Acts 24:1-27
Tertullus began speaking with nauseating flattery which was anything, but true. Of course, the charges he leveled against Paul were equally false.
The charge he leveled against Paul had three main points. 1) Paul was a stirrer. He was always in trouble and a pest. 2) Paul was a leader of a sect of Nazarenes. Tertullus knew the havoc false messiahs had cause in the Roman Empire and knew this would capture the attention of Felix. 3) Paul was a defiler of the Temple. The charges were dangerous because they were a series of twisted half-truths.
Paul gave his defense. As a man of clear conscience, Paul maintained that he needed simply to state the facts and let them stand on their own. Something we should notice about Paul. The problem is that there are so many in our world that work like Tertullus instead of like Paul. Our problem is figuring out who is doing that with us to support their own agendas.
Felix knew well the facts about the Way, so he put the Jews off. He knew they were spinning half-truths against Paul choosing to believe the right people. Paul demanded the high morals of which terrified Felix. He had persuaded Druscilla away from Azizus with the help of a magician, so his conscience was guilt-ridden. He also wanted to keep his job after several problems he had encountered. Felix didn’t handle the Paul situation very well either. One too many problems, so he was taken out of his position.
Paul appealed to Caesar.
