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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 24:26

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He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the more often, and communed with him.

26. He hoped also ( Rev. Ver. withal) that money should have been ( R. V. would be) given him of Paul ] He had heard the Apostle speak of the contributions which he had gathered for the Jews in Jerusalem. His thought would naturally be that if he could raise money for the needs of others, he could do so for his own release.

that he might loose him ] These words are unrepresented in the oldest MSS., and read exactly like a marginal explanation which in time made its way into the text.

wherefore ( R. V. wherefore also) he sent communed with him ] The original gives two reasons why Felix sent for Paul. First he desired to hear about the faith in Christ, and secondly to give the Apostle a chance of offering him a bribe. The verb “communed” implies that he brought about somewhat of a friendly intercourse with his prisoner. In this way the proposal for any terms of release would have been made easy.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He hoped also – He thought that by giving him access to his friends, and by often meeting him himself, and showing kindness, Paul might be induced to attempt to purchase his freedom with a bribe.

That money should have been given him of Paul – That Paul would give him money to procure a release. This shows the character of Felix. He was desirous of procuring a bribe. Paul had proved his innocence, and should have been at once discharged. But Felix was influenced by avarice, and he therefore detained Paul in custody with the hope that, wearied with confinement, he would seek his release by a bribe. But Paul offered no bribe. He knew what was justice, and he would not be guilty, therefore, of attempting to purchase what was his due, or of gratifying a man who prostituted his high office for the purposes of gain. The Roman governors in the provinces were commonly rapacious and avaricious, like Felix. They usually took the office for its pecuniary advantage, and they consequently usually disregarded justice, and made the procuring of money their leading object.

He sent for him the oftener – It may seem remarkable that he did not fear that he would again become alarmed. But the hope of money overcame all this. Having once resisted the reasoning of Paul, and the strivings of the Spirit of God, he seems to have had no further alarm or anxiety. He could again hear the same man, and the same truth, unaffected. When sinners have once grieved Gods Spirit, they often sit with unconcern under the same truth which once alarmed them, and become entirely hardened and unconcerned.

And communed with him – And conversed with him.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 24:26-27

He hoped also that money should have been given him.

Felix Redivivus

It is a wonderful characteristic of the Bible that all its characters are still with us. The men of the Bible were types.

I. Felix was sated with flattery; no man dare say one critical word to Felix. Are there not men whose minds are narrowed and perverted by always living in the sickly atmosphere of adultation? I am distinguishing in my own mind between just appreciation and foolish idolatry–between the praise which is due to character and the hypocrisy which is offered to mere position.

II. Felix was interested in religious discussions. That Felix is still alive–the bad man who likes to go to church once a day, who likes to spice his life with religious metaphysics and controversies. Who can explain it that a man, whose life is wholly given to the earth, should, now and again, desire to hear a prayer, listen to a discourse, and have his views? What a contradiction is man!

III. Felix lived in sin: he did not dabble in it, he was no retail criminal, yet he sent for an apostle to speak concerning the faith in Christ. It is not only possible, it is the daily use of men. Herein we are to some extent all in the same condemnation. Only yesterday we shattered every commandment of Heaven, and today we are–outwardly at least–standing at heavens gate! There is hope in this contradiction. Do not let us take wholly the black view of it. We can look at the sin until we see Felix turning into a devil; or we can look at him, sending for Paul, until we see spots of whiteness even on the black disc of his character.

IV. Felix was morally impressible. He trembled. Then there is hope of him. Are there not such men amongst us who never hear a sermon without weeping, men who like it the more when it wrings their conscience and turns them white with fear? There is a possibility of becoming too familiar with that kind of emotion, of measuring services by its presence. Marvellous that we like to be vivisected We call the preacher faithful, and, having paid him the compliment, we go to repeat the sin he has rebuked.

V. Felix was open to bribery amidst all this conflict of emotion. He, perhaps, did not know that it was criminal, as we understand that term. Men become accustomed to crime until they repeat it as a kind of virtue. It is the custom of the trade; it is always expected that it should be so. We do not always take the bribe in the form of money, and if the act were isolated, we could detest it. Paul was often sent for, but Paul never suspected the design. Evil be to him who evil thinks. Paul might receive the invitations as expressive of a real desire to know more about these religious mysteries.

VI. Felix was kind to preachers (Act 24:23). Some of the most generous friends I have ever had have been men who made no profession of religion and who yet liked to come to church, and who loved the preacher with even a fond affectionateness. Herein the preacher has an infinite advantage over other men.

VII. Felix was procrastinating (Act 24:25). It was not a rude dismissal; there was a longing for the very whip that scourged him. The procrastinating man is in every Church. He dose not mean to give it up; he says, I will return in the evening. Conclusion: In Felix I see that double action which is so characteristic of every man, which excites the observer, and indeed, excites the subject himself. Sometimes the good is uppermost, and then the bad, and then again the good; and we say, looking on, Which will win? Let us this day, in Gods strength, so act as to give joy in the presence of the angels of God over many a sinner that repenteth. Left to ourselves, the struggle can only go one way; aided by Christ, it is still a struggle, but a struggle that must end in victory. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Power avaricious

You would not think a man who had held high office in the State for long years would descend to mean and paltry tricks to obtain still more power. But he will. You would not believe that a vast capitalist would go out of his way to grab at the farthing which the rough hand of toil is endeavouring to hold. But he does. Power is avaricious alike in birds and men. The more the man has the more he wants. These men who thus display the avarice of power are the white-headed eagles of society. During spring and summer the white-headed eagle follows a course to procure sustenance which you would judge very little suited to a bird as well able to supply itself without interfering with other plunderers. No sooner does the fish hawk make its appearance along the Atlantic shore, or ascend the numerous and large rivers, than the eagle follows it, and robs it of the hard-earned fruits of its labour. Perched on some tall summit in view of the ocean, or of some water course, he watches every movement of the osprey while on the wing. When the latter rises from the water with a fish in its grasp forth rushes the eagle in pursuit. He mounts above the fish hawk and threatens it by actions well understood, when the latter, fearing, perhaps, that its life is in danger, drops its prey. In an instant the eagle, accurately estimating the rapid descent of the fish, closes its wings, follows it with the swiftness of thought, and the next moment grasps it. The white-headed eagles of society pursue their course with equal disgrace to themselves; and their method is not more exalted. They take advantage of their strength, and the great elevation to which fortune has raised them, for the greedy purpose of discovering the movements of those who are below them, the better to rob the more humble of even the little they possess. (Scientific Illustrations.)

Selfish kindness

Though selfish kindness is a paradox, its existence is a reality. There are people who are really kind towards us and others, but are so from no creditable motive. Father Ripa, in the account of his sojourn near the mouth of the Ganges, tells us of a set of religionists who are very kind to all sorts of animals and insects, which they neither kill nor eat, but, on the contrary, tend them with great care. Indeed to such a pitch do they carry their kindness, that they have hospitals for lice and fleas, and pay liberally by the hour those who will allow the insects to feed on their blood. They are also most kind to sheep and cows. And why all this? Not because they possess disinterested kindness, but because they believe in the transmigration of souls, and that after death they will pass into the body of some animal more or less offensive according to the good or evil actions of their past life. And further, because they believe after death that a great river must be passed which can only be done by holding on fast to the tail of the sheep or cow. So that in this, as in a number of other instances to be met with in civilised society, there is really a complete absence of real unselfishness in the act, which, however, may be kind enough in its way. Here we have the expectation of some future advantage as the actual basis of the act. Numbers of deeds which pass for genuine kindness are the result of a complex mixture of motives, amongst which pure charity is not found. Where is the kindness which lends, which does, and which gives, expecting nothing as reward in return either in this world or the other? (Scientific Illustrations.)

Judicial bribery

A poor man in Smyrna claimed a house which a rich man usurped. The former held his deeds to prove his rights; the latter provided witnesses to invalidate his title, whose testimony he sought to support effectually by a present of five hundred ducats. When the day arrived for hearing the case, the poor man told his story, and produced his writings, but could not bring witnesses; the other rested the whole case on his witnesses, and on his adversarys defect who could produce none. He urged the Cadi, therefore, to give sentence in his favour. Whereupon the judge calmly drew from under his sofa the bag of ducats, saying very gravely, You have been much mistaken in the suit, for if the poor man can produce no witnesses in confirmation of his right, I can produce five hundred. He then threw away the bag with indignation, and decreed the house to the poor plaintiff. Such was the noble decision of the Turkish judge, whose disinterestedness was the reverse of the unjust time-serving Felix. (Biblical Museum.)

