The Pilgrim Path---Acts 16: 35—40

But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

“…MEN WHO ARE ROMAN CITIZENS”

As you reflect on this passage and the verses that came before, you realize that Paul and Silas had returned to prison of their own accord. They would wait to hear of what the magistrates were going to do with them. Plus, they did not want to get in the jailer in a heap of trouble (he was a fellow follower of the Living Christ now). The jailer gets the word: “Let these men go.” He lets Paul and Silas know. “Not so fast,” is the reply of the Apostle Paul. “We are Roman citizens,” he says. “We were beaten up badly---did not even get the benefit of a hearing! Tell those magistrates to come to the jail and remove us themselves.” Whoa---is the reaction of the magistrates! Roman citizens? Paul and Silas had proof---like most Roman citizens of the 1st century---that they were the “real deal.” Ugh---is how the magistrates must have felt. They could lose their jobs…they came up with a “quick” apology---and then asked the men to leave (bad publicity you know).

Paul the Apostle was not simply a Roman citizen---he was a Kingdom of God Man, through and through! He was thinking of the “new church” he was associated with: the Jailer and his family; the demon-possessed woman who had been wonderfully freed in Jesus’ Name; Lydia---who was transformed by the Gospel---at the river’s edge---and all the other souls that have since come to faith in Jesus Christ the LORD. Paul’s assertion of status as a “free man” now---no doubt meant some favor aimed toward this “new” religious sect that often caught the fury of non-believing Jews within the Empire. Freedom from fear from Roman officials in Philippi at the present---might providentially aid the young church in the future. The “unjustly” beaten Roman citizens would be connected to this church-plant (these disciples of The Way). Paul may leave---but his influence would be known for a long time!

From Simon Kistemaker: Roman citizenship, then, should have protected Paul and Silas from beating and imprisonment. Exception to Roman law could only be made if a Roman citizen had been duly tried and convicted in a court of law. The magistrates should have conducted a lawful trial instead of yielding to the pressure of the crowd to give Paul and Silas a public beating and confine them in prison…

From James Montgomery Boice: So when Paul demanded that the magistrates not only release them but also actually come and lead them out, they did. Why did Paul insist on that? I think he had in mind the safety of the church he was to leave behind. He wanted to do everything he could to establish and protect it. And perhaps that is even why he did not declare that he was a Roman citizen when they were about to beat him earlier. He declared so in a later incident in Jerusalem. It may be that he did not do it here in order to place the magistrates in a difficult position and so provide a basis for the future protection of the church. However, when the magistrates requested that the missionaries leave the city, Paul did not insist on his rights but obeyed their wishes.

---Paul had a “high” view of the Church of Jesus Christ the LORD…

---Paul was about the business of advancing the cause of the local Church of Jesus (he did so at Philippi)…

---Paul did not think “sacrifice” was too big a word---for the Church of Jesus Christ the LORD…

---Paul would simply say that the local church is the visible expression of Jesus Christ’s Kingdom in the World---Be careful “how” you treat it---and “act” within it…

---Paul would remind us that where the Spirit and the Word meet: there---the LORD Jesus visits. Do not miss His appointed times of arrival…

HYMN

Shout, for the blessed Jesus reigns;

Through distant lands his triumphs spread;

And sinners, freed from endless pains,

Own him their Savior and their Head.

He calls his chosen from afar,

They all at Zion’s gate arrive;

Those who were dead in sin before

By sovereign grace are made alive.

Gentiles and Jews his laws obey;

Nations remote their offerings bring,

And unconstrained their homage pay

To their exalted God and King.

Benjamin Beddome, 1769

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason