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Acts 22:30-23:10  PAULS HEARING BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN 

Introduction:

	Paul had been mobbed in the courtyard of the Jewish temple at Jerusalem 
and carried outside the courtyard and beaten.  The Roman army had come to his 
rescue.  The Roman captain who was in charge thought that Paul must have been 
guilty of some great crime, but when he questioned some of the people in the mob 
he was unable to find out what Paul had done.  In order to find out from Paul 
what wickedness he had done, he ordered that Paul be beaten with a whip until he 
confessed his guilt and revealed his crime.   However, upon learning that Paul 
was a Roman citizen he did not dare to have him beaten lest he, himself, get in 
trouble with the Roman government.  
	So in our text he carries Paul before the Roman Sanhedrin Council in an 
effort to learn what charges might be made against Paul.    

I.  The Council members called to appear before the chief captain
	
	V. 30, “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..”  The chief captain of all the Roman army which was stationed 
in Israel was in a quandary.  He could not afford to turn Paul loose without 
first seeking to find out what crime he was accused of doing.  So far as he knew 
Paul was already guilty of some heinous crime and would likely commit other 
heinous crimes if he were turned loose. 
	But neither could he continue to hold Paul as a prisoner without knowing 
what he was being accused of doing.  He could not carry Paul to the Roman 
governor for trial without some kind of charge being placed against him.  He 
would either have to find out what Paul was accused of doing or else turn him 
loose.    
	 He had tried to find out from the people who were beating Paul
what Paul had done, but one person told him one thing and another told him 
something else.  No two people told him the same thing.  He could not carry such 
flimsy testimony as that to the governor.  The governor would throw the case out 
of court and set the prisoner free.  He had to have something specific with 
which to charge Paul if he were going to carry him to the governor. 
	The chief captain had even ordered his soldiers to beat the truth out of 
Paul so that he could have something to charge him with when he carried him to 
the governor for trial.  But when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen, he 
had to abandon the idea of beating Paul.  He, himself, would be in big trouble 
with the Roman government if it were learned that he had beat a Roman citizen 
who had not been tried and found guilty of a crime.  His prisoner had not been 
tried and found guilty of a crime.  He had not even been charged with a crime 
and the chief captain up to this point had not been able to find out what he was 
accused of doing.  
	So the captain turned to the Jewish leaders who made up the Jewish 
Sanhedrin Council for some help.  He assumed that they would have heard what 
Paul was accused of doing and they could inform him so that he could legally 
charge Paul of committing a crime.  He sent messengers out to summons the chief 
priest and the other members of the Sanhedrin Council to come to his aid.  Once 
the Council members had gathered he ordered the bands to be removed from Paul’s 
hands and feet and he took Paul before the Sanhedrin Council for a hearing.  He 
hoped that as a result of this hearing he would either be able to place a charge 
against Paul and bring him to trial or else set him free.  He could not just 
keep the man in prison without charges being made against him.  

II.  Paul speaking in his defense

	Chapter 23, V. 1, “And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men 
[and] brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”  
It was common practice in justice systems even way back then for the accused to 
be allowed to speak in his own defense if he chose to do so.  So even before any 
charges were presented against him Paul was allowed to speak and address the 
members of the Council.  Paul declared that he had always acted with a clear 
conscience before God.  Even back when he was persecuting Christians he had done 
so thinking that he was doing the will of God.  He had not been aware that he 
was doing anything wrong.  So in essence Paul was pleading “Not guilty.” He did 
not know that they thought he was guilty of doing, but Paul knew that he was not 
guilty.
	He had a clear conscience.  All of his life he had conducted himself in 
such a way that he had a clear conscience.  He had always had a clear 
conscience.  We can only wish that we could say that.  Even back when Paul was 
persecuting Christians and putting them in prison, he had done it with a clear 
conscience.  He had thought he was doing the right thing.  He had thought he was 
doing the will of God.  When he found out that what he was doing was not 
pleasing to God he stopped persecuting the Christians and he joined them.  He 
started preaching the gospel and promoting Christianity in every way he could.  
He had come to believe that Jesus arose from the grave, that Jesus is the Christ 
of God and that Jesus is the Savior of men.  Paul believed that Jesus will save 
the soul of every person who repents of sin had places his faith in Jesus to 
keep him out of hell and take him to heaven.  This is what Paul preached and he 
still had a clear conscience in doing so. 	Paul was aware that some of the 
people who had mobbed him at the temple had accused him of speaking against the 
Law of Moses, against the people of Israel, that he had spoken against the 
temple of God at Jerusalem and that he had even carried Gentiles into the 
temple, which would have been contrary to the Law of Moses.  But Paul knew that 
he had never been guilty of any of these things.  His conscience was clear.  So 
even without having any charges placed against him before the legal authorities 
Paul pled “:Not guilty” to whatever wrong they might think he had done.  

