Acts 28

Acts 28:1

#Acts 24:11|

(11) for you are able to know that there are not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

Acts 28:2

#Acts 24:12|

(12) And neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor about the city, did they find me disputing with any one, or exciting sedition among the multitude;

Acts 28:3

#Acts 24:13|

(13) neither are they able to prove the things of which they accuse me.

Acts 28:4

#Acts 24:14|

(14) But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, I so worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are in the law, and those written by the prophets,

Acts 28:5

#Acts 24:15|

(15) having hope toward God, which they themselves also entertain, that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.

Acts 28:6

#Acts 24:16|

(16) And in this do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and man.

Acts 28:7

#Acts 24:17|

(17) Now after many years, I came to present alms to my nation, and offerings,

Acts 28:8

#Acts 24:18|

(18) in the midst of which, certain Jews from Asia found me in the temple, purified, not with a multitude, nor with tumult.

Acts 28:9

#Acts 24:19|

(19) They ought to be here before you and accuse me, if they have any thing against me.

Acts 28:10

#Acts 24:20|

(20) Or let these themselves say if they found any wrong in me when I was standing before the Sanhedrim,

Acts 28:11

#Acts 24:21|

(21) except in reference to this one sentence which I uttered when standing among them, Concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question by you this day.

This speech [#Acts 24:10-21|] contains a distinct reply to each specification made by Tertullus. In answer to the charge of stirring up sedition, he shows first, that it had been only twelve days since he went up to Jerusalem. As it had now been five days since he left there, and he had been in prison one day previous to leaving, his previous stay there could have been only six days, which would have afforded no sufficient time for stirring up sedition. Moreover, they could not prove that he was engaged even in disputation with any one, in the temple, in the synagogues, or in any party of the city. As to being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, he frankly confesses that he belongs to what they call a sect: yet he believes all the law and the prophets, hopes for a resurrection of the dead, and is habitually struggling to lead a conscientious life. Finally, in reference to the charge of profaning the temple, implying disrespect for the Jewish people, he declares that the very object of his visit to Jerusalem was to bear alms to the people; and that when the Jews from Asia seized him in the temple, he was purified, and engaged about alms-giving, and the offerings of the temple. In conclusion, he notes the significant fact, that those who first seized him, and knew what he was doing, were not there to testify; while he challenges those who were present to state a single act of his that was wrong, unless it were the very heinous offense of declaring that he believed, with the great mass of the Jews, in the resurrection of the dead. The last point was made, and presented in the ironical form which it bears, in order to show Felix that it was party jealousy which instigated his Sadducee prosecutors.

(OCA 272)

Acts 28:12

#Acts 24:22|

22. His defense, though he had no witnesses present to prove his statements, had the desired effect upon Felix.

(22) And when Felix heard these things, knowing more accurately concerning that way, he put them off, and said, When Lysias the chiliarch comes down, I will thoroughly examine the matters between you.

In this decision he took Tertullus at his word; for he had already said that he could learn all about the affair by examining Lysias. But the decision is attributed to his “knowing more accurately concerning that way,” showing that he had come to the same conclusion with Lysias, that Paul was accused merely about questions of the Jewish law (compare #Acts 23:29|), and not of crime against Roman law.

(OCA 273)

Acts 28:13

#Acts 24:23|

23. When the Jews were dismissed, if Felix had possessed a strict regard for justice, he would have released Paul. As it was, he only relaxed the rigor of his previous confinement.

(23) And he commanded the centurion that Paul should be guarded, but have relaxation, and to forbid none of his friends to minister to him or visit him.

His confinement was now the least rigorous which was considered compatible with safe-keeping. He was under what was called the military custody, being placed in charge of a soldier, whose left arm was chained to Paul’s right, and who was responsible with his own life for the safety of his prisoner. The guards were relieved at regular intervals, and the “relaxation” allowed Paul was, probably, an occasional release from the chain. (s)

(s) See Conybeare and Howson, vol. 2, p. 288.

