Acts 22:1-48
On to Jerusalem
1 After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. 3 After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. 4 Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. 6 After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.
7 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. 8Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
15 After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
Paul’s Arrival at Jerusalem
17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”
26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.
Paul Arrested
27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.)
30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”
Paul Speaks to the Crowd
37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”
“Do you speak Greek?” he replied. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?”
39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”
40 Having received the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:
St. Luke writes about Paul and his travels throughout the Acts of the Apostles...Chapter twenty one is one that very much sums up Paul's missionary work, and his hard work to build new churches in different lands and spread the word of our Messiah...On this particular mission, Paul starts his travels from Cos to Rhodes to Patara then over to Phoenicia...Then going by Cypress, then on to Syria...From there to Tyre to Caesarea, then on to Jerusalem...In Jerusalem, he gets arrested...This is vintage, and typical Paul...He has energy and zeal, and is often arrested...Traveling in his day, is much different than it is today...
Educated by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), Paul knew the Old Testament Scriptures, and could debate both the Old Testament, and the New Testament as it was being formed (with Jesus' new teachings), with any theist, philosopher, rabbi, and academia in the world...He lets everyone know that the Old Testament pointed for One to come...That One would be the Messiah...Paul would argue, discuss, and debate, that Jesus was the Christ, and that He is and was the One to come...Jesus would die and be resurrected by His Father, our God...Paul would learn more and more from the early Christian followers, as he already knew much of the Hebrew Scriptures, and the nuances and writings that were pointing to the long awaited Messiah...
In Jerusalem, Paul gets arrested, because some of the Jews saw discussing with some Greeks near the Temple area...Since Gentiles were banned from some of the areas in and around the Temple, the Jews from the province of Asia, were wanting the Temple laws and rites be observed...No Gentile were allowed in the Temple area...Paul was always trying to teach the Gentiles more and more about God and His Son...But there is and was no evidence of Paul bringing anyone other than Jews into the Temple's restricted areas (that were reserved only for Jews)...
St. Paul was a world traveler, all the time spreading the good news, the gospel of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ...He was arrested and persecuted many times for teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ...Paul risk his life to teach about Jesus...While in Jerusalem Paul meets with James, brother of Jesus, and the other elders who are followers of Christ...James was called an apostle, but was not one of the Twelve disciples...James was one, if not the leader of the church in Jerusalem...Paul would no doubt learn from the brother of Jesus and the elders, and these early followers of Christ...So Paul was in the company and in regular contact, with the early Christian Leaders, the disciples, and the early apostles of Christ, whenever he made it back to Jerusalem...
Traveling, teaching, and speaking to crowd after crowd was Paul's mission...Jesus had given him those instructions on the road to Damascus, that he would be persecuted and would be the one who would be Jesus' chosen instrument to carry His name to the Gentiles, and their kings, and before the people of Israel (Acts 9:15)...Paul did not take these commands from our LORD lightly, but traveled and traveled in great zeal, attitude, and confidence to spread the gospel...After Paul was converted by Jesus, his faith would not waiver...