The Dolores star., 1916-10-06
INTERNATIONAL.
.SUNDNYSOOM
LESSON
By a o. SELLERS, Acting Director OF
the Sunday School Course Of the Moody
Bible Institute. Chicago)
Copyright. 1915. Western Newspaper Cniou.)
LESSON FOR OCTOBER 8
PAUL BEFORE FELIX.
LESSON TEXT-Acts a.

This is court scene, and 1t might
be well with certain classes to intro.
duce the lesson by describing such a
gathering. The lesson occurred five
days after the last lesson, and twelve
days after Paul reached Jerusalem,
bearing the. collection for the poor.
The place, Caesarea. wns the Roman
capital Of Judea.
!. The Prisoners Examination wv.
1-9). In addition to the Roman gov
ernor, Felix. attired in his gorgeous
official regalin, on n platform nearby,
were the high priest of the Jews, in his
highly colored and jeweled robes, the
lawyer, Tertullus, in his Roman toga,
and the elders of the Sanhedrin who
had come down from Jerusalem to be
witnesses against Paul. OF Tertullus
1t was said that, by his persuasive
tongue, he could make white seem
black, and could therefore more easily
make 1t appear that Paul was "a dan
ger to the Roman power, and not mere
| ly turbulent and renegade Jew" The
| judge, Felix, was an exceptionally bad
governor, who two years later was re-
called by Nero to Rome. The infer.
ence OF verse two Is that Paul was an
inciter Of rebellion and robberies, but
the exact charges were three-fold:
(See w. 5-6) GAY that Paul was a
mover Of insurrection; (b) that he was
a ringleader Of sect Of Nazarenes
who were causing trouble In the prov
ince: and (c) that he had profaned the
Jewish temple at Jerusalem. The
charge of insurrection would be espe-
cially obnoxious to Felix who had Just
been praised for keeping peace In his
dominion. That OF being n leader of
heresy was not serious, for, the Romans
had no desire to interfere between one
Jewish sect and another. but It led to
the last one, VIZ, profaning the tenn
pie. The Romans had legalized the
Jewish ritual, and for Paul to profane
the holy place would be n serious out
rage. The weakness of Tertullus' case
was that he produced no evidence to
support his charges. The accusers
were there. but they had no witnesses,
~. The Prisoners Defense (vv. 1920,
Paul cheerfully made his defense, for
ne knew the Jews ana their customs,
"nu .."' reii4 had married Jewess,
w. M we might consider this de-
hst negatively ana theh positive
ly. On the negative side, Paul answers
each charge seriatim. In the first
place there had not been time for him
to cause an insurrection ". 11). Going
o"ck over these DAYS; az his arrival
Ill Jerusalem vi :lo); (2) his appear
ahce peIore James (2l :ls) q, a, s and
", ''e u"ss Oh MS vow tCh-2l ~, 10 {;
~ MS hrrest' ts) MS appearance be-
lore 'ne Haihedrih; t') the conspiracy
anu ms oe'''er'hce' w. ii, II ana 13)
IN 'aes"rea 'nee IN. 24:D. Paurs
statement showed mat the whole story
Vi his experience was fresh In the
memories oi DOM friends ana Toes. 1t
was 'he Jews VINO did the stirring up.
raul answers the second charge by
1aa WV. if-lo) that he be-
.,aa 49,, =" ,nI I''.,s,'an way Oh saliva
Dan, DAN, W.. uen'eu 'hat 'his was heresy.
p hu, was true 'e" ana good
aa.'. " ior ~ ne "orshiped the
49, u W. M ~ ne peheVed IN
49, '''n Ia" "nu prophets. FROM
Iasm. ' na hnew ne cou,a prove that
uIsu' ~. "a1 .he messiah. to) he agreed
s -, ' w. l' III nope TO
49, ~ iesurrectloh from the
60, anu imli''or."i me- fauls lie was
y'u VI ohehse toward dod In heart
anu worship ana toward men as shown
- a sou u,eus ~ was 1or this that he
49, a. Nse'i Literary ne worked
~ ~. ~. ra" material disciplining
a"u li",ni"s II. run answers the third
aa.,' su ~ a simple GENIAL that 1t had
asuu ,ahen piaee, ana calls Tor wit
eS rositiveiy' faui explains that
~. .au toi,o"eo the Goa OF his fathers,
mat he DeIeVed In fulfilled prophecy