I’m Proud to be a Roman
The In-Between Years: A Look at the Church in the Book of Acts - Part 112
On Mondays, I take my message from the previous day and adapt it for reading. Right now it’s a series called “The In-Between Years: A Look at the Church in the Book of Acts.” I call it that because the church occupies that sacred space between Jesus’ first coming and second. We have much to learn from Luke and Paul and those courageous first Christians.
Last week, we saw how Paul ended up before a Jewish mob who wanted him dead because they thought he’d blasphemed the temple by sneaking a Gentile into the forbidden zone. He hadn’t, of course. The Romans stepped in, arresting him, but before they whisked him away, Paul asked permission to address his accusers. He was allowed to speak, giving, for his defense, a testimony of how he met Jesus, who, Paul says, told him was being sent as a missionary to the Gentiles. On that word, things went bonkers.
22 And they were listening to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” Acts 22:22 (LSB)
Yep. That did it. Now they wanted him dead twice over. The Jews hated the Gentiles not only for their blasphemous, pagan, polytheistic ways but also for the fact they — the Romans — were their hated overlords. Last time we saw how the Jews of Paul’s day held to a very rigid and zealous us-and-them mentality, completely overlooking the fact that God had spoken through their own prophets about them being a light to those very Gentiles.
Now let’s pick back up and see if Paul survived.
23 And as they were crying out and throwing off their garments and tossing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by flogging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. 25 But when they stretched him out with leather straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” 26 And when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported to him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” 27 And the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 And the commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I have been born a citizen.” 29 Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately withdrew from him; and the commander also was afraid when he learned that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. Acts 22:23–29 (LSB)
Paul makes it only to face interrogation by flogging, which the commander orders as if it were nothing to beat a confession out of someone rather than allowing confession first. And in that day, under Roman rule, it wasn’t anything at all but the norm. But Paul shuts it all down with a fun fact: he is a Roman citizen.
This reminds us of what happened in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas were jailed in the city of Philippi, a city under the control of Rome as well (all the civilized world was), for causing a stir when they freed a poor slave girl from a demon (her owners had been using her divination abilities for profit). That night, God miraculously delivered them out of jail which led to the jailer being saved. And then this happened,
35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” 38 And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39 and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept requesting them to leave the city. 40 And they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and left. Acts 16:35–40 (LSB)
Both in Philippi and Jerusalem, Paul played his Roman citizenship card. This is more important than it might seem. So let’s spend some time here.
You could live in a Roman colony like Philippi or a Roman-controlled area like Judea (where Jerusalem was) and still not be a Roman citizen. That incredibly special and highly-prized privilege was not available to the masses at that time but reserved only for those born in the city of Rome and their descendants, as well as some non-Romans, “as an honor for services rendered to Roman interests.”1 The way you proved it was to carry around what we might know as a passport. They called it a diploma, and it was “a little double-faced tablet, made of bronze most likely, [and it] functioned both as a birth certificate and as a citizenship token.”2 By the way, to lie about one’s citizenship could result in death.
Note that Paul says he was born a citizen. The big question is how in the world did Paul, a Jew, come by it? Most likely because his father or grandfather had been bestowed it for serving the emperor in history past (honor for services rendered to Roman interests). We know that some Jews were blessed with this standing in Tarsus, where Paul was from, well over a hundred years earlier.
If you are paying attention, you might be asking another big question. What was that stuff about buying Roman citizenship? Look back at,
27 And the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 And the commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I have been born a citizen.” Acts 22:27–28 (LSB)
We know that for some time in the Empire, there was another, less reputable, way to become a citizen. A person could purchase it under the table as a bribe, but it was very expensive, and few could afford it. Being born a Roman citizen was much more honorable and desirable. This is why the commander seems to be humbled by Paul’s status in relation to his.
Roman citizenship was much sought after partly because of the prestige it conferred to the bearer. Rome was the most powerful, most lauded nation the world had ever known at the time. Rome was famous for its highly organized and efficient government, its super-powerful military, its strong economy, its beautiful and advanced architecture, and its use of technology. But even more than that, with Roman citizenship, came a special legal status that followed you all over the vast Empire. No Roman citizen could receive the death penalty for crimes committed except treason. Roman citizens, by right, had to be given a trial. They could vote and hold office and often were exempt from local taxes. And here’s the one for our text today: any local government could use torture and beating as part of the examination process for those charged with some crime (and by golly, they often did), but by law, this did not apply to citizens. If local authorities beat or tortured a Roman and that got back to Rome, the consequences could be bad. So this is why, in Acts 16 and Acts 22, those officials were “afraid.” It’s like Rome is Bruce Banner saying to anyone who messes with a national, “Don’t make me angry; you won’t like me when I’m angry.”
I’m not trying to impress you with my knowledge of ancient Roman history, even though it may sound like it. Going back 2,000 years and putting ourselves in Paul’s and the commander’s shoes — which involves figuring out the historical and cultural context — allows us to bring it back to our present day and search for applications. And we’ll attempt that by asking another question, “Was Paul proud to be a Roman citizen?” Seems like he might. It certainly was a major deal back then, and he does use it to his advantage. I believe the answer is yes and no.
Yes, in that Paul appreciated his Roman citizenship only so far as he could use it as leverage for the gospel.
In Philippi, he used it after being beaten to shrewdly make it harder for the authorities to bother the new Christians there. Here, I think he played that card before his thrashing because he was far away from the Jewish crowd, and to have mentioned it in their presence would have only added to their anger. Plus, the soldiers would likely have scourged him with the dreaded flagellum, which one scholar describes as a “fearful instrument of torture, consisting of leather thongs, weighted with rough pieces of metal or bone, and attached to a stout wooden handle. If a man did not actually die under the scourge, he might well be crippled for life.”3 That might have hindered his ability to spread the gospel, and it’s certainly not wise to suffer that kind of abuse if it can be avoided.