But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felixs room.—

Pauls two years imprisonment in Caesarea

Or the painful yet blessed resting and waiting times of the servants of God. Compare Joseph in prison, Moses in the wilderness, David in the mountains, Elijah at the brook Cherith, John the Baptist in prison, John the Evangelist in Patmos, Luther at Wartburg, faithful preachers in sick beds.

I. Painful–

1. To the servant of God whose hands are bound.

2. For the congregations of the Lord who are deprived of their pastors.

II. Blessed–

1. For the servant of God.

(1) For quiet consideration.

(2) Deeper purification.

2. For the Church.

(1) For the increase of its strength.

(2) Its grateful estimation of the grace bestowed by God by means of faithful teachers.

(3) Its earnest continuance is prayer for pastors and flocks. (K. Gerok.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 26. He hoped also that money should have been given him] Bp. Pearce asks, “How could St. Luke know this?” To which I answer: From the report of St. Paul, with whom Felix had frequent conferences, and to whom he undoubtedly expressed this wish. We may see, here, the most unprincipled avarice, in Felix, united to injustice. Paul had proved before him his innocence of the charges brought against him by the Jews. They had retired in confusion when he had finished his defence. Had Felix been influenced by the common principles of justice, Paul had been immediately discharged; but he detained him on the hope of a ransom. He saw that Paul was a respectable character; that he had opulent friends; that he was at the head of a very numerous sect, to whom he was deservedly dear; and he took it, therefore, for granted that a considerable sum of money would be given for his enlargement. Felix was a freed man of the Emperor Claudius; consequently, had once been a slave. The stream rises not above its source: the meanness of the slave is still apparent, and it is now insufferable, being added to the authority and influence of the governor. Low-bred men should never be intrusted with the administration of public affairs.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This speaks the charge to be true that the historians give of Felix concerning his covetousness; for taking hold of that part of Pauls accusation, Act 24:5, that he was the ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, he supposed that, there being so many thousands of them, they would give large sums for the life and liberty of this their supposed captain. This did speak Felix (according to his birth) to be of a servile and base spirit, that for money could transgress the laws of God, and the Roman laws too.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

26. He hoped . . . that money shouldhave been given him . . . wherefore he sent for him the oftener, andcommuned with himBribery in a judge was punishable by theRoman law, but the spirit of a slave (to use the words of TACITUS)was in all his acts, and his communing with Paul”as if hecared for either him or his messagesimply added hypocrisy tomeanness. The position in life of Paul’s Christian visitors mightbeget the hope of extracting something from them for the release oftheir champion; but the apostle would rather lie in prison than stoopto this!

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

He hoped also that money would have been given him of Paul,…. For he observed from his own defence, that he came up to Jerusalem to bring alms and offerings; and he perceived by Tertullus’s indictment, that he was at the head of a large body of men; that he was some considerable person, at least who was in great esteem among some sort of people, and whose life and liberty were valuable: and he might hope if Paul had not money of his own, yet his friends would supply him with a sufficiency to obtain his freedom; and it may be that it was with this view that he ordered that they should have free access to him and minister to him, that so he might have to give to him:

that he might loose him; from all confinement, and set him at entire liberty:

wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him; but not about religious matters, but about his civil affairs; suggesting he would release him for a sum of money, which the apostle did not listen to, being unwilling to encourage such evil practices, or to make use of unlawful means to free himself.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He hoped withal ( ). “At the same time also hoping.” Paul had mentioned the “alms” (24:17) and that excited the avarice of Felix for “money” (). Roman law demanded exile and confiscation for a magistrate who accepted bribes, but it was lax in the provinces. Felix had doubtless received them before. Josephus (Ant. XX. 8, 9) represents Felix as greedy for money.

The oftener (). Comparative adverb of , old word, in N.T. only here and Lu 5:33 which see and 1Ti 5:23. Kin to (Mr 7:3) which see from , thick, dense, compact. Paul kept on not offering a bribe, but Felix continued to have hopes (present tense ), kept on sending for him (present tense ), and kept on communing (imperfect active from , old word as in Acts 20:11; Luke 24:14, which see, only N.T. examples of this word). But he was doomed to disappointment. He was never terrified again.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

He hoped also [ ] . A comma should be placed after thee (ver. 25), and the participle ejlpizwn, hoping, joined with answered : “Felix answered, ‘Go thy way, etc., ‘ hoping withal that money would be given him.”

Communed [] . See on talked, ch. 20 11.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “He hoped also,” (hama kai elpizon) “At the same time he was also hoping,” covetously, greedily, selfishly chained by the “king of all sins,” covetousness, which is idolatry. It is a sin of carnal presumption that incites the breaking of the principle of divine holiness, expressed in each of the ten commandments; If man were without self-willed covetousness, he would never break any of God’s commandments; Exo 20:17; Col 3:5.

2) “That money should have been given him of Paul,” (hoti chremata dothesetai auto hupo tou Paulou) “That money would be doled out to him by Paul,” that Paul would offer him ransom, or bribe money, for his release. His kind is that of which Paul wrote “many had pierced themselves thru with many sorrows,” 1Ti 6:10. Covetousness pursued, is what damned the rich barn builder in hell, the rich man of royalty in hell, and turned the rich young ruler on that course, Mat 19:21-22; Luk 12:20-21; Luk 16:25.

3) “That he might loose him.” (This clause is not in older Gk. texts, or R.V.) yet, it is what the context implies. Felix had no doubt learned of the funds of charity Paul had liberally raised among his friends in Christ, in churches in Europe and Asia, and sought to force him to do the same for him, for his freedom, Act 24:17.

4) “Wherefore he sent for him the oftener,” (dio kai puknoteron auton metapempomenos) “Because of this covetous desire he sent for Paul more frequently,” repeatedly, all the time hoping to receive “bribe money,” or ransom money, for a period of two full years, Act 24:27. Yet, Felix was a slave to his lusts, greed, and covetousness, and a young wife he had taken from a king.

5) “And communed with him.” (homily auto) “And he conversed with him,” about what? Perhaps some type of ransom or bribe as a condition of Paul’s release. Perhaps only Paul and Luke, his physician helper, really knew how much “pay-off” this licentious, hard hearted, slave-to money, this greedy Felix, was trying to squeeze out of Paul, 1Ti 6:10. This two year “shake down” effort of Felix against Paul denotes two things: First, the wicked, soul-damning covetousness of Felix; and Second, the corruption of the Roman Empire officials. Such perversion of justice was specially forbidden, Exo 23:8; Exo 10:17; Exo 16:19; Such blinds justice, 1Ti 6:10.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

−

26. Hoping that money. Though Felix had thoroughly tried Paul’s integrity, so that he was ashamed to take money of the Jews for condemning him; yet forasmuch as he was a covetous man, and a man given to corruptions, he would not acquit him for nothing; for this cause he doth often call Paul, that he may with fair words put him in some hope of deliverance. − (594) For judges which gape after money do insinuate themselves thus, when as they will make way for corruptions. Whence we gather, that it was but a vain and transitory fear wherewith Felix was taken when he heard Paul dispute, seeing hope of gain doth compel him to call for him whom he was enforced with fear to send away. How did Felix hope for some reward at the hands of a poor man, and one that was destitute? for that ghoul would not have been content with a small prey. I do not doubt but that (as those who have the law and right to sell are witty and can perceive things − (595)) when he saw the Jews did make such earnest suit to have Paul put to death, he smelled somewhat afar off touching him; − (596) to wit, that he was none of the common sort; but such a man as was in great favor with many. Wherefore, he did not doubt but that many of his friends would willingly bestow cost to redeem him. −

(594) −

“

Liberationes redimendae,” of purchasing deliverance.

(595) −

“

Ut sagaces sunt et acuti qui jus habent venale,” as those judges who act ve-nally are sagacious and acute

(596) −

“

Aliquid procul de ipso subodoratum esse,” he had some distant idea of what kind of a person he was.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(26) He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul.The Greek gives hoping also, as continuing the previous verse, and so places the fact in more immediate connection with the procurators conduct. This greed of gain in the very act of administering justice was the root-evil of the weak and wicked character. He had caught at the word alms in Act. 24:17. St. Paul, then, was not without resources. He had money himself, or he had wealthy friends; could not something be got out of one or both for the freedom which the prisoner would naturally desire?

He sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.It is not difficult to represent to ourselves the character of these interviews, the suggestive hintshalf-promises and half-threatsof the procurator, the steadfast refusal of the prisoner to purchase the freedom which he claimed as a right, his fruitless attempts to bring about a change for the better in his judges character.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

26. Money How little the preaching of righteousness had affected the man is plain from his expecting a bribe from the preacher! To release a prisoner for pay was forbidden by an express Roman law. Knowing, as Felix did, that Paul was “ringleader” of the sect of Nazarenes, and that he had brought moneys to Jerusalem, he easily inferred that the Nazarenes would readily ransom their chief.

Oftener An exquisite meanness for this Roman ruler to send every now and then for his prisoner in the keep of his palace, fawning upon him for an offer of a bribe for liberation!

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘He hoped withal that money would be given to him by Paul, which was why also he sent for him the more often, and communed with him.’

Felix, however, did follow it up. He had no intention of releasing Paul, or of bringing him to trial, and over the course of two years he sent for him and talked with him more often. But he made no commitment, and Luke comments that his real reason for seeing Paul so often was because he hoped that Paul would try to bribe him to release him. This interesting comment confirms to us that Luke did not look at everything with an unthinking optimism. He could discern between what was genuine, and what was the result of ulterior motives.

It is not surprising that Felix thought that Paul’s family were wealthy. After all he had been born a free Roman citizen, so his family must have been distinguished. Whether of course they were still on good terms with Paul is another question. Sometimes we get the impression in his letters that they were not. Or Felix may have been impressed by the numbers of visitors who came to see Paul, and have thought that they would be able to raise a sufficient bribe. It may have been hints dropped in this direction that convinced Luke of its truth.

Had Paul been too perturbed about his situation he could always have appealed to Caesar. So it may well be that he recognised that God had given him a base from which he could work while guarded in perfect safety.

This also confirms that Felix knew that Paul was innocent, and that he was only holding him in order to obtain financial gain. He was being totally unscrupulous. But we may surmise that meanwhile Paul had considerable freedom, in so far as that was possible for someone ‘in charge’. The church in Caesarea no doubt benefited abundantly. It may well have been as profitable a time spiritually for him and for them as his two years in Corinth, (in Acts Luke regularly leaves the hint of opportunity and then does not give any detail) and have greatly benefited his health. And all the time he was kept in safety in Herod’s palace. The Jews could not touch him there. Luke was probably meanwhile collecting material for his Gospel.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Act 24:26-27. He hoped also that money should have been given him This stroke finishes the character of Felix, and shews still more plainly how far off she was from reallyreceiving the gospel. Felix might indulge such expectations, from considering that St. Paul was a Roman citizen, and a principal of the sect of the Christians, who having formerly sold their possessions to maintain their brethren, might contribute largely on this occasion. He might even expect to have received a considerable present from the apostle himself, knowing that he had beenintrusted with a large sum of money collected for the brethren at Jerusalem. But the apostle, not being used to give bribes, continued in bonds for two years; for though a Roman citizen might not be bound with thongs,by way of punishment, or in order to be scourged, yet he might be chained to a soldier, and kept in custody, upon suspicions supposed to be just, or when credible accusations were brought against him; though St. Paul was indeed in every respect detained unjustly. The policy however of Felix, and his desire of conciliating the favour of the Jews, did not prevent their clamorous accusations from following the governor to Rome; which had certainly ruined him had not the interest of his brother Pallas prevailed to obtain his pardon from Nero. How much more effectually had he consulted the peace of his mind, had he embraced the gospel on St. Paul’s admonition, and cultivated those serious impressions which were once so strongly made upon his conscience! It was during the two years of St. Paul’s imprisonment here, that those contentions arose between the Jews and Gentiles as to their respective rights in Caesarea, which, after many tumults and slaughters of the Jews, were inflamed rather than appeased by the hearing at Rome, and did a great deal towards exasperating the Jewish nation to that war, which ended in its utter ruin.

Inferences drawn from St. Paul’s appearance before Felix, the Roman governor. Act 24:24, &c. Who would not wish to have been present at this astonishing scene, which represents the apostle of the Gentiles as giving an account of his faith to Felix the Roman governor; and that in so moving and convincing a manner, under the grace of God, and with such force of eloquence and strength of argument, that even he, before whom he stands capitally accused, is struck, awed, confounded, by his discourse, and the judge himself quakes at the voice of the prisoner!

The subject matter of St. Paul’s discourse, is said to have been righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come: not that we are to imagine that he confined himself solely to these three particulars; for the words of Act 24:24 inform us, that Felix sent for him, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ; and therefore all the articles of the Christian faith, we may be sure, were sufficiently explained by him. But though many other doctrines might be handled at the same time, yet these of righteousness, temperance, and future judgment, had so large a share in the apostle’s consideration, and were so warmly and powerfully urged by him, that St. Luke has not thought fit to take notice of any other part of his discourse.

Nothing could be more apposite than a discourse concerning righteousness and temperance, before a person so cruel and voluptuous as Felix so remarkably was: nothing could be more proper than to put this unjust judge in mind of another, a more impartial and dreadful tribunal, before which he himself should one day stand and be judged.Thus did St. Paul adapt what he delivered to the peculiar exigencies of the hearer; and in so doing he has left us a pattern worthy of imitation, such as when attentively considered, will give us great occasion to admire the address, the sincere and disinterested conduct, the mighty courage and zeal of this eminent apostle.

He fears not, we see, to utter necessary, though harsh and ungrateful truths, in the ears of one who had the power of life and death over him. He knew with what dangers the faithful discharge of his duty would, in this case, be attended; how impatient the great are under reproof, though couched in the most gentle and least offensive language; what absolute dominion Drusilla had gained over the heart of Felix, and with what resentments that impure woman might pursue any one who ventured to represent his guilt to him, and to rouse his sleeping conscience. And yet none of these alarming considerations were able to repress his godly zeal, or check his freedom; which he conducted indeed with sacred caution and prudence, founding his exhortations and reproofs on the grand fundamental doctrine of faith in Christ, but at the same time, under the Spirit of God, with such force and success, as to strike terror and confusion into the person for whom they were intended.

Let us copy this excellent pattern, by taking all opportunities of spreading the kingdom of Christ in the hearts of men, and of advancing the interests of his gospel; and while we act in such cases as that before us, discreetly, warily, and wisely, let us also, in humble dependence on the divine blessing, act courageously, zealously, firmly, and disregarding the fear of man, when once it comes in competition with the fear of God. These are the intimations; these are the important instructions given us by the behaviour of St. Paul; when before an oppressive, a dissolute, and an unbelieving magistrate, he took an occasion to discourse of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come.And Felix trembled! Even the mind of a Felix was filled with horror, at the remembrance of his past crimes, thus drawn up in battle-array against him; the dire apprehensions of a future reckoning harrowed up his labouring soul; and these inward fears and forebodings appeared in the outward and visible marks of a heart-felt consternation.

From the circumstance before us, we are obviously led to observe, what a miserable thing it is to have a conscience burdened with guilt, when a man will not trust himself to think, for fear of being alarmed, and filled with terror and confusion. Felix does not seem to have been at all prone to superstition, or in general to have had any troublesome sense of his crimes. The flatteries of a court, the amusements of grandeur and luxury, gave him no time to cool, and diverted all grave and serious reflections; but when St. Paul began to discourse to him of the immutable obligations of infinite justice, against which he had been a most heinous offender, he immediately saw the vileness of his conduct, and trembled for the consequences.

