According to the Way So I Worship

Paul’s trip to Jerusalem comes some twenty years after Jesus was crucified there. And the Roman Governor Felix was struggling to keep peace in the region although, by some reports, his abuses only made the situation worse. So when the crowd at the temple is stirred up and a plot to kill Paul is uncovered, the Roman Tribune sends Paul to the Governor in Caesarea under guard. Yet, there is no crime for him to charge Paul with. As Paul begins his defense, it is the gospel, the way, the resurrection, that Paul presents. But this truth in Acts 24:15 “having a hope in God which these men also themselves await: that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous” has long been disputed and is still today. Believe it or not, though, there is heaven and there is a lake of fire and our choice to accept or reject Jesus Christ during this life will determine our eternal residence.

Having No Charge Deserving Death or Imprisonment

Acts 23:23-35
A plot by more than forty of the Jews to kill Paul has been exposed in Acts 23:21. Paul is under guard by Roman soldiers, so he is secure. Yet, the Tribune knows he is charged with keeping the peace in the region so he takes immediate action to remove Paul who is the spark for what could become an insurrection. Paul is surrounded by four hundred and seventy soldiers, more than enough to protect him in

Acts 23:23 And he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Make ready from the third hour of the night two hundred soldiers and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, in order that they may proceed as far as Caesarea.

But this action is simply a peacekeeping action because of the plot to kill Paul even though there was no cause found in the Tribune’s investigation in

Acts 23:29 I found he was accused concerning controversial questions of their law, but having no charge deserving death or imprisonment.

We Have Found This Man to be a Public Menace

Acts 24:1-9
As the Jews, Paul’s accusers, in Acts 24:1 “all of whom brought charges against Paul to the governor” began to speak, they begin with flattery in

Acts 24:2-3 “We have experienced much peace through you, and reforms are taking place in this nation through your foresight”.

But their main goal was to shift the blame to Paul as the cause of what the Tribune had reported as a plot and uprising from the vigilante mob in Jerusalem. As Tertullus (see Acts 24:2) continues, he describes Paul as in

Acts 24:5–6 “… a public menace … causes riots … throughout the Roman Empire and a ringleader … attempted to desecrate the temple, and we arrested him”.

It wasn’t Paul that caused the riot in Jerusalem, it was the Jews from Asia that in Acts 21:27 “stirred up the whole crowd”. And it is this kind of twisting of facts that is often used to accuse people. And it is often a gathering of a crowd that raises their voices together bringing accusation. But the eloquence of a speaker or the number of people standing together or the volume of their chants doesn’t make their statements true.