<p>22:25 <i>And when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion that stood by:</i> <em>Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?</em>- Paul seems to enjoy putting the wind up the soldiers by waiting until they had bound him for torture before asking, surely in a sarcastic way, whether it was lawful for them to beat a Roman citizen. The fact he asked the question when he knew full well the answer is surely indicative of his sarcasm. The chief captain commented, under his breath it would seem, that it had cost him a fortune in backhanders to get Roman citizenship. Paul picked up his words and commented, with head up, we can imagine: &ldquo;But <em>I </em>was free born&rdquo;- I was born a citizen, never needed to give a penny in backhanders to get it either. Surely there is an arrogance here which is unbecoming. And it was revealed at a time when he was in dire straits himself, and after already being in Christ some time. It may indicate that he was tempted to adopt a brazen, almost fatalistic aggression towards his captors and persecutors- what Steinbeck aptly described as &ldquo;the terrible, protective dignity of the powerless&rdquo;. One can well imagine how such a mindset would start to develop in Paul after suffering so much at the hands of men. Compare this incident with the way he demands the magistrates to come <em>personally</em> and release him from prison, because they have unfairly treated him (Acts 16:37).</p>