Acts 22:28

28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum I obtained this freedom. And Paul said, But I was [free] born.

Acts 22:28 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 22:28

And the chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained I
this freedom
For, it seems, he was not a Roman born, but very likely a Grecian, or Syrian, by his name Lysias; and as all things were now venal at Rome, the freedom of the city was to be bought with money, though a large sum was insisted on for it: this the chief captain said, as wondering that so mean a person, and who he understood was a Jew by birth, should be able to procure such a privilege, which cost him so much money:

and Paul said, but I was free born;
being born at Tarsus; which, as Pliny says ^F12, was a free city, and which had its freedom given it by Mark Antony, and which was before the birth of Paul; and therefore his parents being of this city, and free, he was born so.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 27.

Acts 22:28 In-Context

26 When the centurion heard [that], he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman.

27 Then the chief captain came, and said to him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yes.

28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum I obtained this freedom. And Paul said, But I was [free] born.

29 Then forthwith they departed from him who were about to examine him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty why he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him from [his] bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.