“Paul argued in his defense, ‘Neither against the Law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.’”
- Acts 25:8
Paul is still being held in prison, well, not the worst of prisons as his friends can still come and tend to him, but a prison nonetheless. It’s been years. Without any advancement in his case and he and the church would never pay a bribe to get him released. 1) That’s not how justice should work, and 2) if the Jews in Jerusalem found out they would most likely send a hunting party after Paul.
So Paul has been questioned probably hundreds of times and yet nothing has changed. He has probably shared the gospel with hundreds of people even while in prison, and yet there is no change of heart by the guards or leadership (that we know of at least). Things have been stagnant for years.
Paul, in chapter 25 of Acts, comes to be on trial again, this time under Festus, and soon under Agrippa (see chapter 26). Yet for now, Paul makes a simple defense… He has done no wrong according to the Mosaic Law, or the Jewish Temple, or even under Roman law. At this point, the Tribunal, whether that be Felix or Festus, should have done the just thing and released him. Yet, because they have continued this injustice and been indecisive about his case, Paul appeals to Caesar, utilizing a right he has as a Roman citizen by birth. This, if approved will take his case directly to the hearing of the Roman Emperor… Nero.
Offensive Christianity:
Paul remains in the right in everything he has done to this point. Committing no sin that would keep him from being a leading apostle of the faith, or seen a respectable in the eyes of the Roman Authorities. Jews only hate him because they perceive the followers of the Way as a cult leading Jews astray, which they are mistaken. My point is this, Paul has not necessarily been offensive. He’s never really broken a law, never intentionally caused an uproar, and would leave places that rejected his message of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
In some ways though, many of us live offensively. As in we commit sins or live in ways that contrast what we believe. We break our creeds, we bend the Bible, and we disobey the laws of our land (have you ever sped or missed a stop sign, I have).
Sometimes these are sins or offenses of ignorance. We didn’t know what we were doing was necessarily wrong because we don’t know enough about our Creed. When we are ignorant about our theology, we can live in contrast to how we should. It’s times like this when we are labeled hypocrites. We believe one thing, but our lives reflect something else, but if someone else dares do not live up to OUR creed, they are sinners, but we merely make a mistake. Right? That’s how we seem to go about it. Somehow we minimize our ignorance while making the sins of others grand. In doing so we dethrone the Son of Righteousness and sit in His place.
Other times we weaponize Scripture. We speak of judgment without getting to the good news of the Kingdom. We might speak of sin and wrath without mention of grace and compassion. We pin people against paper and ink that they don’t even believe to be true, while rarely looking at the mirror that the Bible holds up to us. Then we justify our crudeness and offensiveness because “we are upholding the truth.” Yet, what about upholding love? Does Christ not teach us to love first God with all that we are and then to love our neighbors and enemies? OUR ENEMIES! But we sit more contently if those enemies stay outside our camps and don’t see our own brokenness.
Then the law of the land comes into play, and our wicked hearts have a hay day because surely our authorities and policies are meant to be bent and broken. We’ll justify our means if our motives were in the right place. Paul said he did nothing wrong against the Roman Law and was willing to answer to Nero, the craziest emperor and most violent to Christians. We should just as much be willing to obey and listen to our authorities, no matter how much we disagree, and consider them not acting in our best interest, or even totalitarian.
Here’s my point in going so far as to say all that… If we come to the point of being put in prisons for the sake of the Gospel, we should be ready to claim we are blameless according to our Creeds, our Bible, and the law/authorities of the land.
Of course, there is one exception to this, if it becomes illegal to share the gospel or to live out our faith purely, then we may disregard those specific laws. For those laws would lead us to sin or part ways with our faith directly or indirectly.
This would be like Daniel who still prayed to God three times a day after the Babylonian king outlawed it. Or Daniel’s friends who refused to bow to the golden statue of the king. Their situations were quite extreme though. Sometimes its simply our bosses or systems simply do not want us discussing faith. In those situations, we should try to creatively seek other means to talk faith and the gospel before outright disobedience.
We should try to the best we can to live in clear conscience so that our lives give no reason to look down upon our faith or message. To live in such a way we can make Paul’s simple defense when our faith does come at odds with the system. We have done no wrong according to our beliefs or the laws and rules above us.
Final Blessing:
A lot of this is hard and I am simply presenting my processing of the book of Acts and how I believe the Lord is leading me. I admit this world is a lot more complicated than some of these simple principles of life drawn from Scripture. I encourage you to use discernment as I also try to. As for me, I hope to be able to make a simple defense if my faith is ever the reason I am at odds with the State.
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breathe, and every heartbeat of your journey.
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