Paul Before Felix And Drusilla
PAUL BEFORE FELIX AND DRUSILLA
ACTS 24:22-27
Felix was a mixture of religious curiosity and greed, but he got more than he bargained for with Paul. The things Paul spoke about were what Felix needed to know.
Verse 22. Apparently Lysias never came, or else this was Felix’s way of postponing proceedings and the verdict indefinitely. Paul had no redress and no choice but to hope for a discharge. When this became unlikely, he played a trump card (25:11).
Felix was in no mind to settle the dispute there and then, and deferred the case (24:22-23). One notable interview which brought the two men together is described (24:24-25). Felix’s intention was clear; he wanted to hear the Christian missionary speak on a vital theme. (What could have been more congenial to Paul than to expound “faith in Christ Jesus”?) Paul, however, refused to fawn on his distinguished audience and to ingratiate himself with those who had the power to set him free. The trio of “justice” (better “righteousness,” in the sense of Romans 1–4, as a divine standard by which human life is tested and condemned and a divine offer in the gospel), “self-control” and “future judgment” was hardly calculated to make the preacher popular. It formed “the very subjects that Felix and Drusilla most needed to hear about” (F.F. Bruce), but not what they wanted to be reminded of, as is apparent from their known characters at that time. Small wonder, then, that Felix was terrified, and cut short the interview on that occasion. Paul, however, was given further opportunities (24:26b), but evidently without making much of a deep impression upon this interested dilettante. At least, he saw no injustice in holding in detention a blameless man (24:27). So much for his religious interest!
Notes 24:23: the Roman term for this detention libera custodia (“free custody”) shows that it was not irksome, but Paul must have wondered why, in God’s providence, his active ministry was curtailed. 24:24: Drusilla had been enticed away from her husband, Aziz, by Felix and persuaded to join his harem as his third, polygamous wife. 24:26: Paul’s financial state gives the mark of some affluence at this time of his life (implied in 21:24 and 28:30).
Meditation (a) Two men’s consciences are dramatically sounded: Paul’s (24:16) and Felix’s (24:25). (b) “When I have some spare time I’ll send for you” (24:25). Does “spare-time religion” ever satisfy?