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The hearing follows the legal form of the day. First, the prosecutor (Tertullus), after opening praise to the judge, brings the charges (vv.1-8), which are substantiated by witnesses (v.9). Next, the accused (Paul), after opening praise to the judge, brings the defense (vv.10-21). Finally, the judge (Felix) gives the ruling (vv.22-23).
Tertullus sets the charges against Paul in the worst possible light, leaving the original charge of defiling the temple as the least. The first charge, being a troublemaker, stirring up sedition among the Jews all over the empire, is clearly designed to get the attention of a Roman official. The second charge, being the ringleader of the Nazarene sect, would place Paul in the same company with the Egyptians and other messianic pretenders who were stirring up trouble for the Romans throughout Palestine. The third charge, profaning the temple, could be seen by Felix as an action that substantiates the first two charges, that Paul was attempting to overthrow the established order in Jerusalem.
Paul’s defense takes several tracks. First, he notes that he had been in Jerusalem only a few days: The twelve days include five days in Caesarea (v.1), one day in custody in Jerusalem (22:30), leaving only the seven days of purification, which had not quite been completed (21:27), hardly time to undertake all of which he is charged. Second, Paul notes that he was not causing any trouble in Jerusalem; their charge is false. Third, he affirms that what the accusers call a sect is a Jewish halakah, a walk or Way, a worship of the Jewish God that holds to the Law and the Prophets. Fourth, Paul states that he was engaged in purification in the temple, not pollution. Finally, Paul says that the Jews from Asia are the cause of the problem, and they are not present.
Felix’s decision is to await Lysias, the tribune, before making judgment in the case (vv.22-23). Since Felix somehow had fairly good awareness of the Christian halakah, or the Way, it appears that he sensed the trumped-up nature of the Jewish charges and subsequently relaxed the nature of Paul’s confinement.
It may have been through Drusilla, his Jewish wife, that Felix had some knowledge of the Christian way, and was interested in learning more about the movement (v.24). Felix’s true motive for interest, however, is revealed in the expectation of a bribe from Paul (v.26), which probably explains why Lysias never seems to come from Jerusalem; Felix never delivers judgment but keeps Paul under custody for two years. At the end of his procuratorship, Felix was deposed because of Jewish pressures and sent to Rome for trial. He obviously wanted to grant a favor to the Jews (v.27) so that they might relent toward him in his trial.