Communication 99
A lesser man might have been rendered speechless, but Paul quickly
sized up his audience. First, he addressed them in their own language,
Aramaic, and implored them: ‘‘Brothers and fathers, listen now to my
defense.’’ When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became
very quiet. Paul then established his credentials as one of the crowd, a
Jew, albeit one who had been through a very strange and exciting spiri-
tual experience. He challenged the commander’s right to flog him, since
he (Paul) was a Roman citizen. Amazingly, the commander became
flustered, not knowing what to do.
Paul was released and given his ‘‘day in court.’’ Addressing the
Sanhedrin, he followed the cardinal rule of good presentations: He es-
tablished eye contact. ‘‘Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said,
‘My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to
this day.’ ’’ (Tony Burns, CEO of Ryder Systems, says, ‘‘You look
someone in the eyes. You can tell by the look in his eyes or the inflec-
tion in his voice what the real problem or question or answer is.’’)^14
And because Paul knew his audience, he also knew how to divide
them. ‘‘My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on
trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.’’ The Saddu-
cees did not believe in resurrection, spirits, or angels, but the Pharisees
did. Paul created such an argument between these two sides of the court
that his case was transferred to the court in Rome, where he was tried
in a succession of courts, each time defending himself eloquently and
successfully. Using his great communications skills in each court, he
even tried to convert his captors to Christianity! Everywhere Paul went,
he unflinchingly communicated his message.
REPETITION
The Bible and the heroes who speak its words are notoriously repeti-
tious. Artless repetition is boring, uninspiring, and ineffective. Ideas re-
peated in different ways and words, at just the right intervals, constitute