John Calvin Commentary Acts 23:3

"Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: and sittest thou to judge me according to the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?" — Acts 23:3 (ASV)

God shall smite thee. Paul cannot endure that injury, but he must, at least, with sharp words rebuke the high priest and denounce God’s vengeance to him. For it is no curse, as is sufficiently apparent from the Greek text, but rather a rebuke, joined with the denunciation of a punishment.

If anyone objects that Paul did not use the modesty which Christ commands his followers to use, when he commands them after they have received a blow on the left cheek to turn the right cheek also (Matthew 5:39), we may readily answer that Christ does not in these words require silence by which the wickedness and perversity of the wicked may be fostered. Instead, he only bridles their minds, so that they may not bear the injury they have already received impatiently.

Christ wants those who are his to be ready to suffer another injury after they have already received one; by this means, he represses all desire for revenge. This is a brief and true definition of the patience that befits all the faithful: that they do not break out into wrath, that they do not repay one evil deed with another, but that they overcome evil with goodness.

However, this does not prevent them from complaining about the injuries they have suffered, or from rebuking the wicked and citing them to the judgment seat of God—provided they do this with quiet and calm minds, and secondly, without ill will and hatred. Just as Paul appeals here to God’s judgment seat, so that the high priest may not flatter himself in his tyranny, he therefore accuses him because he breaks the law from which (as he claims) he derives his authority. From this, Paul concludes that the high priest will not escape unpunished.

If anyone, being overcome with impatience, merely murmurs, he will not be blameless. But a manifest and sharp accusation, if it proceeds from a quiet mind, does not pass the bounds set by Christ. If anyone says that it is mixed with railing, I answer that we must always consider the emotion with which the words are spoken.

Christ declares that person to be worthy of being punished by the council who only says to his brother, raca; and as for him who says, thou fool, Christ makes him subject to a heavier judgment (Matthew 5:22). But if an opportunity arises to rebuke, we must often rebuke sharply.

Thus it appears that Christ’s only aim was to restrain his followers, first, from all indignation, and secondly, from speaking anything out of spite toward anyone. Therefore, let us beware of railing; and then we may not only note foolishness in our fellow believers, but it will also be permissible for us to call their offenses by their names when need arises.

So Paul did not speak for his own sake, that he might, with sharp words, repay the injury done to him by the high priest; but because he was a minister of the word of God, he would not overlook an offense that deserved sharp and serious rebuke, especially since it was beneficial to expose the gross hypocrisy of Ananias.

Therefore, whenever we have any dealings with the wicked, if we desire to handle a good cause well, we must beware that no impulse of anger erupts within us, and that no desire for revenge provokes us to break out into railing. But if the spirit of meekness reigns in us, we may deal with the wicked according to what they deserve, as if speaking from the mouth of God. Yet it should appear that we are prophets rather than that we blurt out anything rashly through excessive passion.