टीका वर्तमान में केवल अंग्रेज़ी में उपलब्ध है। हिन्दी अनुवाद प्रगति पर है।
Acts 22 — Saul, Brother Saul, Receive Thy Sight
From the stairs of the castle, Paul speaks Hebrew to the mob. He tells his story — born in Tarsus, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, persecutor of this way. The Damascus road; the voice; Ananias; the commission to the Gentiles. At the word Gentiles the crowd erupts — away with such a fellow from the earth. The chief captain prepares to scourge; Paul reveals his Roman citizenship; the captain is afraid. The next day the chief priests and council are convened.
“And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.”
— Acts 22:14-15
- v.1-5 Paul's pedigree
- v.6-16 The Damascus road retold
- v.17-21 The temple vision; sent to the Gentiles
- v.22-30 Roman citizenship halts the scourging
His witness... of what thou hast seen and heard. Christian witness rests on personal encounter with what Christ has done. Paul will preach Christ from his own experience and from the Scriptures, joined.
Unto all men. The scope is universal. The Gentile commission was given at the very beginning, before the crowd that will refuse to hear it at verse 22.
Why tarriest thou? Ananias presses for prompt obedience. Conversion that knows what to do should not wait. The chosen man should rise, be baptized, call on the name.
Wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. The cleansing is not from the water but from the calling — Romans 10:13 is foreshadowed. Baptism is the outward act; faith's appeal to Christ's name is the heart of it.
The word that lost the crowd was Gentiles (v.21). They had listened patiently to the testimony; the implication that God had sent Paul to non-Jews was the breaking point.
Ethnic exclusivism is shown to be a deeper instinct than persecution endurance. They could bear the threat of Roman occupation but not the suggestion that God loved their occupiers. The cross of nationalism falls at the gospel of grace to all nations.
Verse 16's urgency is the urgency every convert needs. Why tarriest thou? When you have seen the truth, do not let the seeing dissolve into delay. Be baptized; call on His name; obey the next step. Tarrying after light has been given is its own kind of darkness. Rise.
Paul tells his conversion story to a crowd that knows the road, the city, the temple. At the center is Christ — the Just One he was sent to see and hear, the One whose voice stopped him in his tracks. The chapter ends with the crowd rejecting Christ in the form of His Gentile commission. The same Jesus who appeared to Paul on the Damascus road would arrange every step of his journey to Rome through this rejection.
Ananias's summary of Paul's call. Three things — to know God's will, to see the Just One, to hear His voice. Conversion is not a moment of decision only; it is the opening of the will, the eyes, and the ears.
That Just One. Christ in His vindicated righteousness. Paul saw the One the council had judged unjust and was reoriented around Him forever.