14 But this I will say openly to you, that I do give worship to the God of our fathers after that Way, which to them is not the true religion: but I have belief in all the things which are in the law and in the books of the prophets:
And so, by God's help, I am here today, witnessing to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come about;
For this man, in our opinion, is a cause of trouble, a maker of attacks on the government among Jews through all the empire, and a chief mover in the society of the Nazarenes:
The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has given glory to his servant Jesus; whom you gave up, turning your backs on him, when Pilate had made the decision to let him go free.
And when a day had been fixed, they came to his house in great numbers; and he gave them teaching, giving witness to the kingdom of God, and having discussions with them about Jesus, from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening.
But now without the law there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, to which witness is given by the law and the prophets;
King Agrippa, have you faith in the prophets? I am certain that you have.
To him all the prophets give witness, that through his name everyone who has faith in him will have forgiveness of sins.
But because some of the people were hard-hearted and would not give hearing, saying evil words about the Way before the people, he went away from them, and kept the disciples separate, reasoning every day in the school of Tyrannus.
But Felix, who had a more detailed knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, When Lysias, the chief captain, comes down, I will give attention to your business.
And now I am here to be judged because of the hope given by God's word to our fathers;
Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings,
A man whose opinions are not those of the church, after a first and second protest, is to be kept out of your society;
But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it. And a great number will go with them in their evil ways, through whom the true way will have a bad name.
And I went on my face before his feet to give him worship. And he said to me, See you do it not: I am a brother-servant with you and with your brothers who keep the witness of Jesus: give worship to God: for the witness of Jesus is the spirit of the prophet's word.
And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my sign to all generations.
O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the deepest thoughts of your people, and let their hearts be fixed and true to you;
Those who make their oaths by the sin of Samaria and say, By the life of your God, O Dan; and, By the living way of Beer-sheba; even they will go down, never again to be lifted up.
And a number of nations will go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will give us knowledge of his ways and we will be guided by his word: for from Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
To everyone, then, who gives witness to me before men, I will give witness before my Father in heaven.
On these two rules all the law and the prophets are based.
But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets; let them give ear to what they say.
And he made clear to them all the things in the Writings, from Moses and from all the prophets, which had to do with himself.
Philip came across Nathanael and said to him, We have made a discovery! It is he of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets were writing, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
You make search in the holy Writings, in the belief that through them you get eternal life; and it is those Writings which give witness about me. And still you have no desire to come to me so that you may have life. I do not take honour from men; But I have knowledge of you that you have no love for God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and your hearts are not open to me. If another comes with no other authority but himself, you will give him your approval. How is it possible for you to have faith while you take honour one from another and have no desire for the honour which comes from the only God? Put out of your minds the thought that I will say things against you to the Father: the one who says things against you is Moses, on whom you put your hopes. If you had belief in Moses you would have belief in me; for his writings are about me. If you have no belief in his writings, how will you have belief in my words?
For Moses said, The Lord will give you a prophet from among your people, like me; you will give ear to everything which he will say to you. And every soul who does not give attention to that prophet, will be cut off from among the people. And all the prophets from Samuel and those who came after, every one of them, gave word of these days.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 24
Commentary on Acts 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
We left Paul a prisoner at Caesarea, in Herod's judgment-hall, expecting his trial to come on quickly; for in the beginning of his imprisonment his affairs moved very quickly, but afterwards very slowly. In this chapter we have his arraignment and trial before Felix the governor at Caesarea; here is,
Act 24:1-9
We must suppose that Lysias, the chief captain, when he had sent away Paul to Caesarea, gave notice to the chief priests, and others that had appeared against Paul, that if they had any thing to accuse him of they must follow him to Caesarea, and there they would find hi, and a judge ready to hear them-thinking, perhaps, they would not have given themselves so much trouble; but what will not malice do?
Act 24:10-21
We have here Paul's defence of himself, in answer to Tertullus's charge, and there appears in it a great deal of the spirit of wisdom and holiness, and an accomplishment of Christ's promise to his followers that when they were before governors and kings, for his sake, it should be given them in that same hour what they should speak. Though Tertullus had said a great many provoking things, yet Paul did not interrupt him, but let him go on to the end of his speech, according to the rules of decency and the method in courts of justice, that the plaintiff be allowed to finish his evidence before the defendant begins his plea. And when he had done, he did not presently fly out into passionate exclamations against the iniquity of the times and the men (O tempora! O mores!-Oh the degeneracy of the times!) but he waited for a permission from the judge to speak in his turn, and had it. The governor beckoned to him to speak, v. 10. And now he also may have leave to speak out, under the protection of the governor, which was more than he could hitherto obtain. And, when he did speak, he made no reflections at all upon Tertullus, who he knew spoke for his fee, and therefore despised what he said, and levelled his defence against those that employed him. And here,
Act 24:22-27
We have here the result of Paul's trial before Felix, and what was the consequence of it.