Acts 24:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then does Paul do? Does he remain silent at this? No. Again he answers boldly, and according to the governor’s wish.

To bear witness to the truth before a judge is not flattery. Rather, flattery is found in the words, “For many years you have judged justly.” Why then do you rise up unjustly?

See how they sought injustice, while he sought justice. Therefore he said, “I shall answer for myself the more freely.” He also draws proof from the time: “For many years,” he says, “you have judged justly.”

And what force did this proof have? Great force. By it he shows that the judge himself knows that he has done none of the things of which they accuse him.

The defensive speech of the Apostle Paul had a stronger effect on the procurator. Felix dismissed the accusers, promising them that he would review the case when the commander Lysias came. Until then, he granted the prisoner Paul even greater freedom than he had enjoyed before. He ordered the centurion assigned to him not to restrict him, and not to forbid any of his own people to serve him or come to him (vv. 10-23).

Then the procurator, already sufficiently convinced that this was, as Lysias had informed him, some Jewish disturbance about trifles of the Mosaic law, haughtily signaled to the prisoner to say something against the accusation. In his speech, the Apostle Paul simply and with dignity remarked that he could defend himself before Felix with all the greater satisfaction, since Felix had now been procurator for a very considerable time. Therefore, through his acquaintance with Jewish affairs, he could easily understand the essence of the case.

“He answered,” and so forth. With what dignity, calm, and moderation the wise apostle begins his speech, compared with Tertullus’s opening, with its flattering praises and compliments to the governor.

Paul points to only one fact: Felix has been judge over this nation for many years. Therefore he, the apostle, can defend his case before him all the more freely.

“For many years you have judged.” The word “justly” has been added in translation. It is wholly absent from the original, and it is not needed.

Thus, you know the institutions and customs of this nation, its character, and likewise its representatives, the members of the Sanhedrin.

The defensive speech of the holy Apostle Paul before Felix began at Felix’s indication, and therefore it was unprepared and natural. Paul considered it necessary to speak about Felix, specifically about his judicial experience.

The word “justly” is not found in the Greek text, though it was known even to Saint John Chrysostom. He says, “He does not add ‘justly’ without purpose, but so that the judge may look neither to the high priest, nor to the people, nor to the accuser.”

Paul could have heard this recently from those in the praetorium who were comforting him.

The apostle begins his defense by drawing attention to the time of his stay in Judea. It was so brief, twelve days, that he could not even have committed what they accuse him of doing.