How remarkably different is the success of Tertullus’s pleading, compared with that of St. Paul! The former, we may well presume, was one of the most famous pleaders of his time; or the high-priest and elders, in a cause of such consequence, that they themselves went down from Jerusalem to Caesarea on purpose to prosecute it, would certainly not have pitched upon him for their advocate. And yet this great orator, with all his studied eloquence, made no impression that we find on Felix; whereas St. Paul’s plain speech soon after moved, terrified, and confounded him. What was the reason of this different effect,but that the one was engaged with good words to varnish over an ill cause, and by the power of rhetoric to support a false and lying accusation: whereas the other spoke by the power and spirit of God, and of course had right and truth on his side, and therefore pressed them earnestly?He himself felt what he spake; and had an inward and vital sense of the truths that he delivered; and therefore through divine grace he made others feel them too. He spake from the heart, and to the heart, and therefore, under God, he for a time prevailed.

O how does this instance of the operative virtue of God’s word, applied by his Spirit, reproach the sluggishness and insensibility of too many among us! An impure and wicked heathen, we hear, trembled at St. Paul’s doctrine: the same doctrine sounds every day in the ears of negligent Christians, so called, without terrifying, without alarming them! The same apostle still reasons with them, in the history before us, and in his epistles, concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come: but he reasons to no purpose: his words seem to them as idle tales: they neither feel their force, nor regard their meaning. God Almighty grant that this hearing and trembling Felix may not one day rise up in judgment against them!

But let us follow Felix to the consequences of his trembling. He abruptly breaks off St. Paul’s discourse, and dismisses him in haste, Act 24:25 but he soon recovers from his perturbation; and hopes that money shall be given him to loose his prisoner from his bonds, Act 24:26. Here we see, that the seed of the word sown by the apostle fell among thorns, and immediately the thorns sprung up and choaked it, Mat 13:7. The love of unjust gain, that root of all evil, quickly returned upon his avaricious soul, and drove out all the divine impressions that he had received: and then, when once he had stood the shock of his conscience given by the Spirit of God, and hoodwinked his fears, he could hear the same things repeated without any degree of the same remorse and concern. For it follows, he sent for Paul often, and communed with him.So suddenly and totally may the best suggestions be stifled, and the strongest convictions overborne, by the force of any one prevailing vice or lust, one easily besetting sin, that has gotten an absolute dominion over us.

That this may not be our case, whenever we hear an awakening discourse from the pulpit, or find our consciences touched to the quick with some apposite arrow, shot from the quiver of God’s word, let us not act like Felix, and endeavour instantly to get rid of the smart, and to dismiss such troublesome reflections with a go your way for this time, till a more convenient season. Nay, but this is the proper time; this the most convenient season for our entertaining and conversing with them, when they press to be admitted, and demand a hearing. Let us not call in company, or business, or pleasures, to divert our thoughts from their present, though melancholy employment, since by this sadness and heaviness, the heart is under the grace of God frequently made better; but rather let us study every way to promote and cherish these good beginnings by retirement, meditation, and prayer: let us suffer these terrors of the Lord freely to reason and plead with us, till they have, through the Spirit of God, persuaded us; and may we so reapply, reinforce, and improve the good impressions received in public, as to rivet the influence of them fast in our minds, till they have reached the end for which the good Spirit of God intended them; even that repentance unto salvation not to be repented of!

REFLECTIONS.1st, Lysias, no doubt, informed the chief priests and elders what he had done concerning St. Paul, and referred them to Felix, if they chose further to prosecute the apostle. Whereupon,

1. Without loss of time, after five days, reckoning from the time when they first apprehended him, they came down to Caesarea, with Ananias the high-priest at their head; and appearing in a body before Felix, to give the greater weight to their cause, they desired to be heard against Paul, and had engaged an artful and plausible counsellor, one Tertullus, to plead for them. Note; Inveterate malice against the gospel will sometimes make the most reverend characters stoop to the meanest actions.

2. St. Paul being brought forth, Tertullus, with many oratorical flourishes, and a most flattering address to the judge, opens his speech against the prisoner at the bar.
[1.] He compliments the governor on his administration, though universally known to have been one of the most oppressive, covetous, and cruel, that ever ruled over Judea; yet, to court his favour, and win him to the party, he, as one that pleaded not for truth but for hire, daubs thick his adulations, seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, penetration, and prudent care; we accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness; professing the deepest sense of our obligations for such singular favours, and emboldened thereby to hope more confidently for the justice we demand against the prisoner. But that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee, that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words; the case being so clear, that it can take up very little of your Excellency’s time, to be convinced of the prisoner’s guilt.

It was well known how the Jewish nation in general, and the elders in particular, hated Felix and his government; but now, when they have a point to carry, they liberally offer at his feet their flattering applause.
[2.] He comes to the point, and boldly alleges many grievous crimes, with which he charges the innocent prisoner. We have found this man a pestilent fellow, propagating his pernicious tenets like a plague, the very pest of society, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, exciting tumults, wherever he goes, against the Roman government; and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes; a promoter of that detestable heresy, for which, and for his notoriously seditious principles, the first author of it, one Jesus of Nazareth, was crucified some years ago. Who also hath gone about to prophane the temple, with daring impiety introducing those who were by the law forbidden admission there.

All these charges are a tissue of falsehoods. All the pestilence that St. Paul carried with him, was the gospel of salvation, doing good to men’s bodies and souls wherever he came. Far from sedition, he taught the most conscientious obedience to the ruling powers. The tumults complained of, were made not by him, but by his accusers themselves. He set himself up for no head of a sect, nor attempted to draw any man to his standard, but to his divine Master: and so far from profaning the temple, none could behave with greater piety, seriousness, and conformity to the law, than he had done. Note; (1.) The purest innocence is no protection from the vilest aspersions. They who make no conscience of lies, will with solemn assurances and repeated falsehoods strive hard to blacken the fairest character. (2.) The charge against the gospel and its ministers has often been, that they raise disturbances and riots, when in fact the very persons who lay this accusation against them, are the authors of the tumults; like Nero, who set Rome on fire, and then persecuted the Christians for the atrocious deed: but there is one who seeth and judgeth.

[3.] He insinuates the equity with which they were proceeding against the prisoner, by a fair trial according to the law; when Lysias, the chief captain, interrupting the course of justice, by violence seized the prisoner, and carried him off, putting them to all this trouble and expence by bringing the cause hither: but he hopes that now at least justice will be done, and that the governor, fully satisfied of Paul’s guilt, will pronounce sentence against him. Nothing could be more false and invidious than this assertion; but Lysias was not here to disprove it, and therefore he hoped that the pretended weight of evidence which he brought with him would prevail.
3. The high priests and elders added their solemn attestations to the truth of Tertullus’s harangue: nor is it a wonder, that they who wanted to murder St. Paul by assassination, should now attempt to carry their point by the blackest perjury.
2nd, How different is the spirit which breathes in the defence of St. Paul, from that which actuated the plausible orator Tertullus. He is not exasperated with the falsehoods which were advanced, or in a heat to reply, but waited the governor’s permission to speak; which when Felix had signified, he rose, with conscious integrity, to pour confusion on the charges of his adversaries.
1. With that deep respect for his judge, which was consistent with that severe regard to truth which became him, he opens his discourse; forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: Felix well knew the spirit and temper of the Jews by his long acquaintance with them, and could not wonder at the malice of these furious zealots: had half the things been true which they alleged, the governor would, no doubt, have heard of them before.

2. He flatly denies the charge of sedition, of which he was accused. It was but twelve days since he came to Jerusalem, not to profane the temple, but with high respect of that sacred place to worship there, where they neither found him disputing with any man, either about religion or government, nor fomenting the least disturbance in the synagogues or the city, but demeaning himself with all peaceableness: and he defies his accusers to prove one of the charges which they so peremptorily alleged. Note; It is in every villain’s power to propagate falsehood, and to bring the heaviest charges against the noblest characters; but the sedate hearer and upright Judge will not rest in his assertions, but require proof of the facts.

3. He owns, and glories in the acknowledgment, that after the way which they stigmatized as heresy, so worshipped he the God of his fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, the divine authority of the precepts, and the accomplishment of the promises; and his hope towards God, and preaching, were in exact correspondence with the fundamental doctrine of the orthodox faith which they themselves held, that there should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; who must answer before the eternal Judge, that divine Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews had crucified. And herein do I exercise myself, persuaded of this solemn day’s approach, and expecting to stand before the great Judge of all,to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men. Note; (1.) The scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice: to them we must cleave. (2.) As there will be a resurrection of the just and of the unjust, it is a matter of awful inquiry, which character is ours? (3.) Hope towards God, is an anchor which will keep the soul steadfast in every storm.

