Acts 25: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Festus, the new Roman governor, arrives in the province and is immediately pressed by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem to move Paul's case there, while they plan to ambush and kill him on the road. Festus holds the hearing in Caesarea instead, and when he offers to move the trial to Jerusalem, Paul appeals to Caesar. King Agrippa and Bernice arrive for a visit, Festus lays out the case to them, and Paul is brought before them in a formal hearing so that Festus can find something definite to write in the letter that must accompany a prisoner sent to Rome.

Claim by Claim

1. 25:1
   • Festus came into the province.
   • Three days later Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
2. 25:2
   • The high priest and the leading men of the Jews brought information against Paul before Festus.
   • They urged Festus.
3. 25:3
   • They asked a favor against Paul.
   • The favor they asked was that Festus send for Paul to come to Jerusalem.
   • They were preparing an ambush to kill Paul along the road.
4. 25:4
   • Festus answered that Paul was being kept at Caesarea.
   • Festus answered that he himself intended to leave for there shortly.
5. 25:5
   • Festus said that those among them who had authority should go down with him.
   • Festus said they should accuse the man there.
   • Festus said the accusation should be made if there is anything wrong in the man.
6. 25:6
   • Festus stayed among them more than ten days.
   • Festus went down to Caesarea.
   • On the next day Festus sat on the judgment seat.
   • Festus commanded that Paul be brought.
7. 25:7
   • When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him.
   • They brought many and serious charges against Paul.
   • They were not able to prove the charges.
8. 25:8
   • Paul made a defense for himself.
   • Paul said he had not offended against the law of the Jews.
   • Paul said he had not offended against the temple.
   • Paul said he had not offended against Caesar.
   • Paul said he had committed no offense at all.
9. 25:9
   • Festus wished to do the Jews a favor.
   • Festus asked Paul whether he was willing to go up to Jerusalem.
   • Festus asked whether Paul was willing to be judged there on these matters before Festus.
10. 25:10
    • Paul said he was standing at Caesar's judgment seat.
    • Paul said that is where he ought to be judged.
    • Paul said he had done the Jews no wrong.
    • Paul said Festus himself knew this very well.
11. 25:11
    • Paul said that if he is a wrongdoer and has done anything worthy of death, he does not refuse to die.
    • Paul said that if there is nothing to the charges these men bring against him, no one can hand him over to them.
    • Paul said he appeals to Caesar.
12. 25:12
    • Festus conferred with his council.
    • Festus said that Paul had appealed to Caesar.
    • Festus said that Paul would go to Caesar.
13. 25:13
    • After some days King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea.
    • They came to greet Festus.
14. 25:14
    • Agrippa and Bernice stayed there many days.
    • Festus laid Paul's case before the king.
    • Festus said there is a certain man left as a prisoner by Felix.
15. 25:15
    • Festus said that when he was in Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought information against this man.
    • Festus said they requested a sentence of condemnation against the man.
16. 25:16
    • Festus said he answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man to be destroyed before the accused meets his accusers face to face.
    • Festus said the accused must also be given opportunity to defend himself concerning the charge.
17. 25:17
    • Festus said that when they came there he made no delay.
    • Festus said that on the next day he sat on the judgment seat.
    • Festus said he commanded the man to be brought.
18. 25:18
    • Festus said the accusers stood up against the man.
    • Festus said they brought no charge of the evil things he had supposed.
19. 25:19
    • Festus said they had certain disputed questions with Paul about their own religion (the word can mean either reverence for the divine or superstition).
    • Festus said the questions also concerned a certain Jesus who had died.
    • Festus said Paul asserted that this Jesus is alive.
20. 25:20
    • Festus said he was at a loss how to investigate such matters.
    • Festus said he asked Paul whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be judged there on these matters.
21. 25:21
    • Festus said Paul appealed to be kept for the decision of the Emperor.
    • Festus said he commanded Paul to be kept until he could send him to Caesar.
22. 25:22
    • Agrippa said to Festus that he would like to hear the man himself.
    • Festus said Agrippa would hear him the next day.
23. 25:23
    • On the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp.
    • They entered the hall of hearing.
    • The commanders and the prominent men of the city entered with them.
    • At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.
24. 25:24
    • Festus addressed King Agrippa and all the men present with them.
    • Festus said they see this man.
    • Festus said the whole multitude of the Jews had appealed to him about this man.
    • Festus said they had done so both in Jerusalem and there.
    • Festus said they were shouting that the man ought not to live any longer.
25. 25:25
    • Festus said he found that Paul had done nothing worthy of death.
    • Festus said that Paul himself had appealed to the Emperor.
    • Festus said he decided to send him.
26. 25:26
    • Festus said he has nothing definite to write about Paul to his lord.
    • Festus said that for this reason he brought Paul out before them.
    • Festus said he brought Paul especially before King Agrippa.
    • Festus said his purpose was that after the examination he might have something to write.
27. 25:27
    • Festus said it seems unreasonable to him to send a prisoner without also indicating the charges against him.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

25:1

Porcius Festus was the Roman governor (procurator) of Judea, taking over from Felix around AD 59 or 60. "The province" is Judea, which Rome administered from Caesarea on the coast, not from Jerusalem. The King James "ascended" and, in verse 6, "went down" are not about rank: Jerusalem sits high in the hill country, so travelers always went up to it and down from it. A new governor paying an early visit to Jerusalem was a normal courtesy to the people he now ruled.

