THE KING’S BUSINESS
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citizen. There was no morbid seeking of ■unnecessary disgrace and pain. The tying with the thongs was preparatory to an examination by torture. Paul did not fear the tprture if it was God’s will. No, he would have rejoiced in it for Christ’s sake, but he was not going to endure it if it was unnecessary. vs. 26, 27. “When the' centurion heard that (it), he went and told the chief cap tain (to the chief captain, and told him), saying, Take heed what thou doest: (What art thou about to do?) for this man is a Roman. (27) Then (And) the chief cap tain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? ( add, And) He said, “ Yea." No sooner did the centurion hear Paul’s declaration that he was a Roman than he hurried away to his chief exclaiming as he burst into his presence, “What art thou about to do ? for this mam is , a Roman.” Yes, centurion, he is a Roman and has a right on that account to command respect. The Roman government will make you smart for it if you do not give it. But he is more than a Roman, he is a Christian, a child o f God, and as such take heed how ' ybu treat him for his Master will hold -you responsible (cf. Matt. 25:34, 40, 41, 45). vs. 28, 29. “And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom (citizenship). And Paul said, But I was free born (am a Roman born). ’ (29) Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him (They then which were about to examine him straightway departed from him): and the chief captain also was afraid, after (when) he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him." The Roman law was very stern regarding any one who denied a Roman citizen his rights. The Roman government sought to magnify the dignity o f every Roman citizen and see to it that his rights were respected. It was illegal to bind a Roman uncondemned, and.Paul was a Roman. And the Roman colonel knew that he was liable to severe penalty for thus dishonoring a Roman citizen. The colonel had good occasion to be afraid. But
shouted) against him." What a ridiculous animal man is anyhow. Just look at these Jews, men o f supposed intelligence, crying out, throwing, off their clothes, casting dust in the air. But are men today so essentially different from these absurd Jews o f old? Tell them some truth they do not relish and what a spectacle they will make o f them selves. They will try to howl down the speaker and they will throw dust, perhaps nof into the air, but into one another’s eyes, and imagine that their howling and dust throwing is an unanswerable argument. Only the other day a gathering of, sup posedly, some o f the most intelligent men o f America tried to carry a point by shout ing pne hour and twenty minutes, and even some of our newspapers seemed to think that this was a convincing argument. Out side of the illuminating grace o f God, man is a fool. The Roman colonel did not know what to make o f the tumult. He naturally concluded that Paul was some infamous malefactor and had him marched into the castle for examination “by scourging.” v. 25. “And as they bound him with thongs (And when they had tied him up with the thongs), Paul said unto the centur ion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Romany and uncon demned?" The Holy-Spirit had predicted through various prophets as Paul went_ toward Jerusalem, not only that bonds and afflictions awaited him (ch. 20 :23), but that Paul should be bound at Jerusalem (ch. 21:11), and now we see these prophecies that had been' made along the way ful filled to the letter. How the various proph ecies delivered along the way must have risen before Paul’s mind, and how calmly he must have looked upon the thongs and said, “ This is just what God said. I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name o f the Lord Jesusv (cf. Acts 21:13), and then Paul must have remembered how they bound his Lord (John 18:12), and he did not grieve but rejoiced to know “the fellow ship o f His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). And yet Paul claimed his - rights as a Roman
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