Chapter 24:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 John Romans
Acts 24
Verse 1. Ananias - Who would spare no trouble on the occasion, with
several of the elders, members of the sanhedrim.
Verse
2. Tertullus began - A speech how different from St. Paul's; which
is true, modest, solid, and without paint. Felix was a man of the
most infamous character, and a plague to all the provinces over
which he presided.
Verse
4. But that I may not trouble thee any farther - By trespassing
either on thy patience or modesty. The eloquence of Tertullus was
as bad as his cause: a lame introduction, a lame transition, and a
lame conclusion. Did not God confound the orator's language?
Verse
10. Knowing - for several years thou hast been a judge over this
nation - And so not unacquainted with our religious rites and
customs, and consequently more capable of understanding and
deciding a cause of this nature. There was no flattery in this. It
was a plain fact. He governed Judea six or seven years. I answer
for myself - As it may be observed, his answer exactly
corresponds with the three articles of Tertullus's charge: sedition,
heresy, and profanation of the temple. As to the first, he suggests,.
that he had not been long enough at Jerusalem to form a party and
attempt an insurrection: (for it was about twelve days since he
came up thither; five of which he had been at Cesarea, ver. 1; one
or two were spent in his journey thither, and most of the rest he
had been confined at Jerusalem.) And he challenges them, in fact,
to produce any evidence of such practices, ver. 11-13. As to the
second, he confesses himself to be a Christian; but maintains this
to be a religion perfectly agreeable to the law and the prophets,
and therefore deserving a fair reception, ver. 14, 16. And as for
profaning the temple, he observes that he behaved there in a most
peaceful and regular manner, so that his innocence had been
manifest even before the sanhedrim, where the authors of the
tumult did not dare to appear against him.
Verse
14. After the way which they call heresy - This appellation St.
Paul corrects. Not that it was then an odious word; but it was not
honourable enough. A party or sect (so that word signifies) is
formed by men. This way was prescribed by God. The apostle had
now said what was sufficient for his defense; but having a fair
occasion, he makes an ingenuous confession of his faith in this
verse, his hope in the next, his love in the 17th. ver. 14, 15, 17 So
worship I the God of my fathers - This was a very proper plea
before a Roman magistrate; as it proved that he was under the
protection of the Roman laws, since the Jews were so: whereas
had he introduced the worship of new gods he would have
forfeited that protection. Believing all things which are written -
Concerning the Messiah.
Verse
15. Both of the just and of the unjust - In a public court this was
peculiarly proper to be observed.
Verse
16. For this cause - With a view to this, I also exercise myself - As
well as they.
Verse
19. Who ought to have been present before thee - But the world
never commit greater blunders, even against its own laws, than
when it is persecuting the children of God.
Verse
21. Unless they think me blamable for this one word - Which
nevertheless was the real truth. chap. xxiii, 6.
Verse
22. After I have been more accurately informed - Which he
afterward was; and he doubtless (as well as Festus and Agrippa)
transmitted a full account of these things to Rome.
Verse
23. He commanded the centurion to let him have liberty - To be
only a prisoner at large. Hereby the Gospel was spread more and
more; not to the satisfaction of the Jews. But they could not hinder
it.
Verse
24. And after Paul had been kept some days in this gentle
confinement at Cesarea, Felix, who had been absent for a short
time, coming thither again, with Drusilla, his wife - The daughter
of Herod Agrippa, one of the finest women of that age. Felix
persuaded her to forsake her husband, Azizus, king of Emessa,
and to be married to himself, though a heathen. She was
afterward, with a son she had by Felix, consumed in an eruption
of Mount Vesuvius. Concerning the faith in Christ - That is, the
doctrine of Christ.
Verse
25. And as he reasoned of justice, temperance, and judgment to
come - This was the only effectual way of preaching Christ to an
unjust, lewd judge. Felix being terrified - How happily might this
conviction have ended, had he been careful to pursue the views
which were then opening upon his mind! But, like thousands, he
deferred the consideration of these things to a more convenient
season. A season which, alas! never came. For though he heard
again, he was terrified no more. In the meantime we do not find
Drusilla, though a Jewess, was thus alarmed. She had been used to
hear of a future judgment: perhaps too she trusted to the being a
daughter of Abraham, or to the expiation of the law, and so was
proof against the convictions which seized on her husband,
though a heathen. Let this teach us to guard against all such false
dependencies as tend to elude those convictions that might
otherwise be produced in us by the faithful preaching of the word
of God. Let us stop our ears against those messengers of Satan,
who appear as angels of light; who would teach us to reconcile the
hope of salvation with a corrupt heart or an unholy life. Go thy
way for this time - O how will every damned soul one day lament
his having neglected such a time as this!
Verse
26. He hoped also - An evil hope: so when he heard his eye was
not single. No marvel then that he profited nothing by all St.
Paul's discourses: that money would be given - By the Christians
for the liberty of so able a minister. And waiting for this, unhappy
Felix fell short of the treasure of the Gospel.
Verse
27. But after two years - After St. Paul had been two years a
prisoner, Felix desiring to gratify the Jews, left Paul bound - Thus
men of the world, to gratify one another, stretch forth their hands
to the things of God! Yet the wisdom of Felix did not profit him,
did not satisfy the Jews at all. Their accusations followed him to
Rome, and had utterly ruined him, but for the interest which his
brother Pallas had with Nero.
Chapter 24:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 John Romans
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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