The Bible Says
Acts 24:22-27 Meaning

Acts 24:22-27 explains the conclusion of Paul’s trial and his subsequent imprisonment in Caesarea for two years.

At the trial of Paul in Caesarea, both sides have made their case to the judge, Felix, governor of Judea. The prosecution is Ananias the high priest, some elders from the Jewish Council, and their attorney Tertullus. Tertullus attempted to persuade Felix that Paul has picked fights and caused chaos with the Jews all over the Roman world, and had done something unholy and offensive at the temple in Jerusalem. They wished to judge Paul privately according to their own religious law.

The defendant, Paul, claimed that they have no proof of their accusations, and gave testimony of his own actions. He was in the temple making offerings and was ritualistically clean according to the Jewish Law. The only thing he was guilty of was believing that there is a life after death in which God will judge the righteous and the wicked. Otherwise, the men who attacked Paul in the temple were not even there in Caesarea to make accusations, and the Jewish leadership can find no fault in him other than his personal beliefs (which some of their own Council, the Pharisees, share in a general sense).

Luke, the author of Acts, describes Felix’s response:

But Felix, having a more exact knowledge about the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case” (v. 22).

As far as someone like the Roman governor Felix was concerned, this was a religious debate between two Jewish factions. Paul had not broken any kind of Roman or civil law. Likewise, other Roman authorities such as Pilate and Gallio, and Claudius Lysias in the previous chapter, were confused by and/or disinterested in making judgements when it came to Jewish religious matters (John 18:31, Acts 18:14, 23:29).

It is likely that this is what the high priest Ananias and his team hoped for, that Felix would release Paul back to them since it was a matter of Jewish religious Law, and, as they stated, “We wanted to judge [Paul] according to our own Law” (Acts 24:6).

Similarly, Pilate had tried to defer judgement of Jesus back to the Jewish leadership, but the Jewish leaders rightly reminded Pilate that, under Roman rule, they were “not permitted to put anyone to death” (John 18:31).

A lot had changed since Jesus’s trial some twenty-five years prior to the events of Acts 24. Violence and rebellion had increased, and would reach a boiling point within the next decade, when the Zealots would wage open revolt against Rome, leading to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

In the years since Jesus’s crucifixion, the Jewish leadership had many times gone outside of Roman approval and enforced capital punishment at their own whim, such as when they stoned Stephen to death, persecuted the early church, and tried to kill Paul in their own council chambers a week before (Acts 7:54-60, 9:1-2, 26:10, 23:10).

But Felix already knew a bit about the Christians and what they believed; he had a more exact knowledge about the Way. The Way is what Christianity was originally called (Acts 9:2, 19:9, 23, 22:4). It meant to follow the Way of Jesus, the Messiah, who taught that He was the only Way to God, righteousness, and eternal life. Believers in Jesus were first called “Christians” in the church in Antioch (Acts 11:26).

During the trial, the Jewish authorities tried to demean the Way by calling it a sect, something small and obscure with fringe beliefs. However, in his defense, Paul proudly identified himself with this so-called sect, that “according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers” (Acts 24:14).

There is also a third testimony in Felix’s consideration, that of Claudius Lysias the Roman commander. Felix had already been informed by Claudius Lysias’s letter about the repeated attempts on Paul’s life, the lack of any criminal accusation against him, and the plot to assassinate him (Acts 23:26-30). On these grounds, Felix procrastinates any final judgment. He put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”

He is delaying his decision, due to his more exact knowledge of the Way. This seems to mean that he knew the Jewish leadership’s accusations were not truthful, and slandered the Way as something dangerous which Felix, in his experience and knowledge of followers of the Way, knew wasn’t true. He knew followers of the Way were peaceful and even submissive to the governing authorities in a way that other Jewish sects (such as the Zealots) were not.

Felix’s reason for delaying judgment was that he wished to hear from Lysias the commander in person, and that when Lysias the commander comes down from Jerusalem to Caesarea, only then would Felix decide the case. Felix already had Lysias’s testimony in the letter which was delivered to him when Paul was secretly transported to Caesarea.

Whether Felix eventually held another hearing for Lysias to give his testimony, Luke (the author of Acts) does not say. The present case against Paul is never decided by Felix. He continues to delay throughout the rest of his time as governor. The reason for this is that Felix hoped for a bribe from Paul (Acts 24:26).

Nor does it seem likely that Felix would otherwise rule in favor of Ananias and the Jewish leadership. Allowing them to take Paul away to kill him for religious reasons, potentially causing a rift between Jewish Christians and the Sanhedrin, would potentially stir up more civil strife. The commander Lysias had already shrewdly moved Paul out of Jerusalem when he learned that Paul’s enemies plotted to assassinate him (Acts 23:23-24, 30).

