Even as Paul has journeyed into all the Roman world since his conversion as an itererate zealous Jew traveling on a Roman road between JUDEA and SYRIA back in A.D. 37 DOCTRINE has been at the center of every CONFLICT as an obstacle to the Gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Saul of Tarsus (CILICIA or GALATIA in those days, according to Roman designation of its local governance) had REPENTED!
JESUS had drawn this great enemy and pharisaic sceptic of the Truth of Jesus’ resurrection across the line of DOCTRINE.
ATTACKS by other Jewish men continue to threaten Paul’s mortal life.
Paul who once persecuted the faithful followers of the Messiah Jesus had been the Lord’s boldest advocate of the Gospel. The Apostle now preaches a NEW COVENT to the JEWS which includes GENTILES!
Paul has been preaching the Gospel of Christ to the JEWS first, as is his custom.
7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.
A.D. 50 - These apostles of the gospel arrive in Corinth ACHAIA.
The Corinthians meet in the home of a disciple of Paul's teaching right NEXT DOOR to the synagogue where the Jews teach embellished Hellenized traditions of the OLD broken Covenant.
The Corinthian church will grow under Paul's NEW COVENANT teaching as he remains there until A.D. 51.
8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
Paul had encountered Christ perhaps fourteen years ago on a road to Damascus. NOW, as the Apostle sent out to all the world of the Gentiles is encouraged by the Lord in a dream just as he is expecting attack and opposition and possibly DEATH as had happened so many times before.
NO ATTACK will harm you
And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Attack, Trial, Case Dismissed
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying,
“This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”
Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus
Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus or Gallio was a Roman senator and brother of the famous writer Seneca. source: Wikipedia
In AD 51, he was chosen to serve as the proconsul of Achaea in Greece. - MORE.
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews,
“If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves.
I refuse to be a judge of these things.”
16 And he drove them from the tribunal.
17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal.
Did Sosthenes another appointed 'ruler of the synagogue' of the Corinthian Jews perhaps also believe the Gospel of the Messiah Jesus or did he simply fail the Jews in their attack on the Gospel of Paul?
But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
To Be Continued…
NEXT: Paul’s DEPARTURE & an important port on his return journey.
Many of us remain fascinated with the testimony of a witness impacting the outcome of a trial.
μάρτυς – martys – a witness
WE are simply spectators at a trial, not a familiar rerun of a fictional courtroom scene by Erle Stanley Gardner six decades ago, but an actual ancient trial of an accused defendant, Stephen, from two thousand years ago.
Like the legal dramas whose complex plots draw us in, we know that the defendant is innocent. His advocate, however, is supernatural and his jury includes dozens of Stephen’s accusing judges.
And the outcome? Preordained. (Think of it as ‘prerecorded’ by the Author of this great mystery.)
Contemporary summary of Stephen's defense thus far from Luke's transcript in Acts 7:
You men, brethren, and fathers of the council know the Law of Moses, by which you judge my words.
I, too, revere Moses and the Prophets, and present their testimony in my defense. WE the people of the Way of Jesus love the same LORD our God and Father, who appeared to Moses before we entered the land of God’s promise. The same Lord who appeared to David before his son brought the tabernacle of witness into the Temple of Solomon.
Acts 7: continued
49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And the earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord, ‘Or what place is there for My rest? 50 Was it not My hand that made all these things?’
Acts 7:49-50 NASB – Stephen quotes the Prophet Isaiah 66;1-2
Witness to a “stiff-necked people!”
Here is a courtroom scene with the witness Stephen called to the stand in his own defense. And he seems to confess guilt. But as in most murder mysteries, this twist in the plot is not quite what it seems.
Public trials laden with false testimony in the temples of stiff-necked people.
A thousand years later King Herod, who had sought to murder Judea’s Messiah, would build it back better through an alliance with Rome. The Empire already occupied Jerusalem and would soon burn down Herod’s temple in A.D. 70, less than two score years after a trial of thirty-year old Stephen in ~A.D. 33.
Here's some background investigation from Luke's first century account of Stephen's trial.
Many acts have taken place outside the courtroom of Jerusalem's one-hundred-twenty man council.
(This trial scene will play like a mid-sixty's [A.D. 60's] rerun to most of Luke's readerssome thirty years later.) Some 21st century Christians may be unfamiliar with this current explosive climate of the Capitol City of Jerusalem (in ~A.D. 63), not to mention our ongoing political turmoil in Rome (our Babylon of this era).
Two years earlier the trial of Jesus had been a political public charade staged by the same officials of these ‘whitewashed tombs‘ of the Sanhedrin.
Then the entire assembly of them set out and brought Him before Pilate.
And they began to bring charges against Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
one who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest
in an ethical sense
those who after his example have proved the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”
ACTS 1:9 – The instruction of Jesus to the Apostles – 1:10 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
Acts 4:33 NASB
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts of the Apostles 6:8 CSB
But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines,” and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen. They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
Then they secretly induced men to say,
“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moshe and God.”
Acts 6:9-11 Hebrew Names Version
And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said,
This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!
Acts 7:51 NLT – Stephen’s closing argument!