(OCA 273)

Acts 28:14

#Acts 24:24|

24. (24) Now, after some days, Felix came, with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

Drusilla, according to Josephus, was a daughter of Herod Agrippa, whose persecutions of the apostles, and miserable death, we have considered in commenting on the twelfth chapter [see TFG “Acts 12:23”]. She was a woman of remarkable beauty, the lawful wife of Azizus, king of Emesa, but was now living in adulterous intercourse with Felix. (t) Concerning Felix, Tacitus testifies, that “with every kind of cruelty and lust, he exercised the authority of a king with the temper of a slave.” (u)

(t) Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 20.7.1. (u) Tacitus, The Histories, 5.9.

(OCA 273)

Acts 28:15

#Acts 24:25|

25. Under the summons to speak concerning the faith in Christ, Paul was at liberty to chose the special topic of discourse, and did so with direct reference to the character of his hearers.

(25) And as he reasoned concerning righteousness and temperance, and judgment to come, Felix, being full of fear, answered, Go your way for this time, and when I have a convenient season, I will call for you.

The common version, “Felix trembled,” may be true, but it is claiming more for the effect of Paul’s discourse than is asserted by Luke. He was “filled with fear,” which shows that Paul addressed him on these appropriate topics, not in a spirit of bravado, but in that earnest and solemn strain which alone can penetrate the heart. This feeling was the beginning necessary to a change of life; but lust and ambition smothered the kindling fires of conscience, and the common excuse of alarmed but impenitent sinners was urged to get rid of the too faithful monitor. It is a sad warning to all who thus procrastinate, that to neither Felix nor Drusilla did the season ever come which they thought convenient to listen to such preaching. Felix was soon dismissed in disgrace from his office; and Drusilla, with a son by Felix, perished in that eruption of Mount Vesuvius which ingulfed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum (v).

(v) Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 20.7.2.

(OCA 273)

Acts 28:16

#Acts 24:26,27|

26, 27. True to the character which Tacitus attributes to Felix, Luke adds that

(26) Hoping also that money would be given to him by Paul, so that he would release him, he therefore sent for him the oftener, and conversed with him.

Having learned, from Paul’s own lips, that he had been up to Jerusalem to bear alms from distant Churches to the poor, and knowing something, perhaps of the general liberality of the disciples toward one another, he could have no doubt, judging them according to the usage of the age, that they would be willing to purchase Paul’s freedom at a high price. That it was not done, shows that the disciples had too elevated a standard of morality to buy from a corrupt judge release from even unjust and protracted imprisonment.

(OCA 273-274)

Acts 28:17

#Acts 24:27|

(27) But after two years Felix received Portius Festus as a successor; and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul bound.

These two years, if we judge from the silence of history, were the most inactive of Paul’s career. There are no epistles which bear this date; and though his friends and brethren had free access to him, we have no recorded effects of their interviews with him. The only moments in which he emerges into our view, from the obscurity of his prison, are those in which he appeared before his judges. We shall, on this account, contemplate his conduct on these occasions with the deeper interest.

(OCA 274)

Acts 28:19

#Acts 25:1-5|

XXV:1-5. The long imprisonment of Paul seems not in the least to have moderated the hatred of his enemies; but upon the change of governorship they renewed their efforts for his destruction.

(1) Now when Festus had come into the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

(OCA 274)

Acts 28:20

#Acts 25:2|

(2) And the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him,

Acts 28:21

#Acts 25:3|

(3) requesting as a favor against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, preparing an ambush to kill him on the way.

Acts 28:22

#Acts 25:4|

(4) But Festus answered that Paul should be kept in Caesarea, and that he himself would shortly depart thither.

Acts 28:23

#Acts 25:5|

(5) Let the influential men among you, said he, go down with me, and if there is any thing wrong in this man, accuse him.

He further told them, as we learn from his speech to Agrippa (#Acts 25:16|), that it was contrary to Roman law to condemn a man to death before he had an opportunity for defense, face to face with his accusers. All this shows that Festus was, at this time, disposed to see justice done. He, of course, knew nothing of the plot to waylay Paul [#Acts 25:3|]: for they kept this purpose concealed, while they professed another.

