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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
A C T S.
CHAP. XXIV.
We left Paul a prisoner at Cæsarea, in Herod’s judgment-hall,
expecting his trial to come on quickly; for in the beginning of his
imprisonment his affairs moved very quickly, but afterwards very
slowly. In this chapter we have his arraignment and trial before Felix
the governor at Cæsarea; here is,
I. The appearing of the prosecutors against him, and the setting of the
prisoner to the bar,
II. The opening of the indictment against him by Tertullus, who was of
counsel for the prosecutors, and the aggravating of the charge, with
abundance of compliments to the judge, and malice to the prisoner,
III. The corroborating of the charge by the testimony of the witnesses,
or rather the prosecutors themselves,
IV. The prisoner’s defence, in which, with all due deference to the
governor
(ver. 10),
he denies the charge, and challenges them to prove it
(ver. 11-13),
owns the truth, and makes an unexceptionable profession of
his faith, which he declares was it that they hated him for
(ver. 14-16),
and gives a more particular account of what had passed from their first
seizing him, challenging them to specify any ill they had found in him,
V. The adjourning of the cause, and the continuing of the prisoner in
custody,
VI. The private conversation that was between the prisoner and the
judge, by which the prisoner hoped to do good to the judge and the
judge thought to get money by the prisoner, but both in vain,
VII. The lengthening out of Paul’s imprisonment for two years, till
another governor came
(ver. 27),
where he seems as much neglected as there had been ado about him.
| The Speech of Tertullus. |
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|
1 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with
the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who
informed the governor against Paul.
2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse
him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and
that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy
providence,
3 We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix,
with all thankfulness.
4 Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I
pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words.
5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a
mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a
ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took,
and would have judged according to our law.
7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great
violence took him away out of our hands,
8 Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of
whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof
we accuse him.
9 And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so.
We must suppose that Lysias, the chief captain, when he had
sent away Paul to Cæsarea, gave notice to the chief priests,
and others that had appeared against Paul, that if they had any thing
to accuse him of they must follow him to Cæsarea, and there they would
find him, and a judge ready to hear them-thinking, perhaps, they would
not have given themselves so much trouble; but what will not malice
do?
I. We have here the cause followed against Paul, and it is vigorously
carried on.
1. Here is no time lost, for they are ready for a hearing after five
days; all other business is laid aside immediately, to prosecute
Paul; so intent are evil men to do evil! Some reckon these five
days from Paul’s being first seized, and with most probability, for
he says here
(v. 11)
that it was but twelve days since he came up to Jerusalem, and
he had spent seven in his purifying the temple, so that these
five must be reckoned from the last of those.
2. Those who had been his judges do themselves appear here as his
prosecutors. Ananias himself the high priest, who had sat
to judge him, now stands to inform against him. One would wonder,
(1.) That he should thus disparage himself, and forget the dignity of
his place. She the high priest turn informer, and leave all his
business in the temple at Jerusalem, to go to be called as a
prosecutor in Herod’s judgment-hall? Justly did God make the
priests contemptible and base, when they made themselves so,
(2.) That he should thus discover himself and his enmity against Paul!.
If men of the first rank have a malice against any, they think it
policy to employ others against them, and to play least in sight
themselves, because of the odium that commonly attends it; but Ananias
is not shamed to own himself a sworn enemy to Paul. The elders
attended him, to signify their concurrence with him, and to invigorate
the prosecution; for they could not find any attorneys or solicitors
that would follow it with so much violence as they desired. The pains
that evil men take in an evil matter, their contrivances, their
condescensions, and their unwearied industry, should shame us out of
our coldness and backwardness, and out indifference in that which is
good.
II. We have here the cause pleaded against Paul. The prosecutors
brought with them a certain orator named Tertullus, a Roman,
skilled in the Roman law and language, and therefore fittest to be
employed in a cause before the Roman governor, and most likely
to gain favour. The high priest, and elders, though they had their own
hearts spiteful enough, did not think their own tongues sharp enough,
and therefore retained Tertullus, who probably was noted for a
satirical wit, to be of counsel for them; and, no doubt, they gave him
a good fee, probably out of the treasury of the temple, which they had
the command of, it being a cause wherein the church was concerned and
which therefore must not be starved. Paul is set to the bar before
Felix the governor: He was called forth,
v. 2.
Tertullus’s business is, on the behalf of the prosecutors, to open the
information against him, and he is a man that will say any thing for
his fee; mercenary tongues will do so. No cause so unjust but can find
advocates to plead it; and yet we hope many advocates are so just as
not knowingly to patronise an unrighteous cause, but Tertullus was none
of these: his speech (or at least an abstract of it, for it appears, by
Tully’s orations, that the Roman lawyers, on such occasions, used to
make long harangues) is here reported, and it is made up of flattery
and falsehood; it calls evil good, and good evil.
1. One of the worst of men is here applauded as one of the best of
benefactors, only because he was the judge. Felix is represented by the
historians of his own nation, as well as by Josephus the Jew, as a very
bad man, who, depending upon his interest in the court, allowed himself
in all manner of wickedness, was a great oppressor, very cruel, and
very covetous, patronising and protecting assassins.–Joseph.
Antiq. 20. 162-165. And yet Tertullus here, in the name of the
high priest and elders, and probably by particular directions from them
and according to the instructions of his breviate, compliments him, and
extols him to the sky, as if he were so good a magistrate as never was
the like: and this comes the worse from the high priest and the elders,
because he had given a late instance of his enmity to their order; for
Jonathan the high priest, or one of the chief priests, having offended
him by too free an invective against the tyranny of his government, he
had him murdered by some villains whom he hired for that purpose who
afterwards did the like for others, as they were hired: Cujus
facinoris quia nemo ultor extitit, invitati hac licentia sicarii multos
confodiebant, alios propter privatas inimicitias, alios conducti
pecunia, etiam in ipso templo–No one being found to punish such enormous
wickedness, the assassins, encouraged by this impunity, stabbed several
persons, some from personal malice, some for hire, and that even in the
temple itself. An yet, to engage him to gratify their malice
against Paul, and to return them that kindness for their kindness in
overlooking all this, they magnify him as the greatest blessing to
their church and nation that ever came among them.
