Acts 24: Paul Accused
1 Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul. 2 And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, 3 we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.
For refuge, Paul is taken by the Romans from Jerusalem to Caesarea. "The high priest filled with much hatred against Paul had taken it upon himself to come in person. This must have been an unusual occurrence for a person of Ananias’ standing to leave Jerusalem." (Gaebelein) He followed Paul to his destination in Caesarea, along with the elders of Israel, as well as a certain orator named Tertullus, who was “appointed to accuse Paul. This is a Roman name, and this man was doubtless a Roman. As the Jews were, to a great extent, ignorant of the Roman laws, and of their mode of administering justice, it is not improbable that they were in the habit of employing Roman lawyers to plead their causes." They all "gave evidence to the governor against Paul" (24:1b) but this Tertullus acted as the accuser, or "managed their cause before the governor." (Albert Barnes)
"Almost every word of this oration is false,—...
When he says, 'We enjoy great quietness by thee,' he probably refers to what Felix had done to clear the country of robbers and impostors; for all the historians agree that he was in every other respect a man of so bad a character, that his government was a plague to all the provinces over which he presided; and as for Judea, its state under Felix was so far from being what Tertullus here represents, that Josephus, besides what he says of the barbarous and cowardly assassination of Jonathan the high-priest by his means, declares, that the Jews accused him before Nero of unsufferable oppressions;..." (Thomas Coke)
4 Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us.
"It was customary among professional lawyers of the time to claim that their speech would be very brief. 'Felix is so busy keeping the peace, that it would be a shame to keep him away from his duties much longer!' (Reese p. 838). 'By your kindness' As already noted, Felix was not noted for his kindness, rather he was well known for being a cruel, severe and greedy man who allowed himself to indulge in excess." (Mark Dunagan)
5 For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
"The other day Paul was mistaken for 'that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar,' etc. Today a hired orator describes Paul as 'a pestilent fellow,'.." (J. Parker, D. D.)- λοιμὸν loimon "This word is commonly applied to a plague or pestilence, and then to a man who corrupts the morals of others, or who is turbulent, and an exciter of sedition. Our translation somewhat weakens the force of the original expression. Tertullus did not say that he was a pestilent fellow, but that he was the very pestilence itself....
And a mover of sedition - An exciter of tumult. This they pretended he did by preaching doctrines contrary to the laws and customs of Moses, and exciting the Jews to tumult and disorder.
Throughout the world - Throughout the Roman empire, and thus leading the Jews to violate the laws, and to produce tumults, riots, and disorder.
And a ringleader - πρωτοστάτην prōtostatēn. This word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is properly a military word, and denotes 'one who stands first in an army, a standard-bearer, a leader, a commander.' The meaning is, that Paul had been so active, and so prominent in preaching the gospel, that he had been a leader, or the principal person in extending the sect of the Nazarenes." (Albert Barnes)
"Of the sect of the Nazarenes; not Nazarites, as Calvin seems to understand the passage; for these were men of great repute among the Jews, and for Paul to be at the head of them would never be brought against him as a charge: but Nazarenes, that is, Christians, so called by way of contempt and reproach, from Jesus of Nazareth; which name and sect being contemptible among the Romans, as well as Jews, are here mentioned to make the apostle more odious." (John Gill) “Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One whom the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip.” (John 1:45-46)
6 He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7 But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, 8 commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.” 9 And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so.
He even tried to profane the temple... "by introducing a Greek into it; see Acts 21:28 which was only a supposition and conjecture of the Asiatic Jews, and was a false and groundless one." (john Gill) And we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.... Tertullus implied "that they would have tried the case fairly, had not the chief captain taken him violently out of their hands; whereas, had not Lysias interfered, they would have murdered him on the spot..." (Adam Clarke) By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.... (8) In other words, you don't need to bother yourself, just take your word for it.
"Here (9) Tertullus closes his opening and statement of the case; and now he proceeds to call and examine his witnesses; and they were no doubt examined one by one." (Adam Clarke) And the high priest and the elders of Israel individually and collectively bore false witness against Paul, condemning themselves, acccording to their own law, for if a man bare false witness against his brother, "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother.” (Deuteronomy 19:19)
Acts 24: Paul's Defense Before Felix
10 Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, 11 because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. 13 Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. 14 But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.15 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 16 This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.