(OCA 274)

Acts 28:24

#Acts 25:6|

6-8. He made no delay in granting them the promised hearing.

(6) And when he had remained among them not more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day sat upon his judgment seat, and commanded Paul to be brought.

(OCA 274)

Acts 28:25

#Acts 25:7|

(7) And when he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around, bringing many and heavy charges against Paul, which they were not able to prove:

Acts 28:26

#Acts 25:8|

(8) while he answered in defense, Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I at all offended.

The specifications embraced in this defense are the same as in the defense against the speech of Tertullus before Felix, showing that the charges were still the same [#Acts 24:5,6|]. Being a “ringleader of the sect of Nazarenes” was his sin against the law; the false imputation of taking Greeks into the temple, his sin against that holy place; and the excitement of sedition among the Jews, his sin against Caesar. In the last specification, reference was had to the mobs which the Jews were in the habit of exciting against him, whose crimes were thus charged upon him.

(OCA 274)

Acts 28:27

#Acts 25:9|

9. The accusers not being able to prove their charges, and the prisoner having plead not guilty to each specification, he should have been unconditionally released. But Festus, notwithstanding the fairness of his answer to their demands in Jerusalem, was now disposed to yield to the clamor of the Jews.

(9) But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, there to be judged concerning these things before me?

It is possible that Festus still knew nothing of the plot to murder Paul by the roadside [#Acts 25:3|]; but he knew that the Jews desired his death, and he here exhibited a willingness to give them the opportunity which they desired.

(OCA 275)

Acts 28:28

#Acts 25:10,11|

10, 11. The purpose of the Jews was well understood by Paul. He remembered the purpose of the similar request preferred before Claudius Lysias, and perceived that his only safety was in frustrating their present attempt. Fortunately, the very imprisonment which exposed him to danger also furnished the means of his safety.

(10) Then Paul said, I am standing at Caesar’s judgment-seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself very well know.

(OCA 275)

Acts 28:29

#Acts 25:11|

(11) If I am a wrong-doer, and have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die. But if there is nothing in these things of which they accuse me, no man is able to deliver me up to them. I APPEAL TO CAESAR.

This appeal every Roman citizen had the right to make, and it required a transfer of the case to the imperial court in Rome. The statement, “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat” [#Acts 25:10|], was intended to justify him in refusing to be taken for trial away from Caesarea, which was the appointed capital of the province where the courts were properly held.

His appeal to Caesar, like his communication to Lysias, which secured his rescue in Jerusalem, is claimed as a sanction of military power. But, like that, it is only a demand made upon the military power which was holding him in unjust confinement, not to add to this injustice the crime of yielding him up to assassination. It is not an appeal from a free man to military power for protection; neither was there any necessity for the use of violence in granting his request on either occasion.

(OCA 275)

Acts 28:30

#Acts 25:12|

12. This appeal put an end to the trial, as it did to the murderous hopes of Paul’s enemies.

(12) Then Festus, having conferred with his council, answered, You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.

The conference with his advisers was probably in reference to Paul’s right to make the appeal; for he would hardly have dared, if the right was unquestioned, to hesitate about allowing it. His answer indicates some irritation under the severe rebuke of Paul’s last speech.

(OCA 275)

Acts 28:31

#Acts 25:13|

13. The custom of extending congratulations to men newly inducted into high office, which has prevailed in every age of the world, led to the next important incidents of Paul’s confinement in Caesarea.

(13) Now when some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to salute Festus.

This Agrippa was the son of the Herod who murdered the Apostle James. He was, at this time, king of Chalcis, but afterward of Galilee. (w) Bernice was his sister. She had been married to her uncle, Herod, former king of Chalcis, but he had died, and she was still a widow. She afterward married Polemo, king of Cilicia. (x) Like nearly all the Herod family, both male and female, she was licentious and ambitious. But she and Agrippa, being Jews by birth, were better able to understand Paul’s case than Festus.

(w) Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 20.7.1, 8.2. (x) Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 19.9.1; 20.7.3.

(OCA 275-276)