Acts 22:28

28 The commanding officer answered, "I bought my citizenship for a great price." Sha'ul said, "But I was born a Roman."

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 it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, "Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!"

27 The commanding officer came and asked him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" He said, "Yes."

28 The commanding officer answered, "I bought my citizenship for a great price." Sha'ul said, "But I was born a Roman."

29 Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him.

30 But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Yehudim, he freed him from the bonds, and commanded the chief Kohanim and all the council to come together, and brought Sha'ul down and set him before them.