ACC ~ Acts 21 v39

PAUL AVAILS HIMSELF OF THE LAWS. CHRYSOSTOM: Look at him. When [Paul] argues with those from the outside, he does not hesitate to use the help of the laws. Here he impresses the tribune by the name of his city. And likewise on another occasion he says, [he was accosted] “publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.” HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 47.

PAUL’S BACKGROUND. BEDE: The apostle was actually born in Gischala, a town in Galilee. “When it was taken by the Romans he moved with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia. They sent him to Jerusalem in order to study the law, and he was instructed by the very learned man Gamaliel,” as he himself recalls below. Now he does not name himself a citizen but a burgher from [the word for] the municipality or the territory of the same city in which he grew up. A municipality was so-called because “it gave in return [for such status] great duties, that is, tribute that was owed, or services for legal factors that pertain to freemen and those factors that are most celebrated, as well as things that emanate from a prince, relate to the dignity of a city.” Nor should we be surprised if he calls himself a Tarsean and not a Giscalite, since the Lord himself, who was born in Bethlehem, was not given the name Bethlehemite but Nazarean. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 21.39.