Lastly, As to his profaning the temple, this was of a piece with the other falsehoods advanced; the very contrary was evident. He had, after a considerable absence from Jerusalem, returned with charitable contributions for the poor saints who dwelt there; and, having a religious vow, had brought his own offerings to the temple, where certain Jews of Asia saw him, purifying himself according to the law, neither with multitude, nor with tumult (only four persons who had vows like himself, were with him), demeaning himself with all possible quietness and regularity: and as to the supposed offence of having brought Greeks into the temple, which was suggested as the occasion of the riot that was raised, he challenges them to produce these men of Asia who raised this report, and who ought to be there, if they had any thing to object. Or since they were absent, he appeals to his accusers themselves, if, on examination before the council, any one misdemeanour was so much as proved against him, except they reckoned his declaration concerning the resurrection of the dead to be such, wherein he had been supported and countenanced by the most respectable part of that assembly;a defence so clear, so ingenuous, so convincing, as carried its own evidence along with it, and demonstrated his innocence of every crime that they had alleged against him.

3rdly, Felix patiently heard the parties, but deferred passing judgment upon the cause.
1. He put off the determination till the arrival of Lysias, on whom they seemed to reflect; when he could more thoroughly examine into the circumstances; and probably, though unwilling to disoblige the chief men of the nation, he was little apprehensive of any danger of sedition from the professors of Christianity, having more perfect knowledge of that way. As Cornelius, a centurion, long ago had been converted to the Christian faith at Caesarea, and many others, Felix was, no doubt, in some measure, acquainted with their principles, and an eye-witness of their peaceable conduct, and therefore did not readily believe these atrocious accusations against St. Paul.

2. He committed the apostle to the custody of a centurion, who should let him enjoy liberty to walk about as a prisoner at large, permitting any of his friends to visit him, converse with him, and amply supply him with whatever he wanted. Thus the malignant priests were disappointed; and St. Paul, though justice was delayed, had reason to be thankful for his escape from their malice.
3. The curiosity of Felix, and of his wife Drusilla (who, though a Jewess, had married him a heathen, and had forsaken her former husband Azizus, king of Emessa), prompted them to hear from this celebrated preacher, an account of the Christian religion, and of that faith in Christ which he inculcated. Note; Many are willing to know the speculative principles of religion, whose hearts have no relish for the practice of it.

4. St. Paul readily appeared, to give an account of his doctrines before them, not as mere speculative opinions, but as practical principles; and knowing the characters of the persons before whom he spoke, he failed not to reason powerfully on the nature and necessity of righteousness and temperance, the guilt and danger of the opposite vices, of injustice, oppression, excess and impurity; and on the awful account which all must shortly give before the Judge of quick and dead, when, without respect of persons, the everlasting state of men must be determined. So faithfully should Christ’s ministers bring home to men’s consciences the word of truth, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
5. Felix, with conscious guilt, trembled as he sat; and affrighted heard these alarming words: but, more in haste to get rid of his convictions than his sins, he dismissed the apostle with an intimation, that, when his affairs were less urgent, he would hear him again on the subject. Note; (1.) The word of God will sometimes make the stoutest-hearted sinner tremble. (2.) Many are terrified with the apprehensions of their sins, and dread to think of death and judgment, who, notwithstanding, live and die the slaves of corruption. (3.) In the concerns of our souls, nothing is more fatal than delay. If God’s word has spread an alarm in the conscience, Satan seldom asks more than to defer the matter to a more convenient season, till we are older, or have less worldly engagements: and if he can thus far prevail, the cause is gained; and we, like Felix, are undone.

6. Many future conferences passed between them, but all in vain. His covetous heart thought to make a good advantage of his prisoner; and knowing how high St. Paul was in the esteem of his friends, he hoped they would have proposed a considerable ransom to obtain his discharge: but though perhaps they would have done so, St. Paul never would be indebted for his liberty to any such indirect method; and therefore, after two years, Felix being recalled from his government to answer for his mal-administration, and justly apprehensive that the rulers of Judea would swell the number of his accusers, he endeavoured to gain their favour by leaving St. Paul bound in the hands of Portius Festus, his successor.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Chapter 90

Prayer

Almighty God, power belongeth unto thee, and also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. We have nothing to say to thy power; we turn away from it and look with all eagerness and expectancy to thy tender mercy and thy lovingkindness. Yet we are glad of thy power; one day we will run into it and hold it for our uses, but not until we have seen thee in Christ, and received from thee the word of pitiful compassion, the assurance of entire forgiveness. Make us glad in thy mercy, give us joy at the Cross; thou alone canst make the human heart glad with true joy. We come to thee this day to lay our burden and to receive thy blessing, that we may henceforth walk in the light of thy love, being at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then will come the joy of sonship; following adoption into thy family shall come rapture and triumph, and sense of eternal security. Surely then we shall lift up our heads as children of the day, and in our life there shall be no night; in all our prayer there shall be no halting, but the outgoing of our heart towards the heavens shall be an outgoing of perfect love. We bless thee for all the sunshine of life. Surely thou dost not spare the light; thou dost pour it out of the horn of infinite fulness, and there is more at the end than at the beginning; there are more suns in the night than in the day. We bless thee for all hope which gives us the full possession of our strength; we thank thee for the inspirations breathed into us by the Holy Ghost, whereby we are lifted up above the fear of death, and already enter into possession of heavenly rest and comfort. We will bless thee with many a psalm, and make a joyful noise unto thee in thy house, and our whole heart shall lift itself up to thee in all the spirit of tender love and ineffable thankfulness. We cannot tell thee the tale of our daily need; it has no name because it has no measure. We have nothing that we have not received. Every good gift we have, and every perfect gift we recognise as coming from the Father of light. We ourselves are not our own, for we are bought with a price; we are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God; therefore do we reckon ourselves not by ourselves, but by God’s ransom. Surely thou didst buy thine own image and likeness with thine own blood. This is our value; this is our immortality. Sometimes, when we look at thy heavens the sun and the moon and the stars we think ourselves not worth redeeming; then, behold, there is an uprising of the heart in its conscious strength and dignity, and we pour contempt upon all the universe, for it burns but for a day. We are the people of thine hand, the sheep of thy pasture, redeemed with blood, bought with an infinite preciousness of price, and therefore do we stand up among the angels and among the princes of heaven. Whilst we are upon the earth, help us to do its daily work diligently, faithfully, and successfully. We do not want to do it, and therefore the doing of it is good for us; it curbs the will, it cools the passion, it rebukes a strength that might be turned to vanity. Help us, therefore, to bear the yoke without complaining, to do our duty, and to find in it a religious delight, because of its disciplinary influence. Then, when this poor little elementary work is done, take us up, with purified spirit and enlarged power, to the ampler service, to the day not rounded with a night. The Lord be pitiful to us and dry our tears when we cannot lift our own hands to touch them; the Lord be with us all the night time, and give us rest in sleep. The Lord be praised for restoration from affliction; some of thy servants have seen long imprisonment because of pain and feebleness, and today they rejoin the holy hymn and sacred prayer. Receive their thanksgiving, confirm thy mercy in them, and carry on their healing to perfectness. The Lord heal us all; the Lord make our afflictions the beginnings of our true strength; the Lord comfort us according to the wound of the heart! Now let light fill the house in every corner a great, broad light above the brightness of the sun in the shining of which we shall forget the days of earth and time. Speak to every heart; let thy whisper come into the secret places of every spirit, and a great, broad blessing fall upon the whole people; and hear the people when they say, in the name of Christ, Amen.

Act 24:26-27

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’s room; and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.

