Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1916-10-05
INTERNATIONAL.
SUNLGYS0IOOL
LESSON
by =. D. SELLERS, Acting Director OF
the Sunday School Course of the Moody
Bible Institute, Chicago.)
Copyright. 1915, Western Newspaper Union-l
LESSON FOR OCTOBER 8
PAUL BEFORE FELIX.
LESSON TExT-Acts "a.


myself to have a conscience void of Of
tense toward God and men always.-Acts
H:16.
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, was the Roman
capital Of Judea.
!. The Prisoners Examination wv.
1-9). In addition to the Roman gov
ernor, Felix, attired in his gorgeous
official regalla, on platform nearby,
we're 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 it appear that Paul was 80 dam
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
lncjter of rebellion and robberies, but
the exact charges were three-fold:
| (See Wv. $50 GAY 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 instruction 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 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 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 Jewess,
". PAY. We might consider this de-
Tense first negatively and then 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 instruction ". III. Going
back over these days; 1) his arrival
in Jerusalem (21 :15); (2) his appear
ance before James (21 :18); g, 4, 5 and
81, the days of his vow och. 81 20, 2T) /;
90 his arrest; (S) his appearance be-
fore the Sanhedrin; (9) the conspiracy
and his dellverance; 40, IL, II and 13)
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. II
was the Jews who did the stirring up,
Paul answers the second charge by
acknowledging wv. 14-16) that he be.
longed to the Christian way of saliva.
ton, but denied that this was heresy
Paul was q true Jew and a good
Pharisee, for ~ 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, resurrection from tnt
dead and immortal life. Paul's life was
''void of offense" toward God In hear
and worship and toward men as shown
In good deeds. 1t was for this that hG
exercised himself Literally, he worked
upon the raw material, disciplininf
and training 1t. Paul answers the THIRD
charge by a simple denial that 1t haL
actually taken place, and calls for wit
: hesses. 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
J with aims for the poor, and, as before
the council, he stands upon his in
: tegrity.
III. The Judges Delay wv. 22-27)
Felix had more perfect knowledge
OF that way" We believe he had Sc
, cured this knowledge from Philip, tn,
= evangelist, and from Cornelius, the Ro
|. man centurion, both of whom lived IL
0 Caesarea. BY deferring his decision
/ Felix avoided an outrageous injustic,
= to Paul, and at the same time gave
: serious offense to the troublesom,
8 Jews who knew of his evil conduct
0 From verse twenty-three we see that
e Paul was given liberty, literally such
d indulgence in freedom as would be con
sistent with his safety. Luke, the ply
q sician, and Philip, the evangelist, Wis
tied him here, bringing food, books an(
letters. After time Felix and hi,
Q wife, Drusilla, sont for Paul to tall
d with him concerning the faith il
!. Christ - DruSilla was n aouohta. =,