Acts 21:1-9
Paul Warned By the Christians
Acts 21:10-16
Paul’s Determination & Warning from Agabus
Acts 21:17-26
Compromise Recommended but Refuted
Acts 21:27-36
Disaster is the End Result of Compromise
Acts 21:37-40
Boldness At the Barracks
Acts 22:1-5
Paul Defense of His Heritage and Ministry
Acts 22:6-16
Paul’s Salvation Testimony
Acts 22:17-21
The Jewish Crowd’s Prejudice Against Gentiles
Acts 22:22-30
Paul–A Roman Citizen
Acts 23:1-5
Respect is Always Appropriate
Acts 23:6-11
Comfort In Times of Trial
Acts 23:12-22
A Plot to Kill Paul
Acts 23:23-35
God’s Timing is Very Evident to Paul
Acts 24:1-9
Paul’s Response vs. Reaction to Charges
Acts 24:10-21
Paul’s Defense Before Felix
Acts 24:22-27
Concern from Paul’s Friends & Foes
Acts 25:1-7
Paul’s Roman Trial–Festus Hears False Accusations
Acts 25:8-12
Paul’s Appeal to Caesar’s Roman Courtroom
Acts 25:13-22
Festus Consults Agrippa for a Second Opinion
Acts 25:23-27
Paul’s Opportunity to Face Agrippa & Company
Acts 26:1-11
Paul to Agrippa–Honesty is the Best Policy
Acts 26:12-23
Paul’s Purpose Changed to God’s Purpose
Acts 26:24-32
God’s Truth Brings Conviction to Agippa’s Heart
Acts 27:1-12
Paul’s Advice – Initially Rejected
Paul’s Response vs. Reaction to Charges
Acts 24:1–9
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
A mother of a five-year-old girl was startled to find her going through a new Bible storybook and circling the word “God” wherever appeared. Stifling her first reaction to reprimand the child for defacing a book, she quietly asked, “Why are doing that?” The li … More
Felix told Paul he would listen to his case once his accusers arrived, and while they waited he was put in the Praetorium under guard. In five days Paul’s accusers, a delegation from the Sanhedrin, arrived. This group was headed by the high priest, and included elders and a hired lawyer by the name of Tertullus (v. 1). He was a slick talker who apparently was well versed in Roman jurisprudence. This becomes clear as we read the opening of his speech before Felix which is filled with flowery praise, the giving of honorable titles, and the assurance of brevity which were all characteristics of the Roman court scene (vv. 2-4). These words were blatant lies, as Felix was known for his treachery. It is evident that this was all done to erase any animosity which the Jews and Felix had toward each other.
This group came well prepared, and the accusations against Paul were narrowed down to three:
The first two charges were political in nature, and the second and third were religious accusations to which the Jews heartily assented. The Sanhedrin gave their amens to all the lawyer was saying (v.9). But Felix would not easily be swayed by this. He knew the reputation of Ananias the high priest. In fact Ananias and Felix were a pair well matched. However, it was highly unlikely that he would give Paul an impartial judgment if he saw it to his disadvantage. It was clearly a well-stacked case against Paul. The charges were filled with half truths and twisted facts. This is always the way organized religion seeks to discredit and destroy God’s choice servants.
Application
I wonder how I would have reacted to these charges if I had been in Paul’s shoes? I would hope that my reaction would be as Christ-like as Paul’s was.
Acts 24:1-9 (English Standard Version)
Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (EntityRef: expecting ';' at line 49, column 103) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230
Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15
View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »