Don’t Let Social Buffering Hinder Your Independent Thinking - Acts 23-24

Acts 23:9-10 (ESV)

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?” 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.

In the middle of Paul’s first trial we find a very interesting change of events.  Paul has been accused by the Jews of defiling the Temple and causing riots in the streets.  None of this was true, but, as often stated, “the seriousness of the accusations must make it true.”  In politics the phrase is, “It is not the nature of the evidence, it is the seriousness of the charge that makes things true.”   So Paul is standing trail, not because he did something wrong, but simply because powerful people say he did something wrong.  Paul would face five trials. They were before: 

1. The Jewish council 
2. Felix the Governor 
3. Poricus Festus, the next Governor 
4. King Agrippa 
5. Caesar 

The Jewish council was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees.   They differed about many things but in particular the theology about the resurrection of the dead.  The Pharisees believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees did not.  When Paul was before them he remembered this and actually used that knowledge to cause a difficulty in the midst of them.   Note:

Acts 23:6 (ESV)

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.”

By doing this, Paul changed the dynamics in the council.   Instead of coming together in agreement to punish Paul for a false acquisition, they were now fighting among themselves.  This is the perfect example of what is called “social buffering.”  We tend to hang out with people who agree with us.  We tend to support those who agree with us, no matter what they might have done.  Especially if they  are part of our “flock.”    The Pharisees now see that Paul is one of them.   Therefore the charges against Paul are no longer warranted, in their minds.   Social buffering is a powerful aspect of human interaction.  It can be used for good and bad.  Paul used this “tool” to cause the council to fall into dispute.  He will, of course, eventually face these false charges in the remaining trials.  But for this one, he was able to dissuade and divide his accusers by using the power of social buffering against them.   The same group of people crucified Jesus by getting the entire mob to bring false evidence before Pilate about Jesus.  The mob came together because the religious leaders convinced the people that Jesus was a threat to their nation.  Every group of the Jewish mob came together as a social buffered group to protect itself from what was falsely stated about Jesus.   Never underestimate the power of social buffering.  Be careful when you are also part of a social buffered group and might, therefore, lose your own independent thoughts.