Acts 24

Acts 24:6

6. — more than ten days.] Some manuscripts read, as the margin states, “No more than eight or ten days.”

Acts 24:8

8. — Neither against the law of the Jews.] For he had committed nothing against the customs of their fathers, chap. xxviii. 17, and to the Jews he became as a Jew, 1 Cor. ix. 20; nor against the temple, for he had neither profaned it, nor raised any tumults in it, chap. xxiv. 18; nor against Cesar, whom he commanded all men to obey, as from the ordinance of God, Rom. xiii. 1—7. Dr. Whitby.

Acts 24:10

10. — I stand at Cesar’s judgment seat &c.] How admirably does the Apostle, in this reply, guard both his safety and his character; how contrary is his behaviour on this occasion to the artifice and conscious guilt of imposture on the one side, or the folly of enthusiasm on the other. Dr. Graves.

Anno DOMINI 63. Or, as some copies read, we were then eight or ten days.

Acts 24:22

22.—having more perfect knowledge of that way,] Felix, having been many years governor of Judea, and having had his residence at Cesarea, where Cornelius the centurion and his friends were converted, where St. Philip the Evangelist dwelt, and where there were many disciples, chap. xxi. 8, 16, had thus opportunities of becoming acquainted with “the way” of Christianity. Dr. Whitby. Or the meaning may be, Having become better acquainted with Christianity, from the account just given by St. Paul.

Acts 24:24

24.—with his wife Drusilla,] Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa, mentioned at chap. xii. 1, 19. Felix, when procurator of Judea, fell in love with her, and seduced her from her husband Azixus, king of the Emesiana, prevailing on her, by means of his agents, to quit her husband and marry him. By this, he shewed both his injustice and incontinence. Bp. Pearce.

Acts 24:25

25.—of righteousness, temperance, &c.] The subject matter of St. Paul’s discourse before Felix is not more remarkable for its general excellence and importance, than for its particular suitableness in regard to the person whom he addressed. The two vices, of which Felix was most remarkably guilty, were injustice and temperance, as historians of unsuspected credit, both heathen and Jewish, inform us. In particular, Josephus tells us, that Drusilla, who now sat with him on the judgment seat, was the wife of a foreign king, who had been enticed by Felix into an adulterous connexion. Nothing therefore could be more appropriate than a discourse concerning righteousness and temperance, before such a cruel and voluptuous person; nothing more proper than to put this unjust judge in mind of another, a more impartial and dreadful tribunal, before which he himself should one day stand and be judged. Bp. Atterbury.

What a sincere and disinterested spirit appears in St. Paul on this occasion! He stood accused of heinous crimes, and was ready to sink under the malice and mighty power of his accusers, the high priest and chief men of the Jewish Sanhedrin then present, and soliciting a severe sentence against him. And yet he seems regardless of the imminent peril in which he was, and forgetting his own private interest, and all concern for himself, turns all his thoughts and bends his whole force towards promoting the general interest of the Gospel, and the salvation of souls. Again, how do we observe in his conduct marks of undaunted and exemplary courage! He fears not, we see, to utter necessary, though harsh and ungrateful truths, in the ears of one who had the power of life and death over him. He knew with what dangers the faithful discharge of his duty would in this case be attended; how impatient the great are under reproof, even when couched in the least offensive language; and yet no such consideration repressed his godly zeal, or checked his freedom; he conducted indeed his discourse with great caution and prudence, yet

with such force and success, as to strike confusion and terror into the person for whom they were intended. Bp. Atterbury.