(1.) They are very ready to own it
(v. 2):
“By thee we, of the church, enjoy great quietness, and we
look upon thee as our patron and protector, and very worthy deeds
are done, from time to time, to the whole nation of the Jews, by
thy providence–thy wisdom, and care, and vigilance.” To give him
his due, he had been instrumental to suppress the insurrection of that
Egyptian of whom the chief captain spoke
(ch. xxi. 38);
but will the praise of that screen him from the just reproach of his
tyranny and oppression afterwards? See here,
[1.] The unhappiness of great men, and a great unhappiness it is, to
have their services magnified beyond measure, and never to be
faithfully told of their faults; and hereby they are hardened and
encouraged in evil.
[2.] The policy of bad men, by flattering princes in what they do amiss
to draw them in to do worse. The bishops of Rome got themselves
confirmed in their exorbitant church power, and have been assisted in
persecuting the servants of Christ, by flattering and caressing
usurpers and tyrants, and so making them the tools of their malice, as
the high priest, by his compliments, designed to make Felix here.
(2.) They promise to retain a grateful sense of it
(v. 3):
“We accept it always, and in all places, every where and at all
times we embrace it, we admire it, most noble Felix, with all
thankfulness. We will be ready, upon any occasion, to witness for
thee, that thou art a wise and good governor, and very serviceable to
the country.” And, if it had been true that he was such a governor, it
had been just that they should thus accept his good offices with all
thankfulness. The benefits which we enjoy by government, especially by
the administration of wise and good governors, are what we ought to be
thankful for, both to God and man. This is part of the honour due to
magistrates, to acknowledge the quietness we enjoy under their
protection, and the worthy deeds done by their prudence.
(3.) They therefore expect his favour in this cause,
v. 4.
They pretend a great care not to intrench upon his time: We will not
be further tedious to thee; and yet to be very confident of his
patience: I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a
few words. All this address is only ad captandam benefolentiam–to
induce him to give countenance to their cause; and they were so
conscious to themselves that it would soon appear to have more malice
than matter in it that they found it necessary thus to insinuate
themselves into his favour. Every body knew that the high priest and
the elders were enemies to the Roman government, and were uneasy under
all the marks of that yoke, and therefore, in their hearts, hated
Felix; and yet, to gain their ends against Paul, they, by their
counsel, show him all this respect, as they did to Pilate and
Cæsar when they were persecuting our Saviour. Princes cannot
always judge of the affections of their people by their applauses;
flattery is one thing, and true loyalty is another.
2. One of the best of men is here accused as one of the worst of
malefactors, only because he was the prisoner. After a flourish of
flattery, in which you cannot see matter for words, he comes to his
business, and it is to inform his excellency concerning the prisoner at
the bar; and this part of his discourse is as nauseous for its raillery
as the former part is for its flattery. I pity the man, and believe he
has no malice against Paul, nor does he think as he speaks in
calumniating him, any more than he did in courting Felix; but, a I
cannot but be sorry that a man of wit and sense should have such a
saleable tongue (as one calls it), so I cannot but be angry at those
dignified men that had such malicious hearts as to put such words into
his mouth. Two things Tertullus here complains of to Felix, in the
name of the high priest and the elders:–
(1.) That the peace of the nation was disturbed by Paul. They could not
have baited Christ’s disciples if they had not first dressed them up in
the skins of wild beasts, nor have given them as they did the vilest of
treatment if they had not first represented them as the vilest of men,
though the characters they gave of them were absolutely false and there
was not the least colour nor foundation for them. Innocence, may
excellence and usefulness, are no fence against calumny, no, nor
against the impressions of calumny upon the minds both of magistrates
and multitudes to excite their fury and jealousy; for, be the
representation ever so unjust, when it is enforced, as here it was,
with gravity and pretence of sanctity, and with assurance and noise,
something will stick. The old charge against God’s prophets was that
they were the troublers of the land, and against God’s Jerusalem that
it was a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces
and against our Lord Jesus that he perverted the nation, and forbade to
give tribute to Cæsar. It is the very same against Paul here;
and, though utterly false, is averred with all the confidence
imaginable. They do not say, “We suspect him to be a dangerous man, and
have taken him up upon that suspicion;” but, as if the thing were past
dispute, “We have found him to be so; we have often and long
found him so;” as if he were a traitor and rebel already convicted. And
yet, after all, there is not a word of truth in this representation;
but, if Paul’s just character be enquired into, it will be found
directly the reverse of this.
[1.] Paul was a useful man, and a great blessing to his country, a man
of exemplary candour and goodness, blessing to all, and provoking to
none; and yet he is here called a pestilent fellow
(v. 5):
“We have found him, loimon—pestem–the plague
of the nation, a walking pestilence, which supposes him to be a man of
a turbulent spirit, malicious and ill-natured, and one that threw all
things in disorder wherever he came.” They would have it thought that
he had dome a more mischief in his time than a plague could do,–that
the mischief he did was spreading and infectious, and that he made
others as mischievous as himself,–that it was of as fatal consequence
as the plague is, killing and destroying, and laying all waste,–that it
was as much to be dreaded and guarded against as a plague is. Many a
good sermon he had preached, and many a good work he had done, and for
these he is called a pestilent fellow.
[2.] Paul was a peace-maker, was a preacher of that gospel which has a
direct tendency to slay all enmities, and to establish true and
lasting peace; he lived peaceably and quietly himself, and taught
others to do so too, and yet is here represented as a mover of
sedition among all the Jews throughout all the world. The Jews were
disaffected to the Roman government; those of them that were most
bigoted were the most so. This Felix knew, and had therefore a watchful
eye upon them. Now they would fain make him believe that this Paul was
the man that made them so, whereas they themselves were the men that
sowed the seeds of faction and sedition among them: and they knew it;
and the reason why they hated Christ and his religion was because he
did not go about to head them in a opposition to the Romans. The Jews
were every where much set against Paul, and stirred up the people to
clamour against him; they moved sedition in all places where he came,
and then cast the blame unjustly upon him as if he had been the mover
of the sedition; as Nero not long after set Rome on fire, and then said
the Christians did it.
[3.] Paul was a man of catholic charity, who did not affect to be
singular, but made himself the servant of all for their good; and yet
he is here charged as being a ringleader of the sect of the
Nazarenes, a standard-bearer of that sect, so the word signifies.
When Cyprian was condemned to die for being a Christian, this was
inserted in hi sentence, that he was auctor iniqui nominis et
signifer–The author and standard-bearer of a wicked cause. Now it was
true that Paul was an active leading man in propagating Christianity.
