Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, April 27th, 2024
the Fourth Week after Easter
the Fourth Week after Easter
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Commentaries
Concordant Commentary of the New Testament Concordant NT Commentary
Copyright Statement
Concordant Commentary of the New Testament reproduced by permission of Concordant Publishing Concern, Almont, Michigan, USA. All other rights reserved.
Concordant Commentary of the New Testament reproduced by permission of Concordant Publishing Concern, Almont, Michigan, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliographical Information
"Commentary on Acts 25". Concordant Commentary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/aek/acts-25.html. 1968.
"Commentary on Acts 25". Concordant Commentary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/
Whole Bible (45)New Testament (16)Gospels Only (1)Individual Books (9)
Verses 1-9
17 To a man like Felix the accusation that Paul belonged to the sect of the Nazarenes would have little in it to incriminate him. And Paul, with marvelous wisdom, answers all that might be said against the sect by pointing out his mission to Jerusalem. He came bringing a vast sum of money for the poor, contributed by this same despised sect. Whatever their differences in doctrine they had as much right to their belief as the Jews. Viewed from the practical standpoint of a governor, their charitable act called for commendation. Paul came to Jerusalem with a gift for his nation. He engaged in the religious rites of their religion. The Jews of Asia, who started the riot against him should be present to say what he had done. Their absence was proof that he had done nothing.
20 Having thus defended himself of all but the theological charge against him, Paul dismisses that by showing that the fundamental doctrinal difference was the same as that which kept the Pharisees and Sadducees in continual strife with one another. If it was criminal to differ they should be indicted and one party punished. When they had settled their differences it would be in order to try the sect of the Nazarenes.
22 The "justice" of Rome, like all human justice, was based on expedience, rather than equity. Felix would have set Paul free, only he knew it would displease the Jews. He invents an excuse for deferring matters, for he evidently had no thought of consulting captain Lysias, who, on his own confession, could make nothing out of the case. One point seems to have impressed Felix. Paul had come to Jerusalem with much money. Could he or his friends be persuaded to part with some of it? This seems to have controlled his course until he was relieved of his place. On this account he not only lets Paul have much freedom but desires that he shall be able to get into communication with his friends. This is why he gives him audience and hints that, given occasion , he would call for him. It is not that he would hear him when he had a "convenient season," but that he would make any season convenient if given the proper encouragement. He was after a bribe. Yet the Lord used this mercenary motive to protect Paul from the Jews and to lead him before kings and to bring him to Rome.
24 The great moral courage of the apostle is manifest in his intercourse with Felix and his wife Drusilla, whom the king had enticed from her own husband by the help of a magician. To speak to such a notorious man, who slew the high priest for presuming to expostulate with him concerning his unlawful acts, while he was his prisoner and fully at his mercy, about righteousness, self-control and future judgment, so that the governor was affrighted, was to anticipate the powers of the coming kingdom, where righteousness shall reign.
1 Festus seems to have been a just man, though he tried to favor the Jews, as one in his position naturally would. The Jews had found that they could do nothing with Felix in Paul's case, and seem to have dropped the matter. But the accession of the new procurator gave them another opportunity to have him put to death and they are not slow to take advantage of it. Festus is more respectable than Felix. His name means "festive," and consistently with it he prefers the pleasurable to the right. He summarily disposed of the fact of Christ and His resurrection as a religious vagary because he was essentially worldly. The world holds festival while the saints suffer.
7 From Paul's reply we may imagine that the charges against him were much the same as those which had been preferred before. But they produced no evidence and the governor seems to have been convinced of his innocence. He should have freed Paul, but such a course would have brought his administration into disrepute at its very inception. Consequently he proposes a course which the Jews would approve, but he leaves it open to Paul to reject or accept. He proposes to bring the case back to Jerusalem. But Paul is through with Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. God has made it plain that his next testimony is in Rome.
Verses 10-27
10 Paul's reply is a marvelous compendium of his defense and his rights as a Roman citizen. Festus had supreme criminal jurisdiction in Judea over all except Roman citizens. Even these, should they be caught in some gross crime, such as banditry or piracy, could be condemned and executed by the provincial governors, with no recourse to any higher tribunal. Festus' consultation with the council was to determine this point. But it was all too evident that Paul was not guilty of such open violations of the law. Hence his appeal must stand. Festus had no right to try his case.
11-12 One of the legal advantages of a Roman citizen was his right to appeal to Caesar. But this right was not permitted to burden the supreme court of the empire with trifling cases, and the governor of a province was empowered to investigate such claims and to decide whether or not the appeal should be granted.
13 The Roman law required that the person of a prisoner who had appealed to the emperor should be sent to Rome for trial at the earliest moment, but he must be accompanied by an official report of the case up to the time of the appeal. All of the acts and documents, the depositions of the witnesses on both sides, and a record of the judgment of the lower tribunal had to be sent to aid the emperor in his consideration of the case. Here is where Festus was in a quandary. The evidence, if such it could be called, was quite unintelligible to him. He did not wish to make his government ridiculous at its very commencement by sending a prisoner against whom he could not even formulate a definite indictment.
22 Herod Agrippa II, king of Chalcis, was familiar with the Jewish law and customs from his youth and had the power of appointing the high priest. Together with his sister, Bernice, he had come to pay a complimentary visit to the newly appointed procurator. Here was an opportunity for Festus to get the information he required concerning Paul's case, for the king was the most likely one to help him formulate an indietment, as he was an expert in all questions relating to the Jews, besides having spent much of his youth in Rome. To him, then, Festus details Paul's case.
23 Caesarea was the capital of Judea and thus provided Paul with an audience composed of the principal political personages of the province. To this was added Agrippa and his retinue, altogether such a company as few heralds of the kingdom could hope to find. Besides, Agrippa had doubtless heard concerning the Lord and His disciples, and especially of Paul, whom he was hoping to hear. All the notables of the city as well as the military leaders assembled with them on the morrow to hear Paul's last proclamation of Messiah in the land. What thoughts must have surged in the breast of the apostle as he is led forth to face this display of worldly power! Could anything be more expressive of the fact that, through Israel's apostasy, the longed-for kingdom, which he had proclaimed in the land and among the dispersion, was now withdrawn? Hence his defense contains no allusion to the theocratic rule to be established by Messiah. To have spoken before kings and governors before this crisis and declared the destruction of human governments by the advent of Messiah would have been suicidal. Now that the kingdom recedes, he is less and less occupied with it.
24 The well chosen words of Festus show that, though he could not understand the feeling of the Jews against Paul, he was convinced of his innocence. The examination which followed was in no sense a trial, for there were no accusations. The apostle is given liberty to speak concerning himself, yet he skilfully brings in his meeting with the Lord and his commission, so that all the elements of the evangel are put before his hearers. It is but one more example of God's inimitable ways of turning evil into good, of making human opposition work out His purpose. Paul, in his chain, and persecuted by his own people, was performing a ministry which could be accomplished in no other way.