Matthew Henry

I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect.

“If so, they might justly call his way heresy, a drawing of them aside into a by-path, and a dangerous one; but he worships the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not only the God whom they worshipped, but the God who took them into…”

In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

“Sins of infirmity are uneasy to conscience, but they do not wound it, and waste it, as presumptuous sins do; and, though offence may be given to conscience, yet care must be taken that it be not an abiding offence, but that by the renewed…”

Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “When Lysias the commander comes, I will decide your case.”

“He understood something of the Christian religion; for, living at Cæsarea, where Cornelius, a Roman centurion, was, who was a Christian, from him and others he had got a notion of Christianity, that it was not such an evil thing as it was represented.”

He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs.

“He also gave orders that none of his friends should be hindered from coming to him; the centurion must not forbid any of his acquaintances from ministering to him; and a man's prison is as it were his own house if he has but his…”

where the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. They urged Festus

“These inhuman hellish methods, which all the world profess at least to abhor, have these persecutors recourse to, to gratify their malice against the gospel of Christ, and this too under colour of zeal for Moses.”

But Festus replied, “Paul is being held in Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.

“Paul's trial before Festus. Festus staid at Jerusalem about ten days, and then went down to Cæsarea, and the prosecutors, it is likely, in his retinue; for he said they should go down with him; and, since they are so eager in the prosecution, he…”

When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove.

“Either the fact was not as they opened it, or there was no fault in it; they laid to his charge things that he knew not, nor they neither.”

Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”

“No, he established the law. Preaching Christ, the end of the law, was no offence against the law. (2.)”

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

“The court being held in Cæsar's name, and by his authority and commission, before one that was delegated by him, it might well be said to be his judgment seat, as, with us, all writs run in the name of the sovereign, in whose name…”

Since they were staying several days, Festus laid out Paul’s case before the king: “There is a certain man whom Felix left in prison.

“(1.) He found him a prisoner when he came into the government of this province; and therefore could not of his own knowledge give an account of his cause from the beginning: There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix; and therefore, if…”

So when they came here with me, I did not delay. The next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered that the man be brought in.

“He had likewise tried him in the most solemn manner: He sat on the judgment-seat, as they used to do in weightier causes, while those that were of small moment they judged de plano--upon even ground.”

They only had some contentions with him regarding their own religion and a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

“But the great question, it seems, was concerning one Jesus that was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.”

Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.” “Tomorrow you will hear him,” Festus declared.

“Felix heard him in private concerning the faith of Christ. But Agrippa and Festus agree he shall be heard in public.”

The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium, along with the commanders and leading men of the city.

“4 . [2.] Outshone by the real glory of the poor prisoner at the bar. What was the honour of their fine clothes, compared with that of his wisdom, and grace, and holiness, his courage and constancy in suffering for Christ!”

So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

“He thought he did God good service in persecuting those who called on the name of Jesus Christ.”

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an…

“None can be happy that are not holy; nor shall any be saints in heaven that are not first saints on earth.”

So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

“Heavenly visions have a commanding power over earthly counsels, and it is at our peril if we be disobedient to them; yet if Paul had conferred with flesh and blood, and been swayed by his secular interest, he would have done as Jonah did, gone…”

First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God…

“This was what John preached, who was the first gospel preacher, Matt. iii. Those that profess repentance must practise it, must live a life of repentance, must in every thing carry it as becomes penitents.”

For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.

“He suffered ill, not only for doing well himself, but for doing good to others. They attempted to kill him; it was his precious life that they hunted for, and hated, because it was a useful life; they caught him in the temple worshipping God…”

But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike.

“Of the doctrine which he had made it his business to preach to the Gentiles, which was so far from destroying the law and the prophets that it showed the fulfilling of both,”

And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

“They all agreed that he was an innocent man, that he ought to be set at liberty, and that it was a pity he was provoked to put a bar in his own door by appealing to Cæsar,”

We boarded an Adramyttian ship about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

“And it is likewise an instance of Paul's fidelity. He did not go about to make his escape, which he might have easily done; but, being out upon his parole of honour, he faithfully returns to his imprisonment.”

There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.

“Alexandria was now the chief city of Egypt, and great trading there was between that city and Italy; from Alexandria they carried corn to Rome, and the East-India goods and Persian which they imported at the Red Sea they exported again to all parts of…”

For just last night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar.

“Because God made us and not we ourselves, therefore we are not our own but his. His we are by creation, for he made us; by preservation, for he maintains us; by redemption, for he bought us. We are more his than our own. [2.]”

So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me.

“Then be of good cheer, be of good courage. God is ever faithful, and therefore let all that have an interest in his promise be ever cheerful. If with God saying and doing are not two things, then with us believing and enjoying should not.”