Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Accused of Sedition

Acts 24:¹ Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.

• Ananias, the high priest of Israel, held the office between 47 AD and 59 AD and presided over the trial of Paul, as recorded by Josephus. (Josephus, Antiquities, B. XX Chr. 5 § 2)

Acts 24:² And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is (or: reforms are) being brought to this nation by your foresight,

Acts 24:³ we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.

Acts 24:⁴ Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy (graciousness), a few words from us.

Acts 24:⁵ For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

Acts 24:⁶ He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.

Acts 24:⁷ But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands,

Acts 24:⁸ commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.”

Acts 24:⁹ And the Jews also assented (joined the attack), maintaining that these things were so.

The Defense Before Felix

Acts 24:¹⁰ Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself,

Acts 24:¹¹ because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

Acts 24:¹² And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.

Acts 24:¹³ Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.

Acts 24:¹⁴ But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.

• This “sect” must have used Jesus’ words – John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
• This is the same words used in the 1970’s during the Jesus revolution on college campuses, ~1,910 years after Paul.

Acts 24:¹⁵ I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.

Acts 24:¹⁶ This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

Acts 24:¹⁷ “Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation,

Acts 24:¹⁸ in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult.

Acts 24:¹⁹ They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me.

Acts 24:²⁰ Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing (what wrongdoing they found) in me while I stood before the council,

Acts 24:²¹ unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day.’ ”

Felix Procrastinates

Acts 24:²² But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.”

Acts 24:²³ So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him.

Acts 24:²⁴ And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

• The historian Tacitus describes him as a man who “practiced every kind of cruelty and lust, wielding the power of a king with all the instincts of a slave” ~ Histories
• Antonius Felix was a freed Roman Slave.
• His wife, Drusilla, would die with their son in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius blew. According to Josephus, the temple was destroyed in August of 70 AD and some thought that Pompeii was God’s revenge on Rome.
• Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa I – King of Judea 41-44 AD. He had Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist beheaded, and his wife Herodias banished and exiled.

Acts 24:²⁵ Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

Acts 24:²⁶ Meanwhile he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.

Acts 24:²⁷ But after two years Porcius Festus (59 AD) succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.

• Note: Porcius Festus was the Procurator of Iudaea (Judea) from 59 to 62 AD, succeeding Antonius Felix preceding Lucceius Albinus.

• After two years Felix’s conscience was hardened, no longer afraid. The tips and pricks of the sword of God’s Word, dull and abused by reasoning, an appetite for bribes, pockets full of favors, seared his soul like a branding iron.