But, First, It was utterly false that this was a sect; he did
not draw people to a party or private opinion, nor did he make his own
opinions their rule. True Christianity establishes that which is of
common concern to all mankind, publishes good-will to men, and shows us
God in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and therefore cannot be
thought to take its rise from such narrow opinions and private
interests as sects owe their origin to. True Christianity has a direct
tendency to the uniting of the children of men, and the gathering of
them together in one; and, as far as it obtains its just power and
influence upon the minds of men, will make them meek and quiet, and
peaceable and loving, and every way easy, acceptable, and profitable
one to another, and therefore is far from being a sect, which is
supposed to lead to division and to sow discord. True Christianity aims
at no worldly benefit or advantage, and therefore must by no means be
called a sect. Those that espouse a sect are governed in it by their
secular interest, they aim at wealth and honour; but the professors of
Christianity are so far from this that they expose themselves thereby
to the loss and ruin of all that is dear to them in this world.
Secondly, It is invidiously called the sect of the
Nazarenes, by which Christ was represented as of Nazareth, whence
no good thing was expected to arise; whereas he was of Bethlehem, where
the Messiah was to be born. Yet he was pleased to call himself,
Jesus of Nazareth,
ch. xxii. 8.
And the scripture has put an honour on the name,
And therefore, though intended for a reproach, the Christians had not
reason to be ashamed of sharing with their Master in it.
Thirdly, It was false that Paul was the author of
standard-bearer of this sect; for he did not draw people to himself,
but to Christ-did not preach himself, but Christ Jesus.
[4.] Paul had a veneration for the temple, as it was the place which
God had chosen to put his name there, and had lately himself with
reverence attended the temple-service; and yet it is here charged upon
him that he went about to profane the temple, and that he
designedly put contempt upon it, and violated the laws of it,
v. 6.
Their proof of this failed; for that they alleged as matter of act was
utterly false, and they knew it,
(2.) That the course of justice against Paul was obstructed by the
chief captain.
[1.] They pleaded that they took him, and would have judged him
according to their law. This was false; they did not go about to
judge him according to their law, but, contrary to all law and equity,
went about to beat him to death or to pull him to pieces,
without hearing what he had to say for himself-went about, under
pretence of having him into their court, to throw him into the hands of
ruffians that lay in wait to destroy him. Was this judging him
according to their law? It is easy for men, when they know what they
should have done, to say, this they would have done, when they meant
nothing less.
[2.] They reflected upon the chief captain as having done them an
injury in rescuing Paul out of their hands; whereas he therein not only
did him justice, but them the greatest kindness that could be, in
preventing the guilt they were bringing upon themselves: The chief
captain Lysias came upon us and with great violence (but really no
more than was necessary) took him out of our hands,
v. 7.
See how persecutors are enraged at their disappointments, which they
ought to e thankful for. When David in a heat of passion was going upon
a bloody enterprise, he thanked Abigail for stopping him, and God for
sending her to do it, so soon did he correct and recover himself. But
these cruel men justify themselves, and reckon him their enemy who kept
them (as David there speaks) from shedding blood with their own hands.
[3.] They referred the matter to Felix and his judgment, yet seeming
uneasy that they were under a necessity of doing so, the chief captain
having obliged them to it
(v. 8):
“It was he that forced us to give your excellency this trouble, and
ourselves too; for,” First, “He commanded his accusers to
come to thee, that though mightest hear the charge, when it might
as well have been ended in the inferior court.” Secondly, “He
has left it to thee to examine him, and try what thou canst get out of
him, and whether thou canst by his confession come to the knowledge of
those things which we lay to his charge.”
III. The assent of the Jews to this charge which Tertullus exhibited
(v. 9):
They confirmed it, saying that those things were so.
1. Some think this expresses the proof of their charge by witnesses
upon oath, that were examined as to the particulars of it, and attested
them. And no wonder if, when they had found an orator that would say
it, they found witnesses that would swear it, for money.
2. It rather seems to intimate the approbation which the high priest
and the elders gave to what Tertullus said. Felix asked them, “Is this
your sense, and is it all that you have to say?” And they answered,
“Yes it is;” and so they made themselves guilty of all the falsehood
that was in his speech. Those that have not the wit and parts to do
mischief with that some others have, that cannot make speeches and hold
disputes against religion, yet make themselves guilty of the mischiefs
others do, by assenting to that which others do, and saying, These
things are so, repeating and standing by what is said, to pervert
the right ways of the Lord. Many that have not learning enough to
plead for Baal yet have wickedness enough to vote for Baal.
| Paul’s Third Defence. |
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10 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to
speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many
years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer
for myself:
11 Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but
twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.
12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any
man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues,
nor in the city:
13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse
me.
14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they
call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow,
that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just
and unjust.
16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience
void of offence toward God, and toward men.
17 Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and
offerings.
18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the
temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
19 Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they
had ought against me.
20 Or else let these same here say, if they have found any
evil doing in me, while I stood before the council,
21 Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among
them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in
question by you this day.
We have here Paul’s defence of himself, in answer to Tertullus’s
charge, and there appears in it a great deal of the spirit of wisdom
and holiness, and an accomplishment of Christ’s promise to his
followers that when they were before governors and kings, for his sake,
it should be given them in that same hour what they should
speak. Though Tertullus had said a great many provoking things, yet
Paul did not interrupt him, but let him go on to the end of his speech,
according to the rules of decency and the method in courts of justice,
that the plaintiff be allowed to finish his evidence before the
defendant begins his plea. And when he had done, he did not presently
fly out into passionate exclamations against the iniquity of the times
and the men (O tempora! O mores!–Oh the degeneracy of the
times!) but he waited for a permission from the judge to speak in
his turn, and had it. The governor beckoned to him to speak,
v. 10.
And now he also may have leave to speak out, under the protection of
the governor, which was more than he could hitherto obtain. And, when
he did speak, he made no reflections at all upon Tertullus, who he knew
spoke for his fee, and therefore despised what he said, and levelled
his defence against those that employed him. And here,
I. He addressed himself very respectfully to the governor, and with a
confidence that he would do him justice. Here are not such flattering
compliments as Tertullus soothed him up with, but, which was more truly
respectful, a profession that he answered for himself
cheerfully, and with good assurance before him, looking upon
him, though not as one that was his friend, yet as one that would be
fair and impartial. He thus expresses his expectation that he would be
so, to engage him to be so. It was likewise the language of one that
was conscious to himself of his own integrity, and whose heart did not
reproach him, whoever did. He did not stand trembling at the bar; on
the contrary, he was very cheerful when he had one to be his judge that
was not a party, but an indifferent person. Nay, when he considers who
his judge is, he answers the more cheerfully; and why so? He
does not say, “Because I know thee to be a judge of inflexible justice
and integrity, that hatest bribes, and in giving judgment fearest God,
and regardest not man;” for he could not justly say this of him, and
therefore would not say it, though it were to gain his favour ever so
much; but, I the more cheerfully answer from myself, because
I know thou hast been many years a judge to this nation, and
this was very true, and being so,
1. He could say of his own knowledge that there had not formerly been
any complaints against Paul. Such clamours as they raised are generally
against old offenders; but, though he had long say judge there, he
never had Paul brought before him till now; and therefore he was not so
dangerous a criminal as he was represented to be.
2. He was well acquainted with the Jewish nation, and with their temper
and spirit. He knew how bigoted they were to their own way, what
furious zealots they were against all that did not comply with them,
how peevish and perverse they generally were, and therefore would make
allowances for that in their accusation of him, and not regard that
which he had reason to think came so much from part-malice. Though he
did not know him, he knew his prosecutors, and by this might guess what
manner of man he was.
II. He denies the facts that he was charged with, upon which their
character of him was grounded. Moving sedition, and profaning
the temple, were the crimes for which he stood indicted, crimes
which they knew the Roman governors were not accustomed to enquire
into, and therefore they hoped that the governor would return him back
to them to be judged by their law, and this was all they wished for.
But Paul desires that though he would not enquire into the crimes he
would protect one that was unjustly charged with them from those whom
he knew to be spiteful and ill-natured enough. Now he would have him to
understand (and what he said he was ready, if required, to make out by
witnesses),
1. That he came up to Jerusalem on purpose to worship God in peace and
holiness, so far was he from any design to move sedition among the
people or to profane the temple. He came to keep up his communion with
the Jews, not to put any affront upon them.
2. That it was but twelve days since he came up to Jerusalem, and he
came up to Jerusalem, and he had been six days a prisoner; he was
alone, and it could not be supposed that in so short a time he could do
the mischief they charged upon him. And, as for what he had done in
other countries, they knew nothing of it but by uncertain report, by
which the matter was very unfairly represented.
3. That he had demeaned himself at Jerusalem very quietly and
peaceably, and had made no manner of stir. If it had been true (as they
alleged) that he was a mover of sedition among all the Jews,
surely he would have been industrious to make a party at Jerusalem: but
he did not do so. He was in the temple, attending the public service
there. He was in the synagogues where the law was read and opened. He
went about in the city among his relations and friends, and conversed
freely in the places of concourse; and he was a man of a great genius
and an active spirit, and yet they could not charge him with offering
any thing either against the faith or against the peace of the Jewish
church.
(1.) He had nothing in him of a contradicting spirit, as the movers of
sedition have; he had no disposition to quarrel or oppose. They never
found him disputing with any man, either affronting the learned
with captious cavils or perplexing the weak and simple with curious
subtleties. He was ready, if asked, to give a reason of his own hope,
and to give instruction to others; but he never picked a quarrel with
any man about his religion, nor made that the subject of debate, and
controversy, and perverse dispute, which ought always to be treated of
with humility and reverence, with meekness and love.
(2.) He had nothing in him of a turbulent spirit: “They never found me
raising up the people, by incensing them against their governors
in church or state or suggesting to them fears and jealousies
concerning public affairs, nor by setting them at variance one with
another or sowing discord among them.” He behaved as became a Christian
and minister, with love and quietness, and due subjection to lawful
authority. The weapons of his warfare were not carnal, not did he ever
mention or think of such a thing as taking up arms for the propagating
of the gospel or the defence of the preachers of it; though he could
have made, perhaps, as strong a party among the common people as his
adversaries, yet he never attempted it.
4. That as to what they had charged him with, of moving sedition in
other countries, he was wholly innocent, and they could not make good
the charge
(v. 13):
Neither can the prove the things whereof the now accuse me.
Hereby,
(1.) He maintains his own innocency; for when he says, They cannot
prove it, he means, The matter is not so. He was no enemy to the public
peace; he had done no real prejudice, but a great deal of real service,
and would gladly have done more, to the nation of the Jews. He was so
far from having any antipathy to them that he had the strongest
affection imaginable for them, and a most passionate desire for their
welfare,
(2.) He bemoans his own calamity, that he was accused of those things
which could not be proved against him. And it has often been the lot of
very worthy good men to be thus injured, to have things laid to their
charge which they are the greatest distance from and abhor the though
of. But, while they are lamenting this calamity, this may be their
rejoicing, even the testimony of their consciences concerning
their integrity.
(3.) He shows the iniquity of his prosecutors, who said that which they
knew they could not prove, and thereby did him wrong in his name,
liberty, and life, and did the judge wrong too, in imposing upon him,
and doing what in them lay to pervert his judgment.
(4.) He appeals to the equity of his judge, and awakens him to look
about him, that he might not be drawn into a snare by the violence of
the prosecution. The judge must give sentence secundum allegata et
probata–according to that which is not only alleged but proved, and
therefore must enquire, and search, and ask diligently, whether the
thing be true and certain
he cannot otherwise give a right judgment.
III. He gives a fair and just account of himself, which does at once
both clear him from crime and likewise intimate what was the true
reason of their violence in prosecuting him.
1. He acknowledges himself to be one whom they looked upon as a
heretic, and that was the reason of their spleen against him. The chief
captain had observed, and the governor now cannot but observe, an
uncommon violence and fury in his prosecutors, which they know not what
to make of, but, guessing at the crime by the cry, conclude he must
needs have been a very bad man only for that reason. Now Paul here
unriddles the matter: I confess that in the way which they call
heresy–or a sect, so worship I the God of my fathers. The
controversy is in a matter of religion, and such controversies are
commonly managed with most fury and violence. Note, It is no new thing
for the right way of worshipping God to be called heresy; and for the
best of God’s servants to be stigmatized and run down as sectaries. The
reformed churches are called heretical ones by those who themselves
hate to be reformed, and are themselves heretics. Let us therefore
never be driven off from any good way by its being put in to an ill
name; for true and pure Christianity is never the worse, nor to be the
worse thought of, for its being called heresy; no, not though it be
called so by the high priest and the elders.
