Acts 22:15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard
How do you see yourself? That is a question I asked myself today when I read Acts 22. We are living in a day of more confusion perhaps than ever before as people are trying to answer that question. Without being sarcastic or humorous, people don’t even know whether they are male, female, or something else. There was a time when knowing who you were was easier socially. A man could say, “I am Democrat, a Methodist, and an American,” or he might say, “I’m Republican, Baptist, and an American.” There was a time when those three would have neatly overlapped. The question is, “Do they now?” and more importantly, “What is the defining ethic that governs your life?” How do you see yourself?
The Apostle Paul was living in Rome, a cosmopolitan environment where people were citizens of the world. Of course, the world was Rome at that time. Had Paul been living in Moses’ day for instance, coming out of Egypt and the Exodus, there was a mass of people who had a common history, direction, and more, but in Paul’s day, to ask a Jewish man what defined him was a fair question.
This came to a head in Acts 22 when Paul’s own countryman brought him before the centurion, the Roman authority. Who would have more in common with Paul, the Roman authorities or people of his own blood? Who was Paul? Who you are is a very important question to answer for yourself because you will not know how to act until you know who you are. All of us know young people who are trying to figure out who they are. What kind of person are they? Where are they headed? What is their identity? You will not know how to act until you know who you are.
Who was Paul? He was Jewish, but he was not primarily Jewish. That was not his governing ethic. In Acts 22:1 he says, “Men, brethren, and fathers…” He is talking to those who were likewise Jewish, so they were brethren. He continues, “Hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.” He spoke in the Hebrew tongue because his audience would have understood and appreciated the Hebrew tongue, although the centurion nearby would not have understood a word of what Paul said.
Paul continues, “I am verily a man which am a Jew.” He goes on to give all his credentials. He trained at the feet of Gamaliel, a revered teacher. He was zealous and persecuted Christ’s followers. In verse 5 he says that the high priest can vouch for all that he has said about himself. He was a Jew, but he was not primarily Jewish and so much of what follows is to a Jewish audience. He speaks of meeting a man named Ananias who had “a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there.” That would have been important to the people listening to Paul.
Paul was not only Jewish; he was also a Roman citizen, but he was not primarily a Roman citizen. In verse 26, the centurion, the Roman official, heard that “this man is a Roman.” The centurion became frightened. He had put Paul in constraints and when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen under Roman law, he was afraid he would be in trouble for imprisoning a Roman citizen. Yet, Paul was not primarily a Roman citizen.
What defined Paul? Verse 13 tells us. He is recalling the story of how he came to Christ. Paul says that Ananias came to him and said, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.” Such familiar relationships, brothers, fathers, and so on, are talking about the national connection with other Jewish people, but here he is talking about something far different. He is talking about a man who was a brother, not simply because he was Jewish, but because he was a believer in Christ.
Paul was Jewish, but not primarily. He was a Roman citizen, but not primarily. He was a Christian, and was defined by that. Why does that matter? How did that affect the way Paul acted? Well, at this trial, Paul was on the defense but was not primarily a member of the defense. In verse 1 he says, “Hear ye my defence which I make now unto you,” yet what follows is a declarative message. Paul is not primarily on the defense here. He is not being offensive in personality, but he is going right at it.
So, he is not primarily the defense, nor is he on the prosecution. In verse 4 he recalls how “I persecuted this way [followers of Christ] unto the death,” yet Paul wasn’t prosecuting those who were believers in this trial. He was not trying to beat people over the head who did not know Jesus as the Christ or bully them into believing. He is not the defense or prosecution.
What is he? He is a witness. Verse 15 says, “For thou shalt be his witness.” Ananias related that Paul would be a witness of what he had seen and heard. What a wonderful thing! Paul didn’t have to be superhuman; he just had to have supernatural help. You don’t have to be brilliant or convincing in your personality to be a witness. You just need to tell what you know, what you have seen and heard. Paul was merely a witness empowered by God to affirm Christ.
How do you see yourself? I’m thankful I’m an American, but is that the governing ethic of my life? Does my political party govern the defining ethic of my life, or is it that I am a Christian, a believer? If you have been overseas, you know the feeling of seeing another American in that foreign country. If I saw an American in the Philippines, there is an instant attraction. Here is another American! But what if I met a Filipino believer in America? To whom would I be closer drawn, to the American in the Philippines or to the believer from the Philippines in America? How do you see yourself? It does matter, and you will not know how to act until you know who you are.