III.  The unlawful command of the high priest and the response of Paul

	V. 2, “And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to 
smite him on the mouth.”  Luke does not tell us who was standing by Paul, but 
likely they were  Roman soldiers.  Paul was still a prisoner.  The bonds of his 
hands and feet had been removed.  Surely the chief captain had stationed Roman 
soldiers on either side of him and perhaps behind him so as to make sure that 
his prisoner did not escape.  At any rate, the high priest instructed whoever 
was standing by Paul to beat him in the teeth.  
	Now you would think that the high priest, of all people, would not issue 
such a command.  He, of all people, would know that this was against the Law of 
Moses.  The law of Moses provided that only after a man was tried and found 
guilty could he be punished.  It was strictly against the Mosaic Law to punish a 
prisoner until first he had been found guilty in a court of law.  Yet this high 
priest, Ananias, told those who stood near Paul to hit Paul in the mouth --- to 
beat him in the teeth.      
	so that he could be brought to trial or else he would find out that there 
were not chargesthat the council members would know what Paul was accused of 
doing so that he could either set him free or else go to trial and let the court 
determine Paul’s fate.  
	Paul was quick to respond.  V. 3, “Then said Paul unto him, God shall 
smite thee, [thou] whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and 
commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?”  Luke does not tell us whether 
anyone obeyed the command of the high priest.  The Roman soldiers would 
certainly not feel obligated to do so.  But it is possible that they, or someone 
else did strike Paul.  Whether or not anyone did strike Paul, the order by the 
high priest angered Paul and he showed his angry with the sharp rebuke which he 
gave the high priest.  
	V. 4, “And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?”  As 
soon as Paul had rebuked the high priest, someone rebuked him.  It was likely 
some member of the Sanhedrin Council.  The Roman soldiers would not be that 
defensive of the Jewish high priest, but the members of the Sanhedrin would.  
Whoever it was rebuked Paul for speaking sharply to the high priest.  
	As soon as Paul learned that he had sharply rebuked the high priest, he 
apologized.  He had been quick to rebuke the high priest --- and he deserved to 
be rebuked.  But even though the high priest deserved to be rebuked, Paul was 
just as quick to apologize.  Paul knew the law of Moses and he still respected 
the law of Moses.  He knew that the law of Moses had commanded the people of 
Israel not to speak sharply to one of their leaders.  V. 5, “Then said Paul, I 
wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt 
not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.”  Paul had learned a lesson that we 
all need to learn.  He had learned to honor the office and show respect to the 
man in the office even if the man did not deserve any respect.  Paul would never 
have spoken sharply to the high priest if he had known that this man was the 
high priest.  