Felix Redivivus

I think it can be shown that Felix is yet alive. It is a wonderful characteristic of the Bible that all its characters are still with us. If the character is the man, then the man is still alive. His father and his mother and his sisters and himself are they not all with us? Adam is still living, and Eve is yet at his side; Cain, the murderer, is still abroad, still shedding blood, still inspiring society with fear; and all the rest of the Biblical characters are in full force in our own country. Let me repeat, how wonderful a feature this is in Biblical portraiture. The men of the Bible were not mere individuals: they were types, they were symbols. Felix was sated with flattery; no man dare say one critical word to Felix; his capacity, in the matter of approbation, was simply immeasurable. Wherever he came men stood up, nor dare they sit down until they received his haughty permission. Whoever spoke to him accosted him as a kind of god. Is that Felix not still amongst us the man who always lives amongst his idolaters, the man who will not hear the critical word, or who would resent it almost with death if he could? Are there not men whose minds are narrowed and perverted by always living in the sickly and sickening atmosphere of adulation? They would be better men if they came out into the fresh wind; for a time they might have to suffer something, but from even pungent, not to say intelligent, criticism they might learn something; it is lawful to learn from the enemy. Surely if the Felix sated with adulation is not living, the Felix who would like to be so sated is a million strong. I am distinguishing in my own mind, in making these observations, between just appreciation and foolish idolatry between the praise which is due to character and the hypocrisy which is offered to mere position.

Felix was interested in religious discussions: “he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.” That Felix is still alive the bad man who likes to go to church once a day; the worldly grasping, avaricious man who likes to spice his life with religious metaphysics and religious controversies. It is curious, it is almost comical, yet it is most pitifully true. Who can explain it, or account for it, that a man, whose life is wholly given to the earth, should, now and again, desire to hear a prayer, or listen to a discourse; or take part even in a religious controversy, and have his “views”? What a contradiction is man! See him sometimes, and you would say that his life was given up to prayer, to religious reading, and to religious listening: he likes a sermon, he would not miss going to church he would sell you tomorrow at any price he can get for you; still he has his “views.” Alas! who made him? An anomaly he is; if he was ever made, surely he has unmade himself. Have you not often met that same Felix?

Felix lived in sin: he did not dabble in it, he was no retail criminal; he lived, he wallowed in sin. Is it possible that a man can live in sin and yet send for an apostle to speak “concerning the faith in Christ”? It is not only possible, it is the daily use of men, it is the common practice of society. Herein we are to some extent not an equal extent all in the same condemnation. This is the mystery of life: that only yesterday we shattered every commandment of Heaven and today we are outwardly at least standing at heaven’s gate! There is hope in this; there is something in this we would not willingly let die. Surely there is a mystery of hope and love in this contradiction. Do not let us take wholly the black view of it. We can look at the sin until we see Felix turning into a living child of the devil; or we can look at him, sending for the Apostle Paul, until we think we see spots of whiteness even on the black disc of his character. “Surely,” we say, “this time the meaning is good, and Paul will leave Felix a better man.” That is what we think of every one who leaves the husks that the swine do eat, in order that he may present himself at the table of the sanctuary and eat the bread which cometh down from heaven the true bread. Better dwell on the bright side; better say concerning your brother Felix, “He means to be right, and the right will come uppermost.”

We may the more confidently say this when we find that Felix was morally impressible. This is proved by words which you find in the twenty-fifth verse “Felix trembled.” Then there is hope of him. He was not wholly beyond the line of impression; prayer could still find him, appeal could still excite him, a masterly presentation of facts could still confound him; his conscience was not dead, but sleeping. Are there not such men amongst us in hundreds and thousands men who never hear a sermon without weeping, men who even like a sermon the more when it wrings their conscience and turns them white with fear? There is a possibility of becoming too familiar with that kind of emotion; there is a possibility of expecting it, of measuring discourses and services by its presence, of boasting of the excellence of the appeal because it made both ears tingle, caused the conscience to start bolt upright, and accused the whole life of sin so strangely are we compounded. We have rejoiced in the analytic power of the preacher who takes us all to pieces and show: us to ourselves, fibre by fibre; but we have taken the analysis as a proof of his ability, and not as an evidence of our own corruption. Marvellous that we like to be vivisected! We call the preacher faithful, and, having paid him the compliment, we go out to repeat the sin he has rebuked; we recommend the book as heart-searching, mind-penetrating, and, having brought a hundred customers to it, we renew the iniquity that it depicted with such startling vividness. This is the mystery of man. This is the kind of manhood every theory must cover if it would touch the tremendous reality of the facts.

Felix was open to bribery amidst all this conflict of emotion. See the proof in the twenty-sixth verse “He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him.” Felix did not stand alone in this hope. Felix, perhaps, did not know that it was criminal, as we interpret and understand that term. Men become accustomed to crime until they do not know it, and repeat it as a kind of virtue. It is the custom of the trade; it is the usage of the profession; it is always expected that it should be so. If Felix stood right out alone as a receiver of bribes, he would burn with blushing shame; but his hand had been accustomed to be stretched out for the bribe as the hands of Englishmen are stretched out this day. Do not blacken Felix as if he were raised up to be the monster of iniquity in this department. We do not always take the bribe in the form of money; we have lived long enough and sufficiently under Christian education to know that the gift of money is the vulgarest form of bribe under some circumstances; but there is a wonderful mystery of giving and taking still. If the act were isolated, we could detest it, but being part of a system, the custom or usage, then we do not like to make ourselves singular and condemn the practice. Wondrous is this action of hope unexpressed! Wondrous is the power or genius of suggestion! Paul was often sent for, but Paul never suspected the design. Evil be to him who evil thinks. Paul might receive the invitations as expressive of a real desire to know more about these religious mysteries. We operate from such different motives; we do not always fully understand the motive which impels us in this or that direction. Sometimes we dare not say in words exactly and definitely what we mean and what we want: we suggest, we hint, we remotely indicate, we represent other people and other circumstances, meaning to make parables of them to reveal what we dare not express. This is man, this is ourselves mystery of mysteries. Here let me repeat with ever-increasing urgency and even vehemence, that this is the kind of man who must be treated by any theory which professes to lift the human race to a new level and to a new hope. We are not dealing with superficial creatures; in a sense we ourselves are infinite not infinite in a lineal sense, signifying that no tape-line is long enough to lay upon our life, but infinite in the variety of our evil-mindedness, in our cunning and subtlety, in our selfishness and vanity, never repeating ourselves, but always cunningly rearranging the appeal so as to secure the identical issue. No man must come to treat a creature of this kind as if the disease were cutaneous, as if it were intermittent and might be mitigated by sundry casual and incidental means. The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint; it is a vital case.

Felix was kind to preachers; the proof is found in the twenty-third verse “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.” He was a kind of free prisoner a kind of prisoner at large. That Felix is still living. Some of the most generous friends I have ever had have been men who made no profession of religion and who yet liked to come to church great-hearted men, liberal souls, to whose table and garden you might go week after week men who loved the preacher with even a fond affectionateness. That, too, is a mystery, but a mystery with an answer. Who can tell the range or explain the ministry of sympathy? The men have not been bad men, though non-professing men. A man is not necessarily a bad man because he does not belong to this or that form of Christian life. The man to whom I refer (speaking of him typically and not personally) is a man who yearns after something better, longs for it, and believes that after all as I believe he will not be a castaway. In his heart he says, “I think Christ will even yet find me; I am roughly made, very rude in mind, just a piece of living self-contradiction I want to pray and to blaspheme in the same breath but I feel that when all comes to all, even I may be found on the uttermost fringe and be recognised as one whose better feelings were stronger than the feelings that were worse.” That may be so; I do not know the number of the elect, I cannot tell whether there be few that be saved; God is Sovereign, Redeemer, Lord; and this I have heard of him from the house of Aaron, and from every house descended from that illustrious line, “his mercy endureth forever.” Herein the preacher has an infinite advantage over other men. No man has such an opportunity for revealing himself as the preacher has; it is the preacher’s highest duty to reveal his soul in its truest qualities. What wonder if strangers and people unrecognised hearing the voice should say, “This is the shepherd’s voice, the voice of love; I will answer it as the scribe answered the great Preacher Well, Master, thou hast said the truth”!

