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Paul’s Defense before Felix

10 When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied:

“I cheerfully make my defense, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this people.(A) 11 As you can find out, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.(B) 12 They did not find me disputing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd either in the synagogues or throughout the city.(C) 13 Neither can they prove to you the charge that they now bring against me.(D) 14 But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets.(E) 15 I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both[a] the righteous and the unrighteous.(F) 16 Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience toward God and all people.(G) 17 Now after some years I came to bring alms to my people and to offer sacrifices.(H) 18 While I was doing this, they found me in the temple completing the rite of purification, without any crowd or disturbance.(I) 19 But there were some Jews from Asia—they ought to be here before you to make an accusation, if they have anything against me.(J) 20 Or let these men here tell what crime they had found when I stood before the council, 21 unless it was this one sentence that I called out while standing before them, ‘It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’ ”(K)

22 But Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing with the comment, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.” 23 Then he ordered the centurion to keep him in custody but to let him have some liberty and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 24.15 Other ancient authorities read of the dead, both of

Paul’s Defense Before Felix

10 When the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know[a] that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I confidently make my defense.[b] 11 As you can verify[c] for yourself, not more than twelve days ago[d] I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 12 They did not find me arguing[e] with anyone or stirring up a crowd[f] in the temple courts[g] or in the synagogues[h] or throughout the city,[i] 13 nor can they prove[j] to you the things[k] they are accusing me of doing.[l] 14 But I confess this to you, that I worship[m] the God of our ancestors[n] according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law[o] and that is written in the prophets. 15 I have[p] a hope in God (a hope[q] that[r] these men[s] themselves accept too) that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.[t] 16 This is the reason[u] I do my best to always[v] have a clear[w] conscience toward God and toward people.[x] 17 After several years[y] I came to bring to my people gifts for the poor[z] and to present offerings,[aa] 18 which I was doing when they found me in the temple, ritually purified,[ab] without a crowd or a disturbance.[ac] 19 But there are some Jews from the province of Asia[ad] who should be here before you and bring charges,[ae] if they have anything against me. 20 Or these men here[af] should tell what crime[ag] they found me guilty of[ah] when I stood before the council,[ai] 21 other than[aj] this one thing[ak] I shouted out while I stood before[al] them: ‘I am on trial before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”[am]