"The prosecutor is silent and seated. A nod from the judge permits Paul to speak. So veteran a pleader needs not, like the high priest and his elders, a lawyer to put his case." (Whedon's Commentary) In fact, Paul defended himself "without any prior knowledge of the charges, except as he might have surmised what they would be; and the eloquent and convincing manner in which he devastated the plaintiffs' case must be understood as a fulfillment of Jesus' promise that 'I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay' (Luke 21:15)." (Coffman Commentary)
“The truth. You can’t handle the truth.” Yet this was all that Paul spoke.
“I like to think of Paul standing there before that august assemblage, hiding nothing, covering nothing, majestic as he proclaimed himself a follower of the crucified Lord Jesus Christ.” (H. A. Ironside)
Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself… The elders were supposed to be the judges of Israel, but they were the ones who tried to exterminate Paul without trial. And they were now the accusers, using only lies and false accusations. Rome, on the other hand, dominated the geographic area, even the Jewish people, by providence of God. And Felix was the judge. “It was now about seven years since Felix entered on his government.” (Coke) “A judge -… This was the title of the ancient governors of Israel." (Clarke) “There was no flattery in this. It was a plain fact.” (Wesley) Now Felix would stand or fall. "Since you are so well acquainted with the customs and habits of the Jews, I the more readily submit the case to your disposal. This address indicated great confidence in the justice of his cause, and was the language of a man bold, fearless, and conscious of innocence." (Barnes)
Paul plainly denies the charges. “Because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days…” (11a) “and therefore in so short a time I could surely do no such great matters as they charge me with.” (Trapp) “since I went up to Jerusalem to worship…” (11b) "The original is, ‘since I went up to Jerusalem worshipping' προσκυνήσων proskunēsōnthat is, he was actually engaged in devotion when the tumult arose." (Barnes) “Paul was there to worship, and even paid the charges for certain men who had vows. He was in the temple when Lysias rescued him from the mob who were casting him out of the temple; and if Paul was causing an insurrection, the center of it would have had to be in the temple. Furthermore, Felix well knew, as did Pilate, that if Paul had been trying to stir up an insurrection, the temple Jews would have supported it. The charge, therefore, was a flimsy unsupported lie." (Coffman Commentary)
And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me... (12-13) “And if to be barely accused be sufficient to make a man guilty, no man shall be innocent.” (John Trapp) “It was a case of words without evidence. Not a single genuine witness had been produced. Their case was all generalities and accusations, an short on facts.” (Peter Pett) He was undergoing purification. “He had not even entered into a discussion in the Temple. He had not even gathered a crowd around him in any part of the city. He challenges the accusers to bring any adequate evidence—i.e., that of two or three witnesses, independent and agreeing—in proof of their charges.” (Ellicott)
But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers… (14) “The Jews felt that the Lord’s Way was heresy. Paul wanted it clearly understood that he still worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He believed that everyone, both good and evil, will be raised from the dead. Belief in the resurrection promoted holiness and godly living in the life of Paul. The desire of his life was simply to discharge his duty to God and to man.” (Charles Box)
“Believing all things — in the law and the prophets. Paul did not allow himself to be a heretic in doctrine. He names both the law and the prophets, as Christ had often done before, to show that he made the canonical scriptures the guide of his faith, and spake as the oracles of God; and as yet, the christians had made no schism with the Hebrew altar.” (Sutcliffe) “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” “We would like to believe that there is something about death so purifying and so ennobling that in the very hour of death, no matter what manner of lives men have lived, they are suddenly changed so that they pass out into eternity clean and pure and fit for the presence of God. But our Bibles forbid us to believe that.” (H. A. Ironside)
17 “Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, 18 in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. 19 They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. 20 Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council, 21 unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’”
Paul explained how that he had been away from Jerusalem for several years. Now he returned to bring gifts for the poor Jews that he had collected among Gentile churches. He also came to make an offering. This had to do with the Jewish vow he was helping those men keep. He was in the Temple for that ceremony when he was apprehended. He was not with a crowd, and there was no uproar.”— (Charles Box) This is the only charge that was true concerning him. “Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.” Yet: "I not only do not hold any thing by which the general creed of this people might be altered, in reference to the present state; but, also, I hold nothing different from their belief in reference to a future state; for, if I maintain the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, it is what themselves (biblical jews) allow." (Adam Clarke)
Acts 24: Felix and His Wife Hear Concerning Faith in Christ
22 But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.” 23 So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him. 24 And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” 26 Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.
