In Acts 22 Paul sought to convince the Jews that he is one of them, and he came, not to replace the Law, but to explain it to them more fully. They rejected what their fellow Jew, even a Pharisee, said anyway and forty of the Jewish zealots plotted to kill him.
On the other hand, Paul, being a Roman citizen, had the protection of Roman Law. It is ironic that those who judged by God's Law sought to kill him, but those by Roman Law protected him! It's not that God's Law is wrong, but that the Jews missed the point: they failed to understand that what God willed had been distorted. It had become chains which bound the Hebrew people because the Law was not administered with love, but with vengeance. Vengeance belongs to the Lord:
Isaiah 63:4 :For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."This was reinforced by Paul in Romans 12:19.
The role of the Jews, as with any of God's people, is to love others. It's God's authority and his only, to identify wrong-doers and seek vengeance. It was the Jews who were in opposition to God, not Paul, but it was him who they bad-mouthed and sought to kill! The Jews had hard hearts and were deceived by the deceiver. God's Law has ALWAYS been about grace, as I have written many times (See MYSTERY OF GOD.) The Jews showed no grace, yet they expected God to be merciful to them!
The Jews went full-throttle with their plot. They were doing wrong, but it was Paul to whom their wrath was transferred. God surely gave them a sense of guilt because of their hard-heartedness, but rather than seeking repentance and making a change, they sought to blame. Transference is an inherent human trait we all have to take the emotion from one the self and place it on another.
In psychology, for example, unrequited love may be transferred to the therapist or another person as a substitute for the love which is lacking. In this instance, the guilt which the Jews felt should be owned by them, but they transferred it to Paul. You see, Paul was the bearer of what to them was "the bad news", but they relieved their guilt by making Paul the guilty one. He was accused of being ungodly when it was the Jews which were being that way!
Acts 23:11 "And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome."Paul had the Holy Ghost. That is reinforced in Acts 22; who is the "Ghost of the Lord". While Paul was fully awake and aware there STOOD by him "the Lord". This was the Holy Ghost of Jesus who spoke to him. When the Spirit speaks, it is "The Word" who John 1 identifies as Jesus Christ! The point being is that the Holy Ghost is the Ghost of Jesus and he is Jesus Christ who still lives and is very much a personal Savior and Comforter!
It was Jesus who said to Paul "Be of good cheer... go to Rome." Jesus encouraged Paul and gave him direct guidance. "Go to Rome". Paul needed the encouragement and he got that! Paul wasn't operating on his own, he was given specific instructions. The Lord still does that for Jesus still lives!
As Christians we must listen to God. What if Paul had told the Jews what they wanted to hear? The gospel would have been buried in dusty volumes of history, but instead it thrives! The Jews are still lost because they transferred the guilt of the Holy Spirit to Paul. They are dead because they sought to protect their true god, their own "Self's". Transference is a mechanism which the god of Self uses to make it feel less guilty. It protects the pedestal on which people place themselves. It's allows them to keep their selfish pride!
People still do that! When one person does wrong, that person feels guilty, but that's unpleasant. Their little god is feels threatened and the flesh's job (the god's idol) must protect it at any costs! Rather than do it God's way, it's their other god's way. They protect their own position by destroying another. In this case, they couldn't attack God so they intended to "shoot the messenger". With Paul dead they sub-consciously thought that their own position would be validated.
Have you ever had someone do wrong and blame you? Of course you have! Have you done wrong as a pair, but you get the blame? Of course you have! The blame which the other should take, but gives to you is transference. Their own guilt is removed from them and placed on you. That's pride. Christians use that technique all the time so as not to appear to be poor Christians. Before we were Christians that was termed "not smelling their own blankity-blank". In truth that is self-righteousness, and that's not right!
Suppose I share the guilt... or in your case; you? It's not the other's job to be vengeful; it's God's. By assuming God's authority, it's placing your god over God. That's pride. That's very Jewish of Christians who do that. It's self-righteousness! What is missing from those Christians? Grace!
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