Paul before Felix
TRANSLATION
(1) Five days later, the high priest, Ananias, traveled to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus to bring their case against Paul before the governor. (2) When Paul was brought in, Tertullus presented the charges against him. He said, “We have enjoyed an extended time of peace under your rule, and your foresight has brought about reforms for this nation. (3) Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with deep gratitude. (4) In order not to weary you further, I request that you would be kind enough to listen briefly to our case. (5) We have found this man to be a troublemaker, inciting riots among Jews all over the world. He is ringleader of the Nazarene sect (6) and attempted to profane the temple. For this we seized him. (Some manuscripts add: “And we would have judged him according to our Law. But the Commander, Lysias, came, and violently took him from our hands, commanding his accusers to appear before you.”) (8) By examining him yourself, you will learn the truth of the charges we are bringing against him.” (9) The other Jews present also joined in the accusation, affirming that these things were so.
(10) When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul responded with these words: “I know that for many years you have served as a judge for this nation, so I gladly make my defense. (11) You can easily verify that not more than twelve days ago I went up to worship in Jerusalem. (12) My accusers did not find me contending with anyone in the temple nor stirring up a crowd in any synagogue or anywhere else in the city. (13) They cannot prove any of the charges they have brought against me. (14) But this I will confess to you, that, according to the Way which they call a sect, I serve the God of our ancestors, believing in everything laid down in the Law and written in the prophets. (15) I have the same hope in God which they themselves profess, namely, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. (16) So I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and others. (17) After an absence of several years I came to Jerusalem to bring gifts for the poor and to present offerings. (18) I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple doing this without a crowd or disturbance. However, certain Jews from Asia (19) should have been here in front of you to accuse me if they had any charge against me. (20) Otherwise, let these men state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin (21) apart from my declaring, ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”
(22) Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias, the commander, comes, I will decide your case.” (23) Then he ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, giving him some freedom and permitting his friends to minister to his needs.
OBSERVATIONS
The efforts of the Jewish leadership to coerce the Romans into convicting Paul of sedition continued after his removal to Caesarea. Again, repetitions help us to discern the thread of the argument in this segment. Several names and designations were repeated, “Tertullus” (vss. 1 & 2), “Paul” (vss. 1 & 10), “Felix” (vss. 2 & 22), “the governor” (vss. 1 & 10), “the Jews” (vss. 5, 9, & 18), “the Way” (vss. 14 & 22), and “God” (vss. 14, 15, & 16). Other repeated words included “sect” (vss. 5 & 14), “temple” (vss. 6 & 18), and “resurrection” (vss. 15 & 21).
OUTLINE
I. Tertullus set forth the Sanhedrin’s charges against Paul before the governor, Felix. (1-5)
II. Paul defended himself against their charges. (6-21)
III. Felix delayed giving a verdict until hearing further testimony. (22 & 23)
IDEA STATEMENT
Having heard the Jews’ case against Paul and Paul’s defense, Felix, the governor, decided to keep Paul in protective custody until more evidence could be produced against him.
APPLICATION
The Jews’ case against Paul, spelled out in the accusations which their spokesman, Tertullus, presented, consisted of a clever mixture of truth and lies. After flattering the governor, Felix, in his opening statement, Tertullus described Paul as a troublemaker who stirred up riots among the Jews throughout the world, laying on him the blame for the recent insurrection in Jerusalem. While his charge that Paul functioned “as ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” was true in one sense, Tertullus used evocative words designed to belittle and inflame. His statement, “he tried to profane the temple,” was a fabrication which Paul rebutted when given the opportunity to speak in his own defense.
Twice the secular authorities that had to weigh the charges brought against Paul realized that the Jews’ accusations were not crimes deserving the death sentence they were seeking. In his letter to Felix regarding Paul, Claudius Lysias had stated: “I found that he was being accused about questions of their Law but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.” Upon hearing from both sides, Felix adjourned the proceedings. He told Tertullus that he would wait until hearing additional testimony directly from the commander, Lysias, to pronounce a verdict. Meanwhile, he decided to hold Paul in custody more to protect him from the Jews than to punish him. Throughout his confinement, Paul was granted an unusual amount of freedom so that his fellow-believers could supply his needs for food and mutual fellowship. Paul would later write to the believers in Rome, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). God’s providential care for his apostle would be on display in all that would happen to Paul as he slowly made his way to Rome, the center of the empire.