Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Paul, addressing the people, narrates his calling from heaven, his conversion, and his mission. The people listen to him in silence, until Paul declares that he has been sent to the Gentiles. Then, throwing their clothes and dust into the air, they shout: Away with him from the earth! Therefore the tribune orders Paul to be scourged and tortured: but he, asserting that he is a Roman citizen, escapes the scourges. On the following day, the tribune set him loosed before the council of the priests and chiefs, that he might plead his case.
Vulgate Text: Acts 22:1-30
1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear the account I now render to you. 2. And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew tongue, they gave the more silence. 3. And he said: I am a Jewish man, born at Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous for the law, as also you all are this day: 4. who persecuted this Way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 5. As the Prince of the priests gives testimony of me, and all the elders, from whom also receiving letters, I went to the brethren in Damascus, that I might bring those who were there bound to Jerusalem to be punished. 6. And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus at midday, that suddenly from heaven there shone round about me a great light: 7. and falling to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? 8. And I answered: Who are You, Lord? And He said to me: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. 9. And those who were with me indeed saw the light, but did not hear the voice of Him who was speaking with me. 10. And I said: What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me: Rise up, go to Damascus, and there it shall be told you of all things that you must do. 11. And as I did not see for the brightness of that light, being led by the hand by my companions, I came to Damascus. 12. And one Ananias, a man according to the law, having testimony from all the Jews dwelling there, 13. coming to me and standing by, said to me: Brother Saul, look up. And I in the same hour looked upon him. 14. But he said: The God of our fathers has preordained you, that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear a voice from His mouth: 15. because you shall be His witness to all men of those things which you have seen and heard. 16. And now why do you delay? Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, invoking His name. 17. And it came to pass, when I returned to Jerusalem, and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance of mind, 18. and saw Him saying to me: Make haste, and go quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive your testimony concerning Me. 19. And I said: Lord, they themselves know that I was the one shutting up in prison, and beating in the synagogues, those who believed in You; 20. and when the blood of Stephen Your witness was being shed, I was standing by and consenting, and keeping the garments of those who killed him. 21. And He said to me: Go forth, for I will send you afar to the nations. 22. Now they were hearing him until this word, and lifted up their voice, saying: Away with such a one from the earth; for it is not fitting that he should live. 23. And as they were crying out, and casting off their garments, and throwing dust into the air, 24. the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and to be scourged and tortured, that he might know on what account they so cried out against him. 25. And when they had bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion standing by him: Is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman citizen, and one uncondemned? 26. Hearing this, the centurion went to the tribune and reported it, saying: What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. 27. Then the tribune, coming up, said to him: Tell me, are you a Roman? And he said: Yes. 28. And the tribune answered: I obtained this citizenship at great cost. And Paul said: But I was born so. 29. Immediately therefore those who were going to torture him departed from him. The tribune also was afraid, after he had learned that he was a Roman citizen, and because he had bound him. 30. On the following day, wishing to know more accurately on what account he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him, and ordered the Priests to assemble, and the whole council, and bringing forth Paul, set him among them.
Verse 1: Men, Brethren, and Fathers; I Render an Account
1. MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS. — He calls "fathers" the pontiffs, priests, and others outstanding by age or dignity: the rest he calls "brethren." See what is said at chap. vii, 2. Note here the modesty, gentleness, and prudence of Paul, by which everywhere he preserves decorum, so that he may insinuate himself to all.
I RENDER AN ACCOUNT. — In Greek, ἀπολογίαν, that is, a defense against the accusation brought against me by the Jews from Asia. Some read excuse.
Verse 3: At the Feet of Gamaliel; Instructed According to the Truth; Zealous for the Law
3. AT THE FEET OF GAMALIEL. — That is, a disciple of Gamaliel: for it belongs to disciples to stand or sit at the feet of the master who sits in a loftier chair. So Magdalene, "sitting at the feet of the Lord, was hearing His word," Luke x, 39. To this pertains that of Moses, Deut. xxxiii, 3: "And those who approach His feet (namely the disciples of God, who hear Him and follow His feet and footsteps), shall receive of His doctrine."
