Paul encouraged by the Lord, transferred to the Roman Governor Felix (Acts 23)
By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospek
music
Scriptures reading Acts 23
1 Paul
looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “brothers, I have fulfilled my duty
to God in all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high
priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike you, you whitewashed
wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate
the law by commanding that I be struck!”
4
Those who were standing near Paul said, “ You dare to insult God’s high
priest?” 5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was
the high priest; for it is written: “ Do not speak evil about the ruler of your
people.” 6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and
the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “ My brothers, I am a
Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, I stand on trial because of my hope in the
resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is
no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the
Pharisees acknowledge them all.)
9
There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were
Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously, “We find nothing wrong with this
man,” they said. “ What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10
The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn
to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them
by force and bring him ino the barracks.
Paul escorted to
Caesarea; Encouraged by the Lord
11 The following night the Lord stood
near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem,
so you must also testify in Rome.”
The Plot of the Jews
12 The next morning the Jews formed
a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they
had killed Paul. 13 More than forty men were involved in this plot. 14
They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have taken a solemn
oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15 Now then, you
and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext
of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him
before he gets here.”
Transferred by the Commander to the Roman Governor
Felix
16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of
this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul
called one of the centurions and said, “ Take this young man to the commander;
he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him to the commander.
The centurion said, “ Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring
this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”
19 The Commander took the young man by the
hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?”20
He said: “ The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin
tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21
Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush
for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they killed him.
They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.”
22 The commander dismissed the young man and
cautioned him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” 23
Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment
of two hundred soldiers, seventy hoursemen and two hundred spearmen” to go to
Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may
be taken safely to Governor Felix.” 25 He wrote a letter as follows:
To
His excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. 27 This man was seized by
the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued
him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to
know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29
I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there
was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. 30
When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to
you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against
him.
30
So the soldiers, carrying
out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brough him as far as
Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go on with him,
while they returned to the barracks. 33 When the cavalry arrived in
Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to
him. 34 The governor read the letter and asked what province he was
from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, 35 He said, “I will hear
your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under
guard in Herod’s palace.
Verse 1 After man’s fall and his being sent out
of the garden of Eden (Gen3:23), God in His dispensation wanted man to be responsible
to his own conscience. But man failed to live and walk according to his conscience
and fell further into wickedness (Gen.6:5). After the judgment of the flood, God
ordained that man should be under human government (Gen.9:6).Man failed in this
also Then, before fulfilling His promise to Abraham concerning the blessing of the
nations in his seed, Christ (Gen.12:3;Gal3:8), God put man under the test of the
law (Rom.3:20;5:20). Man failed this test utterly. All these failures indicate that
man has fallen from God to his conscience, from his conscience to human government,
and from human government, and from human government to lawlessness; that is, man
has fallen to the uttermost. Hence, to conduct oneself in
all good conscience before God, as Paul did, was a great return to God from man’s
fall. Paul spoke this word to vindicate himself before
those who accused him of being a lawless and even reckless person. In his defense
he referred again to his conscience in 24:16. This showed his high standard
of morality, in contrast to the hypocrisy of the Jewish religionists and the crookedness
of the Roman (Gentile) politicians.
Verse 2 ordered …to strike him. Ananias (high
priest about A.D.48-58) was reportedly insolent and overbearing. He was probably
angered at Paul’s bold claims and ordered him struck.
Verse 5 I did not realize that he was high priest.
Some think Paul’s weak eyes caused him to fail to recognize the high priest; however,
the remark may have been sarcasm –“ I didn’t think the high priest would ever speak
like that!”
Verse 6 in effect Paul said, “ I a Pharisee by
inheritance and trainin g, can hardly be regarded as a subversive teacher!” He then
proceeded to split the Sanhedrin into its two factions.
Verse 10 This was the Lord’s sovereighty exercised
to rescue Paul from the hand of the Jews. Through the riot of the Jews in Jerusalem,
God delivered Paul out of the predicament into which he fell when he took James’s
comprmising proposal and participated in the Nazarite vow. Now through the commander
of the Roman cohort, God in His sovereignty again rescued
Paul, this time from the hand of the rioting Jews, who had attempted to kill him,
that He might separate him from all the dangerous situations and entrapments and
send him to a quiet prison. This was to afford him a quiet environment and give
him tim, whether in Caesarea (24:27) or in the city of Rome (28:16,23,30), that
through his last Epistles he might release exhaustively to the church throughout
the generations the revelation of the mystery of God’s New Testament economy that
he received from the Lord. The benefit and profit that the church throughout the
generations has received from these Epistles will take eternity to measure.
Verse 11 Christ appeared to Paul four
times. At his conversation (9:5), in Corinth (18:9-10), on his first visit to Jerusalem
(22:17-18), and here during his last visit to Jerusalem.
According to the Jewish calendar, sundown
is the beginning of the next day. The Lord was living all the time in Paul essentially
(Gal.2:20). Now to strengthen and encourage him, the Lord stood by him economically.
This showed the Lord’s faithfulness and good care for His servant. The Lord admitted
that the apostle did bear a solemn testimony concerning Him in Jerusalem. A testimony
differs from mere teaching . To carry out His heavenly ministry for the propagating
of Himself that the kindom of God might be established for the building up of the
churches as His fullness, the ascended Christ wanted to use not a group of preachers
trained by man’s teaching to do a preaching work, but a body of His witnesses, martyrs,
who bore a living testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended
Christ . Satan could instigate the Jewish religionists and utilize the Gentile politicians
to bind the apostles and their evangelistic ministry, but he could not bind Christ’s
living witnesses and their living testimonies. The more they bound the apostles
and their evangelistic ministry, the stronger and brighter these martyrs of Christ
and their living testimonies became. In His appearing to the apostle, the Lord indicated
that He would not rescue him immediatedly from his bonds but would leave him in
bonds and bring him to Rome that he might testify concerning Him, as he had done
in Jerusalem. The Lord encouraged Paul to do this.
Verse 12 The plot in vv.12-15 manifested the falsehood
and satanic hatred (John8:44; Matt.23:34) in the hypocritical Jewish religionists.
To put themselves under a curse means that they would keep their vow, and that if
they were to break the vow, they were willing to be cursed.
Verse 14 Lit., We have cursed ourselves with a
curse. This means that they were bound under a curse and could not break their vow.
It is a very strong expression.
Verse 16
son of Paul’s sister. Only here is any memtion made of Paul’s immediate relatives.
This too was the Lord’s sovereignty exercised to secretly rescue Paul’s life.
Verse 24 Governor Felix. Roman procurator of Judea
(A.D.52 to probably 58 ) with headquarters in Caesarea.
Verse 31 A place about forty Roman miles from
Jerusalem and about twenty-six from Caesarea.
Verse 34 What province he was from. Roman law
required that this question be asked at the opening of a hearing, for Paul had the
right to be tried in his home province or in the province where the alleged crime
was committed. Tarsus was in Cilicia. Felix was a deputy of the legate of Syria
and Cilicia, and so claimed the right to conduct the hearing, whichever choice Paul
made. Such a detail is strong proof that Luke was with Paul at the hearing.
Verse 35 The palace of the former kings, built
by Herod the Great. It became the official residence of the governor of the Roman
province of Judea. Paul was guarded there leniently, not confined in the common
prison.
Bibliography,
King James, The Holy Bible (KJV), Cleveland, OH:
The world publishing company
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago,
IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986
Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim,
CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.
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