Paul's Prison Epistles: Paul's ImprisonmentSample

Paul’s Arrest in Jerusalem: Acts 21:27-23:22

When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, he stayed with a believer named Mnason and was well received by the church. The next day Paul visited James who was the brother of Jesus and the author of the New Testament book of James. The elders of the church in Jerusalem also gathered to meet Paul.

Presumably, it was at this point that Paul delivered to the church the famine relief funds that he had collected during his third missionary journey. From Paul’s earlier letters such as Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians, we know that Paul was very concerned with the role these funds would play not only in aiding the poor Christians in Jerusalem, but also in reconciling Jewish and Gentile believers. 

Paul hoped that when the Jewish Christians received this gift from the Gentiles their thankfulness would make them more eager to receive the Gentiles as full brothers in Christ. But Luke’s account in Acts does not mention the delivery of the famine relief funds. Instead, it highlights certain concerns the Jerusalem church had regarding Paul’s ministry. Probably, this indicates that the Jerusalem church did not appreciate the famine relief funds as greatly as Paul had hoped they would.

As the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul knew that his actions would affect the way the Jewish Christians perceived not only him, but also the Gentile Christians. Probably, he hoped that by supporting the Nazirites and purifying himself he would accomplish what the Gentiles’ financial gift had not accomplished, namely, the warm reception of the Gentile Christians by the Jewish Christians. So, for the cause of Christ among the Jews, especially for the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles within the church, Paul submitted to the Jerusalem church’s judgment in this matter and began his week of purification. 

Near the end of Paul’s week of purification, he was spending time in the inner court of the Temple. The temple grounds included both an outer court and inner court. The outer court was separated from the inner court by a gate. The outer court was called the court of the Gentiles because people from all nations were permitted to enter it. But the inner court, the court of Israel, was reserved for Jews alone. Gentiles who entered the court of Israel were liable unto death.

While Paul was in the court of Israel, he was recognized by some Jews from Asia Minor. These were very likely unbelieving Jews rather than Christian converts from Judaism. Earlier, these same Jews had seen Paul with a man named Trophimus who had accompanied Paul to Jerusalem. Trophimus was also from Asia Minor, and the Asian Jews knew that he was a Gentile. So, when they saw Paul in the court of Israel, they wrongly assumed that Trophimus had also entered that court, and they were outraged.

In response these Jews roused the city against Paul, and an angry mob dragged him from the court of Israel intent on killing him. But when the commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem heard that the city was rioting, he rushed to quell the disturbance, chained Paul, and took him into custody. The commander, a man named Claudius Lysias, initially planned to flog Paul in order to compel him to explain the crowd’s anger, but relented when he learned that Paul was a Roman citizen. As a citizen of Rome, Paul was entitled to special legal protections including the right not to be chained or beaten without a trial.

The next day Lysias presented Paul before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body, in order to discover the allegations against him. Apparently, no witnesses came forward to testify that Trophimus had entered the court of Israel, so Paul was free to defend himself by explaining why so many Jews had taken offense to his teachings.

The next day Lysias intended to present Paul before the Sanhedrin once again in order to get to the bottom of the allegations against him. But Paul’s nephew warned Lysias that forty zealous Jews planned to ambush and kill Paul before he could reach the Sanhedrin. Now, since Paul was a Roman citizen, Lysias was bound to protect him. So, instead of sending him to the Sanhedrin, he transported Paul out of Jerusalem to the neighboring city of Caesarea Maritima and into the custody of Felix, the governor of the Roman province of Judea.