INSTRUCTED ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH (κατ' ἀκρίβειαν, that is, according to the exact reckoning, or according to strictness) OF THE FATHERS' LAW. — The Zurich version: accurately instructed in the ancestral law. Perhaps Our [Vulgate translator] read ἀλήθειαν instead of ἀκρίβειαν, that is, truth; or at least took the one for the other: for truth is rigid and in exact reckoning, and so consists in what is indivisible and in a point.
ZEALOUS FOR THE LAW. — In Greek ζηλωτὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ, that is, zealous for God — namely, for the law of God; he who is zealous for the law is zealous for God, who is the author of the law.
Verse 4: Who Persecuted This Way Unto Death
4. WHO PERSECUTED THIS WAY (this manner of living, this way of life, this custom and institution: for this is what the Hebrew דרך derech signifies, that is, way — namely, Christianity) UNTO DEATH. — Delivering to death holy Stephen and other Christians. Otherwise Hugo, that is: I was so devoted a follower of the law, that I was ready to die for it. But the Greek has ἐδίωξα, that is, I persecuted hostilely the faithful of Christ, even to death and slaughter.
Verse 5: As the Prince of the Priests; To the Brethren; That They Might Be Punished
5. AS THE PRINCE OF THE PRIESTS GIVES ME TESTIMONY. — Hence Sanchez and others probably judge that Paul had kept the letters once given to him by the Pontiff and the Council, both because he thought they would be of great use to him in these dangerous and uncertain times; and so that by them he might inflame himself and others to the love of Christ — who, having so kindly embraced him, a public persecutor armed with public authority, had bestowed upon him so great a grace.
TO THE BRETHREN. — Namely, the Jews who were at Damascus, that they might furnish me mouth and hand — that is, counsel and aid — in the seizing of Christians. Otherwise Vatablus says: to the brethren, that is, against the brethren — namely, the Christians.
THAT THEY MIGHT BE PUNISHED. — The Syriac: that they might be punished with death.
Verse 6: Shone Round About
6. SHONE ROUND ABOUT. — περιήστραψε, that is, flashed round about as lightning. Hence this light, like a lightning-flash, struck Paul's eyes and blinded him.
Verse 9: And Those Who Were With Me Saw the Light But Did Not Hear the Voice
9. AND THOSE WHO WERE WITH ME INDEED SAW THE LIGHT, BUT DID NOT HEAR THE VOICE. — Namely, an articulate and distinct voice: for that they heard the confused sound of the voice is clear from chapter ix, verse 7: "Hearing indeed the voice, but seeing no one," although St. Chrysostom explains this of Paul's voice — as though his companions heard the voice of Paul answering, not of Christ rebuking. The Greek adds: καὶ ἔμφοβοι ἐγένοντο, and they were terrified: hence all together with Paul fell to the ground, as Paul asserts to King Agrippa, ch. XXVI, 14.
Verse 11: When I Could Not See for the Brightness of That Light
11. AND WHEN I COULD NOT SEE FOR THE BRIGHTNESS (in Greek δόξης, that is, glory) OF THAT LIGHT. — He signifies that this light was vast and majestic, inasmuch as it shone forth from the divine body of Christ and represented His majesty and glory.
Verse 12: A Man According to the Law
12. A MAN ACCORDING TO THE LAW. — In Greek εὐσεβής, that is, reverent, pious according to the law; the Syriac, just in the law. The sense is, as if to say: A religious observer of the law. Paul commends Ananias from three things, namely from his piety, his doctrine, and his good reputation.
Verse 13: Look Up
13. LOOK UP, — ἀνάβλεψον, that is, receive sight, lift up your eyes, with eyes open behold me. For with this word Ananias dispelled Paul's blindness, and restored to him the use and sight of his eyes. Whence follows, "and I in the same hour looked upon him:" in Greek ἀνέβλεψα εἰς αὐτόν, that is, with sight received, I saw him, or I gazed and looked upon him. Some translate, look up, or gaze upward: for ἀνά suggests this. For the dim-sighted are accustomed to look upward, that they may behold the light of heaven, as being clearer than the rest.