IV.  Paul’s effort to win some of the members of the Sanhedrin to his defense

	Paul knew that there was no way that he would get the Sanhedrin Council to 
recommend to the chief captain that he turn Paul loose.  This was the same group 
which had hired false witnesses to speak against Jesus.  This was the same group 
which had concluded that Jesus, the one man in all of history who never did any 
wrong of any kind, worthy of death and not fit to live.  This was the group who 
went to Pilate and demanded that Jesus be put to death.  Paul knew that even 
though he had done no crime yet they would make up some false charge and present 
that charge to the chief captain.  Then in his trial this group would hire false 
witnesses to speak against him and he would be sentenced to death.  
	So Paul set out to do what we might consider to be the impossible.  He 
sought to persuade a sizable number of the members of the Sanhedrin to be on his 
side and to speak out in his defense.  V. 6, “But when Paul perceived that the 
one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, 
Men [and] brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and 
resurrection of the dead I am called in question.”  Since nobody up to this 
point had presented a charge against him, Paul beat them to the punch and he 
presented the charge.  He openly stated before the chief captain and before the 
entire Sanhedrin Council that the reason he had been mobbed and the reason the 
people had sought to kill him is because he is a Pharisee and that he had spoken 
out openly in favor of the resurrection of the dead.  
	Actually, he spoke the truth.  He claimed to be a Pharisee and he was 
indeed a Pharisee.  He was the son of a man who was a Pharisee and he had been a 
Pharisee all of his life.  One of the chief tenets of the Pharisees is that the 
dead will someday be resurrected.  Paul had spoken out openly in favor of a 
resurrection and had made enemies in doing so.  He had declared openly that 
Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and by doing so he had made enemies.  
He had even made enemies among the Pharisees, because they, too, had helped to 
bring about the crucifiixion of Jesus.  But Paul does not mention Jesus at this 
point.  To do so would have been disastrous.  He just focuses their attention on 
the fact that he had openly declared that there is a resurrection of the dead.  
	Paul did this because he knew that the Sanhedrin Council was made up of 
both Pharisees and Sadducees.  The Pharisees believed in a resurrection and very 
strongly declared their belief.  The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection 
and they just as stoutly declared that they would be no resurrection.  So as 
long as the attention of the Council members were focused on the resurrection 
and not on Jesus, he knew that there was a chance that he could win many of them 
to his side.  
	It worked.  V. 7-8, “And when he had so said, there arose a dissension 
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.   For 
the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but 
the Pharisees confess both.”  The Pharisees had a large number of people serving 
as members of the Council and they spoke out on Paul’ behalf.  V. 9, “And there 
arose a great cry: and the scribes [that were] of the Pharisees' part arose, and 
strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath 
spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”
	On the other hand, the chief priest and a sizable number of the Council 
members were Sadducees.  There was instant pandemonium.  The Council membership 
was split with many speaking out in favor of the resurrection and Paul and many 
speaking out against the resurrection and against Paul.  
	V. 10, “And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, 
fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the 
soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring 
[him] into the castle.”
	The result was that the Council meeting almost became a brawl between the 
Pharisees and the Sadducees and the chief captain for the second time had to 
rescue Paul for fear that Paul would be pulled into pieces by the opposing 
groups.  The important thing to note is that the Council broke up without 
placing charges against Paul.  He is not to be set free and he will not be set 
free any time soon.  God will use his arrest to get him to Rome to do a great 
work for Him there.  But by pitting the Pharisees against the Sadducees he did 
avoid having charges placed against him at this time.  

V.  Some lessons for us

	Let us learn that the secular world will never in this age favor the truth 
of God that Jesus is the Christ of God, the Savior of the world and that 
whosoever trusts Him for salvation will be saved by the grace of God.  The 
believer will be spared from the fires, he (or she) will be raised from the dead 
to live forever in glory with God.  
	As Christians, we need not expect the world to embrace us and love us and 
to support the truths of God that we hold dear.  Never-the-less, we live in the 
world and we can use certain things that the world does hold to our advantage 
and to help us to promote the gospel message.  For instance, the world --- or at 
least a sizable portion of the world ---- celebrates Christmas and Easter.  
While the world has adopted many things in their observance of Christmas and 
Easter which have nothing what-so-ever with religion, yet we can still use these 
two celebrations to help promote gospel truth.  We can use the Christmas season 
to reach out to the community and drive home that fact that God has sent His 
beloved Son, Jesus Christ to this world to be a Savior and to save us from our 
sins.  At Easter we can use this time to reach out to the community and to the 
world to stress that even though Jesus was crucified, yet He came forth from the 
grave and is ready and able to save all who will call upon Him for salvation.  
	We can learn that God never leaves His people to face the hostility of the 
world alone.  God was present to help the Apostle Paul and God is present to 
help us in our trials today.  Let us always look to Him and trust in Him and 
lean upon Him in our trials.  
	Most of all we can learn to be faithful to the Lord no matter what the 
circumstance.  Paul was in a terrible circumstance. It seemed that there was no 
way out.  But Paul was faithful to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his 
trials.  He never gave up.  He never even considered quitting.  He kept on 
keeping on.  He was faithful to serve the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what 
happened.  May we have that same kind of stickabililty.  
May we be faithful to Jesus to the time that we draw our last breath.