Article September 16, 1950 Issue

"I WAS FREE BORN"

HAROLD LEON GOODWIN

IN the Acts of the Apostles (chapters 21-26) is the account of the revolt in Jerusalem against Paul, of the Jews' accusation of him, and of his subsequent rescue, questioning, and restraint by the local Roman authorities. In the course of this account a conversation between the Roman chief captain and his prisoner is recorded. In order to determine the legal status of the prisoner, Claudius Lysias said to Paul, "Tell me, art thou a Roman?" Paul's answer was affirmative, whereupon the captain said, "With a great sum obtained I this freedom."

Paul's reply set forth a fact of supreme importance for all time when he said, "But I was free born."

Paul's father was a Roman citizen, and when Paul was born he inherited the rights of freeborn citizenship. In the Roman world free birth was a condition of importance. The Roman citizen might travel as he wished within the empire. His person and property must be protected at all costs. He could not be deprived of life, liberty, citizenship, nor could he be scourged, without legal trial. As a result of the lex Valeria, the citizen could appeal to Caesar whenever his rights were imperiled. When a Roman citizen forfeited his freedom, he lost all legal capacity. He became as a stranger who under Roman law had no right to claim protection from maltreatment of his person or from an attempt to seize his property.

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