Verse 14: He Hath Preordained Thee; And See the Just One
14. HE HATH PREORDAINED THEE. — The Interpreter reads προεχειρίσατο, they now read προεχειρίσατο, that is, He designated, or prepared thee; the Syriac, He appointed thee; others, He made thee ready, that thou mightest be to God πρόχειρος, that is, ready at hand, and prepared to run about and evangelize throughout the whole world.
AND THAT THOU MIGHTEST SEE THE JUST ONE, — namely Christ, who is "the just" par excellence, that is, formally most just in Himself, and causally justifying all who ever were, are, or shall be just. Whence Christ is called by Daniel, ch. IX, 24, "eternal justice, and the Holy of Holies." Hence it is plain that Christ was near to Paul and appeared to him, and blinded him with His brightness. Whence also he received and heard with his own ears the voice flowing from His mouth, which assuredly could not have happened naturally, if Christ had been in heaven, and not in the air near to Paul.
Again, St. Chrysostom notes that Paul tacitly censures the Jews for injustice, in that they killed Christ the just one. Note that for τὸν δίκαιον, that is, the just one in masculine form, some read τὸ δίκαιον, that is, the just thing in neuter, namely that which is just, justice, as if to say: That you may see the justice of Christ and of His law, which before, blinded by zeal, you did not see. Less correctly: yet the meaning comes to the same thing.
Verse 16: Wash Away Thy Sins; Calling Upon His Name
16. WASH AWAY THY SINS, — through baptism: for although Paul seems already before, by entirely giving himself to God by an act of contrition, to have washed away his sins and to have been justified; yet that act included the intention of baptism, and from it received the power of washing, as the Council of Trent teaches, sess. XIV, ch. IV. Moreover baptism washed away venial sins, if any remained in Paul, and all the penalty owed both for these and for the mortal sins already remitted through contrition, as the Scholastic Doctors commonly teach, in the tracts On Penance and On Baptism.
CALLING UPON HIS NAME. — For it is fitting that those about to be baptized should, before baptism, call upon Christ, from whom they hope for grace, justice, and salvation: and this invocation of Christ is one disposition, among others, suitable for baptism.
Verse 17: That I Fell Into a Trance of Mind
17. THAT I FELL INTO A TRANCE OF MIND. — In Greek, in ecstasy: for this induces a stupor as much in the body as in the mind. This ecstasy seems to have happened to Paul in the third year after his conversion and baptism, when he returned to Jerusalem, Acts IX, 26; Galatians I, 18. For the connected narrative of Paul seems to require this. For at that time he was constituted teacher of the Gentiles: whence also he soon began to preach to the Gentiles. So Sanchez.
Some, however, judge that it occurred long afterwards, namely when, about to enter upon the apostolate to the Gentiles, Acts XIII, 2, he was caught up into the third heaven, II Corinthians XII, 2. But that rapture seems to have happened at Antioch, where Paul was ordained Bishop and Apostle of the Gentiles; this, however, happened at Jerusalem in the temple, as he himself here asserts.
Verse 18: Depart Quickly Out of Jerusalem
18. DEPART QUICKLY OUT OF JERUSALEM. — God foresaw that the Jews would devise prisons and death for Paul, if He were to preach to them in Jerusalem, through His omniscience, by which He foreknows all future things, even conditional ones, though they would never come to pass, because the condition would never be fulfilled, as I showed at Jeremiah XXXVIII, 17. He therefore commands Paul to depart from Jerusalem, because his life and salvation were a care to Him, and He willed to use them for the conversion of many.
