"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Mt 10:16). The Jews' persistent, pernicious opposition had corrupted the exercise of Roman justice in Palestine, and only a shrewd and timely appeal to Caesar would extricate innocent Paul from the process. Paul's loyalty to and reliance on the rule of law would certainly endear him to Luke's audience. How they and we should once more marvel at our sovereign Lord's providential working, this time through the shrewd yet innocent Paul. It brings the apostle's witness one step closer to his divinely ordained goal: to bear witness to his Lord in Rome (Acts 19:21; 23:11).