Laws

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

LAWS

Acts 16:35-40

35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men." 36 The jailer told Paul, "The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace." 37 But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out." 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.   39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.

NIV

It does seem a little strange that Paul and Silas did not mention they were Roman citizens before when they were before the magistrate when he had ordered them stripped and beaten and thrown in jail, when now they make it known. Were they wanting everyone to know the reason for their mistreatment was for the sake of the gospel? What was the purpose of withholding their Roman citizenship until now? We may never know, but what we do know is that Paul and Silas wanted them to realize how irrationally the officials and the magistrate behaved, doing what they did without finding all the facts. Paul and Silas did not want to go quietly into the night, allowing everyone to think poorly of them or more importantly of their message. If they had simply vanished as requested the people of the town would always think poorly of them, so they wanted to add the value of their Roman citizenship to their message. This must have meant something special, and gave them rights that were violated as the magistrate was now very worried and tried to appease them. What life lesson can we take away from all this? Certainly we should act within the law of our land, as Paul was making the point these people did not act in accordance with the law, punishing them without hearing their case. When we act outside the law, doing that which is not permitted by the law, we take away the value of our message. If we are persecuted unjustly because of our message, we should know our rights under the law, but if we break the law while proclaiming the message, what rights do we have? It would seem Paul and Silas wanted all to know they were innocent men with a good message from God. If our message is to be of value we need to be innocent within the law. That is not to say those who have broken the law, and are imprisoned cannot be saved and from then on have a valued message. But the point is, as the scripture declares to us, we need to abide within the law, so our message can ring true within the hearts of all.