Acts Bible Study: Acts 25:13-27

Acts 25:13–27 (NASB)

13 Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. 14 While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix; 15 and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. 16 “I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. 17 “So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me. 18 “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, 19 but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. 20 “Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. 21 “But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” 22 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.” 23 So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24 Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer. 25 “But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. 26 “Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. 27 “For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

OPENING QUESTION:

What initial questions or observations do you have?

Festus summarizes Paul’s case: (v. 13-21)

13 Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. 14 While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix; 15 and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. 16 “I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. 17 “So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me. 18 “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, 19 but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. 20 “Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. 21 “But when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

King Herod Agrippa II and Bernice (v. 13)

These two had a huge impact on Jewish and Roman history.

Herod Agrippa II was the son of Herod Agrippa and the great grandson of Herod the Great. He had three sisters, two of which are mentioned in the book of Acts. Drusilla (Acts 24:24), the wife of Felix, the previous Roman governor of Judea, and Bernice, who he is mentioned with here.

SIDE NOTE: (Herod the Great was the only one of the Herods that ruled over the entirety of Judea. He was given all that territory by the Roman senate in 40 BC. After he died, the Romans split up territory between his sons.)

King Agrippa was the last king to reign in the line of Herod and he had the largest territory of any of Herods, aside from Herod the Great. King Agrippa ruled over all of Galilee, the Golan Heights, Bashan, Samaria, and parts of Greece and Syria.

He was a trusted advisor for the Romans regarding the Jews because he was a Jew but loyal to Rome (Acts 26). Remember, he was also the brother-in-law of Felix. And another interesting fact is that he was one Josephus’ primary sources. Much of what we know about the Herods come from the relationship between Josephus and King Agrippa. Many historians believe Josephus was given his position to record the history of Rome and the Jews because of his relationship with King Agrippa.

King Agrippa was a king with a lot of influence but Bernice ended up having influence over several powerful men, not just King Agrippa. Before she moved in with her king brother, she was married to her own uncle, Herod Pollio, who reigned as king over a territory in Greece. When he passed away in 48 AD, his territory went to Herod Agrippa II and so did Bernice. In fact, Bernice is connected to Agrippa II here because their incestuous relationship was common knowledge. Many historians comment on it, including Josephus, and they all acknowledge that Bernice not only lived with her brother for the better part of 20 years, but she functioned in every respect like a wife. Making their sick relationship even more clear, King Agrippa never married and never had children.

(The relationship between King Agrippa and Bernice is one reason the Jews didn’t like him or respect him. The OT Law clearly stated that incest was a sin and punishable by death [Leviticus 18:1-18 and Leviticus 20:11-21])

After the Jewish-Roman War, Bernice was separated from her brother by Rome and she became to lover of Titus Caesar, who was the ruler of the Roman empire from 79-81 AD. So if you are tracking... Bernice ended up having great influence over two kings (Pollio and Agrippas) and a Caesar because she was in bed with all of them at different times.

Josephus tells us how loyal King Agrippa and Bernice were to Rome. In Josephus’ Jewish Wars, he records a lengthy speech of King Agrippa’s from 66 AD, where he tried to convince the Jews to stop rebelling against Rome. The Jews responded by setting fire to the palace with King Agrippa and Bernice still inside. As it was burning down, Bernice pleaded with the Jews to relent before it was too late. They didn’t relent but rather started full on war with Rome. King Agrippa and Bernice were able to escape the fire of the palace and make it safely to Rome. They joined up with the Romans and supported Caesar Vespasian’s fight against the Jews in the First Jewish-Roman War. Titus Caesar was Vespasian’s son, that’s how he and Bernice got connected.

QUESTION:

What do you notice about Festus in (v. 14-21)?

A few observations from the account of Festus: (v. 14-21)

He didn’t know much about why Paul was imprisoned

18 “When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting...

He was ignorant about Jesus.

19 but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.

He didn’t how to handle Paul’s case, particularly because of the cultural and religious nature of the case.

