Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1916-10-05
INTERNATIONAL
LESSON
LESSON FOR OCTOBER 8
PAUL BEFORE FELIX:
(By E. o. SELLERS. Acting Director Of
the Sunday School Course Of the Moody
Bible Institute. Chicago.)
Copyright, 1915. Western Newspaper Union.)
I.ESaON TEXT-Acts "a.

PAUL 6EfOHE EIi%.
LESSON TEXT-Acts "a.
GOLDEN TEXT-Herein I also exercise
myself to have a conscience void OF Of
Tense toward God and men always.-Acts
24:16.
This Is a court scene, and 1t might
be we'll 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.
Tho place. Caesarea, was the Roman
capital Of Judea.
/. The Prisoners Examination wv.
10y. In addition to the Roman gov
ernor, Felix, attired in his gorgeous
official regalia, on Il 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 S%anhedrln 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 e
black, and could therefore more easily
make 1t appear that Paul was "a dan
ger to the Roman power, and not mere
ly a 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) (a) that Paul was a
mover Of ~Insurrection; (b) that he was
a ringleader Of a 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 a 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 TEN.
pie. The Romans had legalized the
Jewish ritual, md 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.
II. The Prisoners Defense wv. 1O-21).
Paul cheerfully made his defense, for
he knew the Jews and their customs,
and that Felix had married a Jewess,
". 24). We might consider this de-
Tense first negatively and then positive
~. On the negative side, Paul answers
each charge seriatim. In the first
place there had not been time for him
to AUS an insurrection ". 11). Going
back over these days; (1) his arrival
in Jerusalem (21 :15) (2) his appear
ance before James (21 :1S) e, 4, S and
81, the days of his VOW (Ch. 81 :26. 27) ;
() his arrest; (s) his appearance be-
fore the Sanhedrin; (9) the conspiracy
and his deliverance; no, II, IL and 1877
in Caesarea (See Oh. PAID. Paul's
statement showed that the whole story
Of his experience was fresh in the
memories of both friends and foes. 1t
was the Jews who did the stirring up.
Paul W the second charge by
acknowledging wv. 14-16) that he be.
lOnged to the Christian way of saliva
tion, but denied that this was heresy.
Paul was a true Jew and Il good
Pharisee, for (1) he w%orshiped the
same God ". 14) (2) he believed in
the Jewish law and prophets. From
them he knew he could prove thai
Jesus was the Messiah. (3) He agreed
with the Pharisees ". 15) in hope to
ward God, a resurrection from the
dead and immortal life. Paul's life was
"void of offense" toward God in heart
and worship. and toward mel as shown
In good deeds. 1t was for this that he
exercised himself. Literally, he worke,
upon the raw material, disciplininl
and training it. Paul the thirG
charge by n simple denial that 1t hnt
actually taken place, and calls for wit
nesses. Positively. Paul explains thai
he had followed the God of his fathers
that 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
tegrity.
III. The Judges Delay wv. 22-2O
Felix had n more perfect knowledge
Of that way" We believe he had Sc
cured this knowledge from Philip, the
evangelist. and from Cornelius. the Ro
man centurion, both Of whom lived II
Caesarea. BY deferring his decision
Felix avoided an outrageous injustice
to Paul, and Mt the same time gave
serious offense to the troublesome
Jews who knew Of his evil conduct
From verse twenty-three we see tina
Paul was given liberty, literally sucl
Indulgence in freedom as would be con
sistent with his safety. Luke, the ply
slcian, and Philip, the evangelist, Wis
tied him here, bringing food, books ant
letters. After n time Felix and hi.
wife, Drusllla, sent for Paul to tall
with him concerning the faith II
Christ" Drusilla was n daughter o,
Herod Agrippa l wv. 1928, and a sis
ter of Herod II (See Oh. 28). She wa!
a beautiful woman, much younger thar
Felix who was possibly about sixty
years of age. She and her only chile
persisted In the eruption Of Vesuviu'
A. D. 70. Paul before Felix empha
sized three points. (1) Righteousness