Reflections on Acts 24

Acts 24 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Five days later Ananias the high priest, together with some of their leaders and a lawyer named Tertullus, went to the governor to present their case against Paul.
   
2. So Paul was called in, and Tertullus stated the case against him: Honorable Felix, you have brought our people a long period of peace, and because of your concern our nation is much better off.
   
3. All of us are always grateful for what you have done.
   
4. I don't want to bother you, but please be patient with us and listen to me for just a few minutes.
   
5. This man has been found to be a real pest and troublemaker for Jews all over the world. He is also a leader of a group called Nazarenes.
   
6. When he tried to disgrace the temple, we arrested him. If you question him, you will find out for yourself that our charges are true.
   
7. (SEE 24:6)
   
8. (SEE 24:6)
   
9. The Jewish crowd spoke up and agreed with what Tertullus had said.
   
10. The governor motioned for Paul to speak, and he began: I know that you have judged the people of our nation for many years, and I am glad to defend myself in your court.
    
11. It was no more than twelve days ago that I went to worship in Jerusalem. You can find this out easily enough.
    
12. Never once did the Jews find me arguing with anyone in the temple. I didn't cause trouble in the Jewish meeting places or in the city itself.
    
13. There is no way that they can prove these charges that they are now bringing against me.
    
14. I admit that their leaders think that the Lord's Way which I follow is based on wrong beliefs. But I still worship the same God that my ancestors worshiped. And I believe everything written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets.
    
15. I am just as sure as these people are that God will raise from death everyone who is good or evil.
    
16. And because I am sure, I try my best to have a clear conscience in whatever I do for God or for people.
    
17. After being away for several years, I returned here to bring gifts for the poor people of my nation and to offer sacrifices.
    
18. This is what I was doing when I was found going through a ceremony in the temple. I wasn't with a crowd, and there was no uproar.
    
19. Some Jews from Asia were there at that time, and if they have anything to say against me, they should be here now.
    
20. Or ask the ones who are here. They can tell you that they didn't find me guilty of anything when I was tried by their own council.
    
21. The only charge they can bring against me is what I shouted out in court, when I said, "I am on trial today because I believe that the dead will be raised to life!"
    
22. Felix knew a lot about the Lord's Way. But he brought the trial to an end and said, "I will make my decision after Lysias the commander arrives."
    
23. He then ordered the army officer to keep Paul under guard, but not to lock him up or to stop his friends from helping him.
    
24. Several days later Felix and his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, went to the place where Paul was kept under guard. They sent for Paul and listened while he spoke to them about having faith in Christ Jesus.
    
25. But Felix was frightened when Paul started talking to them about doing right, about self-control, and about the coming judgment. So he said to Paul, "That's enough for now. You may go. But when I have time I will send for you."
    
26. After this, Felix often sent for Paul and talked with him, because he hoped that Paul would offer him a bribe.
    
27. Two years later Porcius Festus became governor in place of Felix. But since Felix wanted to do the Jewish leaders a favor, he kept Paul in jail.

---

Although there were many other Christians in Jerusalem, including the apostalic leaders such as Peter, the Jewish leaders seemed intent on eliminating Paul. Since his conversion, Paul had spent little time in Jerusalem, but word must certainly have come to these leaders about his preaching activities in other areas. Paul was the primary person leading the spread of the gospel all through the Roman world. Although the gospel was more quietly spread through many other channels as people went from place to place, Paul was a public spokesperson everywhere he went and he did not simply take the gospel with him as he went from place to place. He went from place to place so he could take the gospel. The increasing growth of Christianity, due significantly to Paul, in light of the increasing rejection of it by the Jews, evidently made Christianity and its leaders an increasing threat to the high priest and the Sanhedrin.

The high priest himself made the trip to Caesarea to bring charges against Paul, taking with him "some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus." A hint of how far these Jews might have been willing to go to put down the Way - the Christian movement - can be seen in the lawyer's introductory remarks. In his flattery of Felix, the governor, the lawyer said that they "gratefully" received his reforms "always and in all places." In light of Felix' reputation for violent use of repressive force and corrupt self-aggrandizement, this was a bold statement. If there was any truth in it at all, these Jews were offering to Felix peaceful acceptance of his policies in exchange for a favorable verdict against Paul. Should this be the case, this gives an even greater understanding of the threat these Jewish leaders perceived Christianity to be.

Their charges against Paul were threefold: (1) He was a worldwide troublemaker. (2) He was a leader of the Nazarene sect. (3) He attempted to desecrate the temple. Though there was a hint of truth in the first of these charges, the other two moved further and further from the truth. Since there had been disturbances concerning Paul's preaching in many of the places he had been, the charge of being a worldwide troublemaker might be convincingly made. But Paul had not intentionally caused trouble anywhere. The charge of leading a Nazarene sect was an attempt to distance Judaism from Christianity. Rome did not tolerate new religions. While Judaism was permitted by Rome, painting Christianity as a religion separate from Judaism - as a new sect - was an attempt to portray it as an illegal movement. The charge of desecrating the temple was a completely trumped up charge. At the time of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem he was accused of bringing Greeks into an area of the temple that was forbidden to Gentiles, an act of desecration. Though Paul had not done this, they presumed he had because they saw him in Jerusalem at one point with a man from Ephesus and at a later time they saw him in the temple. However, at the time they saw him in the temple he was there with two other Jews performing the rite of purification, not with this Greek.

Verse 22 tells us that the governor was "accurately informed about the Way," which was a reference to Christianity. He knew the charges against Paul were not true. But possibly to avoid conflict with the Jewish leaders or to somehow take advantage of this situation, Felix postponed a decision on the case until Lysias, the commander in Jerusalem, would come to Caesarea and Felix could confer with him. This was an indefinite delay of the case. One that was to last over two years. Meanwhile, Paul was held under house arrest and Felix on occasion "listened to (Paul) on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus."