The commander faces a dilemma. To preserve the life of this Roman citizen, he should probably keep him in custody. And in order to keep him in custody, he should at least have charges. Yet these he has not yet uncovered. His desire is to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. He decides to assemble the chief priests and the Sanhedrin and listen to Paul's defense before them.

Though the tribune is just doing his job in a case of public disorder, he becomes a model for Luke's readers and for us. Just as he persists in his pursuit to know the certain facts of the case (gnonai to asphales; compare 21:34), Luke's readers should study his works to know the certain truth of the gospel (epignos . . . ten asphaleian; Lk 1:4).

With the same spiritual intensity that accompanied God's miraculous work through him, Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin (Acts 14:9; 13:9). He confesses that he has lived a blameless life. Fulfilled my duty to God means, literally, "lived as a citizen before God" (Phil 1:27; 3:20). As the Jews appropriated this term for describing a life of piety, they expanded its scope of reference to the whole conduct of life (3 Macc 3:4; 4 Macc 5:16). Probably the Old Testament concept "to walk before the Lord" is the best equivalent (Gen 17:1). When Paul says that he has all his life, to this day, "walked before God" in all good conscience, he means that he is conscious of no wrongdoing (1 Cor 4:4; Phil 3:6; 2 Tim 1:3). Though he is very much aware of his sinful pre-Christian actions, these he did in ignorance and unbelief, while at the same time being blameless before the law as far as he knew (Rom 7:9-12; Phil 3:6; 1 Tim 1:13). He has lived as a Christian through a renewed mind and cleansed conscience (Rom 12:1-2; 2 Tim 1:3; compare Heb 9:14).

What triggers the high priest's physical response? Is it (1) Paul's manner of speaking (his simple form of address [Lake and Cadbury 1979:287] or impolite speaking out of turn [Haenchen 1971:637]), (2) the content of Paul's confession (the arrogant, even blasphemous, assertion that he can be a good Jew though now he is a Christian [Stott 1990:351]) or (3) the high priest's frustration with Paul's holy boldness as he bears witness to the truth, leaving the Jewish cleric at a loss for words? Ordering Paul to be slapped is very much in character for high priest Ananias, son of Nedebaeus (or Nebedaeus), who served A.D. 47-59. He was both greedy and ruthlessly violent, using beatings to extort tithes from common priests' allotment and leaving them destitute (Josephus Jewish Antiquities 20.205-7).

With his cheek still burning from the slap's sting, Paul fires back, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Paul's predictive curse follows proper Old Testament form (Deut 28:22; m. Sebuot 4:13). He uses an image for hypocrisy that Ezekiel invoked against false prophets who prophesied peace but could no more stand against the onrushing judgment of God than a stone wall held together only by whitewash can withstand an oncoming flood (Ezek 13:10-16). Paul's rationale is that in a judicial system where one is innocent until proven guilty, to punish before the verdict has been rendered is not to judge fairly (Lev 19:15). Paul's prediction came true: Ananias met a violent death at the hand of brigands in A.D. 66 (Josephus Jewish Wars 2.441). But despite all that seems right about Paul's response, it is, as Paul will quickly admit, still wrong. It is blessing, not cursing, that is to be on our lips. The Lord Jesus calls us to turn the other cheek (Lk 6:28-29).

The servant's remonstrance, either as a question (so the NIV) or as a complaint, reveals the high tension of the moment. Here is God's high priest, Israel's chief leader since it has no king, and Paul has declared God's judgment on him!

Paul pleads ignorance, declares the Old Testament law's requirement and in so doing subordinates himself to the authority of the Word of God. He does not speak ironically: "I didn't know he was the high priest, because he was certainly not acting like one" (contra Marshall 1980:364). Nor was his curse a simple sin of ignorance because Paul did not know from whom the command came or did not understand that he was the high priest (contra E. F. Harrison 1986:367). Rather, it was a sin of omission. Paul did not take into consideration the man's position when he made the declaration (Polhill 1992:469). Paul's prophetic curse, given in hasty anger, had violated a basic biblical precept lived out by David in his dealings with Saul. Though an officeholder dishonors the office through his conduct, one does not have liberty to dishonor him (1 Sam 24:6; 26:9-11). Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people (Ex 22:27 LXX).

How do we cope when a sophisticated cynic's punishing rejection of our integrity drives us to lash out in anger? Like Paul, we must respond in humility, quickly admitting our fault and subordinating ourselves again to the authority of God's Word. "It is not our mistakes that do us in; it's our pride that keeps us from admitting them" (Ogilvie 1983:316).