2. He vindicates himself from this imputation. They call Paul a
heretic, but he is not so; for,
(1.) He worships the God of his fathers, and therefore is right
in the object of his worship. He does not say, Let us go after other
gods, which we have not known, and let us serve them, as the false
prophet is supposed to do,
If so, they might justly call his way heresy, a drawing of them aside
into a by-path, and a dangerous one; but he worships the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not only the God whom they worshipped, but
the God who took them into covenant with himself, and was and would be
called their God. Paul adheres to that covenant, and sets up no other
in opposition to it. The promise made unto the fathers Paul
preached as fulfilled to the children
and so directed both his own devotions and those of others to God, as
the God of their fathers. He also refers to the practice of all
his pious ancestors: I worship the same God that all my fathers
worshipped. His religion was so far from being chargeable with novelty
that it gloried in its antiquity, and in an uninterrupted succession of
its professors. Note, It is very comfortable in our worshipping God to
have an eye to him as the God of our fathers. Our fathers trusted in
him, and were owned by him, and he engaged to be their God, and the God
of their seed. He approved himself theirs, and therefore, if we serve
him as they did, he will be ours; what an emphasis is laid upon this,
He is my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
Exod. xv. 2.
(2.) He believes all things which are written in the law and the
prophets, and therefore is right in the rule of his worship. His
religion is grounded upon, and governed by, the holy scriptures; they
are his oracle and touchstone, and he speaks and acts according to
them. He receives the scriptures entire, and believes all things that
are there written; and he receives them pure, for he says no other
things than what are contained in them, as he explains himself,
He sets not up any other rule of faith, or practice but the
scriptures-not tradition, nor the authority of the church, nor the
infallibility of any man or company of men on earth, nor the light
within, nor human reason; but divine revelation, as it is in the
scripture, is that which he resolves to live and die by, and therefore
he is not a heretic.
(3.) He has his eye upon a future state, and is a believing expectant
of that, and therefore is right in the end of his worship. Those that
turn aside to heresy have a regard to this world, and some secular
interest, but Paul aims to make heaven of his religion, and neither
more nor less
(v. 15):
“I have hope towards God, all my expectation is from him, and
therefore all my desire is towards him and all my dependence upon him;
my hope is towards God and not towards the world, towards another world
and not towards this. I depend upon God and upon his power, that
there shall be a resurrection of the dead at the end of time, of
all, both the just and unjust; and the great thing I aim at in
my religion is to obtain a joyful and happy resurrection, a share in
the resurrection of the just.” Observe here,
[1.] That there shall be a resurrection of the dead, the dead bodies of
men, of all men from the beginning to the end of time. It is certain,
not only that the soul does not die with the body, but that the body
itself shall live again; we have not only another life to live when our
present life is at an end, but there is to be another world, which
shall commence when this world is at an end, into which all the
children of men must enter at once by a resurrection from the dead, as
they entered into this, one after another, by their birth.
[2.] It shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the
unjust, the sanctified and the unsanctified, of those that did
well, and to them our Saviour has told us that it will be a
resurrection of life; and of those that did evil, and to them
that it will be a resurrection of condemnation,
See
This implies that it will be a resurrection to a final judgment, by
which all the children of men will be determined to everlasting
happiness or misery in a world of retribution, according to what they
were and what they did in this state of probation and preparation. The
just shall rise by virtue of their union with Christ as their head; the
unjust shall rise by virtue of Christ’s dominion over them as their
Judge.
[3.] God is to be depended upon for the resurrection of the dead: I
have hope towards God, and in God, that there shall be a
resurrection; it shall be effected by the almighty power of God, in
performance of the word which God hath spoken; so that those who doubt
of it betray their ignorance both of the scriptures and of the power of
God,
[4.] The resurrection of the dead is a fundamental article of our
creed, as it was also of that of the Jewish church. It is what they
themselves also allow; nay, it was the expectation of the ancient
patriarchs, witness Job’s confession of his faith; but it is more
clearly revealed and more fully confirmed by the gospel, and therefore
those who believed it should have been thankful to the preachers of the
gospel for their explications and proofs of it, instead of opposing
them.
[5.] In all our religion we ought to have an eye to the other world,
and to serve God in all instances with a confidence in him that
there will be a resurrection of the dead, doing all in preparation
for that, and expecting our recompence in that.
(4.) His conversation is of a piece with his devotion
(v. 16):
And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of
offence towards God and towards men. Prophets and their doctrine
were to be tried by their fruits. Paul was far from having made
shipwreck of a good conscience, and therefore it is not likely he has
made shipwreck of the faith, the mystery of which is best held in a
pure conscience. This protestation of Paul’s is to the same purport
with that which he made before the high priest
(ch. xxiii. 1):
I have lived in all good conscience; and this was his rejoicing.
Observe,
[1.] What was Paul’s aim and desire: To have a conscience void of
offence. Either, First, “A conscience not offending; not
informing me wrong, nor flattering me, nor dealing deceitfully with me,
nor in any thing misleading me.” Or, Secondly, A conscience not
offended; it is like Job’s resolution, “My heart shall not reproach
me, that is, I will never give it any occasion to do so. This is
what I am ambitious of, to keep upon good terms with my own conscience,
that it may have no cause either to question the goodness of my
spiritual state or to quarrel with me for any particular action. I am
as careful not to offend my conscience as I am not to offend a friend
with whom I daily converse; nay, as I am not to offend a magistrate
whose authority I am under, and to whom I am accountable; for
conscience is God’s deputy in my soul.”
[2.] What was his care and endeavour, in pursuance of this: “I
exercise myself—asko. I make it my constant
business, and govern myself by this intention; I discipline myself, and
live by rule” (those that did so were called ascetics, from the
word here used), “abstain from many a thing which my inclination leads
me to, and abound in all the exercises of religion that are most
spiritual, with this in my eye, that I may keep peace with my own
conscience.”