Felix was procrastinating; the proof of this is found in the twenty-fifth verse “he answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” It was not a rude dismissal; it was not an appeal followed by a penalty; there was a longing for the very whip that scourged him. Sometimes we do think that laceration is equal to repentance; we are prone to think that when we are well scourged we have really answered the Divine will that is a profound, but common mistake. Is the procrastinating man still with us? Dare I descend to particulars and ask that man to stand up? He is here: he is in every church; he is in every city. He does not mean to give it up; he says, “I will return in the evening.” He cannot renounce the spiritual ministry and kingdom; a ghost follows him and says, “Return!” and he answers, “I will.” He may come for entertainment, he may come to be instructed, he may come to be merely electrified; still he will certainly, as to his purpose, return. But, why return? You urge men in business to complete the transaction; why complain of the preacher if the preacher should say, “Carry out your own exhortation, be faithful to your own argument and complete the transaction now”?

In these seven particulars I think we have found a Felix who is still living, namely, (1) the man who is sated by flattery, (2) interested in religious discussions, (3) living in sin, (4) morally impressible, (5) open to bribery, (6) kind to preachers, (7) procrastinating in spirit. In Felix I see that double action which is so characteristic of every man, which excites the observer, and, indeed, excites the subject himself. Sometimes the good is uppermost, and then the bad, and then again the good; and we say, looking on, “Which will win?” Today he prays in the evening he has returned to his vomit; today the tears are standing in his eyes, and he wrings his friend’s hand suggestively, meaning to say by that wringing, “I will conquer yet” in a few hours he turns away from his friend as if he would rather not confront his searching face. It is a marvellous action. We say the wife says, “He will come right after all”; the child says, “Father will soon be a good man; I saw him, though his back was turned to me, the other day reading a portion of the Bible.” Then we meet those witnesses, and they are dumb: they have no evidence to bear this day. Tomorrow we meet them, and their faces are gleaming and their hands are put out in salutation, and they whisper, “There is still hope; he will conquer yet!” We, also, are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses the loved ones who have left the race, the sainted ones who have completed the battle and they are looking down and watching us; and surely if we may regard them as yet possessing human emotions they may be saying, concerning the husband, the wife, the loved son, “Still there is hope, he prays.” She lifts up her voice to the blue morning “He is groping, groping for something better! there is still hope.” Then the watchers are silent; and in that silence we read our own ill behaviour we are on the wrong road, we are speaking the wrong tone, we are bowing at forbidden altars. Then again the voice is heard “There is still hope; the devil will lose after all; my loved one will yet come in saved by fire still will be saved.”

Let us this day, in God’s strength, so act as to give joy in the presence of the angels of God over many a sinner that repenteth. Left to ourselves, the struggle can only go one way; aided by Christ, it is still a struggle, but a struggle that must end in victory. “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me.” Practical Christianity is the only guarantee even of judicial integrity. How far-spreading is the influence of Christianity! How it assails the fountain and works mightily and healingly at the heart of things! How it deals with root and core rather than with branch and shell! It is the world’s hope; it makes the bad man tremble; it breaks the rod of the oppressor; it melts ill-gotten gold, and makes it run through the crevices of the casket hidden in dark places; it makes night hideous with avenging dreams. But as for those who know it, they shall be called God’s angels they shall be numbered with God’s jewels.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

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.

Ver. 26. He hoped also, &c. ] Fuit Felix inexplebilis gurges, as Tacitus testifieth. He trembled, and yet gaped after money. A man may as soon find a harvest in a hedge as the least goodness in a covetous heart. Privatorum fares in nervo et compedibus oetatem agunt; publica in auro et purpura visuntur. (Cato apud Gell. lib. xi. 18.) Public thieves are gallant fellows. And covetousness is a dry drunkenness. Justice is often made a hackney by them to be backed for money; and a golden spur brings her to the desired journey’s end of injury and wrong. Whereas a judge, as he should have nothing to lose, so he should have nothing to get, he should be above all price or sale; and justice justice, as Moses speaketh, that is, pure justice without mud should run down amain, Deu 16:20 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

26. ] ‘Lex Julia de repetundis prcipit, ne quis ob hominem in vincula publica conjiciendum, vinciendum, vincirive jubendum, exve vinculis dimittendum; neve quis ob hominem condemnandum absolvendumve aliquid acceperit.’ Digest. xl. 11. 3. Cited by Mr. Humphry, who observes: Albinus, who succeeded Festus, so much encouraged this kind of bribery, that no malefactors remained in prison, except those who did not offer money for their liberation (Jos. B. J. ii. 14. 1). St. Paul did not resort to this mode of shortening his tedious and unjust imprisonment, and Tertullian (‘de Fuga in Persecutione,’ 12, p. 116) quotes his conduct in this respect against those who were disposed to purchase escape from persecution: a practice which prevailed and became a great evil in the time of Cyprian. See his Epistles, iii. and lxviii., denouncing the Libellatici.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 24:26 . .: connected by some with . ( cf. Act 23:25 ), so Weiss, Wendt, Hackett; others punctuate as W.H [386] , R.V., and render it as a finite verb. : on the construction with see Simcox, Language of the N.T. , p. 121, and Blass, in loco : Luk 24:31 , 2Co 1:13 ; 2Co 13:6 , Phm 1:22 (not in Attic Greek). On cf. Blass, Gram. , p. 247, Col 4:3 , Phm 1:22 , 1Ti 5:13 . : only in Luke and Paul; on its use by them see further Viteau, Le Grec du N.T. , p. 187 (1893). : the mention of “alms,” Act 24:17 , had perhaps suggested the thought that Paul was in a position to purchase his freedom with money, and it was also evident to Felix that the prisoner was not without personal friends, Act 24:23 . Spitta, Apostelgeschichte , p. 280, points to Act 24:17 , and to the fact that Felix could not be unaware that Paul was a man of wide influence and supported by many friends, as a sufficient answer to the supposed improbability urged by Pfleiderer that Felix could hope for money from a poor tent maker and missionary. Spitta thinks that Philippians may have been written from Csarea, and that therefore (Phi 4:10 ) Felix had double cause to suppose that the poor missionary had command of money; but without endorsing this view as to the place of writing of Philippians , it may be suggested that St. Paul’s friends at Philippi might have helped to provide financial help for the expenses of his trial: Lydia, e.g. , was not only ready with large-hearted hospitality, but her trade in itself required a considerable capital: see on the other hand the view of Ramsay. St. Paul , p. 312. It is urged, moreover, that a poor man would never have received such attention or aroused such interest. But St. Luke himself has told us how Herod desired to see the Son of Man, Who had not where to lay His head, and the same feeling which prompted Herod, the feeling of curiosity, the hope perhaps of seeing some new thing, may have prompted the desire of an Agrippa or a Drusilla to see and to hear Paul. . .: “sic thesaurum evangelii omisit infelix Felix,” Bengel. When Overbeck expresses surprise that Felix did not deliver Paul to the Jews for money, he forgets that Paul’s Roman citizenship would make such an action much more dangerous than his detention. : characteristic of Luke and Paul, and common to Luke’s Gospel and Acts, cf. Luk 1:35 , Act 10:29 , Rom 4:22 ; Rom 15:22 , 2Co 1:20 ; 2Co 4:13 ; 2Co 5:9 , Phi 2:9 , only twice elsewhere in N.T., Heb 11:12 ; Heb 13:12 ; “ut illiceret eum ad se pecunia temptandum,” Blass, Knabenbauer. , cf. Luk 5:33 , 1Ti 5:23 ; and LXX, Est 8:13 , 2Ma 8:8 , 3Ma 4:12 . The comparative here is “verus comparativus”: quo spius , Blass. Nothing could more plainly show the corruption of the Roman government than the conduct of Felix in face of the law: “Lex Julia de repetundis prcepit, ne quis ob hominem in vincula publice conjiciendum, vinciendum, vincirive jubendum, exve vinculis dimittendum; neve quis ob hominem condemnandum, absolvenduum aliquid acceperit,” Digest. , xl., 11, 3 (Wetstein); see further on Act 24:3 . : only in Luke, see above Act 20:11 ; imperfect denoting frequent occurrence.

