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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
21:40-22:21 Paul Addresses the Jewish Crowd. Paul's address to the Jewish crowd sought to establish what he had come to the temple to prove in the first place--his faithfulness to his Jewish heritage. He gave his personal testimony: his former zeal for Judaism (22:3-5), his encounter with the risen Lord (22:6-11), his commission (22:12-16), and his vision in the temple (22:17-21).
22:2 Just as Paul got the tribune's attention with his Greek (21:37), he quieted the Jewish crowd by speaking Aramaic (see ESV footnote on 21:40), the most common language spoken by ordinary Jews in Jerusalem.
22:3 Brought up in this city most likely means that Paul's parents moved to Jerusalem when he was very young and he was reared in the city (cf. 23:16), but some take it to mean only that Paul came to Jerusalem as a young man for his rabbinic training under Gamaliel. (On Gamaliel, see note on 5:34.)
22:6 The light from heaven is the brightness of God's glory (cf. 26:13), as in Ezek. 1:26-28 and Rev. 1:16.
22:12-14 For his Jewish hearers, Paul stressed the piety of Ananias: he kept the law strictly and was respected by all the Jews.
22:16 Be baptized and wash away your sins does not imply that the physical act of baptism itself cleanses people spiritually from sin, for Ananias gives Paul two distinct commands. Thus baptism should be viewed as an outward symbol of the cleansing from sin that occurs when someone trusts in Jesus (cf. 1 Pet. 3:21). Belief leads to cleansing, but baptism pictures this. Because baptism pictures the reality, the two are often discussed as if they belong to the same act. As Heb. 10:19-22 shows, the believer's sins are "washed away" through faith in "the blood of Jesus," with the result that the believer is "sprinkled clean" and "washed with pure water."
22:17 in the temple, I fell into a trance. This must have taken place upon Paul's visit to Jerusalem after his conversion (9:26). For the Jewish audience, it placed Paul's experience "on holy ground," in the temple, much like Isaiah's call (Isa. 6:1-13).
