Paul's ministry in Caesarea was from prison. Luke devoted about three chapters to Paul's ministry in Caesarea primarily to reemphasize the legality of Christianity as various Roman officials scrutinized it and to repeat major themes in Paul's addresses.
23:33 The governor (procurator) of Judea at this time was Antonius Felix (52-59 A.D.).890Pontius Pilate occupied this office from 26-36 A.D. Felix had a reputation for being a harsh ruler who had risen from a lowly background. The Roman historian Tacitus described him as follows.
". . . Antonius Felix, practiced every kind of cruelty and lust, wielding the power of [a] king with all the instincts of a slave."891
He was apparently a freed man, someone who had been a bondsman but had received his freedom from an authoritative Roman who in this case was Emperor Claudius' mother, Antonia. He was the first slave ever to become the governor of a Roman province.892Felix rose to power as a result of his influential brother, his self-serving political maneuvering, and his three calculating marriages. He normally dealt very severely with Jews, especially the dagger-men, the terrorists who sought to overthrow Roman rule by assassinating key Romans and pro-Roman Jews (cf. 21:38).
23:34-35 Felix inquired concerning Paul's home province for the following reason. If Paul had come from an area in the empire that had its own ruler in addition to a Roman governor, that local authority had a right to witness the proceedings (cf. Luke 23:6-12). Cilicia was not such a place, however, so Felix could deal with Paul himself. He needed to hear the testimony of Paul's accusers, of course. Consequently Felix kept Paul in the governor's palace, the Praetorium, which Herod the Great had built, until those Jews arrived and he could conduct a hearing. The governor's palace had cells for prisoners. Paul would have been fairly comfortable there since he was a Roman citizen who had not even been charged formally with a crime.
"The delivery of the prisoner Paul to Caesarea marked the beginning of a two-year imprisonment in that city. During this period he stated his case, and also the case for the Christian gospel, to two provincial governors and a king, fulfilling one aspect of the Lord's prediction about his ministry (9:15)."893
"In his account of Paul's defense before Felix, Luke gives almost equal space to (1) the Jewish charges against Paul (vv. 1-9), (2) Paul's reply to these charges (vv. 10-21), and (3) Felix's response (vv. 22-27). He does this, it seems, because he wants to show that despite the devious skill of the Jewish charges and the notorious cruelty and corruptibility of Felix, no other conclusions can be drawn from Paul's appearance before him than that (1) Christianity had nothing to do with political sedition and (2) Jewish opposition to Christianity sprang from the Christian claim to legitimate fulfillment of the hopes of Judaism"894
This is the shortest of Paul's five defenses that Luke documented.908It is quite similar to Paul's defense before Felix except that now the apostle appealed to the emperor.
"Luke's apologetic purpose is to show that only when Roman administrators were largely ignorant of the facts of the case were concessions made to Jewish opposition that could prove disastrous for the Christian movement."909
The charges against Paul, and particularly his innocence, are the point of this pericope.
25:13 This King Agrippa was Marcus Julius Agrippa II, the son of Herod Agrippa I (12:1-11), the grandson of Aristobulus, and the great grandson of Herod the Great (Matt. 2:1).916Herod the Great had tried to destroy the infant Jesus. One of his sons, Antipas, Agrippa II's great uncle, beheaded John the Baptist and tried our Lord. Agrippa II's father, Agrippa I, executed James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John. He also imprisoned Peter and died in Caesarea (ch. 12). His son, Agrippa II, is the man Paul now faced. He had grown up in Rome and was a favorite of Emperor Claudius. He was the last in the Herodian dynasty and was the best of the Herods.
At the time he visited Festus, Agrippa was the king whom Rome had appointed over the territory northeast of the Judean province. He lived in Caesarea Philippi (Dan of the Old Testament) that he renamed Neronias in honor of Nero. Agrippa was about 30 years old at this time, and his sister, Bernice (Lat. Veronica), was one year younger. He ruled this region from 50 to 70 A.D. Drusilla, Felix's wife, was Agrippa and Bernice's younger sister.
Agrippa and Bernice evidently visited Festus on this occasion to pay their respects to the new governor of their neighboring province. Agrippa and Bernice were essentially favorable to the Jews. They both tried to avert the Roman massacre of the Jews in 66-70 A.D.917
25:14a Festus apparently wanted to discuss Paul's case with Agrippa because he needed to clarify the charges against Paul (v. 27). Agrippa had a reputation for being an expert in Jewish matters since he was part Jewish and had grown up in the Herodian family. He was the person to whom Rome had given the authority to appoint the Jewish high priest and to preserve the temple treasury and vestments.918
25:14b-21 Festus reviewed Paul's situation and confessed his own surprise at the nature of the charges the Jews had brought against him. They were matters concerning the Jewish religion (cf. 18:15; 23:29) and the resurrection of Jesus.919Festus did not know how to deal with these charges (v. 20).
"It is interesting that by this stage the question of Paul's alleged desecration of the temple has quite disappeared from sight, and the topic of the resurrection (23:4; 24:21) has replaced it. . . . The real ground of dispute is that Paul preaches the resurrection of Jesus, something which the Sadducees refused to believe on principle and which the Pharisees likewise refused to believe although they admitted the fact of a final resurrection of all men."920
25:22 The case interested Agrippa, and he asked to hear Paul. Festus readily agreed hoping that Agrippa would be able to help him understand Paul's situation and provide information he could use in his report to the emperor.
Jesus had also appeared before a Jewish king, Herod Antipas, who wanted to meet Him too (Luke 23:8). However, Paul's interview with Agrippa proved to be more satisfying to this king than Jesus' appearance before Antipas had been to that king (cf. Luke 23:6-12).
This is the longest of Paul's five defenses. It centers on the gospel with an evangelistic appeal rather than on the charges against Paul. This emphasis harmonizes with Luke's evangelistic purpose in Luke and Acts and is a fitting climax to that purpose. It also documents God's faithfulness in allowing Paul to witness before kings (cf. 9:15).
"Inherent in Luke's account are at least three apologetic themes: (1) Paul's relations with the Roman provincial government in Judea did not end in dissonance but with an acknowledgment of his innocence (cf. 25:25; 26:31); (2) even though the Jewish high priests and Sanhedrin opposed Paul, the Jewish king who in Rome's eyes outranked them agreed with a verdict of innocence (cf. 26:32); and (3) Paul's innocence was demonstrated not only before Roman and Jewish rulers but also publicly before the high ranking officers and the leading men of the city' (25:23)."921
