Acts 25:1-12--Paul Appeals to Caesar

Acts 25:1-12
English Standard Version

Paul Appeals to Caesar
25 Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, 3 asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem—because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. 4 Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. 5 “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”

​6 After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. 7 When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. 8 Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.” 9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” 10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. 11 If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” 12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

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Felix has retired doing nothing to give Paul justice.  In fact we were told last time that he would sometimes call for Paul hoping that Paul would get the hint that if he gave Felix a bribe that Felix might be more inclined to let him go, but that would corrupt the gospel message that Paul was speaking to Felix (and Felix's wife who was with him) that they needed to repent and choose the way of righteousness and integrity, because Jesus would be returning as the Judge of the living and the dead.  Now Festus has taken Felix's place, and he is touring the area he is responsible for governing and protecting, and when he got to Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin is still upset two years later that Paul remains alive and in jail and wasn't executed by Felix.  They try to persuade the new governor, Festus, to extradite Paul to Jerusalem for trial there, but Festus already seemed to know of the case, as he immediately knew where Paul was being held, and knew better than to turn Paul over to the Jews or even to send Paul down to Jerusalem for trial, because he knew they'd try to kill Paul along the way.

Instead, Festus tells the Jews that he will be in the region of Caesarea shortly, and they should prepare to hold court there and he would hear their case once he arrived.  He spent a little more than a week (Luke says no more than eight or ten days) with them in Jerusalem and then Festus went to Caesarea to take his place on the tribunal there and brought Paul out before him.  Then the Jews brought many serious charges against Paul, but they could not prove any of them.

Paul argues in his own defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”  That's pretty clear that he once again is entering a plea of "not guilty on all charges."

Festus wants to be rid of this mess that Felix left for him, so, wanting to get in the good graces of the Jews as one of his first acts as governor over them, he asks Paul if he wants to be transferred to Jerusalem for trial on the charges presented.  Paul refuses and exercises his right as a Roman citizen to have his case heard and tried in a Roman court of law.  “I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. 11 If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

Festus was going to get rid of Paul one way or another, so if he couldn't send it to the lower court of the Jews, then he would let Paul appeal to a higher court.  In fact, Paul has now in essence appealed to the supreme court of the land--that of the emperor Caesar.  So Festus responds with, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”  In this way, Festus has washed his hand of the situation and the Jews can no longer blame him for Paul still being alive.  However, he has an issue that he know has to write a letter to Caesar to explain why he is sending Paul to him--he cannot simply say "This man appealed to you, so here he is."  There must be actual charges, and right now, there are none as all of the objections the Jews had were points of theological difference, differences in the belief of the identity of Jesus, and the Jews believed that Jesus was still dead and Paul claimed that He had been resurrected.  Festus had indeed sniffed out the actual dispute that the Jews had with Paul and it was that he was preaching and teaching something different than them and they had no tolerance for different sects of Judaism save the Pharisees and the Sadducees that were in political power in Jerusalem.  Festus is going to ask for the assistance of King Agrippa II (the grandson of Herod the Great and son of King Agrippa I).  Felix was also part of the family of Herod, so there was a connection there that Festus did not have.  This family, though they were Edomites and not Jews, had been made governors and kings over the Jews and had deep knowledge of the Jews and their customs.  In this way Festus is going to owe Agrippa a political favor right away, but it is also going to make them good friends.  We'll see Paul's defense before Agrippa in the next couple journal entries.