Acts 24:21

Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day. Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day. THIS WOULD RECALL TO THE PHARISEES PRESENT THEIR OWN INCONSISTENCY IN BEFRIENDING HIM THEN, AND NOW ACCUSING HIM. Decision Deferred, and Paul Kept Prisoner, though not a Close One (24:22-23)...

− 24._Felix, with his wife Drusilla. _We said somewhat already concerning the covetousness and corruptions of Felix. Now, as touching his wife Drusilla, the readers must understand that she was daughter to Agrippa the elder, of whose filthy death Luke spake before, chapter 12, ( Acts 12:23). She was betrothed to Epiphanis, the son of Antiochus. But forasmuch as the young man would not take on him the rites which the Jews did use, which he promised to do, her brother, Agrippa the younger, (of whom mention shall be made in the next chapter) after the death of his father, gave her to wife to Azizus, king of the Emesenes; from whose company she was enticed by the flattery of Felix. For Felix being taken with her singular beauty, did persuade one Simon, a Jew, born in Cyprus, to persuade and allure her to make a new match. Therefore, it came to pass, that this voluptuous woman, havi

10-21 Paul gives a just account of himself, which clears him from crime, and likewise shows the true reason of the violence against him. Let us never be driven from any good way by its having an ill name. It is very comfortable, in worshipping God, to look to him as the God of our fathers, and to set up no other rule of faith or practice but the Scriptures. This shows there will be a resurrection to a final judgment. Prophets and their doctrines were to be tried by their fruits. Paul's aim was to have a conscience void of offence. His care and endeavour was to abstain from many things, and to abound in the exercises of religion at all times; both towards God. and towards man. If blamed for being more earnest in the things of God than our neighbours, what is our reply? Do we shrink from the accusation? How many in the world would rather be accused of any weakness, nay, even of wickedness...

Verse Acts 24:21. _EXCEPT IT BE FOR THIS ONE VOICE_] The Sadducees who belong to that council, and who deny the resurrection of the dead, may indeed blame me for professing my faith in this doctrine; but as this is a doctrine credited by the _nation_ in general, and as there can be nothing criminal in such a belief, and there can bring no accusation against me relative to any thing else, this, of course, is the sum of all the charges to which I am called to answer before you this day....

EXCEPT IT BE FOR THIS ONE VOICE - For this one expression or declaration. This was what Paul had said before the council - the main thing on which he had insisted, and he calls on them to testify to this, and to show, if they could, that in this declaration he had been wrong. Chubb and other infidels have supposed that Paul here acknowledges that he was wrong in the declaration which he made when he said that he was called in question for the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead Acts 23:6, and that his conscience reproached him for appearing to be time-serving, for concealing the true cause of offence against him, and for attempting to take advantage of their divisions of sentiment, thus endeavoring to produce discord in the council. But against this supposition we may urge the following considerations: (1) Paul wished to fix th

EXPOSITION ACTS 24:1 _The high priest Ananias came down _for _Ananias the high priest descended, _A.V.; _certain elders _for _the elders, _A.V. and T.R.; _an orator, one Tertullus _for _a certain orator named Tertullus, _A.V.; _and they _for _who, _A.V. AFTER FIVE DAYS. Of which the first was the day on which St. Paul left Jerusalem, and the fifth that on which Ananias and his companions appeared before Felix (see Acts 24:11, note). TERTULLUS. A Latin name, formed from _Tertius, _as Lucullus from _Lucius_, Catullus from _Catius, _etc. INFORMED; ἐμφανίζω_, _in the sense of "laying an information" before a magistrate, only occurs elsewhere in...

EXCEPT IT BE FOR THIS ONE VOICE,.... Sentence or expression following, which declares his faith about the resurrection; not that he thought or owned that this was an evil in him, but that it was the only one, that any of them, the Jews, a part among them, namely, the Sadducees, could condemn, or judge to be evil in him: THAT I CRIED, STANDING AMONG THEM; whereby they were thrown into confusion and division among themselves: and it was this, TOUCHING THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD I AM CALLED IN QUESTION BY YOU THIS DAY; see Acts 23:6....

CHAPTER 23 _ 1. Paul before the Sanhedrin (Acts 23:1)._ 2. The vision of the Lord (Acts 23:11). 3. The Conspiracy against Paul (Acts 23:12). 4. Paul taken to Caesarea (Acts 23:23). And now we find him addressing the Sanhedrin. For the last time the Jewish council is mentioned in this book. Three times before the Sanhedrin had been called together in connection with those who believed in the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:5; Acts 5:21;...

PAUL'S SPEECH. Paul does not speak till the procurator invites him to do so, according to the necessary order of all judicial proceedings. His speech is not quite so fine as that of Tertullus, yet while strictly to the point, as was necessary in the circumstances, it is full of elegant turns which have to some extent confused the scribes, so that the text is at some points uncertain. Felix has been for many years procurator; no further compliment is paid him. The twelve days of Acts 24:11 are apparently the sum of the seven days of Acts 21:27, and the five of Acts 24:1. But a few more must be added (Acts 21:17;...

A FLATTERING SPEECH AND A FALSE CHARGE (Acts 24:1-9)...