Tuesday, February 4, 2014

ROMAN CITIZENSHIP & PAUL

Roman citizenship was important at the time of Paul when there were over 5 million Roman citizens (Tacitus, Ann. 11.25).  Roman citizenship had certain advantages:
·    The right of protection from being tortured or whipped. Claiming citizenship called for an immediate cessation of punishment until legal status of citizenship could be proven. Citizenship could be proven by having in a diploma civiitatis Romane or a copy of one’s first registration. The text does not indicate Paul used such documents, but it is a possibility.
·         The right to a legal trial in a proper court to defend oneself.
·         The right to appeal the decisions of magistrates.


Paul in Acts claims a number of times to be a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37-38; Acts 22:25-28), which was bestowed by birth (Acts 22:28). The claim of the Acts record is consistent with what we know about Roman citizenship. In the providence of God the Roman citizenship helped Paul spread the gospel. 

No comments:

Post a Comment