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THE KING’S BUSINESS
startled, not only by the language in which Paul made the request, but also by the tone and manner of it. He had taken Paul to be a notorious inciter of insurrection and a leader of the party called “the assassins.” He too, as well as the men from Asia had jumped at a conclusiorl. He saw one thing and inferred another. Paul declared his nationality and his citizenship. The colonel did not notice at the time the force of his saying that he was a citizen of Tarsus, and so got himself into trouble, for being a citizen of Tarsus he was a Roman citizen and should not have been subjected to the indignities to which he was subjected. Paul will tell him again in due time and get the consideration that the law required (cf. ch. 22:25, 29). Paul’s plea to speak is very urgent, “I beseech the:e.” The sight of that great crowd of his unsaved country men was an appeal to Paul’s heart that he could not resist; he .felt that he must speak. It mattered not that they had just sought to kill him, he loved them just the same. What an example of loyalty to Christ, love to man, and eagerness to preach the gospel anywhere and always. Paul got the desire of his heart. They let him down, and standing there on the stairs he beckons with his hand to the raging mob to be still. He has mastered his audi ence in a moment, “there was .made a great silence.” It was one of the most remark able displays of personality and power recorded in history. Paul at once drops the Greek and begins to speak the .language of the people. ' Would that all preachers would learn wisdom from Paul in this mat ter. Sunday, April 8 . Acts 2 2 : 1 - 9 . Here we have an account of Paul’s con version from his own lips. It is interest ing to compare it with that given by Luke in the ninth chapter, and Paul’s other account/ of his conversion in chapter 26. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is an incident of the profoundest significance, and it is well that we have three accounts of it. On one point there 'seems to be a flat contradiction between the account
given here and that given in Acts 9, Here it says (v. 9), “They that were with me heard not the voice of Him that spake with me,” but in Acts 9:7, it speaks' of “those that journeyed with him hearing the voice.” Is not that a flat out and out contradiction? Yes, it appears to be to the reader of the English Bible, but not to the careful reader of the original Greek. In the Greek testament the word rendered “voice” in this passage is in the accusative case, which, with the Greek verb here used, indicates the message which is heard, but in Acts 9 :7 the word rendered “voice” is in the genitive case, which, with the Greek verb used, indicates the person or thing which is heard speaking the message. Those with Paul did not hear the message, the ninth verse of this chapter tells us, but they did hear the sound, or voice, that spoke the message, though what the voice said was to them unintelligible, chapter 9 tells us. Thus this apparently flat contra diction wholly disappears when we. look carefully at it, and thus all apparent con tradictions in the Bible disappear when-we come to study them carefully enough. The trouble is not with the Bible, but with our superficial study. Much 'that passes for “advanced scholarship” nowadays is really lack of scholarship. The difficulties which “scholarship” brings forward are difficul ties that result from not having gone thoroughly and deeply enough into the matter in question. Paul begins his address with great kindliness and humility. He calls this murderous mob not bigots and ruffians, which they were, but “brothers and fathers.” He calls to mind how thor ough was the proof he had given that he was indeed a Jew. He calls the high priest himself to bear witness to his former zeal against Christians. Then he tells what led him to change and become a missionary of Jesus, instead of continuing a persécuter: he had met Jesus Himself. He had seen Him in the glory/ the One whom he had persecuted. If Christianity is not true, and if Jesus is not Divine and exalted into glory,'how can we account for this experi ence of Paul? It will not do to say the
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