Acts 25:12

Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Unto Caesar shalt thou go.

Evidently the Jews, with the persistence that characterizes them, had not quite given up their project of having Paul brought to Jerusalem. at any rate, the idea that he might gain popularity by the suggestion caused Festus to ask Paul whether he wanted to go up to Jerusalem, there to be tried before him concerning these things. The real favor which Festus intended to show the Jews seems to have consisted in this, that the members of the Sanhedrin would conduct the trial in his presence. It was a most unusual suggestion, altogether at variance with Roman proceedings at law, and seems to have come as a surprise to Paul. But his answer came without hesitation. He wanted to be tried by no Jewish court; standing before the tribunal of Caesar, he was where right and justice demanded that he be tried. The court of the Roman procurator was a lower court, removed but one step from the imperial court, and the governor held court as a representative of Caesar. Paul adds that he had not harmed the Jews, that he had done them no wrong, "as thou also understandest very well," he boldly says. Festus was finding out for himself better with each minute that the charges of the Jews were mere pretense and had no basis of fact. So far as he himself was concerned, Paul was ready to face any just trial. If he was a wrong-doer, guilty of some crime, if he had done anything that merited death according to Roman law, he would not refuse, literally, he would not beg off from, death. But if there were no matters concerning which the Jews accused him, if they were unable to substantiate their charges against him, no man had the right to deliver him up to them, to make them a present of the prisoner, to do with as they chose. And Paul closed his ringing defense of his innocence with the words: I appeal to Caesar. A Roman citizen, tried for a crime and sentenced, had the right to appeal to the emperor if he believed the ruling of the court to be unjust; but in criminal cases he might resort to this appeal at any time, if he thought that the judge was exceeding his authority and acting at variance with the laws. Such an appeal instantly suspended proceedings in the case, its effect being to condemn all magistrates and persons in authority as violators of the public peace who had put to death, tortured, scourged, imprisoned, or condemned any Roman citizen who had appealed to Caesar in Paul's case, therefore, the trial stopped at once. Festus merely had a short consultation with the assessors of the court, counselors or officials that were consulted in the administration of the law, the question in this instance probably being whether the appeal should be accepted, since Paul had not yet been formally tried. But the outcome of the discussion was stated by Festus: To Caesar hast thou appealed; to Caesar shalt thou go! There seems to be something of a sneer in the words, occasioned, no doubt, by the fact that the appeal at this time indicated the prisoner's mistrust of the judge's impartiality But this expedient may, incidentally, have proved a relief to Festus; for now the Jews would not be able to say that he had not been willing to grant them their boon, and he was rid of the whole disagreeable matter. Thus the unbelief, the hatred of Christ on the part of the Jews and the injustice on the part of the Roman governor combined in enabling Paul to preach the Gospel also in Rome, the capital of the world. Even today the wickedness and enmity of the world often serve to spread the kingdom of Christ on earth.