Argument and prejudice.
We have here—
I. AN ADMIRABLE ARGUMENT. Paul, at the inspiration of the moment, made a powerful defense of his position. He showed:
1. That no one could enter into their feelings more perfectly than himself. Was he not a Jew by birth (Acts 22:3)? Had he not received a thoroughly Jewish education, at the feet of a Jewish master (Acts 22:3)? Had he not been absolutely possessed by a devotedness to the Law, and a corresponding hatred of the new "Way" (Acts 22:4)? Had they not the evidence in their own hands of the bitter and unrelenting persecution of which he had been the eager and active agent (Acts 22:5)? If, then, he was found advocating this hated "Way," it was not because he did not understand Jewish sympathies, nor because he had always been one of its votaries; quite the contrary.
2. That no one could possibly have weightier reasons for changing his mind than he had. First came a heavenly vision, arresting him in his path of persecution, and forbidding him to continue (Acts 22:6-11). Then came a powerful confirmation, in a miracle of healing of which he himself was the subject and of which a most honorable and estimable Jew was the instrument (Acts 22:12, Acts 22:13); and a further confirmation in the message with which he was charged (Acts 22:14-16). Then came a third influence of a powerful character in the shape of another manifestation, and a command, against which he vainly strove, to go out and work among the Gentiles (Acts 22:18-21).
II. A SENSELESS AND SUICIDAL EXASPERATION. (Acts 22:22, Acts 22:23.) Such was the violent antipathy in the minds of his audience to any fellowship with the Gentile world that all Paul's arguments went for nothing. This was such an opportunity as was little likely to recur, of having the facts of the case placed plainly and forcibly before their minds; it was a day of grace to them. But so utterly prejudiced were they that one word filled them with a senseless exasperation which stole from them the golden chance they had of learning the truth, and which riveted the chains of error and exclusiveness they wore upon their souls.
This defense of the apostle and this exasperation of his audience may suggest to us:
1. The fullness of the Divine argument. God "reasons with" us. He does so
2. The foolish and fatal anger which it sometimes excites. There are those who, when God speaks to them in nature, providence, or privilege, instead of lending their ear to his word and bowing their spirit to his will, are only angered and exasperated; they go still further away from him in increased alienation, in still more determined rebelliousness of soul. But so doing
"The will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us."
I. DIVINE ELECTION. "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee" (Acts 22:14). It will always be a difficulty to know what to think of the electing grace of God. But we are on safe ground when we say:
1. That God desires the well-being of every member of his human family. We may surely argue that it must be so; we may boldly affirm that it is so. Is it not written that God is one "who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4; see Ezekiel 18:23; Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9).
2. That he bestows special favors and privileges on some men; to some as not to others he gives intellectual faculty, material resources, educational advantages, domestic influences, providential guidance, knowledge of Christian truth in its purity and integrity, etc. These he "elects," or "chooses;" on them he confers distinguishing goodness.
II. A VISION OF THE RIGHTEOUS SAVIOR. "That thou shouldest … see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth" (Acts 22:14). To Saul there was vouchsafed a very special and peculiar manifestation of the risen Lord. In such wise as we do not, he saw the Just One himself and heard his voice. But Christ does present himself now to the sons of men, and he manifests himself as the Just One, as the Lord of righteousness. By a spiritual act we recognize Jesus Christ as:
1. That Being who is in himself the Holy and Righteous One, in whom is no trace of sin.
2. That Divine One who summons us to a new life of holiness and sacred service.
3. That Just One who, by his atoning death, has made the way open to our immediate justification, who has made it possible for us to attain to "the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Philippians 3:9). In the presence of him, the Just One, we are filled with shame; but by faith in his finished work we have acceptance with God and are accounted righteous (or, just) in his sight; and we yield ourselves to him and his service that his righteousness may be reproduced in us and in our human lives. Thus we come to do—
III. THAT WORK OF MAN WHICH IS THE WILL OF GOD. Paul was to "know his will" (Acts 22:14), and was to do that will by the accomplishment of his life-work, viz. by "being his witness unto all men." This, too, in our way and measure is to be our lifework, even as it was our Lord's (John 18:37). We are to bear witness of Christian truth by
this latter is to be experimental, such as is suggested by our own actual experience. Every Christian life is a failure if it be not an epistle read and known of all who are there to read it.—C.