Acts chapter 24

vs 15

Of course, Felix would not have had this hope. But again, Paul is being divisive, knowing full well that not all of the Sanhedrin have this hope either. So he's aligning himself with them and against them at the same time.

vs 16

Because he believes in both eternal salvation and judgement, see. So he wants to keep his nose clean.

vs 17

That is true. Of course, the gifts would have been mostly for the church which was poor. And the offerings may have been for the sake of trying to keep the peace. But in essence what he says is true.

vs 18

So he turns his rather questionable reason for being there (that is, he was making offerings at the temple in order to placate the Christian Judaisers) into a defense against the accusations made by the Sanhedrin.

vs 19

Paul now discredits the ability of the Sanhedrin to bring charges, as Paul has not done anything against the Jews of Jerusalem. Their complaints are actually about activities that he has done outside of Jerusalem.

vs 20

Paul's allegation here being that the Sanhedrin never charged him with a crime is a powerful one, especially considering Felix knows that Paul is under threat of death from 40 men.

vs 21

Once again, the resurrection comes up to divide the Jews. But it also puts Paul and the gospel on firm footing - the resurrection, particularly of Jesus, is the key division between Paul as a Jewish Christian and the Jews as Jewish Jews.

vs 22

"Well aquainted with the Way" is very interesting. I mean, Christianity has spread a fair bit, but to think that its tenets are adequately understood by a governor, to the point where Luke describes him this way, is pretty awesome. And you would think that, were it Paul who explained it to him, that he would have mentioned it.

Now, I'm certainly not saying that Felix has accepted the Way. Only that he's got an understanding of it. It might not even be an understanding of its tenets, more an understanding of it as a movement and its political and social impact in the area?

vs 23

So it is like a house arrest situation.

vs 24

So although he was already aquainted with the Way, he wants to hear more about it, along with his wife. As I've said many times before, we must remember that there's no TV, and so entertainment is very much of the human speaky variety. So we must never assume that people were listening purely out of interest - they could just as easily be curious.

He may also have been listening to see if either himself or his wife flew into a fit of rage and felt the need to kill him for what he said.

vs 25

Either Paul was doing some serious John Edwards style fire and brimstone, or else Felix isn't the most righteous and self controlled person around.

vs 26

But here Luke gives us another motive of Felix - the desire for a bribe. That's never going to happen though, especially since Paul has been told by God that he must face trial in Rome.

vs 27

Two year Paul had his freedoms restricted in Caesarea because Felix wanted a bribe and didn't get it, and because Felix wanted to give the Jews a favour. That is just low. Felix is not a hero in this story.

And yet, Felix had ample opportunity to hear the gospel from Paul. So God was putting out the olive branch over and over (even though it was God's plan that Paul gets to plead before Caesar), and Felix just never took it up. It's incredible how much narrative theology can be packed into just one short story.