Acts 24:8

Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him. Commanding his accusers to come unto thee.] "[And would have judged according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee.]" This long bracketed passage has hardly any support, while all the principal manuscripts want it. If genuine, this is very hard to account for, while their insertion (at first in the margin) may have been designed to bring before the reader-out of : the facts here omitted. But it is hardly to be supposed that this obsequious pleader would make so false and calumnious a c

− 8._Having made inquiry. _A good − (570) request, that the governor do not give sentence before he thoroughly examine and know the matter; and that he do not condemn Paul before he be lawfully convict. But how dare they put in these conditions, seeing their own consciences do accuse them of unjust dealing? I answer, that they had witnesses in readiness; and that they do not offer themselves to prove the matter until they do call them; − (571) though there were another end. For they did hope that Felix would be so persuaded with such glorious words, − (572) that he would turn over unto them the man whom they did accuse for a condemned man, whom they might handle at their pleasure. In sum, the more fierce they be upon him, and the more they were puffed up with some affiance they had in themselves, they think they shall get the upper ha

1-9 See here the unhappiness of great men, and a great unhappiness it is, to have their services praised beyond measure, and never to be faithfully told of their faults; hereby they are hardened and encouraged in evil, like Felix. God's prophets were charged with being troublers of the land, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that he perverted the nation; the very same charges were brought against Paul. The selfish and evil passions of men urge them forward, and the graces and power of speech, too often have been used to mislead and prejudice men against the truth. How different will the characters of Paul and Felix appear at the day of judgement, from what they are represented in the speech of Tertullus! Let not Christians value the applause, or be troubled at the revilings of ungodly men, who represent the vilest of the human race almost as gods, and the excellent of the earth as pestilences a...

Verse Acts 24:8. _COMMANDING HIS ACCUSERS TO COME_, c.] Here Tertullus closes his _opening_ and _statement_ of the case and now he proceeds to _call_ and examine his _witnesses_; and they were no doubt examined one by one, though St. Luke sums the whole up in one word -_The Jews_ _also assented, saying, that these things were so_. Whoever considers the _plan_ of Tertullus's speech, will perceive that it was both _judicious_ and _artful_. Let us take a view of the whole:- 1. He praises Felix to conciliate his favour. 2. He generally states the great blessings of his administration. 3. He states that the Jews, throughout the whole land, felt themselves under the greatest obligations to him, and extolled his prudent and beneficent management of the public affairs every where. 4. That the prisoner before him was a very b

COMMANDING HIS ACCUSERS ... - Acts 23:30. BY EXAMINING OF WHOM - That is, the Jews who were then present. Tertullus offered them as his witnesses of the truth of what he had said. It is evident that we have here only the summary or outline of the speech which he made It is incredible that a Roman rhetorician would have on such an occasion delivered an address so brief, so meagre, and so destitute of display as this. But it is doubtless a correct summary of his address, and contains the leading points of the accusation. It is customary for the sacred writers, as for other writers, to give only the outline of discourses and arguments. Such a course was inevitable, unless the New Testament had been swelled to wholly undue proportions....

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...

COMMANDING HIS ACCUSERS TO COME UNTO THEE,.... But this was not done till after Paul had set forth his case before the people, upon the stairs leading to the castle: and after he had pleaded his own cause before the sanhedrim; and after the chief captain had had intelligence of the Jews lying in wait to kill him: Tertullus would insinuate that the captain was blameworthy, that he hindered a legal process against Paul; and that it was owing to him, that this trouble was given the governor, as well as the high priest and elders, who by his orders came down from Jerusalem to Caesarea; and that had it not been for him this affair might have been finished with more dispatch, and less trouble. BY EXAMINING OF WHOM; not the accusers, but either the chief captain, as some think, or rather Paul: THYSELF MAYEST TAKE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THESE THINGS WHEREOF WE ACCUSE HIM; so impudent was Tertullus,...

ACTS 24:6-8 evkrath,samen( {B} In the opinion of some scholars (e.g. Blass, Clark, Lagrange, Lake and Cadbury), the Western reading, which passed into the Textus Receptus, is necessary to the sense of the verses, for the aorist evkrath,samen seems to require some sequel. On the other hand, however, the abruptness of evkrath,samen may have prompted a desire for addition and completeness, and it is difficult to account for the omission of the disputed words if they were original. One of the effects of the addition is to change the reference of ou- in ver. Acts 24:8 from Paul to Lysias, but whether this is to be interpreted as favoring o...

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;...

HEARING BEFORE FELIX: SPEECH FOR THE PROSECUTION. It would take five days (1) for the summons of Lysias (Acts 23:30) to be acted on, and the prosecutors to travel down. The High Priest and some elders appear, to sustain a judgment they have not yet passed (_cf._ Acts 24:6 _mg.,_ which may well be the true text) with an orator acquainted with the practice of Roman courts. Information is laid against Paul; Paul is called before the court, or the case is called in court (Acts 24:2), and counsel appears for the prosecution. His speech is given in short; his compliments to the procurator (who had in truth done much to suppress piracy; what other evils we do not know), his desire to be brief, then the charge and the suggestion that th