0423 A CLEAR CONSCIENCE AND A STRATEGY

HAVING A CLEAR CONSCIENCE

Paul, the Pharisee formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, stands before the Jewish high council with the leading priests. 

Paul knows about the high council. He was friends with several of them, studied under at least one of them, and he knows what this meeting is all about. He knows intimately what the Sadducees and the Pharisees believe, and what is of highest importance to them. Now the question is, who does Paul want to be the center of this trial? Is it him? Or is it Jesus?

So Paul decides on a strategy. He needs to establish that he is just as much on God’s side being a Christian as he had been when he was a Christ-persecuting Pharisee. His motive has always been to obey and serve God. That has remained the same, even though his opinion about Christ and his followers has made a radical reversal. He makes a declaration before the Jewish high council. 

“Gazing intently at the high council, Paul began: “Brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience!””

That was a controversial statement, because Paul’s days B.C.  were very different from after he knew the Lord. For his words, the high priest has him slapped on the mouth. How could he possibly have a clear conscience after becoming a Christ follower? After all, it is those Christians who are undermining the Jewish faith.

Time to cut to the chase. Less than a minute later, Saul makes this statement, and it brings even MORE tension and anger in the room: Paul shouts, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, as were my ancestors! And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead!””

‭‭Wellsir, them are  fightin’ words in the Jewish community, because there is a strong division among the leaders of the movement. The Pharisees say, “Maybe God really DID show Himself to this Brother.” But the Sadducees believe that God does none of those spiritual things beyond the physical realm. Angels, afterlife, demons, the whole lot seems kind of like superstitions and wishful thinking to the Sadducees. And that’s why they are sad, you see?

Judaism was something like America today: we have red states and blue states. And various incidents serve to reinforce each group’s already-perceived ideas. The miracles from Jesus, and now from his followers, would not convince a Sadducee that Jesus was the Messiah, because they would explain it away. And the resurrection is the most unbelievable of all. 

So, the argument quickly escalates, the benches empty and the players rush the field to join in a no-rules game of capture the flag, with Paul as the flag. The Roman guards recognize that this is dangerous for their prisoner, so they rush in to rescue Paul and bring him out to safety.

What was accomplished by those two declarations of Paul? Did any of the Jewish leaders change their minds about Jesus? Had Paul made Jesus the center of the conversation? I don’t think anyone in that room changed their position about Christ. On the other hand, maybe the bigger strategy wasn’t to stand trial in Jerusalem—again. 

That night the Lord appears to Paul and lets him know that just as he has been a witness to Jesus in Jerusalem, so he must preach the good news in Rome as well.

So perhaps Paul’s strategy was to leverage his local trial into one that will enable him to share the good news with those who are high up in the Roman government. Sure enough, that’s what happened. Though Paul was a prisoner, he was going to testify before the most powerful people in the known world, and he did it by having his case brought before a higher court.

Later, we find Paul writing to the Philippians (4:22) that “the members of Caesar’s household” are sending their greetings to the church. Paul spent a long time under house arrest in Rome, which gave him access to the servants and family members of Caesar himself.

After all, Paul never had cared about his own safety, but only that Christ is preached. May you and I be so committed to the cause of Christ. Amen.