The Tupelo journal., 1916-10-06

PATS.
This is a court scene, and it might
be well with certain classes 10 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, was the Roman
capital Of Judea.
/. The Prisoners Examination ivy.
1-9). In addition 10 the Roman gov
ernor, Felix, attired in his gorgeous
official regalia, on a platform nearby,
We're the high priest of the Jews, in his
highly colored and jeweled robes, the
lawyer, T~ertullus, in his Roman toga,
and the. elders of the Sanhedrin who
had come.down from Jerusaleln to be
it was said that, by his persuasive
tongue, he could make white e
black, and could therefore more easily
make it appear that Paul was "a dam
ger to the Roman power, and not mere
- 'oH S1th
iy q 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
lnciter of rebellion and robberies. but
the exact charges We're three-fold:
(See Wv. 5-6) (a) that Paul was a
mover of insurrection; CD that he was
a r~ingleader of q 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 lust
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 tenn
pie. The Romans had legalized~ the
Jewish ritual, and for Paul to profane
the holy place would be a serious out
rage. The weakness of Tertullus' case
was that he produced no evidence to
support his charges. The ecuse
were there, but they had no witnesses.
II. The Prisoners Defense ivy. 1O-21l.
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 .here had not been time for him
to an instruction ". 11). Going
back over these days -() his arrival
in Jerusalem (21 :15) t2) his appear
ance before james (21:1S) 6, 4, 5 and
~, the days of his VOW (Ch. I :26. 2D:
90 his arrest; (S) his appearance be-
fore the Sanhedrin; (9) the conspiracy
and his deliverance; 90, II, 12-and 13)
IN Caesarea (See Oh. "a ~. Paul's
statement showed that the whole story
OF his experience was fresh in the
memories of both friends and foes. II
was the Jews who did the stirring up.
Paul answer the second charge by
acknowledging wv. 14-16) that he be-
ionsed to the Christian way of saliva
ton, but denied that this was heresy.
raul was q true Jew and. a good
Pharisee, for 1) he worshiped the
same God ". 14) ; (2) he believed in
the Jewish law and prophets. From
them he knew he could prove that
Jesus was the Messiah. (3) He agreed
with the Pharisees ". 15) in hope to.
ward God, a resurrection from the
dead inc immortal life. Paul's life was
void of Offense" toward God in heart
n worship, and toward men as shown
in good deeds. 1t was for this that he
exercised himself. Literally, he worked
upon the raw material, disciplining
n training it. Paul answers the third
charge by a simple denial that il had
actually taken place, and calls for Wit
nesses. Positively, Paul explains that
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 ivy. 22-o7).
Felix had a more perfect knowledge
OF that way" We believe he had Sc
cured this knowledge from PhHip. fhe
evangelist, ana from Cornelius, the Ro-
mar centurion, both of whom lived in
oaesarea. BY deferring his decision.
feilx avoided an outrageous injustice
- ~
10 Paul, and at the same time rave
serious offense to the troublesome
Jews who knew of his evil conduct.
FROM verse twenty-three we see that
paul was given liberty, literally such
indulgence in freedom as would he CON
sistent with his safety. Luke, the phv-
stefan, and Philip, the evangelist. Wis
tied him here, bringing food, books and
letters. After a time Felix and his
wife. DrllSil1a sent for D., :,