Acts 25:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"No one," he says, "can deliver me to them." He not only brought the governor into fear, so that even if he wished, he could not hand him over. By this turn of the case he also defended himself from the Jews.

Having touched on this, he again softens his speech by adding: "For if I am an offender, and have committed anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die." I pronounce sentence against myself, he says.

These are not words of suicide, but of great boldness. For truth too must be joined to boldness, so that it may act more powerfully.

"But if there is nothing in the things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them." Even if he wished, he says, he cannot.

He did not say: I am not guilty of death, or, I deserve release. Instead he said: I am ready to be judged before Caesar. At this point he remembered the vision, and so spoke with still greater boldness.

He did not say, you, but "no one," adding, "I appeal to Caesar," so as not to offend him.

He longed to come out of this oppressive condition. He saw that he had nothing more to expect from high priests or procurators. Therefore he used the first favorable opportunity to free himself from all this.

As a Roman citizen, he possessed one important privilege: the right of appeal to Caesar, one of the highest privileges of the Roman people. He had only to pronounce the word appello, and for a time all his bloodthirsty enemies had to fall silent.

He decided to use this right. The procurator was only Caesar's shadow. His proposal was apparently sincere, but the Apostle Paul foresaw its consequences.

"I stand," he said, "before Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also know very well. For if I am an offender, and have committed anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is nothing in the things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them."

Then he cried out: "I appeal to Caesar" (Caesarem appello).

If this is so, no one can deliver me, or give me as a favor, to my enemies. By this last remark the apostle again subtly lets the procurator understand that his desire to please the Jews is inappropriate.

It is inappropriate for him to gratify them by handing Paul over to the judgment of their Sanhedrin, when lawful rights and lawful judgment are at stake.

By demanding Caesar's judgment, the apostle clearly did not trust the impartiality of a trial before the Sanhedrin, nor even of the procurator's court. He could notice that Festus, wishing to please the Jews, was not very firm in his principles of impartiality.

He could fear that the intrigues of his mortal enemies would triumph both over the procurator and over him. Moreover, he was encouraged by the Lord's words once spoken to him.

As he had borne witness concerning Him in Jerusalem, so he must also bear witness in Rome (Acts 23:11). Circumstances had now come together in just such a way.

In them the apostle could discern the time of his departure to Rome, to preach there the Gospel of Christ. Therefore he resolutely demanded judgment before Caesar.

But if there is nothing in these things, no one can deliver me to them. Even if he wished, he says, he cannot. He did not say: I am not guilty of death, or, I deserve release.

Rather, he said: I am ready to be judged before Caesar. At this point he remembered the vision and spoke with still greater boldness. He did not say, you, but, no one, adding, I appeal to Caesar, so as not to offend him."

"I demand this," he says, "from you." "I have been handed over to Caesar's judgment. Since the procurator's court acts in Caesar's name, here I ought to be judged as a Roman citizen.

I have not wronged the Jews, and I do not wish to be tried before their supreme court, the Sanhedrin. Then he categorically demands judgment for himself personally before Caesar in Rome.

Circumstances had now come together in just such a way that the apostle could discern in them the time of his departure to Rome. There he would preach the Gospel of Christ, and he resolutely demanded Caesar's judgment."

Every citizen had the right to such an appeal, and its utterance annulled the force of the preceding judgment.