Acts 22: Paul's unshakable defence
‘Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defence.’
Acts 22:1
When thinking about the contrast between this deep rooted faith and the alternative, I thought of Ephesians 4:14, where Paul writes about infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. But when I looked up the passage, I realised that I wanted to draw on more than just that line. I have set out Ephesians 4:11-16 below:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:11-16
Rudyard Kipling's famous poem If starts like this:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
And make allowance for their doubting to;
It's a very beautiful poem that, like so much of literature, reflects in part the glory of God. But, like so much of literature, the message is distorted. We see something beautiful, but when we read the Bible we realise that it's only partially right. Well, some may feel that these words describe Paul in the Acts 22 (and indeed in many other passages). We learned in Acts 21 that the crowd were certainly 'losing their heads', and that Paul was very much getting the blame. But Paul keeps his head - and here in Acts 22 sets forth his defence. He has full trust in his message - it's why he's able to keep his head - but he makes allowances for the doubts of his hearers, speaking to them in their own language and taking them on his journey with them. But there's one part from the lines I quoted above that certainly doesn't fit - because Paul doesn't trust himself - he trusts God.
Paul recounts his conversion that we read about in Acts 10. His testimony does not rest alone on the voice he heard that was unheard by his companions, but the blinding light, and the vision and testimony of Ananias, and the restoring of his, Paul's, sight. With all this as background, including the complete turning around of his life from persecutor of Christians to a follower of Christ, he recounts God's command to go and preach to the Gentiles (this being one of his opponents' bugbears). This is why Paul is so confident - unswayed from his task, keeping his head when all around him are losing theirs and blaming it on him. God himself has spoken - and this God is no minor deity in a pantheon of conflicting forces, or one whose love, attention or power is dependant on our works or devotion, but the creator of the universe, the beginning and end, Yahweh.
When thinking about the contrast between this deep rooted faith and the alternative, I thought of Ephesians 4:14, where Paul writes about infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. But when I looked up the passage, I realised that I wanted to draw on more than just that line. I have set out Ephesians 4:11-16 below:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:11-16
In the first line of If, Kipling refers to keeping one's head. Now I sincerely doubt that he meant any more than the common way in which the phrase is used, but Ephesians 4:15 refers to a different type of head - that is, Christ. As suggested by the giving of teaching ministries (the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers) this starts with a knowledge of the truth. But it's more than that - it's about being rooted in Christ - attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. It's about remaining in him (see John 15) - being connected, with Christ at our head. Those around us will lose their heads, and blame it on us. Trusting in ourselves is bound to fail, but having Christ at our head will never fail.
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