Prepare the Nations for "the Teaching of Jehovah"

HOW ROMAN LAW WAS HELPFUL

Roman law was in force throughout the empire, and Roman citizenship offered valuable rights and immunities.  Paul made use of his Roman citizenship on several occasions. Faced with scourging in Jerusalem, the apostle Paul asked a Roman officer:  "Is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman who has not been condemned? It was not. When Paul pointed out that he was a Roman citizen by birth, "the men who were about to interrogate him under torture backed away from him; and the military commander  became afraid when he realized that [Paul] was a Roman  and that he had bound him in chains." -Acts 22:25-29.

 Paul's citizenship under Roman law affected how he was treated in Philippi. (Acts 16:45-40 )  In Ephesus, the city recorder referred to the Roman legal system after he had calmed an angry mob.  (Acts 19:35-41)  Paul's legal appeal while in Caesarea opened the way  for him to make a defense of his faith before Caesar.  (Acts 25:8-12) Thus, Roman  law made possible "the defending and legally establishing of the good news." -Philippians 1:7.

Next time: Prepare the Nations for "the Teaching of Jehovah" -THE EFFECT OF THE JEWISH DISPERSION

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015