Aug. 09, 2026

Last week we ended with Paul speaking to the crowd at the Temple and the crowd exploding into a riot with the mention of the word “Gentiles”. This week we pickup in Chapter 22 and verse 25 and Paul reveals his Roman citizenship to the commander.

Acts Lesson 34 Study Questions

1.    As they bound him with thongs: Paul had his hands tied with leather straps so his hands joined around a wooden pole and his back was totally exposed. He was ready for a brutal _______, one that would not stop until he _________ to the crimes he was suspected of.

2.    Paul was an extremely rare individual. It was uncommon to find such an educated, intelligent, devout Jew who was also a Roman citizen. God would use this unique ___________ to use Paul in a special way, even as he wants to use your unique background to use you in a _________ way.

3.    And commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them: Paul received what he probably thought of as a dramatic ________ chance. The opportunity to preach to the mob on the temple mount ended in another riot, but he would speak before the __________ (their council) the next day.

4.    Men and brethren: According to William Barclay, this address meant that Paul was ______ in speaking to the council, setting himself on an ______ footing with them. The normal style of address was to say, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel.”

5.    to strike him on the mouth: No matter what his motive was, “This order was ________, for the Jewish law said, ‘He who strikes the cheek of one Israelite, strikes as it were the ______ of God,’ and ‘He that strikes a man strikes the Holy One.’” (Hughes)

6.    God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! We wish we knew how Paul said these words. It would have helped to hear Paul’s _____ of voice; was it an outburst of anger, or was it a calm, collected _______ with that much more weight to it?

7.    One part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees: Paul’s course was to ________ the Sanhedrin among their party lines – to make one side (the Pharisees) sympathetic to him, instead of having them _______ against him.

8.    When he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided: Paul picked the right ______. Framed in these terms, he immediately gained the Pharisees as an ______, and he let them argue it out with the Sadducees.

9.    Paul’s clever ploy rescued him from the council, but he could not have been happy with the result. He had the opportunity to _______ to a huge crowd of attentive Jews on the temple mount and it ended in failure. Then he had the opportunity to _______ to the influential Jewish council, and it also ended in a fistfight.

10.    But the following night: It was in the darkness of that night when the ______ came upon Paul; when his trust in God seemed to falter; when he worried about what God was going to do and if he was going to make it. It was in the darkness of that night that ______ came to Paul and stood by him.

11.    Be of good cheer, Paul: Jesus was not only with Paul; He gave him words of ________. The words be of good cheer tell us that the night brought with it an emotional and perhaps spiritual darkness upon Paul. Jesus was there to cheer His faithful ________ after he had spent himself for Jesus’ sake.

12.    For as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome: Jesus remembered what Paul had done in __________, and told Paul that there remained more work for him to do in ______.