20 “Being at a loss how to investigate such matters...

He is also dishonest about his real motives.

20 “Being at a loss how to investigate such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters...

Acts 25:9 (NASB)

9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?”

These observations should all make sense to us.

Acts 24:27 (NASB)

27 But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned.

Felix lost his job because he couldn’t keep the Jews under control. A big part of the unrest was due to their hatred of Paul. Festus was handpicked by Nero Caesar to replace Felix. Felix was well aware of both Judaism and Christianity, but Festus was far less informed about the two (Acts 24:22-24) so when Festus got to Judea, the first thing he did was go visit with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 25:1-6). There he was informed that the biggest concern they had was Paul. They offered a quid pro quo…you send us Paul, we will get the people to settle down. And Festus was going to grant them this request, “wishing do do the Jews a favor” (Acts 25:9). But Paul appealed to Caesar and Festus was forced, by Roman law, to grant Paul the appeal (Acts 25:12).

Festus is bringing King Agrippa on board now, not because he is required to, but because he needs his counsel because King Agrippa is an expert on the Jewish culture, customs, laws and religion.

That said, he still had an opinion about Paul...

(v. 22-23)

First, what do you notice about King Agrippa and Bernice?

(v. 22-23) 22 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.” 23 So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

GREEK LESSON:

“Pomp” is the Greek word, “phantasia”. This is the only place "phantasia” is used in the Bible. It is most commonly translated “imagination”. But is about perception, making the invisible concepts a visual reality. In other words, it isn’t real, but appears to be.

QUESTION:

What English word do you think we get from the word “phantasia”?

This concept or use of the word was actually popularized by Aristotle a few hundred years earlier. I read one historian that said no Greek used the word phantasia more than Aristotle did. When people would debate with him and have no real substance to their argument, he would retort… “phantasia”.

SIDE NOTE: Walt Disney’s 1940 film, Fantasia, takes its name from the same Greek word, and the film is about taking classical music and then animating it in a visible way through cartoon images. There is a dream like element to the film, plus it took a significant amount of imagination to bring it to the big screen.

QUESTION:

Why do you think Luke uses the word here? (Again, this is the only use in the whole Bible.)

(v. 24-27)

Festus gives his verdict on Paul’s case: (v. 24-27)

24 Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer. 25 “But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. 26 “Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. 27 “For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

QUESTIONS: What is your verdict on Festus at this point?

Notice how God sharing the Gospel through Paul’s wrongful arrest and imprisonment:

So far God had given Paul the opportunity to testify about the resurrection of Jesus to…

The Jewish Council

Acts 23:1 (NASB)

1 Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”

The High Priest Ananias

Acts 23:2–5 (NASB)

2 The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” 4 But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”

Claudius Lysias, a key Roman military officer in Jerusalem.

Acts 23:26–30 (NASB)

26 “Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings. 27 “When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. 28 “And wanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their Council; 29 and I found him to be accused over questions about their Law, but under no accusation deserving death or imprisonment. 30 “When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you.”

Felix, the Governor of Judea.

Acts 24:1-27

Festus, the next Governor of Judea.

Acts 25:1–11 (NASB)

1 Festus then, having arrived in the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, 3 requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way). 4 Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody at Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. 5 “Therefore,” he said, “let the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them prosecute him.” 6 After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. 7 After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him which they could not prove, 8 while Paul said in his own defense, “I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” 9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?” 10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. 11 “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

King Agrippa and Bernice

(v. 22-23) 22 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.” 23 So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

He’s on the way to Caesar

Acts 25:12 (NASB)

12 Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

CLOSING QUESTIONS:

What does this tells us about God?

How do you see God at work in these circumstances?

What does it mean for us?

Like Joseph...

Genesis 50:20 (NASB)

20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Ultimately like Jesus...

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 (NASB)

14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Discussion Questions:

How does the historical context impact your understanding of this passage?

What do you think about Paul’s actions here?

What about Felix overall? What do we think about him?

Where else do you see God at work in this text?

Any other thoughts, observations or questions?