25:2

"The chief of the Jews" in the King James means the leading men, not a single chief. With the high priest, these were the men of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council that handled religious and much civil law in Jerusalem. Under Rome they could try cases but could not carry out a death sentence without the governor.

25:3

"Desired favour" means they asked for a concession, a ruling in their favor as a courtesy to a new governor who might want local goodwill. The road from Caesarea up to Jerusalem ran some sixty miles through open country and hill passes, which is why moving Paul along it gave an ambush its chance.

25:5

The King James "which among you are able" translates a phrase that can mean either those with the standing and authority to act, or simply those able to make the trip. Festus is telling them to send a delegation to Caesarea rather than have the prisoner moved to them.

25:6

The "judgment seat" was the bema, a raised platform where a Roman official sat to hear cases. A verdict given from it was formal and legally binding, as opposed to an informal hearing. The manuscripts differ on the length of Festus's stay: some read "more than ten days," others "not more than eight or ten days."

25:8

"Caesar" here is the reigning emperor, Nero. An offense "against Caesar" meant treason or sedition, the only one of the three charges a Roman court would take seriously; the other two concerned Jewish law and the temple in Jerusalem.

25:9

A new governor needed the goodwill of the local leadership he had to work with for years. Moving the trial to Jerusalem would also have put Paul back within reach of the men planning to ambush him.

25:10

A Roman governor judged cases as the emperor's representative, so his court was in a real sense Caesar's court. Paul is pointing out that he is already standing where a Roman citizen's case belongs.

25:11

A Roman citizen had the right to have his case removed from a provincial governor's court and referred to the emperor's own tribunal in Rome. Once the words were spoken the governor lost the power to decide, acquit or release, which is why Festus's answer in the next verse is so flat.

25:12

The "council" is not the Jewish Sanhedrin but the governor's own advisory board, the consilium: Roman officials and legal advisers who sat with him. Festus checks with them on whether the appeal must be allowed, not on whether Paul is guilty.

25:13

Herod Agrippa II was the great-grandson of Herod the Great. Rome had given him several territories north and east of Judea and, unusually, the right to appoint the high priest and oversee the Jerusalem temple, which made him the obvious expert for Festus to consult. Bernice was his sister; she lived at his court, and their closeness was a subject of gossip in Rome. The King James "to salute" means to pay a formal courtesy call, the expected greeting for a newly arrived governor.

25:14

Antonius Felix was the previous governor. He had kept Paul in custody for two years without reaching a verdict, and left him there when his term ended.

25:15

Elders were the respected older men who helped lead the Jewish people, along with the priests.

25:16

Roman legal practice required that an accused man hear the charges and face his accusers in open court. The King James "licence" means permission or opportunity, not a document. Festus is contrasting Roman procedure with what the Jerusalem leaders had asked him to do.

25:19

"Superstition" in the King James is not the insult it sounds like today. The Greek word can mean either religious devotion or excessive fear of the gods, and in 1611 English "superstition" could simply mean a system of religious observance. Festus is being carefully noncommittal in front of a king who was himself a Jew.

25:20

"I doubted" in the King James means I was at a loss, out of my depth, not that Festus was skeptical. A Roman governor had no training in Jewish law and no way to weigh a dispute of this kind.

25:21

"Augustus" here is not the emperor Augustus, who had died some forty-five years earlier. It renders a Greek title, Sebastos, meaning "the revered one," used for whoever currently held the throne; the man in question is Nero.

25:23

"Great pomp" means full ceremonial display: robes of state, attendants, the visible apparatus of royalty. The "chief captains" were tribunes, each commanding a cohort of roughly a thousand men; Caesarea housed five such cohorts. The "place of hearing" was an audience hall, not a courtroom. Since Paul's appeal had already removed the case from Festus's hands, this was not a trial and no verdict could come out of it.

25:26

"My lord" translates a title, kyrios, applied to the emperor. Augustus and Tiberius had refused it as too close to calling themselves masters of free men; by Nero's reign it was in ordinary use. Festus's problem is procedural: a governor forwarding a prisoner on appeal had to send a covering report setting out the charges, and he has no charge he can put in writing.

25:27

Roman practice required a governor sending a prisoner to a higher court to send along a written report setting out the charges. Festus has nothing to put in it, which is the awkward position the whole scene exists to explain.