Acts 24:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He does not dare to accuse directly, because Felix was a gracious man. Yet he does not make this transition without purpose. Wanting again to show that he is not lying, he leaves it to Paul to accuse himself.

The accusation brought here by the Sanhedrin against Paul consisted solely of what could have significance in the eyes of the Roman government regarding the Jews. They accused Paul of everywhere violating the rights granted to the Jews for peaceful use within the empire. They said that he was causing disturbances and divisions among them, and that recently he had dared to profane the temple. They complained against the tribune, saying that he had hindered the Jews from judging Paul according to the rights granted to them.

After five days Paul's accusers appeared in Caesarea: the high priest Ananias with the elders. They had armed themselves with an advocate, the orator Tertullus, who delivered the accusation against Paul before the procurator (vv. 1-9). Yet the eloquence of this speaker did not achieve its purpose.

"You can learn from him": not from the tribune Lysias, but from the accused Paul himself. That is, Paul himself supposedly cannot deny the truth of the charges brought against him.

The rhetorician’s reference to Lysias is as crafty as it is malicious. He speaks of violence committed against them by Lysias, but he is silent about the reason that moved Lysias to do this.

Then the rhetorician asks that the accused himself be examined on all the points of accusation, that is, Paul. The other Jews present there somehow confirmed all this.

According to Saint John Chrysostom, the rhetorician, in referring to Lysias, speaks as though saying: “He ought not to have done this, but he did. By this he expresses that it was grievous for them to go to a foreign tribunal.