Acts 25

Paul has waited two years in custody when a new governor, Festus, arrives. His enemies press again for a trial in Jerusalem, hoping to kill him on the road. Paul, knowing the danger, appeals to Caesar. Festus then explains the case to King Agrippa, and the chapter ends with Paul about to speak before the king.

Acts 25:1-3

Festus has barely taken office when Paul’s enemies approach him. They ask a favor: bring Paul to Jerusalem. Their real plan is an ambush on the road. Two years have passed, but their hatred has not cooled. God’s servant is still surrounded by plots he cannot see.

BSA: concession (“as a favor, requesting graciously”): They dress up a murder plot as a small courtesy to the new governor. ambush (“plotting, laying in wait”): The plan was deliberate and hidden, not a sudden outburst.

See also: Acts 23:12-15.

Acts 25:4-5

Festus refuses to move the prisoner. Paul is in Caesarea, and Festus is going there soon. If Paul has done wrong, the accusers can come and state it openly. Without knowing it, Festus keeps Paul away from the trap.

BSA: accuse (“bring charges against him, declare his faults”): Festus insists on a formal, public charge instead of whispered pressure.

Acts 25:6

Festus stays in Jerusalem little more than a week, then returns to Caesarea. He acts quickly. The very next day he takes his seat on the judgment seat and calls for Paul. The Roman court moves at once, as Roman justice was meant to do.

BSA: judgment seat (“a raised platform for making decisions”): This was the formal place where a Roman governor heard cases and gave verdicts.

Greek: βήματος (bēmatos, G968) — “judgment seat, raised platform.” The word means a step or platform. A governor sat on it to give judgment, so the seat itself said that the law was now in session.

Acts 25:7

The Jews from Jerusalem crowd around Paul like a ring of hostile witnesses. They hurl many weighty charges, but they have no proof. Loud accusation is not evidence. Paul stands calm among them, as Jesus once did before his accusers.

BSA: serious (“weighty, grievous”): The charges sounded heavy, but they had no weight in fact. prove (“demonstrate, verify”): The accusers could not make a single charge stand up in court.

See also: Mark 14:55-56.

Acts 25:8

Paul answers with a short, clear denial. He has not offended against the Jewish law, the temple, or Caesar. These cover the three charges brought against him: heresy, defiling the temple, and sedition. His conscience is clear on all three.

BSA: offense (“not sinned at all, done nothing wrong”): Paul claims to be blameless on these specific charges.

See also: Acts 24:16.

Acts 25:9

Festus wants to please the Jewish leaders, so he suggests a trial in Jerusalem, with himself presiding. It sounds fair, but it would put Paul back in the hands of men who want him dead. A governor’s wish for favor can put an innocent man at risk.

BSA: favor (“grace, graciousness”): Festus is seeking goodwill from the people he governs, not seeking justice.

Acts 25:10

Paul will not go. He is already standing before Caesar’s court, which is the proper place for his case. He also reminds Festus that Festus knows he has wronged no one. Paul speaks plainly and respectfully, and he stays within his legal rights.

BSA: ought (“it is necessary, I must”): Paul speaks of what is right and required, not just what suits him.

Acts 25:11

Paul is willing to die if he has truly done something deserving death. But if the charges are false, no one may hand him over to please others. So he makes his appeal to Caesar. This also moves him toward Rome, as God had promised.

BSA: appeal (“formally request, appeal to”): This was a formal legal step that Roman citizens could take, and it moved the case to the emperor.

Greek: ἐπικαλοῦμαι (epikaloumai, G1941) — “I call upon, I appeal.” The word literally means to call on someone for help or judgment. Paul calls on the highest earthly court, since the lower one has failed him.

See also: Acts 23:11.

Acts 25:12

Festus consults his advisers, then gives a short ruling: Paul has appealed to Caesar, so to Caesar he will go. The appeal could not be undone. What looked like a legal trap becomes the path God was using to take Paul to Rome.

