Acts Chapter 24: Truth Before a Corrupt Judge

Five days after Paul arrived in Caesarea the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a professional orator named Tertullus. They presented their case to the governor Felix. Tertullus opened with flattery — the standard Roman legal opening — and then laid out the charges: this man is a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, and he even tried to profane the temple. All of this we can verify. The elders nodded their agreement.

Felix gave Paul permission to speak. Paul’s opening was direct and evidentiary: you can verify that it has been no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. They did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. They cannot prove the things they are now accusing me of. Every charge had a factual rebuttal attached to it. He was not making theological arguments. He was presenting a timeline that could be investigated.

The Admission Worth Noting

Then Paul said something remarkable: I admit to you that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Torah and written in the Prophets. He was not backing away from his convictions. He was claiming them in the most precise language possible: everything laid down in the Torah, everything written in the Prophets. This was not a man who had abandoned Moses. This was a man whose faith in Yeshua was built on the foundation of every word Moses and the prophets had written.

Having the same hope in Yehovah that these men themselves accept — that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. For this reason I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward Yehovah and toward men. He was not on trial for violating the Torah. He was on trial for believing the Torah’s promises more completely than his accusers were comfortable with.

He explained what had actually happened in the temple: he had come to Jerusalem to bring alms for the poor among his people and to present offerings. It was in this context — performing purification in the temple — that Jews from Asia found him. And those are the ones who should be here before you if they have anything against me. The actual witnesses to whatever happened were not present. The case against Paul depended on men who had not come to testify.

Felix and the Inconvenient Conscience

Felix had considerable knowledge about the Way. He adjourned the proceedings: when Lysias the commander comes down I will decide your case. He ordered Paul kept in custody but with some liberty, allowing his friends to care for his needs.

Some days later Felix came with Drusilla, his wife who was Jewish, and sent for Paul to hear him speak about faith in Yeshua the Messiah. Paul spoke about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment. Felix became alarmed. Go away for now, he said. When I get an opportunity I will summon you. He also hoped that Paul would offer him money. So he sent for him often and conversed with him.

The picture of Felix is one of the saddest in Acts. He heard truth. He was alarmed by it — meaning it penetrated, it landed, it told him something about himself he could not comfortably ignore. And he sent it away. Repeatedly. He kept Paul within reach not because he was seeking truth but because he was hoping for a bribe and found the conversations useful. Two years passed this way. Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. Wanting to do the Jews a favor Felix left Paul in prison.

Two years. In custody. Because a governor who knew the truth lacked the courage to follow it and found Paul’s imprisonment more convenient than his release. Yehovah had said Paul would testify in Rome. The route there was apparently going to take longer than anyone anticipated. But the promise was not being delayed. It was being kept on a timeline that served purposes Paul could not yet see.

Next: Acts Chapter 25 — The Appeal That Changed Everything