Acts 23

This chapter belongs to the section in the latter part of Acts that deals with Paul's arrest and trials (chapters 21–26). In the last verse of the preceding chapter (Acts 22:30), the Roman chief captain convened the Jewish council to learn why Paul was being accused, and this chapter opens with that council scene.

Outline

• Verses 1–5 When Paul declares that he has lived in all good conscience before God, the high priest Ananias orders that he be struck on the mouth. Paul rebukes him as a "whited wall," then says he did not know that the man was the high priest and quotes the Law.
• Verses 6–10 Perceiving that the council is divided between Pharisees and Sadducees, Paul cries out that he is being called in question concerning the resurrection. When a great dissension breaks out between the two parties, the chief captain sends soldiers to bring Paul into the castle (the barracks).
• Verse 11 That night the Lord stands by Paul and tells him that, as he has testified in Jerusalem, so he must bear witness also at Rome.
• Verses 12–22 More than forty Jews bind themselves under an oath neither to eat nor drink until they have killed Paul, and they plan an ambush. Paul's nephew (his sister's son) hears of the plot and tells Paul, and through a centurion he also reports it to the chief captain.
• Verses 23–30 The chief captain makes ready two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen and, at the third hour of the night (generally understood as about 9 p.m.), sends Paul to the governor Felix. He also writes a letter to the governor in his own name, Claudius Lysias.
• Verses 31–35 The company reaches Antipatris by night, and the next day the horsemen alone take Paul on to Caesarea. After learning that Paul is from Cilicia, Felix orders him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall until his accusers arrive.

Key Verses

• Acts 23:11 "Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." This verse foretells that Paul's witness will reach as far as Rome, anticipating his arrival there in chapter 28.
• Acts 23:6 "I am a Pharisee … of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question." Here Paul presents faith in the resurrection as the point at issue in his trial. Paul repeats this statement in Acts 24:21.

People and Places

• Paul
• Ananias: the high priest at the time. He is a different person from Ananias of Damascus and from the Ananias of Ananias and Sapphira.
• Sanhedrin: the supreme Jewish council, called "the council" in the text.
• Pharisees and Sadducees: they were divided over whether there is a resurrection, angels, and spirits (verse 8).
• Claudius Lysias: the chief captain (a commander of 1,000 men) of the Roman forces stationed in Jerusalem.
• Felix: the governor of Judea appointed by Rome.
• Antipatris: a stopping point between Jerusalem and Caesarea.
• Caesarea: a city on the Mediterranean coast where the governor resided. Herod's judgment hall is thought to have been a palace built by Herod the Great.
• Cilicia: a region in southeastern Asia Minor that included Paul's hometown of Tarsus.

Points for Reflection

• The text does not explain why Paul failed to recognize the high priest, and interpretations vary. Some conjecture that Paul had poor eyesight; others hold that he did not know because he had long been away from Jerusalem; still others read his words as irony, implying that a man who acts in such a way could not be the high priest. The law quoted in verse 5 is Exodus 22:28.
• Some interpreters read verse 6 as a shrewd move that exploited the council's divisions, while others read it as a confession showing that the resurrection was central to Paul's faith. Many interpreters hold both readings together.
• In his letter (verse 27), the chief captain wrote that he rescued Paul after learning that he was a Roman. In chapter 22, however, he was about to have Paul scourged and only afterward learned that Paul was a Roman citizen. For this reason the letter is commonly read as a self-serving report.
• The Sadducees' denial of the resurrection is also evident in the debate over the resurrection in Mark 12.

In the Korean Church

The phrase "Be of good cheer" in verse 11 is frequently cited in sermons on comfort amid hardship or on the missionary calling.