Verse 19: They Themselves Know
19. THEY THEMSELVES KNOW. — This is Paul's modest reply to God commanding him to depart, in favor of remaining at Jerusalem and preaching there, as if to say: The Jews know how fervently I once fought for Judaism: now since I have been so wondrously converted by God from it to Christianity, and contend for it the more fervently, they assuredly can and ought to know that I do this not from private hatred or feeling, but am impelled by God, who has so powerfully changed my intellect and will, that Christ, whom I formerly hated supremely as one unknown, I now love and preach supremely as one known: and therefore they ought to believe me as a Jew, formerly a foe of the Christians, but now enlightened by God and certain about the truth. So Lyranus, Dionysius, and others. Paul mentions this to the Jews to show his great love for them, by which he desired to remain among them and preach to them: that therefore, having left them, he went to the Gentiles, he did not from his own wish, but compelled by God's command: at the same time he frightens them, lest they persecute the Christian religion as one invented by men, but rather revere it as divine and revealed by God.
Verse 20: Stephen Thy Witness; I Was Standing By; And I Consented
20. STEPHEN THY WITNESS. — In Greek, thy proto-martyr. For Stephen was the first among adults to bear witness to Christ by his blood being shed.
I WAS STANDING BY, — ἐφεστώς, that is, I was attending, was pressing on, and was as it were standing over — like a leader and choirmaster.
AND I CONSENTED, — συνευδοκῶν τῇ ἀναιρέσει, that is, I took pleasure in his slaying, I approved his killing.
Morally, learn from this how great Paul's affection was for his own nation and country, and imitate him. Again, how he strove to overcome and overwhelm their ingratitude with grace, their wrath with patience, their envy with love, their malevolence with benevolence, their jealousy with modesty, their misdeeds with both past and present benefits. For the same thing has befallen many that befell Paul, that when they have spent themselves and their goods for the republic and their fellow citizens, they have for some slight cause found them ungrateful, indeed hostile.
The Greeks celebrate Epaminondas, leader of the Thebans, who, accused by his rivals of having held command four months longer than the people had ordered — circumstances so requiring it — confessed it, and did not refuse the penalty of death sanctioned by law; but he asked one thing of them, that on the tomb of the slain man they should inscribe: "Epaminondas was punished with death by the Thebans, because he forced them at Leuctra to overcome the Lacedaemonians, on whom, before he was their commander, no Boeotian had dared to look: in a single battle on the battlefield he not only drew Thebes back from destruction, but also vindicated all Greece into liberty." When he had said these things he cast shame upon his rivals, and a laugh broke out with hilarity from all, nor did any judge dare to cast his vote, and thus he departed from the capital trial with the greatest glory. So Aemilius, Plutarch, and others in the Life of Epaminondas.
Themistocles, when the Athenians were heaping insult upon him, said: "Why do you rage against those by whom you have often been benefited with great kindnesses?" He used to say that he was like plane trees, under whose shade men afflicted by a storm run for shelter, and which, as soon as serenity has returned, they tear at: for so the people in the dangers of war implore the help of brave men; in peace they despise them, and harass them with reproaches and injuries. So Plutarch, in the Greek Apophthegms. Hence Antisthenes used to say: "It is kingly, when you have done well, to hear ill," as Laertius bears witness, bk. VI, ch. I.
Demosthenes, while fleeing, looking back from time to time toward the citadel of Pallas, cried out: "O Pallas, mistress of cities, why do you delight in three most unlucky beasts, the owl, the dragon, and the people?" Although the owl is the most ill-omened of birds, yet it was sacred to Pallas, as she also had the dragon as her emblem; but the people is a beast of many heads, accustomed to repay the worst gratitude to those who have deserved best of it, as to Socrates, Phocion, Lycurgus, and many others. So Plutarch in the same work.
Alphonsus, king of Aragon, being chided for having conferred such great benefits upon Alvaro de Luna, a man utterly ungrateful to him, said: "Do you not know that to a huge benefit nothing but huge ingratitude is ever paid?" So Panormitanus, bk. II On the Deeds of Alphonsus.
