Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Paul, accused by Tertullus before Felix the governor, pleads and carries through his own cause, so that, in verse 24, Felix desired to hear from Paul the faith of Christ. But when Paul was disputing about justice, and chastity, and the judgment to come, Felix was made to tremble, who finally, yielding the province to Festus, hands over the bound Paul to him.
Vulgate Text: Acts 24:1-27
1. And after five days the high priest Ananias came down, with some elders and a certain Tertullus, an orator, who went to the governor against Paul. 2. And Paul being called for, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: Whereas through thee we live in much peace, and many things are corrected by thy providence, 3. we accept it always and in all places, most excellent Felix, with all thanksgiving. 4. But that I detain thee no longer, I pray thee of thy clemency to hear us in few words. 5. We have found this man pestilent, and stirring up seditions among all the Jews throughout the world, and author of the sedition of the sect of the Nazarenes: 6. who also hath gone about to profane the temple, whom we having apprehended would have judged according to our law. 7. But Lysias the tribune, coming upon us with great force, took him away out of our hands, 8. commanding his accusers to come to thee: of whom thou mayest thyself, by examination, have knowledge of all these things, of which we accuse him. 9. And the Jews also added, saying that these things were so. 10. Then Paul answered, (the governor making a sign to him to speak): Knowing that for many years thou hast been judge over this nation, I will with good courage answer for myself. 11. For thou mayest understand that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to adore in Jerusalem: 12. and neither in the temple did they find me disputing with any man, or causing any concourse of the people, neither in the synagogues, 13. nor in the city: neither can they prove unto thee the things whereof they now accuse me. 14. But this I confess to thee, that according to the way which they call a heresy, so do I serve the Father and my God, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets: 15. having hope in God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection of the just and unjust. 16. In this also I myself strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and toward men always. 17. Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings, and vows. 18. In which they found me purified in the temple, not with a crowd nor with tumult. 19. But certain Jews from Asia, who ought to have been present before thee and to accuse me if they had anything against me: 20. or let these men themselves say whether they found in me any iniquity when I stood in the council, 21. except concerning this one voice only, by which I cried out standing among them: That concerning the resurrection of the dead I am judged this day by you. 22. But Felix put them off, knowing most certainly concerning this Way, saying: When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will hear you. 23. And he commanded the centurion to guard him, and to let him have rest, and not to prohibit any of his own from ministering to him. 24. And after some days, Felix coming with Drusilla his wife, who was a Jewess, called for Paul and heard from him the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 25. And as he discoursed concerning justice, and chastity, and the judgment to come, Felix being terrified answered: For the present, go thy way; but when I have a convenient time, I will send for thee; 26. hoping also withal that money would be given him by Paul: for which cause also, sending for him often, he conversed with him. 27. But when two years were ended, Felix received Portius Festus as successor. And Felix, willing to gain favor with the Jews, left Paul bound.
Verse 1: After Five Days
1. And after five days, — not from the capture of Paul, as Cajetan would have it, but from Paul's arrival at Caesarea, where Paul came on the day after his departure from Jerusalem, as Luke said in XXIII, 32. For Luke explicitly notes all these days of Paul, that the sequence of the matter and of time may be clear, and that he may show that they were twelve, as Paul says in v. 11. See what was said at chap. XXI, v. 27, where I noted these 12 days individually through Paul's acts. Therefore the word descendit (came down) cannot be taken in the inchoate sense, as if to mean "he began to come down and set out"; but in the perfect or completed sense, meaning "coming down or setting out, he arrived at Caesarea." For if you take it as "he began to come down," it will follow that he arrived at Caesarea not after five but after eight days (since from Jerusalem to Caesarea is a three days' journey): to which add the seven I counted in chap. XXI v. 27, you will have 15, although Paul in v. 11 assigns only twelve. But if you take it as "coming down he arrived," you will have precisely twelve days of Paul; for five added to seven make twelve. Wherefore the tribune, having sent Paul by night to Caesarea, lest he deceive the Jews and hear them treacherously, on the following day warned the pontiffs that they themselves should send accusers from the opposing side to Caesarea, to accuse Paul before Felix. The pontiffs, burning with hatred of Paul, and fearing for themselves lest Paul should anticipate and blacken them before Felix, having held a council on the second day, began to descend and go to Caesarea, and arrived there after three days, so that five days after Paul's arrival, they also arrived at Caesarea. The sense therefore is, as if Luke said: Paul arrived at Caesarea, as I said in chap. XXIII, v. 32, on the day after his departure from Jerusalem; the pontiffs arrived at the same place on the fifth day after Paul, to accuse him.
Ananias the high priest came down, — both because, being a Sadducee, he burned with hatred of Paul and Christ; and because he feared for himself, lest he be accused of the sedition stirred up against Paul, especially since contrary to law he had publicly in the council ordered his mouth to be struck, lest he plead his own cause. For so the same Felix at the same time killed Jonathan, of whom shortly.
