1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 sn A ringleader. Tertullus’ basic argument was that Paul was a major disturber of the public peace. To ignore this the governor would be shunning his duty to preserve the peace and going against the pattern of his rule. In effect, Tertullus claimed that Paul was seditious (a claim the governor could not afford to ignore). 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 sn Part of Paul’s defense is that he would not have had time to organize a revolt, since he had arrived in Jerusalem not more than twelve days ago. 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 sn Nor can they prove. This is a formal legal claim that Paul’s opponents lacked proof of any wrongdoing. They had no witness who could justify the arrest at the temple. 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 sn This is the only mention of the resurrection of the unrighteous in Acts. The idea parallels the idea of Jesus as the judge of both the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 17:31). 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 sn Who should be here…and bring charges. Paul was asking, where were those who brought about his arrest and claimed he broke the law? His accusers were not really present. This subtle point raised the issue of injustice. 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 sn The topic of self-control was appropriate in view of the personal history of both Felix and Drusilla (see the note on “Drusilla” in the previous verse), and might well account for Felix’s anxiety. 92 93 94 95 sn Would give him money. That is, would offer him a bribe in exchange for his release. Such practices were fairly common among Roman officials of the period (Josephus, Ant. 2.12.3 [2.272-274]). 96 97 98 99 100 101 sn See the note on Felix in 23:26. 102 sn Felix left Paul in prison. Luke makes the point that politics got in the way of justice here; keeping Paul in prison was a political favor to the Jews.