Lives of Scripture

Claudius Lysias was the Roman tribune commanding the cohort garrisoned at the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem. When a mob dragged Paul out of the temple and began beating him, supposing he had defiled the sacred courts, Lysias intervened with soldiers and centurions, arrested Paul, and had him bound with two chains, at first assuming he was an Egyptian rebel who had led a recent uprising (Acts 21:31-38). Learning instead that Paul was a Jewish Roman citizen and hearing his defense, Lysias set him before the Jewish council the next day to learn the actual charge (22:24-30). When the council session dissolved into violence and Lysias's nephew uncovered a conspiracy of more than forty men who had bound themselves by oath to kill Paul before he could be tried, Lysias acted decisively: he dispatched Paul that same night under heavy guard -- two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen -- to Governor Felix in Caesarea (23:12-24). His accompanying letter survives in Acts 23:26-30, candidly summarizing the case and admitting he had rescued Paul specifically because he had learned Paul was a Roman citizen. Though a minor character motivated as much by Roman legal duty as personal conviction, Lysias's quick, correct action twice preserved Paul's life at pivotal moments, becoming an instrument of God's providence in keeping Paul alive to testify in Rome.