass away, we will all be able to be citizens of the kingdom of God together. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day. We'll see you next time.