Family

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

FAMILY

Acts 23:16-22

16 But when the son of Paul's sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him." 18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, "Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you." 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, "What is it you want to tell me?" 20 He said: "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21 Don't give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request." 22 The commander dismissed the young man and cautioned him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me."

NIV

So we now have the son of Paul’s sister, Paul, one of the centurions, and the commander in a plot to disrupt a plot to kill Paul by some forty Jews. Of course the centurion and the commander are Roman citizens as is Paul. This appears to be the primary reason they all are determined to stop this plot to kill Paul. Certainly we can understand the son of Paul’s sister, or his nephew not wanting to see his uncle murdered.  Although we are not told, we should most likely think Paul had shared the gospel with his sister and her son, his nephew. Family certainly would have been a priority to Paul in his efforts of bringing others to Christ. It also would appear family comes first when one is in danger. Certainly Paul’s nephew thought of the possibility of being found out about his informing the Romans about the plot and thus putting his own life in danger. What we see here is multiple types of family trying to protect the other. Family that comes from blood relationship, family that comes from being co-heirs with Christ, and family that comes from being citizens of Rome. This last one could also be seen as fellow citizens which could also mean co-heirs with Christ, in the sense that we are fellow citizens of heaven, or the kingdom of God. The point here is that no matter what type of family we belong to we should take our stand to protect them from danger. Family comes first, whether that is a family by blood, a family of choice, such as a spouse, a family of faith in Christ, we are members of a family and that means we support and protect them at all costs if they are facing danger. Now perhaps that should apply even if they are not in danger, but it certainly should be how it is when they are in danger. We might also note that the commander told Paul’s nephew to remain silent about this information. Of course this was to keep those who were plotting against Paul unaware of his knowledge of their plot. But we could take away another truth in that although we do what we do to protect others, we do it in silence. This is not something we have to inform everyone about what we did. We serve one another without beating our chests, building ourselves up. We simply do what has to be done to protect family and we do it in silence.