Acts 22:1-21 Paul speaks to the Jews in Hebrew and Aramaic from the top of the steps outside the Antonia Fortress. He tells the story of his early life to the crowd, and how he persecuted the followers of ‘the Way’ (the early name for the followers of Jesus).
When he tells them that the risen Lord Jesus – “the Righteous One” (another name for the Christ or Messiah) (Acts 22:14) – appeared to him and sent him to preach to the Gentiles, the Jews explode in uproar. (See the feature on Who was the Messiah? in Chapter 2.)
The Convent of the Flagellation on the site of the Antonia Fortress (Acts 21:34)
Acts 22:22-30 The Roman commander orders Paul to be taken into the Antonia Fortress, flogged and questioned. As the soldiers prepare to flog him, Paul reveals to the centurion that he is a Roman citizen (and therefore cannot be flogged or imprisoned under Roman law without a fair trial).
The commander is alarmed when he realises that he has put Paul – a Roman citizen – in chains. So, the next day, he releases Paul and orders the Jewish council (the Sanhedrin) to appear before him in the courtyard outside the fortress.
Acts 23:1-11 Paul addresses the Sanhedrin and causes uproar between the Pharisees (who believe in bodily resurrection after death) and the Sadducees (who don’t believe in any form of resurrection).
The dispute becomes so violent that the Roman commander orders his soldiers to arrest Paul on a charge of public disorder and bring him into the fortress for his own safety. Jesus appears to Paul in a dream and tells him that he will testify for his risen Lord in Rome.
Acts 23:12-22 The Jews plan to kill Paul, but Paul’s nephew reports this to Paul, and then repeats the details of the plot to the Roman commander, Claudius Lysias.
Acts 23:23-32 Paul is transferred under the cover of darkness to Antipatris (a Greek city with few Jews, built by Herod the Great and named after his father, Antipater), and then travels on with an armed cavalry guard to the Roman’s Judaean headquarters at Caesarea (see 1 on Map 26).
Map 26 Paul's Journey to Rome