Who, when they had examined me, would have released me, for that there was no cause of death in me.
οιτινες ανακριναντες με εβουλοντο απολυσαι δια το μηδεμιαν αιτιαν θανατου υπαρχειν εν εμοι
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse
After this, since some of the hearers might probably have said, "How can it be proved that you were handed over without guilt?" he adds: "When they had examined me, they wished to release me." It is as though he said: the Roman authorities, who examined me and wished to release me, are witnesses to this. That is, finding nothing in me worthy of condemnation, they wished to release me. The Jews should have released me, but they handed me over to the Romans.
In presenting the teaching, he found it necessary to touch upon his own circumstances. He supposed that they were somewhat known to them and therefore needed to remove suspicion. But he learned that the Roman Jews had not heard of him.
When Paul declared that he was bound for the hope of Israel, they asked him to unfold his thoughts about this. They said, "We hear that this teaching is much disputed." Paul appointed a day and expounded to them the teaching about the Kingdom of God. He proved from Moses and the prophets that Jesus is the true Messiah.
But his preaching found faith in few, and he had to repeat Isaiah's rebuke to his contemporaries (Acts 28:26-28).
Using the freedom granted to him, Paul soon after his arrival in Rome began the work of preaching the Gospel to the inhabitants of that city. According to his custom, he first addressed this preaching to the sons of the people of the promise who lived in Rome.
Three days after arriving in Rome, Paul called to himself the leading men among the Jews. Since he was a prisoner, he could not visit their synagogue. He then opened a conversation with them.
At his first meeting with the Roman Jews, the apostle tries beforehand to remove the prejudice he assumes they have toward him. This prejudice could have been planted in them by the hostile attitude of the Jews in Jerusalem toward him, which ended in his chains. It could also have come from his appeal to the judgment of the Roman pagan authority. Finally, it could have come from slanders against him, by letter or orally, from unbelieving Jews in the regions where he had already preached the Gospel, from Jerusalem as far as Corinth.
Therefore the apostle first affirms that he suffers innocently. The hostile attack upon him by the Jews in Jerusalem was unjust, for he had done nothing against the people or the customs of the fathers. This innocence of his was attested by the representative of Roman authority in Judea. Finding in him no guilt worthy of death, he had wished to release him.
The Jews themselves are also guilty of the fact that the apostle now stands before Caesar's judgment. It is true that the apostle himself demanded this judgment over himself. Yet he did so only because, when the procurator wished to release him as wholly innocent, the Jews opposed it. They demanded that the procurator hand the apostle over to them for their own judgment (Acts 25:7-12).
But, says the apostle, I demanded judgment from Caesar not in order to accuse my people of anything. I did it only to avoid a wholly undeserved condemnation from the Jews. This would inevitably have followed if he had been handed over to their judgment.
For this reason, the apostle says in conclusion, since I neither formerly did anything against my people, and in particular against you, nor now harbor any hostility toward you, I have called you to see you and speak with you. For I am bound with these chains for the hope of Israel, not because of enmity against Israel. I am not your enemy, but your friend.
Having become accustomed to his new situation in Rome, the Apostle Paul wished first to address the preaching of the Gospel to his kinsmen according to the flesh, the Jews. He summoned to himself the chief representatives of the Jewish population of the capital. Addressing them as brethren, he tried to explain his position to them.
He assured them that he was not hostile to their people and was not destroying their institutions. Nevertheless, he had been seized in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman authorities. Yet the Romans, after investigating the case, declared him entirely innocent and were ready to release him. Only the opposition of the Jews forced him to transfer his case to Caesar's decision.
The apostle tried in every way to make them understand that he had by no means intended to set the Roman authority against his own people. The cause of his chains was faith in the fulfillment of that messianic hope which all Israel cherished.
They wished to release him, but the Jews objected. These details complete the writer of Acts' account of Paul's trial before Festus in chapter 25. Comparing them with that account shows that, after Paul's words before Festus (Acts 25:8), the procurator expressed a desire to release him. The Jews opposed this (Acts 28:19). Then Festus proposed that Paul be tried in Jerusalem (Acts 25:9). In response, Paul demanded judgment before Caesar (Acts 25:11).
However, the apostle adds, I did not demand Caesar's judgment in order to accuse my people of anything before Caesar. I did not do so with a hostile aim against my people, but solely for self-defense. "That is, I did this not to cause evil to others, but to deliver myself from evil, and not of my own will, but under compulsion" (Chrysostom).
Unfolding his case gradually, the apostle speaks briefly about how he was tried and how they wished to release him, but some opposed it. This moved the apostle to demand the higher judgment of Caesar, so that before him he might be fully vindicated.
Then the apostle also explains the most important purpose for which he called the leading men of the Jews to himself. It was to unfold before them the essential matter for which he was tried. He speaks of this matter veiledly as the hope of Israel, that is, the Messiah, whom all true sons of Israel await (see Acts 26:6).
"Since some of the hearers would probably have said, 'How can you prove that you were handed over without guilt?' he adds: the Roman authorities who tried me and wished to release me are witnesses to this. Why then did they not release him? Because the Jews objected, he says. Do you see how he softens their guilt? Then, lest someone say, 'What then? Did you not do this in order to accuse them?' he rejects such an assumption, adding: 'not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation.' That is, I demanded judgment from Caesar not in order to accuse you, but to avoid danger. I am so far from enmity toward you that I am even bound with chains for you."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS