Acts 28:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why then did they not release him? "But because the Jews objected," he says. Do you see how he softens their guilt? If he had wished to exaggerate, he could have spoken much more strongly.

Then he adds: "I was compelled to appeal to Caesar." All this deserves approval. Then, lest someone say, "What then? Did you 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. And such was their audacity that, although even these could accuse me of nothing, they left me bound.

Paul knew that it was wholly improper to go to law, especially before an unbeliever. Therefore he defends himself on both sides. He had not acted against the law. On the contrary, he himself had knowingly been condemned unjustly by the Jews. He had not appealed to Caesar of his own will, but because the Jews themselves gave him cause to do so. They did not think fit either to judge me according to the law of the Church, or to submit to the lawful judgment of the authorities. The authorities wished to release me. They did not release me because the Jews opposed it. What then? Did you appeal to Caesar in order to accuse the Jews? No, he says, but to escape danger.

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.

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.

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).

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).