[3.] The extent of this care: First, To all times: To have
always a conscience void of offence, always void of gross offence;
for though Paul was conscious to himself that he had not yet
attained perfection, and the evil that he would not do yet he did,
yet he was innocent from the great transgression. Sins of
infirmity are uneasy to conscience, but they do not wound it, and waste
it, as presumptuous sins do; and, though offence may be given to
conscience, yet care must be taken that it be not an abiding offence,
but that by the renewed acts of faith and repentance the matter may be
taken up again quickly. This however we must always exercise ourselves
in, and, though we come short, we must follow after. Secondly,
To all things: Both towards God, and towards man. His
conscientious care extended itself to the whole of his duty, and he was
afraid of breaking the law of love either to God or his neighbour.
Conscience, like the magistrate, is custos utriusque
tabulæ–the guardian of each table. We must be very cautious
that we do not think, or speak, or do any thing amiss, either against
God or man,
[4.] The inducement to it: Herein, en touto,
for this cause; so it may be read. “Because I look for the
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, therefore I
thus exercise myself.” The consideration of the future state should
engage us to be universally conscientious in our present state.
IV. Having made confession of his faith, he gives a plain and faithful
account of his case, and of the wrong done him by his persecutors.
Twice he had been rescued by the chief captain out of the hands of the
Jews, when they were ready to pull him to pieces, and he challenges
them to prove him guilty of any crime either time.
1. In the temple. Here they fell furiously upon him as an enemy to
their nation and the temple,
But was there any colour for the charge? No, but evidence sufficient
against it,
(1.) It was very hard to accuse him as an enemy to their nation,
when after long absence from Jerusalem he came to bring alms to his
nation, money which (though he had need enough himself of it) he
had collected among his friends, for the relief of the poor at
Jerusalem. He not only had no malice to that people, but he had a very
charitable concern for them, and was ready to do them all good offices;
and were they his adversaries for his love?
(2.) It was very hard to accuse him of having profaned the temple when
he brought offerings to the temple, and was himself at charges therein
(ch. xxi. 24),
and was found purifying himself in the temple, according to the
law
(v. 18),
and that in a very quiet decent manner, neither with multitude nor
with tumult. Though he was a man so much talked of, he was far from
coveting to show himself when he came to Jerusalem, or to be crowded
after, but went to the temple, as much as was possible,
incognito. They were Jews from Asia, his enemies, that caused
him to be taken notice of; they had not pretence to make a tumult and
raise a multitude against him, for he had neither multitude nor tumult
for him. And as to what was perhaps suggested to Felix that he had
brought Greeks into the temple, contrary to their law, and the governor
ought to reckon with him for that, the Romans having stipulated with
the nations that submitted to them to preserve them in their religion,
he challenges them to prove it
(v. 19):
“Those Jews of Asia ought to have been here before thee, that
they might have been examined, whether they had aught against
me, that they would stand by and swear to;” for some that will not
scruple to tell a lie have such heavings of conscience that they
scruple confirming it with an oath.
2. In the council: “Since the Jews of Asia are not here to prove any
thing upon me done amiss in the temple, let these same that are
here, the high priest and the elders, say whether they have
found any evil doing in me, or whether I was guilty of any
misdemeanor when I stood before the council, when also they were
ready to pull me in pieces,
When I was there, they could not take offence at any thing I said; for
all I said was, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in
question by you this day
(v. 21),
which gave no offence to any one but the Sadducees. This I hope was no
crime, that I stuck to that which is the faith of the whole Jewish
church, excepting those whom they themselves call heretics.”
| Paul Converses with Felix; Felix Trembles; Paul’s Trial Adjourned. |
|
|
22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect
knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias
the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of
your matter.
23 And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him
have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance
to minister or come unto him.
24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife
Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him
concerning the faith in Christ.
25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for
this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
26 He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul,
that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener,
and communed with him.
27 But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room:
and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.
We have here the result of Paul’s trial before Felix, and what was the
consequence of it.
I. Felix adjourned the cause, and took further time to consider of it
(v. 22):
He had a more perfect knowledge of that way which the Jews
called heresy than the high priest and the elders thought he had. He
understood something of the Christian religion; for, living at
Cæsarea, where Cornelius, a Roman centurion, was, who was a
Christian, from him and others he had got a notion of Christianity,
that it was not such an evil thing as it was represented. He himself
knew some of that way to be honest good men, and very conscientious,
and therefore he put off the prosecutors with an excuse: “When the
chief captain shall come down hither, I will know the uttermost
of your matter, or I shall know the truth, whether this Paul did go
about to raise sedition or no; you are parties, he is an indifferent
person. Either Paul deserves to be punished for raising the tumult, or
you do for doing it yourselves and then charging it upon him; and I
will hear what he says, and determine accordingly between you.” Now,
1. It was a disappointment to the high priest and the elders that Paul
was not condemned, or remitted to their judgment, which they wished for
and expected. But thus sometimes God restrains the wrath of his
people’s enemies by the agency, not of their friends, but of such as
are strangers to them. And though they be so, if they have but some
knowledge of their way, they cannot but appear for their
protection.
2. It was an injury to Paul that he was not released. Felix ought to
have avenged him of his adversaries, when he so plainly saw
there was nothing but malice in the prosecution, and to have delivered
him out of the hand of the wicked, according to the duty of a
judge,
But he was a judge that neither feared God nor regarded man, and what
good could be expected from him? It is a wrong not only to deny
justice, but to delay it.
II. He detained the prisoner in custody, and would not take bail for
him; else here at Cæsarea Paul had friends enough that would gladly
have been his security. Felix thought a man of such a public character
as Paul was had many friends, as well as many enemies, and he might
have an opportunity of obliging them, or making a hand of them, if he
did not presently release him, and yet did show him countenance; and
therefore,
1. He continued him a prisoner, commanded a centurion or captain to
keep him,
He did not commit him to the common jail, but, being first made an
army-prisoner, he shall still be so.
2. Yet he took care he should be a prisoner at large–in libera
custodia; his keeper must let him have liberty, not bind him nor
lock him up, but make his confinement as easy to him as possible; let
him have the liberty of the castle, and, perhaps, he means liberty to
take the air, or go abroad upon his parole: and Paul was such an honest
man that they might take his word for his return. The high priest and
the elders grudged him his life, but Felix generously allows him a sort
of liberty; for he had not those prejudices against him and his way
that they had. He also gave orders that none of his friends should be
hindered from coming to him; the centurion must not forbid any of his
acquaintances from ministering to him; and a man’s prison is as it were
his own house if he has but his friends about him.