See also: Acts 27:24.

Acts 25:13-14

King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice come to Caesarea to greet the new governor. During their stay, Festus tells the king about the prisoner Felix left behind. The case, which seemed stuck, is about to reach a royal audience.

BSA: pay their respects (“salute, greet”): This was a formal courtesy call from a local king to the new Roman governor.

Acts 25:15-16

Festus tells Agrippa that the Jewish leaders wanted a sentence against Paul. He explains that Roman practice does not condemn a man before he faces his accusers and can answer the charges. Even a pagan legal system recognised that an accused person deserves a hearing.

BSA: defend (“justify, answer for”): The accused had a right to answer the charges before any judgment.

Acts 25:17-18

Festus says he acted without delay and held the hearing the very next day. He expected to hear about crimes, such as riot or violence. Instead, the charges were not what a Roman judge would count as crimes at all.

BSA: expected (“supposed, thought to be true”): Festus assumed the charges would be criminal, and was surprised.

Acts 25:19

Festus sums up the quarrel. It concerned the Jews’ own religion and a man named Jesus who had died, whom Paul says is alive. To a Roman this was an odd dispute. For Paul, and for us, it is the center of everything.

BSA: alive (“living, in existence”): Paul insists Jesus is truly living now, not just remembered.

Greek: ζῆν (zēn, G2198) — “to live, to be alive.” Festus uses the plain word for being alive. Without knowing it, he states the heart of the gospel: the crucified Jesus lives.

See also: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Acts 25:20-21

Festus admits he did not know how to examine such questions. So he proposed Jerusalem, but Paul appealed to the emperor. Festus ordered him kept in custody until he could be sent to Caesar. Paul’s appeal now stands firm.

BSA: at a loss (“perplexed, unsure”): The governor is honest that these religious matters were beyond him.

Acts 25:22

Agrippa says he would like to hear Paul himself. He was raised in a Jewish royal household and knew Jewish customs. Festus agrees at once, for the next day. Jesus had said his followers would be brought before kings, and here it happens.

See also: Luke 21:12-13; Acts 9:15.

Acts 25:23

The scene is grand. Agrippa and Bernice enter with great display, joined by army officers and leading citizens. Then Paul is brought in, a prisoner in chains. The contrast is striking: all the world’s show sits in the room, yet the real witness stands in the middle.

BSA: pomp (“pageantry, ceremonial display”): The royal entry was all show and status, which sets off Paul’s simplicity.

Greek: φαντασίας (phantasias, G5325) — “show, display.” This is the root of our word fantasy. It points to outward show, which impressed people but was fleeting.

Acts 25:24

Festus presents Paul to the crowd. He says the whole Jewish community has cried out that Paul should not live any longer. Yet Paul stands before them as a man whom the loud crowd could not actually convict.

BSA: crying out (“exclaiming, shouting”): The demand came as noise and pressure, not as proof.

See also: Luke 23:21-23.

Acts 25:25

Festus openly says that he found Paul had done nothing worthy of death. Like Pilate with Jesus, he is convinced of innocence. Yet he sends Paul on because of the appeal. Paul’s innocence is now on public record, spoken by a Roman governor.

BSA: worthy (“deserving, fitting”): The test is whether any crime deserved death, and Festus finds none.

See also: Luke 23:4.

Acts 25:26-27

Festus has a practical problem. He must send a prisoner to the emperor with a written report, but he has no clear charge to write. So he asks Agrippa to help him. Even in confusion, he sees that sending a man without charges would be foolish.

BSA: sovereign one (“lord, master”): This was a title for the emperor, which hints at the claims Rome made for its ruler. unreasonable (“irrational, against logic”): Festus sees that a prisoner with no charges makes no sense.

Greek: κυρίῳ (kyriō, G2962) — “lord, master.” Festus calls the emperor kyrios. Christians used the same word for Jesus, which is why ‘Jesus is Lord’ was a bold claim in the Roman world.

See also: Philippians 2:11.