This has to be one of the most entertaining passages in the Book of Acts: Paul loses his temper, and gets smacked across the face. He then takes advantage of his opponents’ theological differences to get them squabbling with one another so they would forget about their common hatred of him. It’s rollicking fun.

But having corrupt, faithless religious leaders certainly wasn’t fun for the Jews of the day. For in reality, the rulers of their faith were completely subservient to an unbelieving, foreign state. After all, the religious council assembled because the Roman tribune commanded them to meet (22:30), and the high priest Ananias was in office not because of the hereditary succession prescribed by the Law of Moses (Leviticus 6:22), but because he had been appointed by Herod of Chalcis, who in turn had been put in office by the Roman Emperor Claudius. So, Paul had good reason not to recognize Ananias as the high priest (23:5).

But the chief priests and the other Sadducees had also fallen into grievous theological error. As 23:8 points out, they had embraced an almost purely materialistic worldview, rejecting angels and spirits along with the hope of the resurrection, even though all were clearly discussed in the Old Testament. So, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Ananias abused his power, striking Paul in an illegal attempt to silence him (23:3).

But that wouldn’t be the last time religious leaders leveraged their influence with the state to try to stamp out true faith, would it? From the Roman Catholics who condemned John Wycliffe and burned Thomas Cranmer at the stake, to the Anglican bishops who drove the Puritans into exile because they refused to use a prescribed prayer book, to modern Presbyterians who appeal to secular judges to strip evangelical congregations of their property, the history of the English-speaking world alone is full of examples of how worldly power and wealth have corrupted the leaders of the Church.

So, even if Paul was wrong to lose his temper, his curse on Ananias was both justified and prophetic (23:3). For it turns out that Ananias was deposed from office by King Herod Agrippa and then assassinated by Jewish rebels, four years before the Roman legions on which his power had been based destroyed the Temple he and the rest of the priests had tried so hard to preserve. But, then, a Church that places its faith in the power of Caesar shouldn’t be surprised when that power first corrupts it and then destroys it.

Acts 22:30-23:10 (ESV)

30 But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”
2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”
4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?”
5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'”
6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”
10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.