And, (3) since he had tried to desecrate the Jewish temple by taking a Gentile beyond the Court of the Gentiles, Rome should hand him over to the Jews to execute him. (2) He was a ringleader of a heretical sect that was not recognized as a legitimate religion by the Roman government. So they framed the first two charges in terms of political sedition: (1) Paul was a plague, spreading unrest among the Jews throughout the empire. Rome took charges of political unrest seriously, and if Paul were guilty of sedition, he could be executed. Although the Jewish leaders’ main gripe was religious, they knew that religious charges would not get far with the Roman governor. Get on with your case!” Tertullus promises to be brief, as if to say, “This case is a no-brainer! Just grant us what we ask by getting rid of this pesky fellow and we can all get on with more important matters.” But Tertullus’ flattery goes so far beyond credulity that probably Felix himself was thinking, “Come on! We all know that you’re lying. It is one thing to be polite towards the one in authority Paul does that (24:10).
Nearly half of his speech consists of his obvious flattery toward Felix. In 24:1-9, Tertullus presents his shaky case against Paul. We are naïve if we think that if we live with integrity, we will be protected from false accusations and slanderous attempts to bring us down. But since this world is made up of sinners who love darkness rather than light, and since a life of integrity exposes their evil deeds, sinners will often slander the man of integrity. If this world were made up of basically good people, a man of integrity would be well loved and have no enemies. *A life of integrity does not shield us from being falsely accused. We can live with integrity by speaking the truth, by living in line with Scripture, and by keeping a blameless conscience before God and men.īefore we look at these factors, we need to take to heart another lesson that is evident from our text: If Tertullus could convince Felix that this renegade Paul was a seditious man, it would not bother Felix’s conscience in the least to crucify him or lop off his head.Īnd so we have here a man of integrity up against a lawyer, a group of Jewish leaders who had tried to assassinate him, and a governor who notoriously lacked integrity. He dealt with insurrection by crucifying hundreds of rebels.
His rule over Palestine was marked by unrest and turmoil. The historian, Tacitus, described Felix as one who reveled in cruelty and lust, and wielded the power of a king with the mind of a slave. I will deal more with him next week, but for now I will say that he was a slave who gained his freedom and rose to power through his connections. And, although Luke does not say anything derogatory against the Roman governor, Felix, it was common knowledge that he was a scoundrel. Luke contrasts Paul’s integrity with the glaring lack of integrity of a certain lawyer, Tertullus, who was willing, for a fee, to take up the Jewish leaders’ slanderous accusations against Paul. The proof of Paul’s integrity is the great impact he has had on so many down through the centuries. But he not only proclaimed his integrity he lived it. In his defense before Felix to the charges that the Jewish leaders brought against him, Paul proclaimed his integrity by saying, “I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men” (24:16). When we find a man whose life radiates integrity, we should pause and learn from him. Simpson speaking!īut talking about character and living it are two different things. The only thing that endures is character.” That was O. In a 1980 Sports Illustrated, a well-known athlete said, “Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident and money takes wings. I don’t know if that young man got the job, but he demonstrated a quality that is rare, although it shouldn’t be-integrity. Such salesmanship as I exhibit during your visit, therefore, will be no more than my usual workaday approach, and not a special effort to impress a prospective employer (“Bits & Pieces” ). And I will have no way of identifying you. When you come in you can identify me by my red hair. You may judge my ability as a salesman if you will stop in to see me at any time, pretending that you are interested in buying furniture. I am at present selling furniture at the address below. Years ago, 20 th Century-Fox advertised for a salesman and got this reply from an applicant:
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