Acts 25:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Perhaps, I think, he was staying with those who wished to corrupt him, while Paul was in prison. See: when he returned, immediately “he sat on the judgment seat.” So impatiently did they press him, and so hastily did they act.

The trial of Paul opened again, and the Jews who had come from Jerusalem again began accusing him before the procurator. But the many grave charges they brought against Paul remained unproved. Festus could have released Paul, but since the Jews objected (Acts 28:19), he wished to please them. He asked the apostle whether he wanted his trial transferred to Jerusalem and handed over to the Sanhedrin. But Paul did not wish to be delivered to the Jews, and demanded Caesar’s judgment.

Eight or ten days later, Festus returned to the palace in Caesarea. On the very next day he took his judicial seat on the tribunal to hear the case.

The Jews now found it possible to do without a hired advocate. The proceedings turned into a scene of heated clamor, in which the Apostle Paul answered the many charges against him with calm denial.

The Jews noisily surrounded the judgment seat and repeated their accusations of heresy, sacrilege, and treason. But since not a single witness came forward against him, the Apostle Paul had only to set forth the circumstances of the case again.

He returned, and on the next day began the trial of Paul and his accusers. “Having sat on the judgment seat”: see the note on Jn 19:13.

The trial of the Apostle Paul was begun by Festus very soon, on the day after his return from Jerusalem. The Jews gathered closely around the presiding seat and brought many accusations against Paul.

Yet, as usual, they could not prove them. There was no real crime in him. What they considered criminal from their own personal point of view could not be acknowledged as such by a pagan judge.

"See," says Saint John Chrysostom, "when he returned, he immediately sat on the judgment seat. So impatiently did they urge him on, so greatly did they hurry!"

The accusations against the apostle were probably the former ones. For this reason the writer of Acts does not repeat them.