1. The Historical Background of Acts 22 and Pastor David Jang’s Theological Commentary
In his exposition of Acts 22, Pastor David Jang first delves deeply into the historical background revealed at the end of Acts 21 and the beginning of Acts 22. The passage describes Paul, having just been arrested in the Jerusalem Temple, standing before the commander (chiliarch) and addressing the enraged Jewish crowd in Hebrew (Aramaic). Pastor David Jang emphasizes that this linguistic choice went beyond mere communication, likely delivering a psychological and emotional shock to the Jewish society of the time, including the diaspora Jews gathered in the Jerusalem Temple and the crowd filled with religious zeal. Pastor David Jang notes that when Paul revealed he was a Pharisee, well-versed in Judaism and a disciple of Gamaliel, it may have astonished those listening. Through this reference, Paul was essentially presenting his background and legitimacy, offering a sort of preamble to defend himself.
Pastor David Jang then focuses on why the people who had flocked to Jerusalem were so enraged. Although the immediate cause was the misunderstanding that Paul had brought a Gentile into the temple, the more fundamental reason lay in Paul’s insistence that the gospel must be preached even to Gentiles—an idea that provoked intense resistance. At that time, the Jewish community under Roman rule exhibited a variety of responses, including the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. Pastor David Jang explains how each of these four main groups related to Rome and how they awaited the Kingdom of God. The Sadducees, comprising aristocrats and priests, cooperated with Roman authority to some extent; the Pharisees believed that strict observance of the Law and the maintenance of purity would eventually bring God’s kingdom to earth; the Essenes withdrew to the wilderness, leading a radical ascetic lifestyle, aiming to preserve the purity and piety of their community rather than engaging with a world they saw as steeped in sin; and the Zealots took up arms to drive out Roman power and hasten God’s kingdom, not hesitating to resort to extreme actions. Though Paul originated from the Pharisees and valued self-governance and the Law, once called by the Lord, he heeded the Holy Spirit’s instruction that the gospel should also be preached to the Gentiles.
Pastor David Jang explores in depth the sectarian and political background underlying these tensions, carefully noting the logic and testimony Paul used to defend himself at their center. Paul first states he was from Tarsus, a city highly regarded among Jews, and that he received rigorous instruction in the Law from Gamaliel. According to Pastor David Jang, Paul aimed to prove that he was not some heretical dissident but had in fact been thoroughly educated in Jewish tradition and the Law. Referencing Philippians 3:5, Paul calls himself a true Jew circumcised on the eighth day, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee with regard to the Law. Pastor David Jang explains that by marshaling all his qualifications, Paul emphasized he was neither an “apostate” nor a “heretical leader,” but rather one who had shown zeal for the Law more than anyone else.
Paul, while defending himself, confesses to the crowd that he was once brimming with zeal just like they were. He testifies that although he had once persecuted the followers of “the Way,” or the way of Jesus, even to the point of killing them, he now walks a completely different path. In particular, Paul recounts his involvement in Stephen’s death, recalling how he looked after the garments of those who stoned Stephen and, having received the authority of the high priest and elders in Jerusalem, intended to bring back Christians from Damascus as prisoners. Pastor David Jang notes that this underscores how thoroughly Paul had once tried to wipe out the Jesus community. Even as the Jewish crowd listened, they likely could not easily refute Paul, knowing his past career to be factual.
Pastor David Jang assigns great importance to Paul’s encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus. He highlights the “great light” that overturned both Paul’s existence and his thinking, and he points out that the voice Paul heard when he fell to the ground was a direct rebuke: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Who exactly had Paul been persecuting? It was none other than “Jesus of Nazareth.” This was the critical turning point. Paul was blinded for three days, entering a period of deep repentance and silence. After that, through Ananias, he received baptism, recovered, and came to understand his calling. Pastor David Jang combines the theology of election and revelation here, pointing out how God can choose even those who are deeply sinful and hostile. In this moment, the gospel’s mystery is fully revealed—where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, a truth Paul would later express in Romans and which was already embedded in his experience at Damascus.
Ananias’s exhortation, “Brother Saul, receive your sight,” is more than a mere healing of physical sight; it signifies a complete transformation of spiritual vision. Moreover, “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name,” implies a profession of faith now centered on Jesus Christ, fundamentally different from the Jewish ritual system. By testifying in such detail about his conversion in front of the assembly, Paul was not only making clear how the religious elite of the Sanhedrin exercised their judicial authority under Roman rule, but also how legitimately Jewish his own background was. Pastor David Jang notes that Paul’s testimony did more than simply defend himself; it served as a missional declaration of the gospel’s essence, that anyone can experience radical conversion in the light of Jesus Christ.
