Jer 13:15-17, 26:12-15, Joh 5:34, Act 22:0-23:11 | TSK | STEP

that.It is evident that the apostle considered his extraordinary conversion as a most complete demonstration of the truth of Christianity; and when all the particulars of his education, his previous religious principles, his zeal, his enmity against Christians, and his prospects of secular honours and preferments by persecuting them, are compared with the subsequent part of his life, and the sudden transition from a furious persecutor to a zealous preacher of the gospel, in which he laboured and suffered to the end of his life, and for which he died a martyr, it must convince every candid and impartial person that no rational account can be given of this change, except what he himself assigns; and consequently, if that be true, that Christianity is Divine.

that.

9:3-5; 26:12

Damascus.

Ge 14:15; 15:2; 2Sa 8:6

about.

26:13; Isa 24:23; Mt 17:2; Re 1:16

Saul.

Ge 3:9; 16:8; 22:1,11; Ex 3:4; 1Sa 3:10

why.

Isa 43:22-26; Jer 2:5,9; Mt 25:45; 27:23; 1Ti 1:13

I am.

3:6; 4:10; 6:14; Mt 2:23

whom.

26:14,15; Ex 16:7,8; 1Sa 8:7; Zec 2:8; Mt 10:40-42; 25:40,45

1Co 12:12,26,27

saw.

9:7; Da 10:7

but.

Joh 12:29,30

What.

2:37; 9:6; 10:33; 16:30; Ps 25:8,9; 143:8-10

there.

when.

being.

one.

a devout.

having.

6:3; 10:22; 2Co 6:8; 1Ti 3:7; Heb 11:2; 3Jo 1:12

Brother.

9:17; Phm 1:16

The God.

3:13; 5:30; 13:17; 24:14; Ex 3:13-16; 15:2; 2Ki 21:22; 1Ch 12:17

1Ch 29:18; 2Ch 28:25; 30:19; Ezr 7:27; Da 2:23

hath.

9:15; Jer 1:5; Joh 15:16; Ro 1:1; Ga 1:15; 2Ti 1:1; Tit 1:1

and see.

18; 9:17; 26:16; 1Co 9:1; 15:8

that.

3:14; 7:52; 2Co 5:21; 1Pe 2:22; 1Jo 2:1

hear.

1Co 11:23; 15:3; Ga 1:12

thou shalt.

1:8,22; 10:39-41; 23:11; 26:16-18; 27:24; Lu 24:47,48; Joh 15:27

of.

4:20; 26:20

why.

Ps 119:60; Jer 8:14

arise.

2:38; Ro 6:3,4; 1Co 6:11; 12:13; Ga 3:27; Tit 3:5; Heb 10:22

1Pe 3:21

calling.

2:21; 9:14; Ro 10:12-14; 1Co 1:2

when.

9:26-28; Ga 1:18

while.

10:9,10; 2Co 12:1-4; Re 1:10

saw.

Make.

Mt 10:14,23; Lu 21:21

for.

know.

beat.

martyr.

Stephen.

consenting.

Depart.

for.

9:15; 13:2,46,47; 18:6; 26:17,18; Ro 1:5; 11:13; 15:16; 16:26

Ga 1:15,16; 2:7,8; Eph 3:6-8; 1Ti 2:7; 2Ti 1:11

Away.

7:54-57; 21:36; 25:24; Lu 23:18; Joh 19:15

for.

25:24

cast.

7:53; 26:11; Ec 10:3

The chief.As the chief captain did not understand Hebrew, he was ignorant of the charge against Paul, and also of the defence which the apostle had made; but as he saw that they grew more and more outrageous, he supposed that Paul must have given them the highest provocation, and therefore, according to the barbarous and irrational practice which has existed in all countries, he determined to put him to the torture, in order to make him confess his crime.

21:31,32; 23:10,27

that he should.

25-29; 16:22,23,37; Joh 19:1; Heb 11:35

the centurion.

10:1; 23:17; 27:1,3,43; Mt 8:8; 27:54

Is it.By the Roman law, no magistrate was allowed to punish a Roman citizen capitally, or by inflicting stripes, or even binding him; and the single expression, I am a Roman citizen, arrested their severest decrees, and obtained, if not an escape, at least a delay of his punishment.

27,28; 16:37; 25:16

Take.

29; 23:27

But.It is extremely probable that the inhabitants of Tarsus, born in that city, had the same rights and privileges as Roman citizens, in consequence of a grant or charter from Julius Cæsar, from whom it was called Juliopolis. But if this were not the case, St. Paul's father, or some of his ancestors, might have been rewarded with the freedom of the city of Rome, for his fidelity and bravery in some military service, as Josephus says several of the Jews were; or his father might have obtained it by purchase, as in the instance of the chief captain.

examined him. or, tortured him.

24; Heb 11:35

the chief.

25,26; 16:38,39

because.

21:11,33; 23:28; 26:29; Mt 27:2

commanded.

5; 5:21; 23:15; Mt 10:17

Acts 23:1-11

1 As Paul pleads his cause,

2 Ananias commands them to smite him.

7 Dissension among his accusers.

11 God encourages him.

14 The Jews' laying wait for Paul,

20 is declared unto the chief captain.

27 He sends him to Felix the governor.

earnestly.

6; 6:15; 22:5; Pr 28:1

Men.

22:1

I have.

24:16; 1Co 4:4; 2Co 1:12; 4:2; 2Ti 1:3; Heb 13:18; 1Pe 3:16

Ananias.

24:1

to smite.

1Ki 22:24; Jer 20:2; Mic 5:1; Mt 26:67; Joh 18:22

God.God did smite him in a remarkable manner; for about five years after this, after his house had been reduced to ashes, in a tumult raised by his own son, he was besieged and taken in the royal palace; where having attempted in vain to hide himself, he was dragged out and slain.

thou whited.

Mt 23:27,28

for.

Le 19:35; Ps 58:1,2; 82:1,2; 94:20; Ec 3:16; Am 5:7; Mic 3:8-11

smitten.

De 25:1,2; Joh 7:51; 18:24

I wist.Soon after the holding of the first council at Jerusalem, Ananias, son of Nebedenus, was deprived of the high priest's office, for certain acts of violence, and sent to Rome, whence he was afterwards released, and returned to Jerusalem. Between the death of Jonathan, who succeeded him and was murdered by Felix, and the high priesthood of Ismael, who was invested with that office by Agrippa, an interval elapsed in which this dignity was vacant. This was the precise time when Paul was apprehended; and the Sanhedrin being destitute of a president, Ananias undertook to discharge the office. It is probable that Paul was ignorant of this circumstance.

24:17

Thou.

Ex 22:28; Ec 10:20; 2Pe 2:10; Jude 1:8,9

Paul.

Mt 10:16

I am.

26:5; Php 3:5

of the hope.

24:15,21; 26:6-8; 28:20

there.

14:4; Ps 55:9; Mt 10:34; Joh 7:40-43

4:1; Mt 22:23; Mr 12:18; Lu 20:27