Both Lysias and Felix seem to think there is nothing to the case against Paul other than a personal vendetta. In the following chapter, a new governor, Porcius Festus, will oversee yet another trial where the Jewish leadership accuse Paul; Festus will propose sending Paul back to Jerusalem to be tried by the Sanhedrin, not out of a sense of justice, but for political reasons, because he wished “to do the Jews a favor” (Acts 25:9). And yet, Festus will also later publicly declare, “I found that [Paul] had committed nothing worthy of death” (Acts 25:25).

Paul is caught in a gridlock of political power and sinful motivations. Felix could have set him free, but because Felix hopes for a bribe, he holds onto Paul.

At the least, Felix made sure Paul’s life was fairly comfortable, for a prisoner: Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be kept in custody and yet have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from ministering to him (v. 23).

This concluded the trial. The centurion was a high-ranking Roman officer who oversaw a hundred soldiers. Felix gives him orders to remove Paul from the courtroom. Paul will be kept in custody, he will continue his imprisonment in Caesarea, but he will be allowed some freedom.

This freedom is not specified, though it probably meant he was allowed to leave his room and walk about the palace grounds (escorted by a guard). He was not merely thrown into an underground dungeon and forgotten about. He was a political prisoner and given some dignity.

This was probably because Felix wanted Paul to feel well-treated and so inspire the giving of a bribe. Further, Paul was a Roman citizen (Acts 23:27) and was legally owed better hospitality than non-Roman prisoners. Felix also gave orders to the centurion that he should not prevent any of Paul’s friends from ministering to Paul. Again, this was probably meant to motivate and permit the giving of a bribe. If Paul’s friends have easy admission to see their friend, they would be able to pay for Paul’s freedom.

As reported by the historians Tacitus and Josephus, Felix took ill-gotten money wherever he could get it, often through plundering his subjects (Tacitus, Annals, Book 12.54) (Josephus, Antiquities, XX, 8.7). During the trial, Paul had mentioned that he “came to [Jerusalem to] bring alms to my nation” (Acts 24:17). So Felix saw that Paul had access to money and donors. Perhaps Paul could raise funds from his patrons to pass on to Felix and resolve this imprisonment.

Paul would pay no such bribe. This would be sinful, unlawful, and unjust, nor was Paul desperate to get out of prison, only to stay alive to continue preaching the gospel for as long as God allowed. He knew he was now on a course to go to Rome and preach the gospel there (Acts 23:11). But it surely helped keep Paul’s spirits up and sustain him to have friends visit him in prison, ministering to him while he was stuck in limbo.

And Paul had many friends in Caesarea. He had stayed with other believers in Caesarea only a few weeks before, as his last major stop on his return journey to Jerusalem. Paul had lodged in the house of Philip the evangelist; Philip lived in Caesarea and had four daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:8-9). Some of the believers who lived in Caesarea escorted Paul to Jerusalem and found him a place to stay (Acts 21:16).

Caesarea was home to the first Gentile to believe and receive the Holy Spirit. This was a Roman centurion named Cornelius who was stationed in Caesarea. He, his family, and friends became believers when Peter preached the gospel to them (Acts 10:44-45). If Cornelius was still in Caesarea during the time of Acts 24, he also may have been a friend to Paul during his imprisonment. Believers from the Jerusalem church may also have journeyed down to the coast to minster to Paul.

It would make sense that Paul’s team also came to live in Caesarea during Paul’s imprisonment, those who had travelled with Paul after the conclusion of his third missionary journey when he returned to Jerusalem.

These men were Jewish and Gentile believers from Greece, Macedonia, Galatia, and the Roman province of Asia (modern-day western Turkey): Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia, and Paul’s protégé, Timothy, and another man, Gaius, who were both Galatians (Acts 20:4, 16:1).

Presumably Luke, the author of Acts, also came to Caesarea during this time as a member of that team and to continue chronicling Paul’s ministry as an eyewitness (Acts 21:17). We do know that both Luke and Aristarchus the Thessalonian accompanied Paul on his prisoner transport when at last Paul was sent to Rome (Acts 27:2).

After a short while, Felix apparently grows curious about this controversial prisoner in his keeping whom so many high-ranking Jews want dead:

But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus (v. 24).

Luke records that some days later, after the trial and prolonged imprisonment of Paul, Felix summons Paul. Felix is now joined by Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess-a Jewish woman. The text says that after these few days later, Felix arrived with Drusilla, which perhaps means Felix briefly departed from Caesarea and then returned with Drusilla in his company.

Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa I, the same Herod who had executed the Apostle James, and who was eventually struck dead by God, while speaking in Caesarea, after the people praised him as though he were a god (Acts 12:2, 20-23). His daughter Drusilla had formerly been the wife of Azizus, king of the Syrian city Emesa. Felix convinced her to divorce Azizus. According to Josephus,

“And when Agrippa had received these countries, as the gift of Caesar, he gave his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, King of Emesa…But for the marriage of Drusilla with Azizus, it was in no long time afterward dissolved, upon the following occasion. While Felix was procurator of Judea, he saw this Drusilla; and fell in love with her: for she did indeed exceed all other women in beauty.”
(Josephus, Antiquities, XX, 7.1-2)

Having been sent for, Paul is given the chance to share the gospel of Jesus while not on trial or in the midst of a debate. He was invited specifically to speak about his beliefs, probably in a quiet setting. So Felix and Drusilla heard Paul speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

But as Paul teaches more deeply about what faith in Christ Jesus means, Felix is disturbed by the implications of the gospel:

But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you” (v. 25).

Paul’s message about faith in Christ Jesus led to a discussion about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come. The word translated righteousness comes from the Greek “dikaiosynē.” It is also properly translated as “just” or “justice.” Biblical righteousness is living according to God’s just standard, how He designed things to be, which originally were perfect and good, before sin corrupted human nature and the earth itself.

Living in righteousness is to live in harmony with one another and in obedience to God. It is to live justly, without error. In his letter to the Romans, Paul illustrated righteousness as looking like a body where all the body parts are perfectly performing their individual tasks to the benefit of the whole, in harmony with their design (Romans 12).

For Felix, it would be unsettling to hear righteousness defined as living in accordance to God’s perfect standard. Felix lived by the Emperor’s standards, and even then, he was corrupt, ultimately living by his own standards as often as he could get away with it. At that very moment Felix is hearing about true just living from a man he is prolonging the unjust imprisonment of on the off chance that Paul will pay him bribe money to purchase his own release. The situation was ironic and certainly not just or righteous.

Nor did Felix enjoy hearing about self-control, which is the denial of sinful desire to exploit and do things for our own gratification rather than from service or submission to God. Rather than submitting to our own selfish interests, we control our self by submitting to God.

A Roman governor, especially one who had risen from slavery to such a lofty position of power, would not like hearing that he ought to deny himself in this way. Felix did not want to feel convicted to live with self-control; Felix probably wanted to do whatever he felt like doing.

His lack of self-control was why he had Drusilla as a wife, who was already married when he met her, yet because of his desire for her he enticed her to divorce her husband and marry him. To marry Drusilla the Jewess, Felix also divorced his first wife, who was, strangely enough, also named Drusilla (from Mauretania, modern-day Algeria).

Felix’s lack of self-control was also why he held out for bribe money from Paul, and would ultimately prolong Paul’s imprisonment indefinitely to buy political favor from the Jewish leadership (Acts 24:27). Felix appears to be the type of person who did as he wanted to do, whatever benefited him in satisfying his desires of the moment.

The ancient historian Tacitus described Felix’s time as governor as one of self-indulgence and exploitation, “Antonius Felix, indulging in every kind of barbarity and lust, exercised the power of a king in the spirit of a slave” (Tacitus, The History, Book 5.9).

Paul’s message about the judgment to come was perhaps what frightened Felix the most. During his life on earth, Felix was able to live according to his own idea of what was right, not the Creator’s standard of right, and to live to serve self instead of to control self and serve God.

But according to Paul, God is going to judge everyone for how we live our lives. The judgment to come will come at the end of the age, when this period where sin and injustice rules the earth will be ended, and Jesus Christ will return to reign in perfect righteousness (Philippians 2:9-11, Revelation 11:15). But Christ will also serve as a judge (Acts 10:42, Romans 2:16, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 22:12).

Paul hinted at this earlier in his defense at his trial, that “there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked” (Acts 24:15). In his sermon to the Athenian philosophers, Paul explained that the entire world would be judged by Jesus (Acts 17:31).

The righteous will be judged by their faithfulness, whether to be rewarded or lose rewards depending on how obediently they lived (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). The wicked will also be judged for all that they did in life (Revelation 20:12-13). Those who did great evil will be punished accordingly (Jeremiah 17:10).

This must have terrified Felix. He knew in which group he would belong, according to Paul’s description. The fact that he felt frightened means that, at least for a moment, he considered that Paul might be right. This judgment might be real one day.

When Paul’s teaching hit too close to home, Felix panicked and dismissed him: Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you” (v. 25).

Had Felix continued listening to Paul instead of fleeing from God’s convicting word, he may have come to faith in Christ then and there and found forgiveness and righteousness granted to him purely on the basis of his faith (Romans 5:1). Instead, Felix ran in the opposite direction.

