This chapter opens with Paul addressing the crowd after they tried to beat him and (I would guess) kill him. Back near the beginning I said that this Pharisee was important. His name was Gamaliel. He was the one that told the others on the council to just let the disciples of Jesus do what they were going to do. If it was of God, they did not want to be fighting against it, and if the Gospel was not from God, then it would fizzle out. Wise man. He was Paul’s mentor… so how did Paul miss this part? Guess the Holy Spirit is better at his job that I would be. JPaul describes his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. He describes how he had to integrate into the church community. He then tells the people here in Jerusalem that God sent him to go preach to the Gentiles. At this point, people freak out and start taking off their robes as if he spoke blasphemy, and the threw things at him.
It looks like the Romans were clueless as to why Paul was getting such a reaction from the crowd, so they drag him inside to have him whipped. The thinking here is that Paul might confess his crimes under pain. Paul has one card left to play though. He is a Roman citizen, and he has the right to a trial before punishment. The soldiers back off very quickly when they see that they almost beat a man protected by Roman law.
So Paul avoids a beating, but we also see how valuable it was to be a Roman citizen in that time in history. People paid a lot of money to be a citizen, while Paul was born into it. Now Paul goes before the Jewish council.
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