But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way,… “It should be remembered that Caesarea was the place where a prominent centurion, Cornelius, had been converted, where Philip the evangelist and his four daughters lived, and where there were doubtless many influential Christians. Felix doubtless knew many of these, hence it is not unreasonable at all that he should have had a great deal of information about the Christians.” (Coffman) So, the charges against Paul and his defense clarified some issues for this Roman judge. And he committed to decide the matter when Lysias returned.
In the meantime, he commanded the centurion to let him have liberty allowing his friends to visit, making Paul “a prisoner at large. Hereby the Gospel was spread more and more; not to the satisfaction of the Jews. But they could not hinder it.” (Wesley)
It is possible that the two year imprisonment “might have been to gratify his wife, who was a Jewess, and who doubtless had a desire to be acquainted with the principles of this new sect.” (Barnes) “We said somewhat already concerning the covetousness and corruptions of Felix. Now, as touching his wife Drusilla, the readers must understand that she was daughter to Agrippa the elder, of whose filthy death Luke spake before, chapter 12, (Acts 12:23). She was betrothed to Epiphanis, the son of Antiochus. But forasmuch as the young man would not take on him the rites which the Jews did use, which he promised to do, her brother, Agrippa the younger, (of whom mention shall be made in the next chapter) after the death of his father, gave her to wife to Azizus, king of the Emesenes; from whose company she was enticed by the flattery of Felix. For Felix being taken with her singular beauty, did persuade one Simon, a Jew, born in Cyprus, to persuade and allure her to make a new match. Therefore, it came to pass, that this voluptuous woman, having broken promise with her former husband, did marry with an uncircumcised man contrary to the law. But though she had polluted herself with profane wedlock, yet we may easily conjecture by this place that she had not quite abandoned that feeling of religion which she had of [from] a child.” (Calvin)
And even Felix and Drusilla heard from Paul concerning faith in Christ. “When asked to expound the truth about ‘the faith of Jesus Christ’ Paul did not dampen his message down so as not to cause offence. He knew the facts about Felix, and about his wife. He knew them for what they were. Felix possibly expected an interesting discourse on the resurrection, but he got more than he bargained for, for Paul spoke of righteousness, that is of righteous living and God’s righteousness and how no man is righteous before God and the question of how a person could be righteous with God and of how Christ could provide that righteousness. He also spoke of ‘self-control’. The word indicates especially self-control with regard to sexual matters. It has been translated chastity. In other words he went right to the heart of their own relationship, and the sin that had been involved. He pulled no punches, and no doubt informed them what Jesus had taught on the matter. He was seeking to convince of sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11). He laid them bare in the eyes of God. And he spoke of judgment to come, and the One Who would be Judge (John 5:22; John 5:26-27). He faced them both with the fact that there was a resurrection of the just and the unjust and that they must then give account of themselves to God. Thus they needed to be ready for it (cf. Acts 17:30-31).” (Peter Pett's Commentary)
“Felix was terrified.” “How happily might this conviction have ended, had he been careful to pursue the views which were then opening upon his mind!” (Wesley) And answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” “A man always finds a convenient season for doing what he loves best. Whether it is working, or eating, or sleeping, or pleasure seeking, or money getting, or place hunting, if it has his heart he will find time for it. If he does not find a convenient season for accepting the offer of salvation, it is because he values something above that. He thinks more of the life that now is than of the life which is to come. He fails to realise how much more of joy there is in the present life to one who has Christ for his Saviour, than to one who is not at peace with God. The convenient season for taking hold of the richest treasure God can give to man, and for receiving the best of blessings, is now. He who is not ready to be saved when the lifeboat is at the wreck will never have a more convenient season for his rescue. This hour is your convenient season for that which is best worth your attention and doing. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Yet, Felix was so hardened by the corruption of his office that bribes had become business as usual. And he would not let Paul go without one. It seems that he asked outright for it; for this reason he likely allowed his friends to visit him… and “sent for him more often and conversed with him” (26b) further. But Paul would not allow it, keeping a good conscience towards God. In contrast, Felix was motivated by self interests.
27 But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.
“As Felix obtained no bribe from Paul, so he determined to make Paul a bribe to the Jews. But he incurred all the meanness of the act without any compensation. The Jews followed him to Rome with charges; but the influence of his brother Pallas at court saved him.” (Whedon) ”He was called to Rome to stand trial before Nero and barely escaped execution because of the influence of his brother and was banished to Gaul, where he died. Drusilla followed him into exile. This was Felix’s window of opportunity to be saved and he refused to open it.” (Mark Dunagan)