The Jews lay hold to the Almighty´s choice of Abraham and his seed, and stuck to the promises of God in His covenant with Moses. It was impossible for them to believe that God had suddenly admitted impure Gentiles into His fellowship. They considered the law, circumcision, the Sabbath, and the temple to be a guarantee of God’s presence with them. Consequently they flared up in rage, and refused to imagine that all of these precious treasures were useless, and that Gentiles could receive all these graces through faith alone, without any effort given toward keeping the law. This incredible assertion went far beyond the Jews’ understanding. As a result, they exploded, and saw in Paul a perverter of the truth, an ungrateful blasphemer, and an enemy of God. They demanded to have him destroyed at once. The growing anger of the multitude turned into a hellish uproar, such that they tore off their clothes and threw dust up in the air. Paul stood, however, preserved in the midst of the tumult. The Jews did not recognize Christ’s last call to repentance. Jesus had sent Paul to the people. Paul had not sent himself. The obstinate mind of the Jews, however, remained entirely hardened toward the drawing of the Spirit of God.
In his written record, Luke told the most excellent Theophilus, the receiver of his book, how the Roman officers had behaved honestly toward Paul once they learned that he was a Roman. They had intended to force a confession out of him by torture. The commander had not understood Paul’s speech, which was in the Hebrew language. He had, however, seen the wild, uncontrolled reaction of the Jews as a consequence of Paul´s appeal.
Though Paul was prepared to die, he still strived to remain a witness to Christ. He was prepared to use his rights, as a Roman citizen, to preserve his freedom. He told the officer, who had given command to have him tortured, of the danger that awaited him if he scourged a Roman citizen. Whoever scourged a Roman citizen without due process was immediately sentenced to death. So the commander of 1000 soldiers fearfully hurried to Paul, for he had bound a free Roman citizen with chains. We learn from the apostle’s defense that his parents had probably become Romans when Antony Caesar visited Tarsus with Cleopatra following their marriage. At that time he had bestowed Roman citizenship on all the natives of the city. Except for this privilege, the sharpened thongs would have pierced Paul, and the ploughers would have ploughed his back, just as they had done to Jesus.