III. He had frequent conversation with him afterwards in private, once
particularly, not long after his public trial,
Observe,
1. With what design Felix sent for Paul. He had a mind to have
some talk with him concerning the faith in Christ, the Christian
religion; he had some knowledge of that way, but he desired to have an
account of it from Paul, who was so celebrated a preacher of that
faith, above the rest. Those that would enlarge their knowledge must
discourse with men of their own profession, and those that would be
acquainted with any profession should consult those that excel in the
knowledge of it; and therefore Felix had a mind to talk with Paul more
freely than he could in open court, where he observed Paul upon his
guard, concerning the faith of Christ; and this only to satisfy
his curiosity, or rather the curiosity of his wife Drusilla, who was
a Jewess, daughter of Herod Agrippa, that was eaten of worms. Being
educated in the Jewish religion, she was more inquisitive concerning
the Christian religion, which pretended to be the perfection of that,
and desired to hear Paul discourse of it. But it was no great matter
what religion she was of; for, whatever it was, she was a reproach and
scandal to it-a Jewess, but an adulteress; she was another man’s wife
when Felix took her to be his wife, and she lived with him in whoredom
and was noted for an impudent woman, yet she desires to hear
concerning the faith of Christ. Many are fond of new notions and
speculations in religion, and can hear and speak of them with pleasure,
who yet hate to come under the power and influence of religion, can be
content to have their judgments informed but not their lives
reformed.
2. What the account was which Paul gave him of the Christian religion;
by the idea he had of it, he expected to be amused with a mystical
divinity, but, as Paul represents it to him, he is alarmed with a
practical divinity. Paul, being asked concerning the faith in
Christ, reasoned (for Paul was always a rational preacher)
concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. It
is probable that he mentioned the peculiar doctrines of Christianity
concerning the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and his being
the Mediator between God and man; but he hastened to his
application, in which he designed to come home to the consciences of
his hearers.
(1.) He discoursed with clearness and warmth of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come; and here he showed,
[1.] That the faith in Christ is designed to enforce upon the children
of men the great laws of justice and temperance. The grace of God
teacheth us to live soberly and righteously,
Tit. ii. 12.
Justice and temperance were celebrated virtues among the heathen
moralists; if the doctrine Paul preaches, which Felix has heard of as
proclaiming liberty, will but free him from an obligation to these, he
will readily embrace it: “No,” says Paul, “it is so far from
doing so that it strengthens the obligations of those sacred laws; it
binds all under the highest penalties to be honest in all their
dealings, and to render to all their due; to deny
themselves, and to keep under the body, and bring it into
subjection.” The world and the flesh being in our baptism
renounced, all our pursuits of the world and all our gratifications of
the desires of the body are to be under the regulations of religion.
Paul reasoned of righteousness and temperance, to convince Felix
of his unrighteousness and intemperance, of which he had been
notoriously guilty, that, seeing the odiousness of them, and his
obnoxiousness to the wrath of God for them
(Eph. v. 6),
he might enquire concerning the faith of Christ, with a resolution to
embrace it.
[2.] That by the doctrine of Christ is discovered to us the judgment to
come, by the sentence of which the everlasting state of all the
children of men will be finally and irreversibly determined. Men have
their day now, Felix hath his; but God’s day is coming, when
everyone shall give account of himself to God, the Judge of all.
Paul reasoned concerning this; that is, he showed what reason we have
to believe that there is a judgment to come, and what reason we
have, in consideration thereof, to be religious.
(2.) From this account of the heads of Paul’s discourse we may gather,
[1.] That Paul in his preaching had no respect to persons, for the word
of God, which he preached, has not: he urged the same convictions and
instructions upon the Roman governor that he did upon other people.
[2.] That Paul in his preaching aimed at the consciences of men, and
came close to them, sought not to please their fancy nor to gratify
their curiosity, but led them to a sight of their sins and a sense of
their duty and interest.
[3.] That Paul preferred the serving of Christ, and the saving of
souls, before his own safety. He lay at the mercy of Felix, who had
power (as Pilate said) to crucify him (or, which was as bad, to
deliver him back to the Jews), and he had power to release him.
Now when Paul had his ear, and had him in a good humour, he had a fair
opportunity of ingratiating himself with him, and obtaining a release,
nay, and of incensing him against his prosecutors: and, on the
contrary, if he disobliged him, and put him out of humour, he might do
himself a great diskindness by it; but he is wholly negligent of these
considerations, and is intent upon doing good, at least discharging his
duty.
[4.] That Paul was willing to take pains, and run hazards, in his work,
even where there was little probability of doing good. Felix and
Drusilla were such hardened sinners that it was not at all likely they
should be brought to repentance by Paul’s preaching, especially under
such disadvantages; and yet Paul deals with them as one that did not
despair of them. Let the watchman give fair warning, and then they have
delivered their own souls, though they should not prevail to deliver
the souls they watch for.
3. What impressions Paul’s discourse made upon this great but wicked
man: Felix trembled, emphobos genomenos—being
put into a fright, or made a terror to himself, a
magor-missabib, as Pashur,
Paul never trembled before him, but he was made to tremble before Paul.
“If this be so, as Paul says, what will become of me in another world?
If the unrighteous and intemperate will be condemned in the judgment to
come, I am undone, for ever undone, unless I lead a new course of
life.” We do not find that Drusilla trembled, though she was equally
guilty, for she was a Jewess, and depended upon the ceremonial law,
which she adhered to the observance of, to justify her; but Felix for
the present could fasten upon nothing to pacify his conscience, and
therefore trembled. See here,
(1.) The power of the word of God, when it comes with commission; it is
searching, it is startling, it can strike a terror into the heart of
the most proud and daring sinner, by setting his sins in order
before him, and showing him the terrors of the Lord.
(2.) The workings of natural conscience; when it is startled and
awakened, it fills the soul with horror and amazement at its own
deformity and danger. Those that are themselves the terror of the
mighty in the land of the living have hereby been made a terror to
themselves. A prospect of the judgment to come is enough to make the
stoutest heart to tremble, as when it comes indeed it will make the
mighty men and the chief captains to call in vain to rocks and
mountains to shelter them.
4. How Felix struggled to get clear of these impressions, and to shake
off the terror of his convictions; he did by them as he did by Paul’s
prosecutors
(v. 25),
he deferred them; he said, Go thy way for this time, when I
have a convenient season I will call for thee.
