Day #219: Acts 24:1-21

The accusers arrived —Ananias, the high priest, and the lawyer Tertullus, along with several Jewish leaders. They had traveled sixty miles to Caesarea, the Roman center of government, to bring their false accusations against Paul. Their murder plot had failed, but they were persisting in trying to kill him.

Tertullus began the religious leaders’ case against Paul before the Roman governor Felix. He made three accusations against Paul: (1) he was a troublemaker, inciting riots and rebellions; (2) he was the ringleader of an unrecognized sect, which was against Roman law; (3) he had tried to defile the Temple. The religious leaders hoped that these accusations would persuade Felix to execute Paul in order to keep the peace in Palestine.

If Felix would not prosecute Paul on the basis of his disruption of the peace, maybe he would do so if Paul were seen as a leader of a religious sect or cult that was not sanctioned by the state. This designation of Christians as Nazarenes was probably used of Jewish Christians from the earliest days of the church, but it is unknown what Felix may have known about them or what opinion he may have had. Surely Tertullus was using the term to put the church in its most controversial light.
The charge of defiling the Temple was designed to push Felix toward allowing the Jews to put Paul to death. It was one of the few offenses for which the Jews could still exact the death penalty.

When Tertullus finished his remarks, the governor gave the apostle permission to speak, so Paul began his defense. Tertullus and the religious leaders seemed to have made a strong argument against Paul, but Paul would refute their accusations point by point.

Paul answered the first charge (stirring up riots) by stating the easily verifiable trip he had made to Jerusalem no more than twelve days previously. The implication here was that he had not been in Jerusalem long enough to stir up trouble. Also, he stated that he had come to Jerusalem for the purpose of worship. Paul’s statement of easily provable or not provable evidence made a strong case. His accusers could not prove the things they had accused him of doing. He knew his accusers could not present a shred of evidence that he had defiled the Temple.

Paul then began to answer the second accusation—that of being a ringleader of a Nazarene sect. His answer to this accusation provides the opening for the gospel. Paul affirmed that he followed the Way, which his accusers called a sect. “The Way” was the earliest name for the Christian church. It probably came from John 14:6, where Jesus referred to himself as “the way.”

Paul took this opportunity to tie the roots of the Christian movement to the God of the Jewish people—the God of our ancestors—and particularly to the Old Testament Scriptures. He affirmed before Felix his firm belief in the Jewish law and everything written in the books of prophecy. It would be hard to make the “heretic” or “sectarian” label stick with an argument as strong as this one. Paul was still worshiping the same God and holding to the same moral code as his accusers.

Paul finally moved to the last accusation, that he had tried to defile the Temple. Paul stated the main purpose of his Jerusalem trip—to bring money to aid his people and to offer sacrifices to God. This is the only mention, at least in the book of Acts, of the collection for the saints in Jerusalem.

As to the charge of defilement—Paul had been completing a purification ritual when he was discovered in the Temple courts. As to the charge of causing an uproar, he stated that there had been no crowd and no rioting. The problem came when some Jews from the province of Asia showed up. They, in fact, had caused the uproar, not Paul. This was a strong point in Paul’s defense, one that his accusers simply could not refute.

Paul suggested that Felix ask those members of the Jewish high council who were present what wrongdoing they found in him - they kept their silence. This, of course, gave Paul a chance to present the Gospel and the Resurrection again, this time before Felix and his court, as well as to those Pharisees (accusers) who had been present at Paul’s meeting with the Jewish Council in Jerusalem. Thus the charges verbalized by Tertullus had been answered, and all that remained was for Felix to respond.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

There are times in all of our lives when all we can do is put our lives and trust in God's hands and leave the results to Him. That's what Paul has done here. While Paul is no shrinking violet, he clearly stands up for himself and speaks to defend himself, he is left in a precarious position - his destiny, his life are in the hands of God.

Oh Lord, remind us that this is true for us - every single day of our life. We can try and power our way through life - we can manipulate and scheme and maneuver, but it the Lord who blesses. It is the Lord who makes a way for us. It is the Lord who brings us high and takes us low.

"The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world. 9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails." 1 Samuel 2:6-9 (NIV)

Today Lord, let me live with a sense of peace because you are in control and you are for me.