Study Desk

"I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?' The voice said, ‘I am Jesus from Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.'

Paul knew that some of the men in the council meeting were Sadducees and some were Pharisees. So he shouted, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee and my father was a Pharisee! I am on trial here because I believe that people will rise from death."

The governor made a sign for Paul to speak. So Paul answered, "Governor Felix, I know that you have been a judge over this nation for a long time. So I am happy to defend myself before you.

Paul said, "I am standing at Caesar's judgment seat now. This is where I should be judged. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, and you know it.

I am very happy to talk to you, because you know so much about all the Jewish customs and the things the Jews argue about. Please listen to me patiently.

Now I am on trial because I hope for the promise that God made to our fathers.

"I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?' "The Lord said, ‘I am Jesus. I am the one you are persecuting.

I will keep you safe from your own people and from the non-Jewish people, the ones I am sending you to.

But God helped me, and he is still helping me today. With God's help I am standing here today and telling all people what I have seen. But I am saying nothing new. I am saying only what Moses and the prophets said would happen.

Paul said, "Most Honorable Festus, I am not crazy. What I am saying is true. It all makes perfect sense.

So men, there is nothing to worry about. I trust God, and I am sure everything will happen just as his angel told me.

But the Jews there did not want that. So I had to ask to come to Rome to have my trial before Caesar. That doesn't mean I am accusing my people of doing anything wrong.

That is why I wanted to see you and talk with you. I am bound with this chain because I believe in the hope of Israel."

I am proud of the Good News, because it is the power God uses to save everyone who believes—to save the Jews first, and now to save those who are not Jews.

Someone might say, "When I lie, it really gives God glory, because my lie makes his truth easier to see. So why am I judged a sinner?"

You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same. That is not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin means. I would never have known it is wrong to want something that is not mine. But the law said, "You must not want what belongs to someone else."

We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not. I am so human. Sin rules me as if I were its slave.

But I am not really the one doing the evil. It is sin living in me that does it.

So if I do what I don't want to do, then I am not really the one doing it. It is the sin living in me that does it.

In my mind I am happy with God's law.