— Felix trembled,] Let us well observe the wonderful effect that followed on St. Paul’s discourse. The mind of Felix was filled with horror, at the remembrance of past crimes, and the apprehension of a future reckoning: and these inward fears and forebodings appeared in the outward and visible marks of a great consternation. Though he was one of the mightiest men on earth, and St. Paul a poor despised prisoner; though he was then sitting on the seat of judgment, where it behoved him to do nothing that misbecome his high place and character; yet he could not dissuade the pangs and agonies of his uneasy mind. “He trembled.” We learn from this instance how great is the force and efficacy of the word of God, duly handled and applied. There is no sin so secret, that it will not find out and expose; no heart so hard, that it cannot soften; no conscience so far plunged in lethargic sleep, that it is not able to rouse. How should this instance of the operative virtue of God’s word reproach our sluggishness and insensibility! An impure and wicked heathen, we hear, trembled at St. Paul’s doctrine. The same doctrine sounds every day in the ears of negligent Christians, without terrifying, without alarming them. The same Apostle still reasons with them in his Epistles concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come: but he reasons to no purpose; his words seem to them as idle tales: they neither feel their force nor regard their meaning. Surely, for this, Felix shall one day rise up in judgment against them: for he heard and trembled. Bp. Atterbury.

— Go thy way for this time; &c.] Whenever we find our consciences touched to the quick by some awakening circumstance or discourse, let us beware that we do not endeavour to get rid of the smart, and dismiss such troublesome reflections, by saying to them, as Felix did, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for you.” For, this is the proper time, this the most convenient season for our entertaining them, and conversing with them, when they press to be admitted and heard. Let us not therefore call in company, business, or pleasure, to divert our thoughts from their present melancholy employments, but rather let us study every way to cherish and promote these good beginnings by retirement, meditation, and prayer. Let us commune with our own hearts in our chambers and be still, Ps. iv. 4; let us suffer these terrorists freely to reason and plead with us till they have persuaded us there in private; but let us re-apply, enforce, and improve these good impressions, till we have riveted their influence fast in our minds, and attained the end for which the good Spirit of God intended them, even till, by means of them, we have wrought out “a repentance to salvation not to be repented of,” 2 Cor. vii. 10. Bp. Atterbury.

Paul is left in prison. The Jews accuse him before Festus. Anno DOMINI 60.

Acts 24:26

26. He hoped also that money &c.] We unhappily see that the seed of the word, sown by the Apostle, “fell among thorns.” The love of unjust and oppressive gain quickly returned upon Felix, and drove out the impressions of St. Paul’s reasonings; and when he had once stood the shock of his conscience, and got the better of his fears, he afterwards heard the same things said, without any degree of the same remorse and concern. He sent for St. Paul often, and communed with him with no other design but that of gratifying his curiosity and extorting a bribe from him. So suddenly and easily may the best reflections be stifled, and the strongest convictions overborne by the force of one prevailing vice or lust, that hath gotten an absolute dominion over us. Bp. Atterbury.

Happy had it been for Felix, if he had been moved by the discourse of St. Paul to that “godly sorrow which worketh repentance.” But unfortunately he dismissed his good thoughts and the Apostle together. He sent for him indeed afterwards, and communed with him; but this was not done from any religious motive, but merely from avarice. He had heard St. Paul say, that he brought “alms to his nation and offerings,” and he might suppose that he could not want money for his own uses and occasions. Thus the lightning which darted upon his soul, vanished almost as soon as it appeared; and it were well if there were not many like Felix, having only short transient fits of religion, and never improving them into habits. They easily frame some excuse for putting off the necessary work of repentance and reformation to a more convenient season. But there can be no season to make our peace with God so convenient as the present; and such is the

Acts 24:27

27. — Porcius Festus] Felix was removed by Nero from his situation of procurator of Judea, and Porcius Festus appointed to succeed him. Dr. S. Clarke.

— willing to shew the Jews a pleasure.] The Jews were not grateful for this; for, as soon as Felix was recalled by the emperor Nero, the Jews of Cesarea went to Rome to prefer complaints against him; from the consequences of which he escaped with difficulty. Beausobre.

Chap. XXV. ver. 3. — laying wait in the way to kill him.] That is, designing so to do when St. Paul was on the road. Bp. Pearce.