Scipio Africanus, accused of embezzlement by his rivals, on the rostra freely replied thus: "I remember, Quirites, that on such a day I won an outstanding victory over Hannibal and the Carthaginians: wherefore, putting aside lawsuits, I propose that we go from here to the Capitol, that we may give thanks to the divine Numen for the most happily conducted Republic." Therefore the whole assembly followed Scipio to the Capitol, the Magistrate being left behind with only his attendants. So Plutarch in the Life of Scipio.
Moses far surpassed all these, who, though often attacked by the people with stones, nevertheless loved them as a mother, and even offered himself for them, saying: "Either forgive them this offense; or if You do not, blot me out of Your book which You have written," Exodus XXXII, 32. Whence also he judged it to have been in fact commanded and said to him by God: "Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse is wont to carry an infant, and bear them into the land for which You swore to their fathers," Numbers ch. XI, v. 12. Hence also he merited from God this elogium: "For Moses was a man most meek above all men who dwelt on the earth," Num. ch. XII, v. 3. Paul emulated Moses, desiring to become anathema for his most ungrateful Jews, Rom. IX, 2. See what is said in those places.
Verse 21: Unto Nations Afar Off
21. UNTO NATIONS AFAR OFF, — to remote peoples. Paul adds this to show that he turned aside from the Jews to the Gentiles unwillingly, and only at God's command, and therefore the Jews ought in this matter to pardon him, to yield to the divine will, indeed to comply with it; but so great was the Jews' love for their own nation, and so great their hatred of the Gentiles, that, interpreting this as a notable contempt for themselves — that, namely, they were being placed below the Gentiles, and that Paul was transferring from them to the Gentiles the grace of the Messiah promised to the Jews (for this seemed insulting to them, as though they themselves were unworthy of the truth, the Gospel, the Messiah, and salvation: while the Gentiles were worthy of these, and therefore would be the future heirs of the promises made to Abraham, parent of the Jews) — they immediately demanded him for execution as if he were a deserter from Judaism and a betrayer of the Messiah.
Morally: there are today many such, who will listen to Preachers, Superiors, Teachers, Confessors, and Monitors so long as they say nothing against them; but as soon as they reprehend their vices and touch the sore, they at once turn away their ears and minds. Wretched indeed and pitiable are those who, while in bodily diseases they admit physicians and willingly drink down bitter medicines, in spiritual diseases — which are much greater and more harmful — reject every physician and every medicine.
Verse 22: Away With Such a Fellow From the Earth
22. AWAY WITH SUCH A FELLOW FROM THE EARTH, — τοιοῦτον, that is, such a one, namely Paul as an apostate and a foe of his own nation.
Verse 23: Casting Off Their Garments, and Throwing Dust Into the Air
23. CASTING OFF THEIR GARMENTS, AND THROWING DUST INTO THE AIR. — First, as a sign of fierce anger and detestation, in that they curse Paul's words, says Lyranus; second, that they may, as it were by force, extort from the tribune a sentence of Paul's condemnation; so Chrysostom; third, that they may signify that Paul is a disturber not only of the earth, but also of the air and of heaven, says Cajetan; fourth, as a sign of fury and of turbulence: for this is a sign, indeed an image and beginning, of sedition and battle. So Dionysius. But the Interlinear Gloss judges this sign to have been one of mourning. Fifth, Sanchez says, that they may signify that Paul ought to be overwhelmed with stones by the tribune as a blasphemer and despiser of religion: for in stonings the garment is laid aside, and stones are cast, of which the best image is the winnowing of dust: for Paul was in the crowd and within the precincts of the temple, where he could not be assailed with stones. For these stones therefore they cast dust, to indicate that they would be the first to throw stones at him, when it should be allowed, as he himself once had done through his own followers against Stephen, as he himself here narrates; that the one whom he persecuted in guilt might follow him in punishment.
Morally: these furies of the Jews vexed themselves, not Paul. For, as St. Augustine teaches on that passage of Ps. XCVI: Fire shall go before Him, and shall inflame His enemies round about: "Fury torments the soul of the furious one more than the body of the sufferer." And elsewhere: "Cursing and evil-doing, repelled by patience, return upon their author, the one who was attacked being unharmed." Furthermore Paul contended with fury by love, just as a physician is not irritated by the reproaches and blows of a frenzied man, but is rather moved to pity and to his cure. For he knows him to be frenzied, that is, not master of himself and of a mind not sound but insane. He therefore attributes the reproaches to the frenzy, not to the man.