Does the prophet speaking with the face of an angel, a shining face like that of Moses coming down from the Presence of the LORD on Sinai, not have to speak the TESTIMONY of God’s truth?
Is Stephen’s WITNESS FOR CHRIST, even in the face of inevitable execution not gospel truth to Law-breakers?
Of course. By the Power of the Holy Spirit this is exactly what Stephen does as conclusion to his testimony
.
Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One,
Herod certainly would have had full support of Jerusalem's High Council when he had beheaded John the Baptist, who was witness to the LORD anointing the ministry of Jesus in the Jordan.
and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him;
you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
Acts 7:52-53 – Stephen’s closing argument to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem
Sentencing!
The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:56b NASB – a final witness of Stephen before the Sanhedrin
57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.
“Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have all the congregation stone him. Vayikra (Leviticus) 24 ::
False witnesses against Stephen would have been the first to cast stones against him! Not only were they without sin, but their stiff-necked opposition to the Son of God had brought them by their own testimony to the place of executing an angelic saint of Stephen.
Their own leaders had arranged false testimony to shield their own sins and covetous clinging to whitewashed leadership image of a PEOPLE already condemned.
(Of course THAT was twenty-one centuries ago; an opportune ACT that could never happen now... Would it?) Unresolved trials WE THE PEOPLE endure daily seem to never end - an unresolved eternity preoccupying this brief life.
But Stephen’s case must convince us and convict US: true witness with eternal judgment will come to a conclusion WE must not ignore.
Witness of a Martyr
I remind US once more of the definition above, also linked below.
ACTS 7:58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!”
Acts 7:59 Hebrew Names Version
“Father, forgive them..”
Stephen had heard it before from the parched tongue of Jesus on the Cross. He had preached it with the power of the Holy Spirit.
But now as his own failing flesh of this short life suffered at the hands of his false accusers, Stephen utters one last word – a lasting impression on a leading disciple of Gamaliel.
Then he knelt down and began to pray crying out with a loud voice:
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”
Having said this, Stephen died.
Impressions from an injustice witnessed
The crowds of officials must have been gloating with gratification as the stone-battered body of Stephen lay lifeless in that pit – like Golgotha, a place of shame beyond the walls of THEIR CITY.
'WE can justify our ACTS by demonstrating OUR power (like this) over these PEOPLE we represent in their Temple; so WE can say anything and they will believe US, because WE rule this 'chosen' NATION under God.'
'I think we can eliminate more of these religious opponents like this. Don't you?
(Okay, I confess my most contemporary take on their first century victories which filled crowds with anger, false witnesses and political cover without accountability.
Who would believe such lies told by so many of every party and false witness HEADLINED in so many places? - RH)
The religious and political leaders and their constituancies all return to the comfort of Jerusalem’s walls, with lavish celebrations under watchful eyes of their Roman Centurion ‘friends,’ men like them who seem just a bit more apprehensive about religion and Judean political disagreements lately.
But some recognize the accusations as false and not all process back to Judea’s Capitol abuzz with tomorrow’s HEADLINES of their victory this day..
STEPHEN GUILTY! BLASPHEMER EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY!
JUSTICE DELIVERED IN OUR NATION’S CAPITOL!
Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. – Acts 8:1
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
ACTS 22:20 KJV – Later confession of witness by Saul of Tarsus, who Christ would call as Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.
ALL took place in 1st century Jerusalem in the brief span of one week!
Continuing Jesus’ trials..
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there…
Jesus has already been found guilty and tried by the Jewish leaders Annas and Caiaphas during the wakening hours of this day. Then they brought the Messiah to the governor Pilate, who has just questioned their prisoner in his own judge’s quarters (which the Jews would not enter).
In effect, the Roman Governor of all the province of Judea acting as High Court Judge of Jerusalem tells them, ‘Case dismissed.’
Now, after private questioning of Jesus about their accusation, Pilate once again finds Jesus, Not Guilty!
But now begins the politics of playing the crowds.
Justice by Public Opinion – a Poll of the people
Once again, some time passes as the Jerusalem crowds gather for the preparation for the Passover feast. The buzz of the multitudes outside must have reminded Pilate of the great accolades for Jesus as He had approached Jerusalem just five days before.
As Governor of Judea, Pilate also had to placate officials of the Sanhedrin who Jesus offended in the Temple courts on Monday.
What’s a politically correct way to please the crowds who followed Jesus AND the Jewish leaders who help Pilate maintain the peace of Jerusalem?
The Judge of Judea will show mercy to this innocent man.
So the Prefect likely sent guards to the prison to bring a second previously condemned man to the governor near to Pilate’s position above the crowds. Now the Jews will see the truth of an innocent Man compared to an insurrectionist murderer like this prisoner Barabbas.
“I find no grounds for charging him. 39 You have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
IF you didn’t already know the ending of this Good Friday, you might jump up and applaud Pilate’s political correctness.
Everybody wins when the governor shows mercy. This powerful Roman governor of Judea seems to judge truth with great fairness.
BUT, as you know, crowds may be easily swayed from doing what is right.
40 They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!”
Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
CSB
John 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
To be continued...
Page TWO - Please click Page 2 below for the questions.
