24:1 The accusers arrived: Ananias, the high priest; Tertullus, the lawyer; and several Jewish leaders. They traveled 60 miles to Caesarea, the Roman center of government, to bring their false accusations against Paul. Their murder plot had failed (23:12-15), but they persisted in trying to kill him. This attempt at murder was both premeditated and persistent.
24:2ff Tertullus was a special orator called to present the religious leaders’ case before the Roman governor. He made three accusations against Paul: (1) He was a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews around the world; (2) he was the ringleader of an unrecognized religious cult, which was against Roman law; (3) he had tried to desecrate the Temple. The religious leaders hoped that these accusations would persuade Felix to execute Paul in order to keep the peace in Palestine.
24:5 While the charge that Paul was a troublemaker was insulting to Paul, it was too vague to be a substantive legal charge. “The Nazarenes” refers to the Christians—named here after Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.
24:10ff Tertullus and the religious leaders seemed to have a strong argument against Paul, but Paul refuted their accusations point by point. Paul was also able to present the gospel through his defense. Paul’s accusers were unable to present specific evidence to support their general accusations. For example, Paul was accused of starting trouble among the Jews in the province of Asia (24:18, 19), but the Jews in the province of Asia (western Turkey) were not present to confirm this. This is another example of Paul using every opportunity to witness for Christ (see 24:14, 24).
24:22 Felix had been governor for six years and would have known about the Christians (“that way”), a topic of conversation among the Roman leaders. The Christians’ peaceful lifestyles had already proven to the Romans that Christians didn’t go around starting riots.
24:25 Paul’s talk with Felix became so personal that Felix grew frightened. Felix, like Herod Antipas (Mark 6:17, 18), had taken another man’s wife. Paul’s words were interesting until they focused on “righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” Many people will be glad to discuss the gospel with you as long as it doesn’t touch their lives too personally. When it does, some will resist or run. But this is what the gospel is all about—God’s power to change lives. The gospel is not effective until it moves from principles and doctrine into a life-changing dynamic. When someone resists or runs from your witness, you have undoubtedly succeeded in making the gospel personal.
24:27 The Jews were in the majority, and the Roman political leaders wanted to defer to them to help keep the peace. Paul seemed to incite problems among the Jews everywhere he went. By keeping him in prison, Felix left office on good terms with the Jews. Felix lost his job as governor and was called back to Rome. Porcius Festus took over as governor in late 59 or early 60. He was more just than Felix, who had kept Paul in prison for two years, in hopes that perhaps Paul would bribe him and that, by detaining Paul, the Jews would be kept happy. When Festus came into office, he immediately ordered Paul’s trial to resume.
24:27 Though God had promised that Paul would preach the gospel in Rome (23:11), the great apostle had to endure more than two years of Felix’s refusal to decide his fate. In addition to this custody, Paul was subjected to other long stretches of time during which he could do little but trust God and wait for him to act. What do you do when it comes to the issue of waiting on God? Do you become anxious? angry? discouraged? Few things test our patience and faith like being forced to wait—which perhaps explains why our sovereign God often puts us in situations where we have no other choice.