Verse 24: The Tribune Commanded Him to Be Brought Into the Camp; And to Be Beaten and Tortured With Scourges
24. THE TRIBUNE COMMANDED HIM TO BE BROUGHT INTO THE CAMP, — into the citadel of Antonia, where the garrison of the Romans was, as I said in the preceding chapter, v. 34. For Paul was standing on the steps of the citadel, addressing the people who stood within at the steps: therefore he is ordered to be brought into the citadel, lest the rioting people should attack Paul, and through Paul perhaps assault the citadel.
AND TO BE BEATEN AND TORTURED WITH SCOURGES. — The Syriac and Greek: that he might be interrogated, or examined, by scourges. The tribune here acts unjustly toward Paul: for it was not lawful, on account of the fury of the rioting people, to condemn Paul to torture and scourges. So Chrysostom. Whence Paul rightly takes exception and exempts himself from these things. For, as Luke says,
Verse 25: When They Had Bound Him With Thongs; Is It Lawful to Scourge a Roman and Uncondemned?
25. AND WHEN THEY HAD BOUND HIM WITH THONGS, — to a stake or column, just as Christ was bound to a column while He was being scourged, which is religiously preserved and visited at Rome in the church of St. Praxedis. St. Ignatius, as Antonius reports in the Melissa, part II, serm. 89, used to say: "When you are beaten, stand firmly like an anvil. It is the part of a generous athlete to be beaten and yet conquer: but above all, all things must be endured by us for God, that He also may endure us." Thus Paul stood here like an anvil to be hammered for Christ.
PAUL SAID TO THE STANDING-BY (ἐφεστῶτι, that is, to him pressing on, standing over, as one who was in charge of Paul's torture and scourging) CENTURION: IS IT LAWFUL FOR YOU TO SCOURGE A MAN WHO IS A ROMAN AND UNCONDEMNED? — He brings two charges against them. The first, that they would scourge a Roman citizen; the second, that they would scourge an uncondemned man. See what is said in ch. XVI, v. 37. Paul said this, not because he was fleeing scourges for Christ, in which he gloried; but lest this disgrace should be carried over upon the faith and religion of Christ, as if Christians were to be scourged and exterminated. Again, he was advising the tribune not to wound his conscience by this iniquity and offend God, and at the same time he taught judges not to oppress the simple and the poor for the favor of the powerful, mindful that God, the Judge of judges, would be their avenger. For, as the Psalmist says: "To You is the poor man left, You will be the helper of the orphan."
Verse 28: I Obtained This Citizenship With a Great Sum; I Was Born
28. I OBTAINED THIS CITIZENSHIP WITH A GREAT SUM, — as if to say: I procured and bought the right of Roman citizenship, or to be reckoned a Roman citizen, with much money. The Greek πολιτεία signifies both civitas (city/citizenship) and civilitas. For just as from πολιτεία comes πολίτης, so from civitas comes civis. Whence some manuscripts here read civitatem, that is, the right of citizenship, the right of citizens. Thus the Jurisconsults say that something is done civiliter, that is, by civil or civic law; likewise that a civil action is given, that civil offices are sought, etc. Civilitas therefore does not here signify urbanity and elegance of manners, which is opposed to rusticity; nor again social intercourse among citizens, or the administration of the republic, as Bede holds; but the right of citizenship, by which one became a partaker of the privileges of Rome, or of the prerogatives which Roman citizens enjoyed: among which was one, that they could not be beaten with rods or led to the cross; for which reason, when St. Peter was crucified at Rome, St. Paul, as a Roman citizen, was not crucified, but beheaded.
