Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 23:25
And he wrote a letter after this manner:
25. a letter after this manner ] [ Rev. Ver. form ]. As both the writer and receiver of the letter were Romans, it is most likely that Latin would be the language of the original, and that St Luke has given us a representation of the substance of the document rather than its very words.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 25. He wrote a letter after this manner] It appears that this was not only the substance of the letter, but the letter itself: the whole of it is so perfectly formal as to prove this; and in this simple manner are all the letters of the ancients formed. In this also we have an additional proof of St. Luke’s accuracy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is not certain whether the following words were the letter itself, or only the sum or contents of the letter.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he wrote a letter after this manner. The chief captain wrote a letter to Felix the governor, the form and sum of which were as follow; this letter he sent by one of the centurions to him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And he wrote (). First aorist active participle of , agreeing with the subject (Lysias) of (said) back in verse 23 (beginning).
After this form ( ). Textus Receptus has . The use of (type or form) like exemplum in Latin (Page who quotes Cicero Ad Att. IX. 6. 3) may give merely the purport or substantial contents of the letter. But there is no reason for thinking that it is not a genuine copy since the letter may have been read in open court before Felix, and Luke was probably with Paul. The Roman law required that a subordinate officer like Lysias in reporting a case to his superior should send a written statement of the case and it was termed elogium. A copy of the letter may have been given Paul after his appeal to Caesar. It was probably written in Latin. The letter is a “dexterous mixture of truth and falsehood” (Furneaux) with the stamp of genuineness. It puts things in a favourable light for Lysias and makes no mention of his order to scourge Paul.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
After this manner [ ] . Lit., containing this form or type. See on it is contained, 1Pe 2:6.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And he wrote a letter,” (grapas epistalen echousan) “He (the chief captain) wrote a letter,” an epistle to send with Paul to Caesarea, which was later delivered to the governor, Act 23:33.
2) “After this manner:” (ton tupon touton) “After this pattern, manner, or form, containing the following information, which Luke secured for this letter. The following is an abstract or summary of the contents of the epistle, or legal reporting instrument from Lysias, captain of the Jerusalem Roman Guard to Felix, then governor of Judea, who was residing in Caesarea by the seaside.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
−
25. And he wrote a letter. First, we must briefly admonish the readers who have not been conversant in histories, that this Felix was brother to Pallas, who being Caesar’s freeman, became equal with the chief of the city in wealth and power. Yea, moreover, the senate gave him the ornaments of the praetor, not without titles of filthy and shameful flattery. Therefore, seeing the servants of Claudius abusing his folly, did rule the Roman empire at their pleasure, and chiefly Narcissus and Pallas, no marvel if this latter did appoint his brother to be governor of Judea. The sum of the epistle tendeth to this end, that the chief captain may help Paul with his prejudice; − (557) and may admonish Felix of the injuries of his adversaries, and may so discredit them, that they may not be able to do him any hurt. −
(557) −
“
Suo praejudicio,” by bearing previous testimony in his favour.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
25. This manner This type or form. The regular letter form of this document, according to the fashion of that day, shows that Luke offers it as a literal copy. There is no difficulty in supposing that in the many interviews held by Festus with Paul the latter might have seen the original, and furnished a copy to Luke. The latter would value it as an authentic and characteristic document, and worthy to be inserted in his history.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he wrote a letter after this form:’
The chief captain sent with the force that was taking Paul a letter to Felix. ‘After this form’ may suggest that Luke was not sure of the contents, but hazarded a reconstruction based on information received. On the other hand it may have been read out in the court with Luke present. The wording confirms, however, that he knew something of its contents, as the white lie about the chief captain’s knowledge that Paul was a Roman before he rescued him reveals. Luke would not have made that up. The chief captain wanted some kudos for himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Paul In The Hands of The ‘Most Excellent’ Felix (23:25-35).
The ‘most excellent’ Felix, to whom Paul was being taken, was a freedman who had been appointed as procurator, a most unusual situation. Procurators were usually of equestrian rank. His appointment was an act of favouritism to his brother and he proved to be what he was, and by his behaviour in Palestine increased the hatred of Rome. Tacitus says of him that ‘practising every kind of cruelty and lust he wielded royal power with the instinct of a slave’ (which of course he had been). His method of exacting his will was by violence and crucifixions. He married three times, and each time into royalty. His first wife was the granddaughter of Anthony and Cleopatra, his present and third wife was Drusilla, a very beautiful Jewess and daughter of Agrippa I. She had been married when young to Azizus, king of Emesa, a petty Syrian king, but Felix saw her shortly after her wedding, desired her, and through the services of a magician from Cyprus prevailed on her to desert her husband and marry him in defiance of the Law which both forbade such behaviour and forbade her marriage to a pagan. This was typical of the man. Tacitus says, ‘he believed that he could commit all kinds of enormities with impunity’. He was not very reliable.
Under his procuratorship hostility against Rome increased enormously, resulting in the expansion of the influence of the zealots, and he then reacted viciously against them by hunting them down remorselessly and dealing with them with extreme cruelty. This simply produced a further reaction which resulted in general hatred and contempt and a huge increase in the number of ‘assassins’ (sicarii), men who mingled in crowds with hidden daggers and secretly murdered collaborators, until no one in Jerusalem with political connections could feel safe.
His behaviour also resulted in the incident of the Egyptian mentioned previously in Act 21:38, who was in fact but one of a number who around this time led groups into the wilderness so as to receive the ‘omens of freedom’ and seek to establish the kingdom of God, only to face a vengeful and bloodthirsty Felix with his soldiers. We are told that after the defeat of the Egyptian more and more fanatics arose and ‘incited many to revolt, exhorting them to exert their independence and threatening to kill any who submitted willingly to Roman domination, and to suppress all those who would voluntarily accept servitude. Deploying in gangs throughout the country they looted the houses of the nobles and killed their owners and set villages on fire, so that all Judaea felt the effects of their frenzy’ (Josephus). Thus around this time the country was in turmoil, a turmoil which would never in fact finally cease until it resulted in the Roman invasion and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This uneasy situation further explains the large escort.
In fact during the period when Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea a dispute arose between the Jewish and Syrian inhabitants there over equality of citizenship The Jews claimed precedence because Herod the Great had founded the city. The Syrians on the other hand were understandably reluctant to give way and claimed that the city had always been intended to be a Gentile city. Thus for a time there was a good deal of street fighting between the two parties. At one stage when the Jews had gained the upper hand Felix stepped in and using his soldiers, quelled them by force, handing over their houses to be plundered by the soldiers, something that would inevitably produce a complaint against him. When the rioting continued he sent leading men of both groups to Rome for Nero to decide the issue. But the Jews had complained to the emperor about his behaviour and before the matter was settled Felix was recalled, and recognising that the Jews might press their complaint about his behaviour tried to pacify them by leaving Paul in prison, hoping it would help his case with them. In the end he only escaped severe punishment because of his brother’s influence.
However, in the same way as the tyrant Herod Antipas feared John the Baptiser, so Felix appears to have feared Paul. Nevertheless he still kept him in prison when he could have released him, and this because he was hoping that Paul would be willing to pay him a large bribe. He was the worst type of Roman governor.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 23:25-26 . ] adds to , Act 23:23 , a contemporaneous accompanying action. Such passports, given with transported prisoners, were called at a later period (in the Cod. Theodos.) elogia .
. . .] which contained the following form ; ( 3Ma 3:30 ), the same as elsewhere (Kypke, II. p. 119; Grimm, on 1Ma 11:29 ), corresponds entirely to the Latin exemplum, the literal form, the verbal contents of a letter. Cic. ad Div. x. 5 : literae binae eodem exemplo.”
The lie in Act 23:27 (see in loc. ) is a proof that in what follows the literal expression is authentically contained; therefore there is no reason, with Olshausen, to regard the letter as a literary production of Luke. A documentary source, it is true, from which the verbal form came to him, cannot be specified, although possibilities of this nature may well be imagined.
] see on Luke, Introd. 3. Comp. Act 24:3 , Act 26:25 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
25 And he wrote a letter after this manner:
Ver. 25. And he wrote a letter ] Gr. an epistle, cuius ornamentum est ornamentis carere, saith Politian.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] [ ] ., ., see reff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 23:25 . , see critical note above. : “form,” R.V., a prcis or summary of the contents of a letter, 3Ma 3:30 . Such a letter would be called elogium , Alford, in loco , Renan, Saint Paul , p. 532. It is quite true that does not demand that the letter should have been given verbally, and in an oft-quoted passage, Plato, Polit. , 3, p. 414, is contrasted with , but the letter bears the marks of genuineness, e.g. , the part which Lysias claims to have played, and the expression “questions of their law” (see below). Moreover St. Luke might have easily learnt its contents, as there is reason for supposing that the letter would have been read in open court before Felix, as containing the preliminary inquiry, and that a copy may have been given to Paul after his appeal, see Bethge, Die Paulinischen Reden Apostelgeschichte , p. 226.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
And he wrote = Having written.
after this manner = having (Greek. periecho, but texts read echo) this form (Greek. tupos, Act 7:43).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25.] []., ., see reff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 23:25. ) 1Ma 15:2, () .-) mould, form, purport. This, which was without doubt written in Latin, and preserved in the Roman archives, afterwards convinced the Romans, when they read it, of the truth of the apostolic history.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Sent to a Roman Tribunal
Act 23:25-35
Antipatris was forty-two miles from Jerusalem. The escort and their prisoner made the forced march in a night. Next day the legionaries marched back to Jerusalem while the mounted soldiers rode forward to Caesarea, which was twenty-six miles farther on. The Apostle therefore entered Caesarea in a guise different from that in which he had left it, Act 21:16. Philip and the other Christians must have been startled to see how soon their forebodings were fulfilled as the great missionary, from whom they had parted with so many tears, rode through the streets surrounded by soldiers.
When Felix read the letter which Lysias had sent explaining the case, he handed Paul over to a soldier to be kept in one of the guard-rooms of the old palace which now formed the stately residence of the governors of Judea. What mingled feelings must have filled that lion heart, as he realized that, while Rome had him in her power, all the artifice of his bitter foes would now be powerless to do him bodily harm. The psalms which he had sung at Philippi would come to mind with added force as he strengthened his soul in God.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Reciprocal: Act 23:33 – delivered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
Act 23:25-26. Claudius Lysias was the chief captain at Jerusalem. As a judicial courtesy, he wrote a letter to Felix explaining why he was sending Paul to him.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 23:25-26. He wrote a letter after this manner: Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting. This was in strict accordance with the Roman law, which directed a subordinate official, in sending a prisoner to the higher authority for trial, to send a written statement, termed an elogium, of the whole case. On this occasion, the elogium was rather a letter in favour of Paul than a formal accusation. The most excellent ( ) was the official title which was usually given to a governor holding the office of Felix. Tertullus the orator thus addresses the procurator in court (chap. Act 24:3), and Paul, Festus (chap. Act 26:25). In his dedication of the Gospel, Luke prefixes the same title to Theophilus (Luk 1:3).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The chief captain Lysias having sent St. Paul under a strong guard to Cesarea by night, where Felix the Roman governor resided, he writes a letter to acquaint Felix with the accusation laid to the prisoner’s charge.
In which letter observe, 1. The title given to the Roman governor, Most excellent: Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix, sendeth greeting.
Titles of civil honour and respect given to persons in place and power are agreeable to the mind and will of God. There is an honour which belongs to men, with respect to their internal qualifications. He that is very honourable as to his place, may not deserve any honour as to his worth; yet ought he to be honoured so far as his place requireth.
Observe, 2. How God overruled the heart and pen of this captain, Lysias, to do the apostle right, in representing his case fairly and indifferently: that he found nothing brought against him that was punishable, either with death or bonds, by the Roman law.
Observe, 3. How triflingly he speaks of the great things in question concerning our blessed Redeemer’s death and resurrection, as also of the whole gospel: he calls them, under-valuingly, questions of their law.
As the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, so the manifold wisdom of God is accounted and esteemed folly by the ignorant and blind world.
Yet observe, 4. How God overruled his very slighting of these controversies in dispute for the apostle’s advantage: he being by that means preserved from the rage of the Jews. When this man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed by them, I came with an army and rescued him.
Behold how God accompolishes his own designs for the preservation of his servants, by the hands of those from whom destruction could rather have been expected.
Thus here, God made use of a heathen captain, to rescue and defend the apostle from the enraged Jews, who sends him under a strong guard, with a friendly letter in favour of him, to Felix the governor at Cesarea, where he gives notice to his accusers to implead him face to face.
Blessed by God, that our times are in hands, not in our enemies’ hands, nor yet in our own; until we have finished the work which God designed us, neither men nor devils can take us off.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
See notes on verse 23
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Lysias’ letter to Felix 23:25-30
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The commander had to send a copy of the background of Paul’s case along with Paul himself. Luke wrote that what follows in the text was substantially what the letter contained.