The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1916-10-06
LESSON FOR OCTOBER 8
PAUL BEFORE FELIX.

GOLDEN TEXT-Eerein also exercise
nyself 70 have q conscience void Of Of
snse toward God and men alwsys.-Acts I,
t,l6.
This Is o court scene, and It might !
10 well with certain classes to intro. /,
,uce the lesson by describing such a
athering. Tho lesson occurred Eve
lays after the last lesson. and twelve
lays after Paul reached Jerusalem,
tearing the collection for the poor.
The place, Cacssrea. was the Roman
npital Of Judea.
!. The PrIsoner's Examination wv.
10Y. In addition to the Roman gov.
Jrnor, Felix, attired in his gorgeous
.pficlal regalia, on platform nearby,
we're the high priest of the Jews, In his
highly colored and jeweled robes, the
'awyer,, Tertullus, in his Roman toga,
md the elders Of the Sanhedrln who
Tad come down from Jerusalem to be
Witnesses against Paul. OF Tertullus
{ was said that, by his persuasive
tongue, he could make white seem
black, and could therefore more easily
make It appear that Paul was "a dan.
Ter to the Roman power. and not mere
b turbulent and renegade Jew" The
Judge, Felix, was an exceptionally bad
governor. who two years later was re-
rallied by Nero to Rome. The infer
bnce Of verse two Is that Paul was an
ilnclter Of rebellion and robberies, but
the ex1ct charges were three.fold:
{ees yv.8) (a) that Paul was
hover Of iisurrection; (b) that he was
d fingleaden Of a sect Of Nazarenes
who were causing trouble in the prov.
lnce: and (c) that he had profaned the
Jewish temple, at Jerusalem. The
charge Of insurrecton would be espe.
cially obnoxious to Felix who had Just
been praised for keeping peace In his
dominlon. That Of being a leader Of
heresy was not serious, fer the Romans
had no desire to interfere between ons
pewish sect and another, but II led to
me last one, viz, profaning the TEN.
pla The Romans had legalized the
Jewish ritual. and for Paul to profane
HE holy place would be serious out.
Rage. The weakness Of Tertullus' case
was that he produced no a-'fence to
support his charges. The accusers
were there. but they had no witnesses.
II. The Prisoner's Defense wv. 1929.
Paul cheerfully made his defense, for
he knew the Jews and their customs,
and that Felix had married a Jewess,
~. 2D. We might consider this de.
Tense first negatively and then positive.
y. On the negative side, Paul answers
each charge seriatim. In the first
place there had not been time for him
70 cause an instruction ". 11). Going
back over. these days; ~ his arrival
In Jerusalem e. :15); (2) his appear.
Ance before james (21 :1S); a, 4, 8 and
-, the days Of his vow (Ch. p 20, 27);
~ his arrest; (S) his appearance be.
Tore the sanhedrin; (9) the conspiracy
and his deliveran<e; (1O. II. u and 1S)
IN Caesarea (See Oh. PAID. Paurs
statement showed that the whole story
OF his experience was fre"h in the
memories Of both friends and foes. Il
was the Jews who did tie stirring ND.
Paul answers the second charge by
acknowledging wv. 14-16) til t he be-
ionged to the Christian way of saliva.
itton, but denied that this was heresy.
Paul was true Jew and a good
Pharisee, for ny he worshiped tho
same God ". ~; (2) he believed In
the Jewish law and prophets. From
them he knew" he could prove that
Jesus was the Messiah. (S) he agreed
with the Pharfsees ". 15) in hope to.
ward God, a. resurrection from the
dead and immortal life. Paul's life was
l''void Of offense" toward God in heart
and worship, and toward men as shown
In good deeds. It was for this that he
e1ercised himself. Literally, he worked
upon the raw material, dlscipiininc
and training 1t. Paul answers the third
charge by a simple denial that 1t had
actually taken place, and calls for wit.
nesses. Positively, Paul Explains that
ne mad followed the God Of his fathers,
TINT he believed In fulfilled prophecy
literally the resurrection Of Jesus from
the dead-that he came to Jerusalem
with aims for the poor, and, as before
the council, he stands upon his In.
itsgrity.
III. Tho Judges Delay wv. 2o.o7).
Felix had more perfect knowledge
OF that way" We believe he had So.
cured this knowledge from Philip, the
evangelist, and from Cornelius, the Ro.
man centurion, both of whom lived in
Caesarea. By deferring his decision,
Felix avoided an outrageous Injustice
to Paul, and ut the same time coye
serious offense to the tro,.''. no
Jews who knew Of his evil
From verse twenty-three We
Paul was given liberty, lltcra
indulgence In freedom as would l.. "a.
sistent with his safety. Luke, the phy
sician. and Philip. the evangelist, Wis.
Tied hin here. bringing food, books and
letters. After a time Felix and his
wife, Drusilla, sent for Paul to talk
with him concerning the faith in
Christ" Drusilla was n daughter of