Furthermore, the rights and privileges of Roman citizens were many and great, which Brissonius enumerates in bk. I of the Antiquities of Civil Law, ch. XIII. The first was: From the wills of Roman citizens only citizens received inheritance, and only the wills of citizens of Rome were held valid. The second: Just marriages were contracted only among citizens of Rome. Whence Seneca, bk. IV On Benefits, ch. XXXV: "I promised you," he says, "my daughter in marriage: afterwards you turned out to be a peregrinus (so was called one who was not a citizen); I have no marriage right with a stranger." The third: Over their children they had the right of paternal authority, and this was peculiar to them. The fourth: It was not lawful that citizens should be beaten with rods, or led to the cross, or, without the people's command, that punishment should be inflicted on them. The fifth: In the legions none served as soldiers but those who had received citizenship. The sixth: Only citizens were permitted to hold honors at Rome, to cast a vote, and to wear the toga: for it was not lawful for foreigners to be clothed in the toga, but in the pallium. For the toga was the most certain sign of a Roman man. Thus in Livy P. Scipio is brought into envy by Q. Fabius on this account, that in Sicily he had worn the pallium. Hence also to kings whom they called friends and allies, among other things they sent the toga as a gift, and gave to friendly peoples the right of the toga, which was granted to New Carthage, Tertullian indicates this in the book On the Pallium. Hence the name Toga-clad Gaul (Gallia Togata), which Tacitus, in bk. XI, records as having both aspired to honors and had the right of voting in the city. So says Brissonius, who also adds that it was permitted to Roman citizens alone to be distinguished by praenomina.
Morally, if it is of so great worth, and is bought at so great a price, to be a Roman citizen, how much greater is it to be a citizen of heaven, and at what a price is the heavenly city to be procured, that we may be fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God. For, as the Apostle says: "You are come to mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the Church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens," etc. Hebr. XII, 23.
I WAS BORN, — not in the city of Rome, but of a father and homeland endowed with Roman citizenship. For Tarsus, where Paul was born, had obtained this privilege and right of Roman citizenship, as Pliny implies, bk. V, ch. XXVII, and Dio Cassius, bk. XLVII. See Baronius. Of Paul therefore, as it were her own citizen, let Rome and the Romans glory, inasmuch as she has had no more illustrious citizen, nor will she have one.
Verse 30: He Loosed Him; Bringing Paul Forth; Wishing to Know More Diligently
HE LOOSED HIM, — as if honoring a Roman citizen, and compensating with this favor and benefit the chains previously and unjustly put upon him. If a citizen of earth is so honored, how must a citizen of heaven be honored? If no one harms that one with impunity, who would dare to touch this one? "Touch not My anointed ones," says God in Ps. CIV. Thus God punished Pharaoh and all Egypt because of one Sarah, Abraham's wife, snatched from him, Gen. XII; and King Abimelech because of the same one carried off, Gen. XX. He destroyed the Shechemites for the violation of Dinah, Gen. XXXIV. He nearly abolished the tribe of Benjamin for the rape inflicted on the Levite's wife, Judges XX.
BRINGING PAUL FORTH, — καταγαγών, that is, bringing him down, namely from the tower of Antonia into the place of the council, which was lower down and in the temple. For there was the place of the Sanhedrin, or great Council of the leading men of Judaea, as is gathered from I Chron. XXVI, 45; for the tribune wished Paul, as a Jew, in a Jewish dispute to plead his case before the leading senators of Judaea, yet so that he himself should direct and moderate the whole proceeding, as it were prefect and president of the council, in the name of the Roman Emperor: whence also in the next chapter, v. 10, he snatched Paul away, lest he be killed by them. For which reason it is more likely that this council was assembled by him not in its accustomed place in the temple (for it was not lawful for the tribune, as a Gentile, to enter it), but in the lower part of the citadel, lest Paul be snatched away by the Jews and killed, as he remembered had a little before been done and almost completed in the temple. So Sanchez.
30. WISHING TO KNOW MORE DILIGENTLY, — τὸ ἀσφαλές, that is, wishing to know with certainty: so the Tigurine and others.