The Book of Acts
Paul's Trial Before Felix
Acts 24:1–9
Please turn to Acts 24 as we continue our study of this book. In this last section of the book, the focus is really on the life of one man, the Apostle Paul. Last week we saw how God providentially moves in the circumstances of his life to move him out of Roman custody in Jerusalem to travel to Rome.
At the first stop in the journey, his path intersects with a man named Felix, who is the governor in Caesarea. Now Felix was a bad man, and that is true of every part of his life. He was corrupt and he was immoral.
Tacitus, the historian, said of Felix, “He had the office of a king and he ruled it with the mind of a slave.” And yet no one ever had any better opportunity to come to know the Lord than did Felix and he blew it!
He had the apostle Paul living in his house for two years, and you know Paul shared the gospel with him, and yet in the end, Felix rejected all that Paul stood for and proclaimed.
So beginning in verse 1 of chapter 24 and extending through verse 27 we have the account of the trial of Paul before Felix.
There are three main participants in the story. There is Paul, there is Felix and there is God, and each one of them are up to something. Today, we'll begin by look at what Paul was doing.
Then next week, we'll take a look at what God was doing, and then finally, we'll take a look at what Felix was doing.
So just to briefly bring us to date, Paul concluded his third missionary journey in Jerusalem, and in an attempt to clear his name and the accusations that he is anti-Jew, he causes a riot and has some trying to murder him.
He is taken out of town by the Romans and brought to Felix, the governor of Caesarea to stand trial and allow those who are trying to kill Paul to bring their accusations against him.
With that, we come to
verse 1
So here we have
1. The Accusers
Now this is an interesting group. First of all is the high priest, Ananias. By the way, for a high priest to get involved in an accusation is highly unusual. But Ananias was corrupt and he saw Paul as a threat, so he wanted to get rid of him. So he is part of the entourage that comes down to accuse.
Then, you’ve got the elders who are key leaders from the Sanhedrin. Most of them are out to destroy Paul as well.
So we have the high priest, members of their Supreme Court and just in case they need him, they hire a smooth-tongued, slick Philadelphia lawyer by the name of Tertullus to join them.
He was a legal professional who was probably versed in legal procedure and loopholes and case law from a Roman perspective. I would guess he spoke eloquent Latin and wore a pinstripe suit! And notice, the end of verse 1 tells us, he, along with the others, presented evidence to the governor.
And according to verse, he laid it on thick!
verse 2
So he uses the tactic of flattery to try and butter up Felix. Felix had done nothing notable or good for anybody but himself, and yet Tertullus just raves about all the honorable things he's done!
Then, it gets even deeper!
Verse 3
I would guess the Jewish leaders standing there are about to gag hearing all this. They had to hire a lawyer because none of them could have told all the lies with laughing! But he did it with a straight face!
And even if Felix knew he was being flattered, he must have enjoyed watching the Jews who hated Roman occupation having to stand there and smile!
Verse 4
In other words, "we don't want to spend all our time bragging on you, even though we could, we have business to attend to." In other words, I've run out of things to say and we'd like to present our case!
So in verses 5-9, we finally get to
2. The Accusation
They come with three specific accusations. They accuse Paul of violating Roman law, Jewish law and God's law.
First of all, they bring an accusation of
- treason
They start there because if they could convince Felix Paul was guilty of treason under Roman law, that would take care of it.
So they bring the charges in
verses 5-6
If you are a fan of Andy Griffin, you will recognize their accusation. It's the same accusation Dud Walsh made about Ernest T. Bass when he called him a "pestilence". By the way, you don't have to find a pestilence' a pestilence will find you!
That's what they say of Paul. He is a plague. He is a pestilence, a pain in the neck who goes around the countryside causing trouble.
They identify three areas in particular. He creates problems for Rome by stirring up Jews to revolt against the Roman government. He is a treasonous, threat, and the proof is he causes riots everywhere he goes. Second, he stirs up Jews all over the world. And third, he is a ringleader of the Nazarenes.
What they are accusing him is heresy. He’s anti-Jewish. He not only violates Roman law; he violates our laws and he does it by profaning the temple and the sacred things of God.
Now keep in mind, Felix had already received a letter from Claudius Lysias, the Roman commander in Jerusalem, which said, he didn't find any legal grounds to consider. He believed it to be a theological problem and not a legal issue. And he was right.
So what happened? Well, it's interesting that you should ask because the second part of verse 6, verse 7 and the first part of verse 8 present us with an interesting situation in that that are included in some manuscripts and not in others.
poses an interesting thing; I’m just give you a note on it. Some manuscripts do not include the end of verse 6, all of verse 7, and the first part of verse 8.
And it is very difficult to know whether or not this information should be included in the Bible.
Some Bibles include it without explanation and others include it with notations. Or they will be marked in brackets.
I'm certainly not an expert, but I tend to believe it should be included, and I feel that way is just because of how the text would read if it weren't there.
If it wasn't there, it would begin with the first phrase of verse 6, "He even tried to profane the temple," them jump to the end of verse 8, and by examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him."
Read it that way, and Tertullus is saying, “He’s profaned the temple and if you’ll examine him, you’ll find that out.” In other words, just ask him and he'll confess! That doesn't make any sense.
But if the verses are included, it changes the whole complexion of the text.
verses 6-8
Read it in that way and it makes sense. Tertullus says, “If you want to know what happened, just ask Claudius Lysias. I've given you the accusations. Just ask your own chief captain if you want corroboration."
In fact, later on, in verse 22, Felix says, "That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to wait until I visit with Lysias and them I'll make my decision."
It's interesting, as we'll see next time, he never did that.
Next, we see
3. The Witnesses
verse 9
One after the other, these Jews lined up to perjure themselves and attest to the accusations that had been made by lying in order to preserve their religion and execute a man they didn’t like.
In closing, let me remind you that what Paul experiences is a very vivid illustration of what a Christian should expect who tries to share the faith.
Second Timothy 3:12 says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in this present age shall suffer persecution.” If you’re going to live a godly life in the midst of an ungodly society, you’re going to get some flack. If that's how we live, that's to be expected.
But remember, Jesus stood by Paul and He'll stand by you as well!
Well, we didn’t get very far, but we got through the prosecution. Come back next week and we'll hear the defense.
Let’s pray.