But how about the no? In what way was Paul not proud of being a Roman? In the shadow of the mighty Roman Empire, Paul and the early church bravely, almost recklessly, thumbed their noses at Rome by promoting a higher citizenship.
To understand how, first, we must go back two millennia again and comprehend what was happening. There was in that day rushing across the whole domain what could be called a wave of nationalism; some even say it was the beginning of nationalism. Now, nationalism is defined as “loyalty and devotion to a nation, especially in the sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or groups.”4 That’s exactly how Romans felt about themselves. The Romans thought they had it down. They thought their way — their culture, their government, their religion — was the best way, and all others were barbarians. The Romans got so cocky that they deified their emperors, and people worshiped them alongside all the other gods in their pantheon. In some instances, emperor worship was mandated.
Note how Romans referred to these rulers. Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was called the Savior, the Son of God. People would say Caesar is Lord. An ancient decree concerning Augustus declared…
…the birthday of the god [Augustus] has been for the whole world the beginning of good news (euangelion) concerning him [therefore let a new era begin from his birth]. (OGIS 2.#458)[30]
We think those terms and concepts (savior, son of God, someone being called “Lord,” and the phrase “good news”) are peculiar to Christianity, but they were terms all Greeks, all citizens of the Roman Empire, already knew and used but applied to their human rulers. Paul and Peter and the early Christians boldly, recklessly if you will, borrowed those secular, pagan terms related to emperors and the Roman state and applied them to the Lord Jesus Christ and his eternal kingdom (AKA empire), the true Son of God, the proper Savior of the world, the one through whom we really have good news.
Paul and the early Christians took the idea of citizenship and wrenched it up a billion notches. Yes, being a Roman is something to be proud of with all its privileges, but Christians are citizens of an infinitely higher kingdom with benefits in the present and carrying over into eternity, an eternity not about going to heaven when we die but heaven coming here to a newly remade earth where we’ll live forever in our newly remade bodies, bodies just like the resurrected Jesus’ who will be Emperor not just of a region but the whole globe. Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi,
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Philippians 3:20–21 (NLT)
And now we see why Christians were persecuted so, not just by the Jews but the Romans. Can you imagine Roman authorities hearing about a Savior, THE Lord not A Lord, a King whose kingdom is the whole earth where everything will be under his control, when they prided themselves on ruling the civilized world with an iron fist? It’s as if Paul knew Rome was Bruce Banner just waiting to hulk out on someone, and he said, “Bring it on. He ain't got nothing on Jesus.”
Conclusion: You know, these days, in our country, we have those who think the church and the state should be separate and others who think it should be the same thing. But Paul and the early Christians kept a healthy tension between the two, which brings us to a present-day application. Use earthly citizenship as leverage for the gospel, but don’t get too caught up because, ultimately, we are citizens of a higher kingdom. I think Jesus as much taught this in an encounter I bet you are familiar with.
15 Then the Pharisees went and took counsel together about how they might trap Him in what He said. 16 And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. 17 “Therefore, tell us, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a tax to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 “Show Me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 And hearing this, they marveled, and leaving Him, they went away. Matthew 22:15–22 (LSB)
Boom. Mic drop. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. To God the things that are God’s. Healthy tension. Let’s close with commentary from NT Wright, the foremost New Testament scholar in the world.
‘We are citizens of heaven,’ Paul declares… At once many modern Christians misunderstand what he means. We naturally suppose he means ‘and so we’re waiting until we can go and live in heaven where we belong’. But that’s not what he says, and it’s certainly not what he means. If someone in Philippi said, ‘We are citizens of Rome,’ they certainly wouldn’t mean ‘so we’re looking forward to going to live there’. Being a colony works the other way round. The last thing the emperors wanted was a whole lot of colonists coming back to Rome. The capital was already overcrowded and underemployed. No: the task of the Roman citizen in a place like Philippi was to bring Roman culture and rule to northern Greece, to expand Roman influence there.
But supposing things got difficult for the Roman colonists in Philippi. Supposing there was a local rebellion, or an attack by the ‘barbarian’ tribes to the north. How would they cope? Their best hope would be that the emperor himself, who after all was called ‘saviour’, ‘rescuer’, would come from Rome to Philippi to change their present somewhat defenceless situation, defeat their enemies, and establish them as firmly and gloriously as Rome itself. The emperor, of course, was the ruler of the whole world, so he had the power to make all this happen under his authority.
That is the picture Paul has in mind … The church is at present a colony of heaven, with the responsibility (as we say in the Lord’s Prayer) for bringing the life and rule of heaven to bear on earth. We are not, of course, very good at doing this; we often find ourselves weak and helpless, and our physical bodies themselves are growing old and tired, decaying and ready to die. But our hope is that the true saviour, the true Lord, King Jesus himself will come from heaven and change all that. He is going to transform the entire world so that it is full of his glory, full of the life and power of heaven. And, as part of that, he is going to transform our bodies so that they are like his glorious body, the body which was itself transformed after his cruel death so that it became wonderfully alive again with a life that death and decay could never touch again.5
Bruce, F. F. (1992). Citizenship. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 1, pp. 1048–1049). Doubleday.
Wright, T. (2008). Acts for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 13-28 (pp. 162–163). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Bruce, F. F. (1988). The Book of the Acts (p. 420). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationalism
Wright, T. (2004). Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (pp. 126–127). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.