The apostle's undaunted courage had been fully manifested during the time that had elapsed since the Romans had

intervened, and the centurion recognised that this was no mere evasion, or a dishonest attempt to gain time.

Moreover, he knew that to claim Roman citizenship falsely was often punishable by death (Suet. Claud. 25).

To bind a Roman, and to scourge him uncondemned, broke two laws, the Lex Valeria and the Lex Porcia, and

there was also an edict of Augustus prohibiting the application of torture generally. Describing this same period

under the heading `Festus succeeded Felix', Josephus writes, in his `Wars of the Jews':

`Florus ventured then to do what no one had done before, that is, to have men of equestrian order whipped, and

nailed to the cross before his tribunal; who, although they were by birth Jews, yet were they of Roman dignity

notwithstanding' (Jos. Wars. ii: 14, 9).

The fear that possessed the chief captain `because he had bound' Paul, does not refer to the fact he had taken

Paul into custody, but rather to the illegal binding preparatory to scourging. What was called `militaris custodia', by

virtue of which a Roman citizen awaiting trial could be chained by his right hand to the left hand of his guard, was

provided for by Roman law. The fact that Paul was consigned to a centurion afterwards indicates that he was put

into this type of military custody.

The effect of Paul's words upon the centurion was immediate and pronounced. As a great Roman writer has

said: `How often has this exclamation, I am a Roman citizen (Civis Romanus Sum), brought aid and safety among

barbarians in the remotest parts of the earth' (Civ. Verr. v. 57).

The centurion at once hastens to the chief captain's quarters, saying: `Take heed what thou doest; for this man is

a Roman'. The captain himself then comes back to this astonishing Jewish prisoner - whom he had once suspected

of being an Egyptian fanatic (Acts 21:38), and who spoke `Greek' and `Hebrew' with equal facility (Acts 21:37, 40)

- and asks: `Tell me, art thou a Roman?' (Acts 22:27). Lysias himself had the prænomen `Claudius' (Acts 23:26),

indicating that he had obtained his freedom during the reign of Claudius, and, looking at the apostle, and seeing

nothing to indicate either wealth or position, he says: `I know how much it cost me to get this citizenship'. Farrar's

note here is as follows: `Verse 28, Ego oida poso, D. Though unsupported by evidence, the colloquialism sounds

very genuine'. Alford's note reads: `For pollo, oida poso D (remarkable and possibly original, pollo being a gloss;

but if so, the genuine reading has been now overborne by the intruder').

Dio Cassius tells us that the civitas of Rome was, in the early part of the reign of Claudius, sold at a high rate,

and it is to this that Lysias evidently refers. The apostle's quiet rejoinder is given in verse 28: `But I was free born'.

We have no information concerning the apostle's parents apart from the scanty references that occur in his own

writings. The mere fact of being a citizen of Tarsus would not have conferred this privilege, for while Tarsus was an

urbs libra, or `free city', it was not a colonia, or `colony'. Besides, he had already revealed to the captain that he

was a Tarsian (Acts 21:39). For some reason unknown to us, Paul's father or one of his more remote ancestors must

have obtained the right of Roman citizenship.

The apostle's claim is too great to be resisted, and he is immediately released. The soldiers who were to have

tortured him, withdraw, and we read that `the chief captain also was afraid ... because he had bound him'.

Still anxious to obtain information upon which he can frame an accusation, Lysias next arranges for the apostle

to appear before the Sanhedrin: `On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was

accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear,

and brought Paul down, and set him before them' (Acts 22:30). Before considering the apostle's defence before this

council, let us first see how the section (Acts 22 and 23) is constructed.