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The Trials of Jesus and Paul

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2015

Earl Schwartz
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Extract

It is a thousand miles from the coast of the land of Israel to the city of Rome, over the sea that is called in both Hebrew and Latin, “the Sea In-Between.” The closing chapters of the book of Acts tell of the Apostle Paul's journey over that sea, from Caesarea to Rome, around the year 60 C.E. By this time, of course, Paul had made many journeys in his life: from Tarsus to Jerusalem, Jerusalem to Damascus, to Ephesus, Athens, Corinth and numerous other cities east of Rome. At the conclusion of his Epistle to the Romans, Paul mentions that he planned to visit Rome as well, on his way to Spain. But as best we can tell, when Paul did finally come to Rome, his wanderings ended, for he came as a prisoner, and it was in Rome, according to Church tradition, that he was eventually put to death.

In the book of Acts, the portrayal of the events leading up to Paul's journey to Rome—its description of his arrest and subsequent appearances before various courts and authorities—is clearly reminiscent of the Gospel descriptions of Jesus' arrest and execution approximately thirty years earlier. In both accounts, we read of disturbances in the Temple, crowds of angry Jews calling for an innocent victim's death, his arrest and confrontations with both Jewish and Roman authorities, and acknowledgement by representatives of Rome of the victim's innocence. However, the conditions surrounding the two series of events suggest two very different historical moments. And Paul's response to those who would sit in judgment of him, and to the jurisdictions they represented, at least as recorded in Acts, suggests a sea of difference between Paul's outlook and that of his Lord.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , 1992 , pp. 501 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 1992

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References

1. Rom. 15:23-24.

2. Mark 14:55-64.

3. Matt. 26:59-64.

4. Luke 23:2. On the question of Jesus' attitude towards the payment of tribute see infra note 7.

5. Mark 15:2; Matt. 27:11; Luke 23:25; John 18:28-33.

6. Cohn, H., The Trial and Death of Jesus (1971)Google Scholar.

7. Prefect, it has been suggested, was Pilate's proper title. Meier, , A Marginal Jew 8 (1991)Google Scholar.

8. Brandon, S., The Trial of Jesus of Nazareth 100 (1968)Google Scholar.

9. The “Render unto Caesar” tradition cannot be understood as counseling acquiescence in the face of Roman rule. Note, for example, the comment attributed to R. Eleazar b. Y'hudah of Bartotha (c. late first and early second century): “Give to Him what is His, for you and yours are his, for it is written concerning David, ‘For all things come from you, and what we have given you is your own’” (I Chron. 29:14). See also S. Brandon, supra note 8, at 67.

10. Gandhi, M., Non-Violent Resistance 170 (1961)Google Scholar. Earlier Gandhi had written, “I submit that national non-cooperation requires suspension of their practice by lawyers. Perhaps no one cooperates with a government more than lawyers through its Law Courts. Lawyers interpret laws to the people and thus support authority.… So when the nation wishes to paralyze the Government, that profession, if it wishes to help the nation to bend the government to its will, must suspend practice.” Id. 142-43.

11. Gilbert, M., Shcharansky: Hero of our Time 267–68 (1986)Google Scholar.

12. II Cor. 11:24.

13. Acts 18:12-17.

14. On the variant reading of “Judeans” rather than “Jews” in Acts 21:20 and its significance, see infra note 19.

15. Acts 22:28.

16. The plot to ambush Paul on the way to Jerusalem is reported to him by his nephew, who is not identified as one of his disciples or a Nazarene.

17. Schurer, E., A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus 194 (1961)Google Scholar.

18. Acts 25:6-12.

19. Jastrow, M., Dictionary of the Targumim 556 (1982)Google Scholar, entry on “Y'hudai.” Cf. Kohelet Rabbah 9:3, where Rabbi Y'hoshua is said to have used the term Y'hudai when speaking to Hadrian. The term “Hebrew” functions in a somewhat similar manner in Tanachic parlance. Also note the manuscript variants on Acts 21:20, where the Jerusalem Community, rather than speaking of “the thousands of believers we have among the Jews,” read “in Judea.”

20. Cf. Phil. 3:3-11, Paul's list of “external” identities he had come to view as “sheer loss” “so much garbage” for the sake of “gaining Christ” and finding himself “incorporate in him.”

21. Socrates, Crito 50-52 (n.d.).

22. Phil. 3:20.

23. Mekhilta D'Rabi Yishmael on Exod. 13:8, 14. Note the lesser known variant quoted on 13:8: “Since he has taken himself out of the collective, you should take him out of the collective.”

24. Shaw, , The Cost of Authority 173–74 (1982)Google Scholar.

25. Gittin 88b, Yŕushalmi Tŕumot 8:10.

26. Avot dRabbi Natan, ch. 4.

27. Sanhedrin 98a.

28. 2 Baron, S., A Social and Religious History of the Jews 86–87 (1952)Google Scholar.