And though he told Paul to Go away, it was indeed only for the present, because when Felix found time (and courage) again to listen to Paul, he promised to summon him, which he did. Felix found Paul’s teaching intriguing, despite the fact that it frightened him.

However, Luke describes the main motivation Felix had for speaking with Paul:

At the same time too, he was hoping that money would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and converse with him (v. 26).

Luke writes that therefore Felix would send for Paul quite often and converse with him, meaning that the reason for Felix’s frequent conversations with Paul was that Felix was hoping that money would be given him by Paul. Felix was trying to establish a friendly relationship with the prisoner, always holding out for a bribe to free him.

Despite these meetings which occurred quite often, where Paul would converse with Felix, it appears Felix remained frightened of really embracing the truth of Jesus Christ by putting faith in Him. Felix’s goal was worldly, selfish, and despicable: to extract financial gain from an innocent captive in his palace.

Paul never budged. There is a significant jump in time where Paul has remained a prisoner in Caesarea:

But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned (v. 27).

For two years Paul has been stuck in Caesarea. He has been able to preach the gospel to the governor of Judea many times, but Felix’s heart was apparently hardened to the gospel. And although Paul’s imprisonment has been relatively comfortable-he has been allowed to receive friends and help-he was probably anxious, to some degree, to be out on the mission field again sharing the gospel to those who might receive it.

During his missionary journeys, he spent years in Corinth and Ephesus (Acts 18:11, 19:10), building up church communities and establishing footholds for believers in Christ to grow and spread the gospel. And now two years of his life have passed by, and he has been caged in the same place.

In the past, in Philippi, Paul had been imprisoned for just one night, and was freed in the morning since there was no just cause against him (Acts 16:35). Earlier in Acts, the Apostle Peter was imprisoned, and an angel set him free (Acts 12:6-7). But here, God is permitting Paul to remain a prisoner indefinitely.

And since Felix never got the bribe he hoped for, he kept Paul prisoner even after he was fired from his position as governor: Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned.

Porcius Festus replaced Felix as governor of Judea. But in an effort to gain some political capital on his way out, Felix deliberately left Paul imprisoned because he wanted the Jewish leadership to think favorably of him. In wishing to do the Jews a favor by leaving their hated opponent Paul in limbo, Felix may have thought it would help him as he faced trial in Rome for his unjust actions as governor.

When Felix returned to Rome, he was put on trial by some of the leading Jews. This was because during a conflict between the Jews and Syrians of Caesarea, Felix had sent out soldiers who killed a great many of the Jews, and he “permitted his soldiers to plunder some of the houses of the citizens, which were full of riches” (Josephus, Antiquities, XX, 8.7).

Then, after being fired from his position, Felix was prosecuted by Jewish leadership in Rome, so he probably did this favor for the Jews to take the heat off himself as he was out the door. It did not seem to help, though Felix avoided conviction anyway, because his brother argued his case, and his brother had Caesar’s favor:

“Now when Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix by Nero, the principal of the Jewish inhabitants of Caesarea went up to Rome, to accuse Felix. And he had certainly been brought to punishment, unless Nero had yielded to the importunate solicitations of his brother Pallas, who was at that time had in the greatest honor by him.”
(Josephus, Antiquities, Book XX, Chapter 8.9)

But Paul, whether free or in bondage, served God’s calling. Years before, he had been a prisoner for just one night in Philippi and had not wasted that opportunity to preach the gospel to his jailer (Acts 16:25-34). We see at the end of Acts, when Paul is in prison in Rome, that he is actively preaching the gospel (Acts 28:30-31). And in his letter to the Philippians during this same imprisonment, Paul writes cheerfully that his incarceration has helped broadcast the gospel, rather than silence it. The gospel spread even to the imperial guards who protected Caesar:

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else…”
(Philippians 1:12-13)

It is likely Paul was doing the same here in Caesarea, preaching to whomever was in his proximity. In spite of the frustration of being imprisoned without cause, Paul had known that bonds and affliction awaited him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23). The Holy Spirit had prepared him for this lengthy trial.

Paul also knew that Jesus intended him to go to Rome, after the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision to encourage him. It was surely this promise from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that sustained Paul,

“Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
(Acts 23:11)

Paul often wrote in his epistles about how we are to endure suffering for the gospel’s sake, and to be witnesses in whatever circumstances we find ourselves (2 Timothy 1:8, 4:2, Acts 20:24, 1 Corinthians 9:16, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10). Even in the most restricted conditions, Paul was faithful to carry out his calling to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote to Timothy, even though he was imprisoned, “the word of God is not imprisoned” (2 Timothy 2:9).

In the next chapter, Paul will appeal to Caesar, and finally begin his journey to Rome.