Chapter 436 of 957

The Case Against Paul

THE CASE AGAINST PAUL

ACTS 24:1-9

The charges against Paul couldn’t have been more false. When people want to destroy the truth, they often stoop to lies.

In today’s reading we see Paul through the eyes of his enemies (particularly 24:5), and learn something of how the earliest Christians had to contend with misrepresentation and implacable hate.

“The speech of Tertullus is a delightful parody of the oratory of the second-rate Greek hired pleader; Luke must have enjoyed writing it. It begins with a high-flown compliment, and then quite suddenly subsides into the baldest colloquialism, as if the poor creature could not keep it up” (Findlay).

Tertullus’s rhetoric leads him into:

culpable exaggeration (24:2, “much peace” is sharply contradicted by the series of uprisings and punitive retaliations which had disgraced Felix’s tenure of office);

a distortion of the facts (24:5, which tried to denigrate Paul by making him no better than a Messianic revolutionary, like the man of 21:38, whom Felix, aided by Jews, had put down); and

a perverted sense of justice (24:7, which is relegated to the RSV margin, but which many editors believe to be authentic).

Clearly something more needs to be added to explain the reason for Paul’s “arrest” by the Jews. Notice the slant which Tertullus gives to the recent events, silently glossing over any thought that the Jews were ready to lynch their enemy, and putting the blame for “violence” on Lysias’ head (24:7). His hint (“we would have judged him according to our law,” 24:6) may suggest that there was no need for Felix to bother himself overmuch with this case—let him just release Paul, for them to deal with!

Notes 24:4: “briefly”—at least one redeeming feature of the speech, and he kept to his promise. 24:5: a threefold charge is brought against Paul. He is accused of being (a) a troublesome pest—ie a seditious agitator against the Roman authority; this was designed to get Felix’s interest; (b) a ringleader of Nazarenes—ie a heretical Jewish sect, based on the teaching of an executed false prophet; (c) an attempted violator of the temple, whose claim to sanctity the Romans respected. How much was (a) true? (b) false? (c) distorted? 24:7: cf. John 18:31.

Thought Read again the account of Paul’s encounter with the Jews (21:27ff.). Both Claudius Lysias (23:26ff.) and Tertullus (24:2ff.) have given their own different versions of it. Shall we turn this thought into prayer for all who influence public opinion in our newspapers, radio and TV, that facts may be clearly distinguished from comment.

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