Particularly in this passage, Pastor David Jang draws attention to the vision Paul received when he returned to the Jerusalem Temple. While praying in the temple, Paul heard the Lord’s voice telling him, “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony.” In that moment, Paul sensed the difficulties awaiting him if he tried to spread the gospel in Jerusalem. However, Jerusalem was the most natural and preferred mission field from Paul’s perspective, a place where he longed to share the new way with his own people and former colleagues. Pastor David Jang interprets Paul’s desire to clarify why he was now preaching the very Jesus he had once persecuted. Yet the Lord said, “Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles,” prompting the Jewish crowd’s furious outburst. They judged Paul’s message of taking the gospel to Gentiles to be an affront to the idea of Israel as the chosen people, screaming that such a man did not deserve to live. Pastor David Jang sees this as a paradigmatic union of historical brutality and religious narrow-mindedness. Ultimately, Paul avoided illegal torture and flogging by invoking his Roman citizenship. Pastor David Jang notes that in an ironic twist, the secular empire’s law ended up protecting Paul from religious extremism.
2. Paul’s Testimony and the Doctrine of Election: Pastor David Jang’s Explanation
Centering on Paul’s testimony in the text, Pastor David Jang richly expounds the theological significance of the doctrine of election. In this passage, Paul vividly recounts his dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Once he had been a fervent religionist, but his zeal manifested in violence to defend and expand his people and traditions. Armed with letters from the Jerusalem high priest and the elders, he imprisoned members of “the Way” and even took part in stoning Stephen to death. However, through the “great light” and the voice from heaven, Paul encountered Jesus Christ directly, spending three days in blindness and deep internal turmoil, repenting of his sinful actions and beginning anew.
Pastor David Jang points out that Paul consistently emphasized that his election and calling were not something he achieved on his own, but solely the result of God’s grace. Paul repeatedly underscores the theology that “those God foreknew, He also called, and those He called, He also justified” (Romans 8), as well as Jesus’ words, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15), rooting the theological significance of his conversion in divine sovereignty. His conversion was not because of introspection or any merit of his own, but entirely through God’s sovereign intervention and grace.
Pastor David Jang again cites Paul’s declaration that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Among the early Christians, Paul was known as the most fearsome persecutor—leading the effort to kill Stephen and imprison countless Christians—yet God chose him to be the “apostle to the Gentiles.” According to Pastor David Jang, this shows God’s grace surpassing all human criteria and moral qualifications. When Ananias hesitated to meet Paul, the Lord’s commanding pronouncement, “He is a chosen instrument of Mine,” left him no choice but to obey. This illustrates the gospel’s core message: no matter how wicked a person’s past or nature, the Lord can use that person as an instrument if He chooses to call them.
Inevitably, some question arises as to how this divine election connects with Paul’s own “volitional” element. Pastor David Jang notes that after his conversion, Paul spent three days in fasting and prayer, a period of not just physical discomfort but of complete surrender before God, reflecting on his past and asking forgiveness, prepared to yield his future to the Lord. When Paul cries, “What shall I do, Lord?” it exemplifies the fundamental response required of the chosen. In that sense, Paul actively responded to God’s calling. Pastor David Jang emphasizes that conversion must lead to obedience; though salvation cannot be obtained by human effort, those who are elected by God receive a holy responsibility and a new identity.
Additionally, Pastor David Jang sees Paul’s repeated self-reference as “the worst of sinners” and “the one who persecuted Jesus” as underscoring this “election by grace.” Far from producing arrogance, election drives one to humility and gratitude. In Philippians 3, Paul calls his earthly advantages—his pedigree, scholarly prestige, religious zeal—“rubbish.” Pastor David Jang interprets this as a result of Paul’s conclusion that no human status or devotion to the Law could secure salvation; only the knowledge of Jesus Christ is supreme. This realization has its starting point in the Damascus-road experience, later recounted in Acts 22, with the baptism by Ananias and the restoration of Paul’s sight. Summarizing, Pastor David Jang argues that Paul’s testimony is more than a personal story of conversion; it is a crucial case study of how God’s sovereignty and grace can alter history. The fact that the most fervent opponent of the gospel became its most powerful advocate manifests the Holy Spirit’s sovereign calling and transformation of individuals. Far from a one-time, exceptional event in Paul’s life, this story of conversion continues to remain a potent demonstration of the gospel’s power. As Pastor David Jang repeatedly stresses, God’s calling and election can fundamentally reshape a person, making them a vessel to proclaim the gospel’s universality throughout the world. And this work was not unique to Paul’s day; it continues to operate in the church today.