[386] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

should = would.

him. Omit.

of = by. Greek. hupo, as in Act 24:21. t

hat . . . him. The texts omit.

wherefore. Add “also”.

the oftener. Greek. puknoteron. Comp of puknos, the neut. being used adverbially. See Luk 5:33. Add “also”.

communed = was communing, or used to talk. Greek. homileo. See Act 20:11.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

26.] Lex Julia de repetundis prcipit, ne quis ob hominem in vincula publica conjiciendum, vinciendum, vincirive jubendum, exve vinculis dimittendum; neve quis ob hominem condemnandum absolvendumve aliquid acceperit. Digest. xl. 11. 3. Cited by Mr. Humphry, who observes: Albinus, who succeeded Festus, so much encouraged this kind of bribery, that no malefactors remained in prison, except those who did not offer money for their liberation (Jos. B. J. ii. 14. 1). St. Paul did not resort to this mode of shortening his tedious and unjust imprisonment, and Tertullian (de Fuga in Persecutione, 12, p. 116) quotes his conduct in this respect against those who were disposed to purchase escape from persecution: a practice which prevailed and became a great evil in the time of Cyprian. See his Epistles, iii. and lxviii., denouncing the Libellatici.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 24:26. , hoping) A bad hope: an evil eye.-, money) which so many Christians would have contributed through love of Paul. Comp. Act 24:17; Act 24:23. Thus the wretched Felix neglected to secure the treasure of the Gospel.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

hoped: Act 24:2, Act 24:3, Exo 23:8, Deu 16:19, 1Sa 8:3, 1Sa 12:3, 2Ch 19:7, Job 15:34, Psa 26:9, Psa 26:10, Pro 17:8, Pro 17:23, Pro 19:6, Pro 29:4, Isa 1:23, Isa 33:15, Isa 56:11, Eze 22:27, Eze 33:31, Hos 4:18, Hos 12:7, Hos 12:8, Amo 2:6, Amo 2:7, Mic 3:11, Mic 7:3, 1Co 6:9, Eph 5:5, Eph 5:6, 1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:14, 2Pe 2:15

wherefore: Act 24:24

Reciprocal: Jer 36:16 – they were Mat 13:19 – and understandeth Mar 4:16 – which Joh 18:38 – What Act 2:37 – what Act 9:6 – trembling Act 24:23 – and to Act 24:25 – righteousness 2Co 11:23 – in prisons

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Act 24:26. The “convenient season” never appeared as far as the record informs us, for the same purpose that Paul had been called the first time. However, Felix was so depraved as to think the apostle would try to bribe the court into releasing him, and for that purpose he did call for him frequently.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 24:26. 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. The greed and rapacity of so many of these great lieutenants of the Csar in distant provinces of the Empire, is well exemplified in this episode in the government of the Procurator Felix. These men looked upon the great trusts committed to their charge as simply mines of wealth for them to work as best they could for their own advantage. Anything could be purchased at their hands, even immunity from the penalties of crime. What a picture of provincial government in the days of the early Csars! The sacred historian by no means painted for us here the darkest picture we possess of these venal governors; for instance, Josephus tells us of one Albinus, a successor of Felix in Juda, who, on his departure from the province, freed all those prisoners who gave him money; by which means, as the historian quaintly remarks, the prisons were certainly emptied, but the country was filled with robbers (see also Tacitus and Suetonius, who give us similar accounts of these corrupt and selfish rulers). So common an offence did this receiving bribes from a prisoner or his friends appear to be among the higher officials of the Empire, that a special law was framed, expressly forbidding a judge to receive pay in any form for the arrest, acquittal, or condemnation of any individual (Lex Julia de repetundis). There is no doubt that, in the case of the apostle, the Roman governor had heard with interest that the special object of Pauls journey to Jerusalem on this occasion was the distribution among the Jewish poor of sums of money collected in Macedonia and Achaia. This led the rapacious procurator to suspect that the prisoner, if not a wealthy man himself had the command over considerable amounts. He was also well aware of the devoted love which existed between the members of this strange new sect, and had heard that Paul was one of their most distinguished leaders; these circumstances gave him good ground for hoping a substantial bribe would in the end be offered for the life and liberty of the accused.

In after times this offering money by way of a bribe to the Roman officials, to procure liberty to live as a Christian, or in the event of arrest and imprisonment to secure an acquittal, was no uncommon occurrence. Some century and a half later, Tertullian in North Africa, when deploring this custom, reminds his readers how Paul behaved when in danger and in prison, when a gift of money to his unrighteous judge would have saved him (De Fuga in Persecutione; see also Cyprian of Carthages remarks in his Epistle (third century) denouncing the Libellatici, those who purchased permission to be Christians).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, What small success the apostle’s preaching had, it found and left Felix a bad man; covetousness and bribery were his sins before, and they are so still; He hoped that money should be given him of Paul.

That is, he expected a bribe for setting the apostle at liberty, contrary to the law both of God and man.

To this covetousness he added cruelty; for though he had nothing to charge Paul with, yet to gratify the Jews he left Paul bound; minding the pleasing of men more than the displeasing of God.

An hypocrite can become all things to all men, that he may gain by all: but behold the hand of God upon Felix! he that had so unjustly kept Paul for two years, and cruelly left him bound at last, to please and gratify the Jews, is sent a prisoner in bonds himself to Rome, to answer before Nero for his misdemeanors in the managing of his government.

A just reward for him who regards the pleasing of men more than the displeasure of God.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Act 24:26-27. He hoped also A vain and evil hope! So, when he heard, his eye was not single; no marvel then that he profited nothing by all Pauls discourses; that money would be given him by Paul Or by the Christians, for the liberty of so able a minister: and, waiting for this, unhappy Felix fell short of the treasure of the gospel. But after two years After Paul had been two years a prisoner at Cesarea; Porcius Festus came into Felixs room Succeeded him in the government of that province; and Felix Knowing that he had, by his oppressive administration, furnished the Jews with abundant matter of accusation against him; to show them a pleasure That is, to ingratiate himself with them, and prevent them from pursuing him with their complaints; left Paul bound Though he was, in his own conscience, not only persuaded of his innocence, but of the worth of his character. Thus the men of the world, to gratify one another, stretch forth their hands to the things of God! Yet the wisdom of Felix did not profit him, did not satisfy the Jews at all. Their accusations followed him to Rome, and would have utterly ruined him, had not the interest of his brother Pallas prevailed to have obtained his pardon from Nero. How much more effectually would he have consulted the peace of his own mind, and, on the whole, his temporal interest, if he had reformed his life on Pauls admonition, and cultivated those serious impressions which were once so strongly made upon his conscience. It was during the two years of Pauls imprisonment here, that those contentions arose between the Jews and Gentiles, as to their respective rites in Cesarea, which, after many tumults and slaughters of the Jews, were inflamed rather than appeased by the hearing at Rome, and did a great deal toward exasperating the Jewish nation to that war which ended in its utter ruin. Doddridge.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

26, 27. True to the character which Tacitus attributes to Felix, Luke adds that (26) “Hoping also that money would be given to him by Paul, so that he would release him, he therefore sent for him the oftener, and conversed with him. (27) But after two years Felix received Portius Festus as a successor; and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul bound.” Having learned, from Paul’s own lips, that he had been up to Jerusalem to bear alms from distant Churches to the poor, and knowing something, perhaps of the general liberality of the disciples toward one another, he could have no doubt, judging them according to the usage of the age, that they would be willing to purchase Paul’s freedom at a high price. That it was not done, shows that the disciples had too elevated a standard of morality to buy from a corrupt judge release from even unjust and protracted imprisonment.

These two years, if we judge from the silence of history, were the most inactive of Paul’s career. There are no epistles which bear this date; and though his friends and brethren had free access to him, we have no recorded effects of their interviews with him. The only moments in which he emerges into our view, from the obscurity of his prison, are those in which he appeared before his judges. We shall, on this account, contemplate his conduct on these occasions with the deeper interest.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Verse 26

Communed with; conversed with;–intimating to him, in these conversations, that he or his friends, by paying a sum of money, might secure his release.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

We do not know for sure where Paul got the money Felix hoped he would give him or if he had it. Perhaps the Christians who heard of his imprisonment contributed to his support (cf. Act 24:23; Act 27:3). [Note: See Ramsay, St. Paul . . ., pp. 310-12.]

". . . although provincial governors were prohibited by law from taking bribes from prisoners, the practice was common and, in the case of Felix, quite in character." [Note: Neil, p. 236. Cf. Josephus, The Wars . . ., 2:14:1.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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