Acts 28:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He defended them so that no one would think that everything that had happened was their doing. Of course, the report had spread that he had been delivered up by the Jews, and this could move them.

Therefore he immediately turns his attention to this and speaks meekly in his own defense. See with what words he expresses his defense: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against the people or the customs of our fathers, I was delivered in chains from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.”

After three days Paul called together the chief men of the Jews. When they had assembled, he spoke to them. But they do not agree with him.

Having heard his rebuke, they depart, not daring to say anything, since here they were no longer permitted to do anything against him.

It is marvelous how everything turns to our good. This includes not only what seems to serve our security, but also what is contrary to it. To be convinced of this, listen to the following.

Pharaoh ordered the infants to be cast into the river (Ex 1:22). If the infants had not been cast in, and if there had been no such command of Pharaoh, Moses would not have been preserved.

Nor would he have been raised in the royal chambers. When he was hidden, he was not held in honor. But when he was placed in the river, then he came into honor.

God did this to reveal His power and wisdom. The Jew spoke threateningly to Moses: “Do you intend to kill me?” (Ex 2:14). Yet even this brought him benefit.

It happened according to God’s ordering, so that he might be counted worthy of the vision in the wilderness, so that the proper time might be fulfilled, and so that he might philosophize in solitude and live in safety.

The same was true in all the afflictions caused him by the Jews. He became still more glorious, just as happened also with Aaron. They rose up against him, but through this they made him more glorious.

See Num 16. After this he is adorned with the priestly garment. The turban and the other parts of the vesture are placed upon him, so that his consecration becomes beyond doubt.

After this he becomes an object of wonder through his bronze plate. However, you know this history, so I shall not expand on it further. If you wish, let us turn still farther back. [...]

The three youths were cast into the furnace, but through this they became more glorious. Daniel was cast into the pit, but through this he became more renowned. See Dan 3:6.

Do you see how temptations always serve for great good, not only there but also here? In misfortune, it is as though someone were to fight fire with a reed.

He seems to strike the fire, but he makes it brighter and wears himself out. So also misfortune becomes for virtue a cause and occasion of its glorification.

When, amid the injustice of others, we entrust ourselves to God’s governance as we ought, then our virtues shine more clearly. Likewise, when the devil acts, those subjected to his action become brighter.

At his first meeting with the Roman Jews, the apostle tries beforehand to remove the prejudice he assumes they have toward him. This prejudice could have been planted in them by the hostile attitude of the Jews in Jerusalem toward him, which ended in his chains. It could also have come from his appeal to the judgment of the Roman pagan authority. Finally, it could have come from slanders against him, by letter or orally, from unbelieving Jews in the regions where he had already preached the Gospel, from Jerusalem as far as Corinth.

Therefore the apostle first affirms that he suffers innocently. The hostile attack upon him by the Jews in Jerusalem was unjust, for he had done nothing against the people or the customs of the fathers. This innocence of his was attested by the representative of Roman authority in Judea. Finding in him no guilt worthy of death, he had wished to release him.

The Jews themselves are also guilty of the fact that the apostle now stands before Caesar's judgment. It is true that the apostle himself demanded this judgment over himself. Yet he did so only because, when the procurator wished to release him as wholly innocent, the Jews opposed it. They demanded that the procurator hand the apostle over to them for their own judgment (Acts 25:7-12).

But, says the apostle, I demanded judgment from Caesar not in order to accuse my people of anything. I did it only to avoid a wholly undeserved condemnation from the Jews. This would inevitably have followed if he had been handed over to their judgment.

For this reason, the apostle says in conclusion, since I neither formerly did anything against my people, and in particular against you, nor now harbor any hostility toward you, I have called you to see you and speak with you. For I am bound with these chains for the hope of Israel, not because of enmity against Israel. I am not your enemy, but your friend.

The apostle tried in every way to make them understand that he had by no means intended to set the Roman authority against his own people. The cause of his chains was faith in the fulfillment of that messianic hope which all Israel cherished.

This first conversation with them bears a purely personal character. It is, as it were, the apostle's self-defense before the Jews. Its aim is to remove the prejudices of the Roman Jews against the apostle. Such prejudices could have arisen partly from the apostle's imprisonment in general, partly from his appeal to Caesar's judgment, and partly from various slanders against him by his constant enemies, the unbelieving Jews. They could have communicated unfavorable reports about him to the Jews of the capital of the world, both in writing and orally.

For this reason the apostle first affirms that he is in chains innocently. He has committed no offense either against the people, against the customs of the fathers, or against the Law of Moses. He was turning the people to the Messiah, and he saw the Law of Moses fulfilled in Christ (Mt 5:17). If he spoke or taught against the Law, it was properly against the thought of justification by the Law of Moses alone. This follows necessarily from a right understanding of the Kingdom of the Messiah (see the note on Acts 24:14). Thus he was innocently delivered in chains into the hands of the secular Gentile government.

Second, the apostle explains his appeal to Caesar's judgment by the undeserved hatred of the Jerusalem Jews toward him. They sought his condemnation, although the Roman court of the Jewish procurator recognized him as innocent and wished to release him. Therefore he was compelled to submit himself to Caesar's judgment.

According to Saint John Chrysostom, "Paul acts well and rightly in inviting the leading men of the Jews for conversation. He wished to justify both himself and others. He justified himself, so that they would not accuse him, which could harm them. He justified them, so that no one would think that all that had happened was their doing. For, of course, the rumor had spread that he had been handed over by the Jews, and this could move them. Therefore he gives attention to this at once and speaks briefly in his own defense."