22 Then Felix,[an] who understood the facts[ao] concerning the Way[ap] more accurately,[aq] adjourned their hearing,[ar] saying, “When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.”[as] 23 He ordered the centurion[at] to guard Paul,[au] but to let him have some freedom,[av] and not to prevent any of his friends[aw] from meeting his needs.[ax]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 24:10 tn Grk “knowing.” The participle ἐπιστάμενος (epistamenos) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
  2. Acts 24:10 sn “Because…defense.” Paul also paid an indirect compliment to the governor, implying that he would be fair in his judgment.
  3. Acts 24:11 tn BDAG 369 s.v. ἐπιγινώσκω 2.c has “notice, perceive, learn of, ascertain…Also as legal t.t. ascertain (2 Macc 14:9) τὶ Ac 23:28; cp. 24:8. W. ὅτι foll. Ac 24:11.” “Verify” is an English synonym for “ascertain.”
  4. Acts 24:11 tn Grk “it is not more than twelve days from when.” This has been simplified to “not more than twelve days ago.”sn Part of Paul’s defense is that he would not have had time to organize a revolt, since he had arrived in Jerusalem not more than twelve days ago.
  5. Acts 24:12 tn Or “disputing,” “conducting a heated discussion.”
  6. Acts 24:12 tn BDAG 381 s.v. ἐπίστασις 2 has “. ποιεῖν ὄχλου to cause a crowd to gather Ac 24:12.” Roman authorities would not allow a mob to gather and threaten the peace, and anyone suspected of instigating a mob would certainly be arrested.
  7. Acts 24:12 tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.
  8. Acts 24:12 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
  9. Acts 24:12 sn A second part of Paul’s defense is that he did nothing while he was in Jerusalem to cause unrest, neither arguing nor stirring up a crowd in the temple courts or in the synagogues or throughout the city.
  10. Acts 24:13 tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 1.f has “οὐδὲ παραστῆσαι δύνανταί σοι περὶ ὧν νυνὶ κατηγοροῦσίν μου nor can they prove to you the accusations they are now making against me Ac 24:13.”sn Nor can they prove. This is a formal legal claim that Paul’s opponents lacked proof of any wrongdoing. They had no witness who could justify the arrest at the temple.
  11. Acts 24:13 tn The words “the things” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
  12. Acts 24:13 tn Grk “nor can they prove to you [the things] about which they are now accusing me.” This has been simplified to eliminate the relative pronoun (“which”) in the translation.
  13. Acts 24:14 tn Or “serve.”
  14. Acts 24:14 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
  15. Acts 24:14 sn That is, the law of Moses. Paul was claiming that he legitimately worshiped the God of Israel. He was arguing that this amounted to a religious dispute rather than a political one, so that the Roman authorities need not concern themselves with it.
  16. Acts 24:15 tn Grk “having.” The participle ἔχων (echōn) has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence begun at this point in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence.
  17. Acts 24:15 sn This mention of Paul’s hope sets up his appeal to the resurrection of the dead. At this point Paul was ignoring the internal Jewish dispute between the Pharisees (to which he had belonged; Acts 23:6) and the Sadducees (who denied there would be a resurrection of the dead; Acts 23:8).
  18. Acts 24:15 tn Grk “a hope in God (which these [men] themselves accept too).” Because the antecedent of the relative pronoun “which” is somewhat unclear in English, the words “a hope” have been repeated at the beginning of the parenthesis for clarity.
  19. Acts 24:15 tn Grk “that they”; the referent (these men, Paul’s accusers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  20. Acts 24:15 tn Or “the unjust.”sn This is the only mention of the resurrection of the unrighteous in Acts. The idea parallels the idea of Jesus as the judge of both the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 17:31).
  21. Acts 24:16 tn BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 9.a, “ἐν τούτῳ πιστεύομεν this is the reason why we believe Jn 16:30; cp. Ac 24:16.”
  22. Acts 24:16 tn BDAG 224 s.v. διά 2.a, “διὰ παντόςalways, continually, constantlyAc 2:25 (Ps 16:8); 10:2; 24:16.” However, the positioning of the adverb “always” in the English translation is difficult; the position used is one of the least awkward.
  23. Acts 24:16 tn BDAG 125 s.v. ἀπρόσκοπος 1 has “. συνείδησις a clear conscience Ac 24:16.”
  24. Acts 24:16 tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use (Paul does not have only males in view).
  25. Acts 24:17 tn BDAG 401 s.v. ἔτος has “δι᾿ ἐ. πλειόνων after several years 24:17.”
  26. Acts 24:17 tn Grk “to bring alms,” but the term “alms” is not in common use today, so the closest modern equivalent, “gifts for the poor,” is used instead.
  27. Acts 24:17 tn Or “sacrifices.” BDAG 887 s.v. προσφορά 1 has “προσφοράς ποιεῖν have sacrifices made Ac 24:17, ” but this may be overly specific. It is not clear from the immediate context whether the offering of sacrificial animals (so BDAG assumes) or offerings of some other sort (such as financial gifts) are in view. The combination with ἐλεημοσύνας (eleēmosunas) in the preceding clause may suggest monetary offerings. Some have suggested this is an allusion to the payments made by Paul on behalf of the four other men mentioned in Acts 21:23-26, but the text here seems to suggest something Paul had planned to do before he came, while the decision to pay for the expenses of the men in 21:23ff. was made at the suggestion of the Jerusalem leadership after he arrived. In either case, Paul was portraying himself as a pious worshiper of his God.
  28. Acts 24:18 sn Ritually purified. Paul’s claim here is that he was honoring the holiness of God by being sensitive to issues of ritual purity. Not only was he not guilty of the charges against him, but he was thoroughly devout.
  29. Acts 24:18 tn BDAG 458 s.v. θόρυβος 3.b has “μετὰ θορύβουwith a disturbance Ac 24:18.”
  30. Acts 24:19 tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia. The Roman province of Asia made up about one-third of modern Asia Minor and was on the western side of it. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.
  31. Acts 24:19 tn BDAG 533 s.v. κατηγορέω 1 states, “nearly always as legal t.t.: bring charges in court.” L&N 33.427 states for κατηγορέω (katēgoreō), “to bring serious charges or accusations against someone, with the possible connotation of a legal or court context—‘to accuse, to bring charges.’”sn Who should be here…and bring charges. Paul was asking, where were those who brought about his arrest and claimed he broke the law? His accusers were not really present. This subtle point raised the issue of injustice.
  32. Acts 24:20 tn Grk “these [men] themselves.”
  33. Acts 24:20 tn Or “unrighteous act.”
  34. Acts 24:20 tn The words “me guilty of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. L&N 88.23 has “αὐτοὶ οὗτοι εἰπάτωσαν τί εὗρον ἀδίκημα στάντος μου ‘let these men themselves tell what unrighteous act they found me guilty of’ Ac 24:20.”
  35. Acts 24:20 tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).
  36. Acts 24:21 tn BDAG 433 s.v. 2.c has “οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἤ nothing else thanAc 17:21. τί what otherthan24:21.”
  37. Acts 24:21 tn Grk “one utterance.”
  38. Acts 24:21 tn Cf. BDAG 327 s.v. ἐν 1.e, which has “before, in the presence of, etc.”
  39. Acts 24:21 sn The resurrection of the dead. Paul’s point was, what crime was there in holding this religious belief?
  40. Acts 24:22 sn See the note on Antonius Felix in 23:24.
  41. Acts 24:22 tn Grk “the things.”
  42. Acts 24:22 tn That is, concerning Christianity.
  43. Acts 24:22 tn BDAG 39 s.v. ἀκριβῶς has “Comp. ἀκριβέστερον more exactly. ἐκτίθεσθαι explain more exactly Ac 18:26, cp. 23:15, 20; also more accurately24:22.” Felix knew more about the Christian movement than what the Jewish leaders had told him.
  44. Acts 24:22 tn L&N 56.18 s.v. ἀναβάλλω has “to adjourn a court proceeding until a later time—‘to adjourn a hearing, to stop a hearing and put it off until later.’…‘then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned their hearing’ Ac 24:22.”
  45. Acts 24:22 tn BDAG 227 s.v. διαγινώσκω 2 states, “to make a judicial decision, decide/hear (a case)τὰ καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς decide your case Ac 24:22.”
  46. Acts 24:23 sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.
  47. Acts 24:23 tn Grk “that he was to be guarded.” The passive construction (τηρεῖσθαι, tēreisthai) has been converted to an active one in parallel with the following clauses, and the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  48. Acts 24:23 tn BDAG 77 s.v. ἄνεσις 1 states, “lit. relaxation of custodial control, some liberty, . ἔχειν have some freedom Ac 24:23.”
  49. Acts 24:23 tn Grk “any of his own” (this could also refer to relatives).
  50. Acts 24:23 tn Grk “from serving him.”