Acts 22:28

obtained I this freedom Better "this citizenship" (Rev. Ver.). Probably at the time when the A. V. was made "freedom" conveyed somewhat of this sense as we speak still of bestowing on any one the "freedom" of a city, meaning thereby all the rights of a citizen. It was the Roman boast "I am a Roman citizen," (Cic. in Verr. v. 63). The sale of the freedom of Rome was at times the perquisite of some of the Imperial parasites and favourites, who made what they could of such a privilege.

I was free born Rev. Ver."I am a Roman born." How St Paul came to be a Roman citizen by birth we cannot tell, probably some ancestor for meritorious conduct had been rewarded with enfranchisement. Tarsus was a free city, and had its own laws and magistrates, but that did not constitute its inhabitants Roman citizens.