(1.) He trembled and that was all. Paul’s trembling
(ch. ix. 6),
and the jailer’s
(ch. xvi. 29),
ended in their conversion, but this of Felix did not. Many are startled
by the word of God who are not effectually changed by it. Many are in
fear of the consequences of sin, and yet continue in love and league
with sin.
(2.) He did not fight against his convictions, nor fly in the face of
the word or of the preacher of it, to be revenged on them for making
his conscience fly in his face; he did not say to Paul, as Amaziah to
the prophet, Forbear, why shouldst thou be smitten? He did not
threaten him with a closer confinement, or with death, for touching him
(as John Baptist did Herod) in the sore place. But,
(3.) He artfully shifted off his convictions by putting off the
prosecution of them to another time. He has nothing to object against
what Paul has said; it is weighty and worth considering. But, like a
sorry debtor, he begs a day; Paul has spent himself, and has tired him
and his lady, and therefore, “Go thy way for this time–break
off here, business calls me away; but when I have a convenient
season, and have nothing else to do, I will call for thee,
and hear what thou hast further to say.” Note,
[1.] Many lose all the benefit of their convictions for want of
striking while the iron is hot. If Felix, now that he trembled, had but
asked, as Paul and the jailer did when they trembled, What shall I
do? he might have been brought to the faith of Christ, and have
been a Felix indeed, happy for ever; but, by dropping his
convictions now, he lost them for ever, and himself with them.
[2.] In the affairs of our souls, delays are dangerous; nothing is of
more fatal consequence than men’s putting off their conversion from
time to time. They will repent, and turn to God, but not yet; the
matter is adjourned to some more convenient season, when such a
business or affair is compassed, when they are so much older; and then
convictions cool and wear off, good purposes prove to no purpose, and
they are more hardened than ever in their evil way. Felix put off this
matter to a more convenient season, but we do not find that this more
convenient season ever came; for the devil cozens us of all our time by
cozening us of the present time. The present season is, without doubt,
the most convenient season. Behold, now is the accepted time.
To-day if you will hear his voice.
IV. After all, he detained him a prisoner, and left him so, when two
years after he was removed from the government,
He was convinced in his conscience that Paul had done nothing worthy
of death or of bonds, and yet had not the honesty to release him.
To little purpose had Paul reasoned with him about righteousness,
though he then trembled at the thought of his own iniquity, who could
thus persist in such a palpable piece of injustice. But here we are
told what principles he was governed by herein; and they were such as
make the matter yet much worse.
1. The love of money. He would not release Paul because he hoped to
make his market of him, and that at length his friends would make a
purse to purchase his liberty, and then he would satisfy his conscience
by releasing him when he could withal satisfy his covetousness by it;
but he cannot find in his heart to do his duty as a judge, unless he
can get money by it: He hoped that money would have been given him
of Paul, or somebody for him, and then he would have loosed him,
and set him at liberty. In hopes of this, he detains him a prisoner,
and sends for him the oftener, and communes with him; not any
more about the faith of Christ (he had had enough of that, and of the
judgment to come; Paul must not return to those subjects, nor go on
with them), but about his discharge, or ransom rather, out of his
present captivity. He cannot for shame ask Paul what he will give him
to release him, but he sends for him to feel his pulse, and gives him
an opportunity to ask why he would take to release him. And now we see
what became of his promise both to Paul and to himself, that he would
hear more of Christ at some other convenient season. Here were many
seasons convenient enough to have talked that matter through, but
nothing is done in it; all his business now is to get money by Paul,
not to get the knowledge of Christ by him. Note, It is just with God to
say concerning those who trifle with their convictions, and think they
can have the grace of God at command when they please, My Spirit
shall no more strive with them. When men will not hear God’s voice
to-day, while it is called to-day, the heart is commonly
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Paul was but a poor man
himself, silver and gold he had none to give, to purchase his
liberty; but Felix knew there were those who wished well to him who
were able to assist him. He having lately collected a great deal of
money for the poor saints to relieve them, it might also be expected
that the rich saints should contribute some to release him, and I
wonder it was not done. Though Paul is to be commended that he would
not offer money to Felix, nor beg money of the churches (his great and
generous soul disdained both), yet I know not whether his friends are
to be commended, nay, whether they can be justified, in not doing it
for him. They ought to have solicited the governor as pressingly for
him as his enemies did against him: and if a gift was necessary to
make room for them (as Solomon speaks) and to bring them before
great men, they might lawfully have done it. I ought not to bribe a man
to do an unjust thing, but, if he will not do me justice without a fee,
it is but doing myself justice to give it to him; and, if they might do
it, it was a shame they did not do it. I blush for them, that they
would let such an eminent and useful man as Paul lie in the jail, when
a little money would have fetched him out, and restored him to his
usefulness again. The Christians here at Cæsarea, where he now
was, had parted with their tears to prevent his going to the prison
(ch. xxi. 13),
and could they not find in their hearts to part with their money to
help him out? Yet there might be a providence of God in it; Paul’s
bonds must be for the furtherance of the gospel of Christ, and
therefore he must continue in bonds. However, this will not excuse
Felix, who ought to have released an innocent man, without demanding or
accepting any thing for it: the judge that will not do right without a
bribe will no doubt do wrong for a bribe.
2. Men-pleasing. Felix was recalled from his government about two
years after this, and Porcius Festus was put in his place, and one
should have expected he would have at least concluded his government
with this act of justice, the release of Paul, but he did not; he
left Paul bound, and the reason here given is because he was
willing to do the Jews a pleasure. Though he would not deliver
him to death, to please them, yet he would continue him a
prisoner rather than offend them; and he did it in hope hereby to atone
for the many offences he had done against them. He did not think Paul
had either interest or inclination to complain of him at court, for
detaining him so long in custody, against all law and equity; but he
was jealous of the high priest and elders, that they would be his
accusers to the emperor for the wrongs he had done them, and therefore
hopes by gratifying them in this matter to stop their mouths. Thus
those who do some base things are tempted to do more to screen
themselves and bear them out. If Felix had not injured the Jews, he
needed not to have done this to please them; but, when he had done it,
it seems he did not gain his point. The Jews, notwithstanding this,
accused him to the emperor, and some historians say he was sent bound
to Rome by Festus; and, if so, surely his remembering how light he had
made of Paul’s bonds would help to make his own chain heavy. Those that
aim to please God by doing good will have what they aim at; but so will
not those that seek to please men by doing evil.
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