Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 2 · Chapter 12 · Section 3 · Subsection 25
Quest. …2. Whether Saint Paul, in calling Ananias the high Priest painted wall, Act. 23. obserueth his owne precept here.
1. Oecumenius vponupon that place thinketh that the high Priest was well enough knowne vntounto S. Paul, but that he per quandam dispensationem simulasse ignorantiam, by a certaine dispensation did saine ignorance, which if it be done in time and place, is not faultie at all: But this cannot stand with the Apostles grauitie, and integritie, to affirme that which was not true, for then he should hauehave beene guiltie of a lie.
2. Augustine hath an other answear, lib. de serm. Dom. c. 35. which Beda followeth, that Paul spake figuratiuely: that Christ beeing come, the high Priesthood of the lawe was abolished: as if he should hauehave said, ego alium agnosco sacerdotem, &c. I acknowledge an other high Priest, for whose name I doe beare these things, whom it is not lawfull to curse. But this had beene likewise farre from the Apostles simplicitie: and howsoeuer he were not high Priest, de iure, in right, yet he was de facto, in fact, at that time: therefore this could not hauehave excused him.
3. Augustine hath an other answear: haec verba minus intelligentibus convitium sonant, intelligentibus prophetiae est, these words to them that vnderstand not seeme to be rayling, but to those that rightly vnderstand them they are a prophesie, &c. so also Beda obserueth, because the Apostle doth say in the indicatiue moode, God shall strike thee, not in the optatiue, God strike thee: so also Faius saith, it is praedictio, non imprecatio, a prediction, not an imprecation. But although these words, God will strike thee, are a prediction: yet that other tearme, painted wall, may seeme by S. Pauls answear to hauehave beene not farre from reviling: which some thinke Paul would hauehave forborne, if he had knowne him to be the high Priest.
4. Caietan thinketh that S. Paul knewe him not to be the high Priest, but yet he could not be ignorant, that he was the iudge at that time: yet it was lawfull for Paul by his Apostolike authoritie, to denounce the curse of God against an vnrighteous iudge: but at that time it was not expedient: and therefore he alleadgeth the lawe, not to excuse his sinne, sed ad excusandum factum, but to excuse his fact, that he did it ignorantly: But it was not lawefull by the lawe, for an Apostle or any other to reuile the Iudge: and the Apostle in citing the lawe, maketh himselfe subiect to the lawe: and as it was not expedient, so neither was it lawfull for any to reuile the iudge.
5. Beza here hath this answer. 1. he thinketh that Ananias was not high Priest at all vnderunder Felix, as he sheweth out of Iosephus: but that one Ismael or Iosephus was high Priest: to whom Ananias left nothing but a bare title, but he vsuped the office of the high Priest. 2. he saith it was no imprecation, but a denouncing of the punishment: as the Greeke phrase sheweth, foreign, it shall come to passe that God will finite thee. 3. and whereas he calleth him painted wall: vehemens est oratio, & aspera, à convitio tamen aliena, it is a vehement speach and sharpe, but yet farre from railing: to this purpose M. Beza, with whom I consent in the two latter parts of his answear, but I doubt of the first: for it appeareth by their obiection that stood by, revilest thou the Lords high Priest? that Ananias, was at this time the high Priest.
6. Hierome as Erasmus here alleadgeth him, graunteth that S. Paul here shewed some humane infirmitie, ne que cam praestitisse mansuet udinem, neither did shew that mildnes, which Christ shewed when he was smitten: and Erasmus yeeldeth, that Paul here non caruit humanis affectibus, wanted not humane affections: as he elswhere complaineth of the pricke of his flesh, and there was contention betweene him and Bernabas. But we must not be so easily drawne, to charge so holy an Apostle, with this infirmitie of hastie choller and anger, who was most patient.
7. Erasmus thinketh that S. Paul might truely say he knewe him not to be the high Priest, because he shewed himselfe not to be as an high Priest in this action: sed re tyrannum, but a tyrant indeede. But this is too nice and curious, for euen a Tyrant is a magistrate, and so to be reuerenced, though he be an euill one.
8. Some thinke aright, that Paul indeede was ignorant that Ananias was high Priest: and adde further that if he had knowne he had so beene, he would not hauehave vsed that sharpe tearme of painted wall, Osiander, Pererius disput. 2. numer. 9. But the Apostle knewe that he was not onelyonly forbidden to rayle vponupon the Magistrate, but vponupon any whomsoeuer.
9. Some thinke that S. Paul is in this his vehement defense to be excused, quia ab ea … prudenter factum, because it was done of him ignorantly, Iun. in parall. but though S. Pauls ignorance might excuse him, for reuiling the high Priest: yet it had beene a fault to hauehave reviled any: by this meanes S. Paul could not then be excused altogether by his ignorance.
10. For the full solution then of this question: these three positions are to be admitted. 1. that S. Paul simply was ignorant, that Ananias was high Priest, whereof Chrysostome giueth two reasons: his long absence from Ierusalem, and this tumultuous assembly, where no order was obserued: adde hereunto, that the high Priest was changed euerie yeare, and S. Paul beeing persecuted for his profession and preaching of Christ, had no leasure, nor lift to enquire who was high Priest: and whereas it is obiected, that the high Priest might hauehave beene discerned by his place, apparell, and the reuerence giuen vntounto him: Iunius answeareth well, that the high Priest was not to weare his priestly robes out of the temple: and it seemeth in this tumultuous assembly, the Tribune beeing absent, who should hauehave kept order, that they rather stood plano pede, on plaine foote, then sat in any order: and it seemeth also that either small reuerence was yeelded at all in this disordered meeting, or that it was past, before S. Paul came in.
2. Againe, I graunt with Augustine, Beda, Beza, that this was no imprecation, but a prediction of Gods iudgement vponupon this ambitious and vniust high Priest, as is before shewed.
3. Neither was that a reuiling tearme, to call him painted wall, but a vehement and sharpe obiurgation: as Christ rayled not when he denounced woe vntounto the Scribes and Pharises, or called Herod foxe, Beza: and S. Paul, as Cyprian obserueth, spake thus roundly to shewe the disorder of that whole assembly, and the wrong which he had receiued, lib. 1. cp. 3. And whereas it will be obiected, that S. Paul in his answear did confesse he had railed, (though it were not indeede convitium, sed libera obiurgatio, a reviling, but a franke rebuking, as Erasmus saith:) Beda well sheweth the reason, why S. Paul so did, graunting so much to the peoples importunitie, that it was reuiling which indeede was not, erudiens alios at que ergo eos qui in potestate sunt, modestius conuersari monens, &c. therein iustructing others, and admonishing them to carrie themselues modestly toward them which are in authoritie: and thus much of this question: See more thereof in the handling of that Scripture Hexapl. … Exod. 22.28. whence is produced this testimonie by the Apostle: but I insist vponupon this answear now resolued vponupon here.