3. The Conflict in Jerusalem, the Inclusion of Gentiles, and the Universality of the Gospel
In the latter part of Acts 22, Pastor David Jang sees in the explosive anger of the Jewish crowd an ironic revelation of the gospel’s universality. When Paul mentions, “I will send you far away to the Gentiles,” the crowd stops listening and shouts, “Away with such a fellow from the earth!” Their rage is not just about associating with Gentiles; rather, it reveals how fiercely they opposed the idea that God’s sovereignty and salvation could extend beyond the confines of a single ethnic or religious group. Pastor David Jang explains that their reaction was in part the flip side of their religious “zeal.” Their view of themselves as God’s chosen, their strict adherence to the Law, and their pride in protecting the Mosaic tradition all collided with the claim that Gentiles could be equal objects of divine grace.
Ironically, it was the Roman Empire’s legal order that actually protected Paul from the hands of these Jewish religious leaders and mobs in this scene. Once the commander verified that Paul was a Roman citizen, he became fearful of conducting a flogging without formal proceedings. Pastor David Jang notes that this raises the fundamental question: “Who is truly civilized, and who is barbaric?” The Roman Empire, with its structured legal system, shielded a so-called “heretical” preacher of the gospel, while the Jews who prided themselves on keeping God’s Law resorted to narrow-minded and violent behavior. This demonstrates, Pastor David Jang points out, that neither human institutions nor ethnic identity automatically guarantee genuine faith or truth. It becomes equally clear that the chosen people, supposedly set apart for God, had allowed their identity to degenerate into exclusivism and violence—a tragic distortion of the calling intended for Israel.
Turning to the theological implications, Pastor David Jang explains why the church should strive to become a “new people” in line with passages like these. God chose Abraham’s descendants with a view to blessing all the families of the earth through them. But instead of using that distinct calling to serve and proclaim truth to their neighbors, they often fell into self-preservation and religious elitism. Acts 22 graphically illustrates how this attitude can explode into collective violence and wrath. By contrast, the gospel, grounded in Christ’s cross and resurrection, transcends barriers of ethnicity, language, and social class, carrying a universal character. The scene in which Paul asserts his Roman citizenship and receives protection can be seen as symbolic: the gospel is open to Gentiles, Jews, and even those under Roman authority. Pastor David Jang interprets it as a demonstration that “the gospel is a universal opportunity for anyone,” irrespective of cultural or political contexts.
Pastor David Jang says that, subsequently, this legal protection enables Paul to continue his journey to Rome to preach the gospel, ultimately standing before Caesar himself. The following chapters confirm that the gospel proceeds toward the “ends of the earth,” fulfilling the prophecy of Acts 1:8 despite all opposition. This entire process highlights how God can use the empire’s administrative structures, military, and judiciary—somewhat paradoxically—as channels to ensure the chosen messenger is protected and the gospel spreads more widely. Thus, Pastor David Jang urges the church not to mistake “secular power” as a purely benevolent force, but also not to discount the ways God may employ that power and structure to protect His people and advance the gospel.
When the contemporary church reflects on this passage, Pastor David Jang cautions against dismissing the violent and narrow-minded impulses of the Jerusalem crowd as a mere historical episode. Even today, various forms of religious exclusivism, ethnic nationalism, or denominational bias can generate conflicts and distort the gospel. Paul’s calling—“I will send you to the Gentiles”—marks a starting point of Christian mission, and it remains a universal vocation that the church must continue to pursue. Stepping beyond the walls of the Jerusalem Temple into the Gentile world demonstrates that “anyone who hears and believes this gospel will be saved.” Paul is the central figure driving that outward movement, and the one who called him was none other than Jesus Christ. This reality is the very core of the Christian faith and the reason the church exists, Pastor David Jang concludes.
In summation, Pastor David Jang draws three overarching lessons from Acts 22. First, religious zeal and strict legalism do not necessarily equate to genuine faith. Second, Paul’s dramatic conversion exemplifies the utter sovereignty of God’s choice and grace, proving no one can be saved by their credentials or merit. Third, the gospel cannot be restricted to a specific ethnicity or culture but must expand to include the Gentiles. When the enraged crowd in Jerusalem refused to accept this, ironically, the Roman authority safeguarded Paul, illustrating how God’s providence can overturn political, social, and historical structures to fulfill His redemptive plan. Therefore, those who read Acts 22 must ask themselves: “Do I harbor any hidden narrow-mindedness that impedes God’s universal salvation plan?” By posing this question, Pastor David Jang continually invites the church to introspection, urging it to become that “new people” called by God. In this sense, Acts 22 reminds believers and the church of the ever-relevant calling to remain vigilant and obedient. Pastor David Jang concludes that even in the modern era, this chapter remains highly significant.