And with a certain Tertullus an orator. — Ananias seems to have employed him as his advocate, both for the sake of his eloquence, and because he was skilled in the Latin language, of which Ananias himself, being a Hebrew, was ignorant. For according to custom, this case had to be conducted in Latin before the Roman governor. Whence Tertullus, by his name, seems to have been a Roman, or Italian. For the governors brought with them into the provinces to which they were sent Italian procurators and advocates, that these might take up the cases of the provincials and conduct them before them in Latin. Thus Tertullian, who seems to have been named after Tertullus, pleaded cases in the forum before he was a Christian; but having become a Christian, he renounced this office, and therefore being mocked by the Gentiles for having exchanged the toga for the pallium, he wrote the book De Pallio, where in chap. V he says: "I owe nothing to the forum, nothing to the field, nothing to the senate-house: I keep watch on no public office, I take possession of no rostrum, I observe no praetorian court, I do not adore the bars, I do not pound the benches, I do not disturb the laws, I do not bark out causes: I have withdrawn from the people; nay, my one occupation is now this, that I take no care for anything other than to take no care. I enjoy a better life rather in retirement. No one is born for another, but is to die for himself."
Verse 2: Whereas Through Thee We Live in Much Peace
2. Since we live in much peace. — He speaks partly the truth, for Felix had crushed the Egyptian pseudo-prophet with his factious followers; partly falsely, for Felix had killed Jonathan the pontiff through assassins, and then permitted them to rage against others with impunity, as Josephus testifies, in book XX of the Antiquities, chaps. V and VI. Tertullus therefore prattles like a pettifogger, and flatters an iniquitous and rapacious man. For of such pettifoggers the Italian proverb is true: "Many Laudensians, few Veronensians," namely, many flatterers and adulators, few truth-tellers.
And many things are corrected (the Greek has, and many services are rendered to this nation) through thy providence. — For κατόρθωμα is the same as a duty of virtue, a right accomplishment, a notable deed: also a work duly corrected, amended, restored, promoted: in short, κατορθώματα contain all the numbers of virtue, says Cicero, in book III of De Finibus. Thus the Greeks say κατορθοῦν τὴν σωφροσύνην, that is, to fulfill all the parts of temperance; and τῆς οἰκονομίας κατορθωτής, one who is skilled in administering economic affairs frugally. Thus Budaeus, Annot. on the epistles, under the word Frugi.
Verse 3: We Accept It, Most Excellent Felix
3. We accept, — ἀποδεχόμεθα, which the Tigurine and Clarius render "we approve"; others, "we embrace." Salmeron suspects it should be read suspicimus, that is, "we admire and celebrate." But the word suscipimus corresponds to the Greek.
Most excellent. — Concerning this title I have spoken at chap. XXIII, 26.
Felix. — Cornelius Tacitus, in book V of the Histories, gives him the praenomen Antonius: but Josephus, Zonaras, and Suidas call him Claudius. He had both names, namely he was called Antonius Felix, from Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius, whose slave and freedman he had been. The same was called Claudius Felix, from the Emperor Claudius, to whom he had been transferred from his mother. For freedmen were of two names: at one time they bore the prince's name, at another the name of their deceased patroness, says Lipsius in book XII of the Annals of Tacitus.
Verse 4: By Thy Clemency
4. By thy clemency. — In Greek, ἐπιεικείᾳ, that is, by gentleness, fairness, leniency, modesty, ease, patience, humanity, clemency.
Verse 5: This Pestilent Man, Author of the Sect of the Nazarenes
5. This pestilent man. — In Greek, λοιμόν, that is, a pestilence. Thus they call a destructive man ὄλεθρον, that is, destruction, by antonomasia. Note: The speech of Tertullus is sewn together with almost as many lies as words, as is plain to anyone who weighs each one.
Author, — πρωτοστάτην, or, as others read, πρωτιστάτην, that is, prefect, first-rank, first standing in the battle line. For the author and institutor of Christianity was Christ, not Paul; but Paul among the leaders of Christ, namely the Apostles, was the chief and first-rank author of the propagation of Christianity, as it were the standard-bearer and first standing in the battle line of Christ to fight for Him.
Catiline, when interrogated in the senate by the consul Cicero concerning the conspiracy against the Republic, whether he was the author of it, in order to show his associates the audacity of his madness, mocked the consul with this enigma: "Since there are two bodies," he said, "of which one is thin and sick yet has a head, the other strong and great but without a head, what evil do I do if I place myself as a head upon this one?" as Plutarch reports in the Life of Cicero. But when all clamored against him and called him an enemy and parricide, that furious man said: "Since I am surrounded by enemies and driven headlong, I will extinguish my fire by ruin." Sallust testifies in the War of Catiline. How different is Paul, who was so far removed from sedition and ambition that he did not wish to be called or held even the author of a new religion or Church? For he acknowledged and preached that the author and invisible head was Christ the Lord, but the visible head was St. Peter; and that he himself was only the minister of Christ and helper of St. Peter.
Of sedition. — This word is not separately in the Greek, but is included in the preceding πρωτοστάτου, if you derive, indeed compound, that word from στάσις, that is, sedition, and πρώτος, that is, first. For he proves that Paul stirs up seditions, as he said, from the fact that he is πρωτοστάτης, that is, prefect of sedition, as the first seditious one, standing in the front line of the sect of the Nazarenes, which everywhere stirs up seditions while it rises against Judaism and Gentilism, and excluding both, attempts to substitute itself in their place. When therefore he says "of the sect of sedition," it is hypallage, as if to say: of the seditious sect, or which is the mother of sedition. See here with how great and false a calumny Paul is burdened, when rather the very accusers, the Jews themselves, were seditious; for in all the cities they had stirred up seditions and tumults of the people against him, as we have seen at chap. IX, 23; XIII, 50; XIV, 5; XVIII, 12; XXI, 30. By his example let Religious console themselves who, imitating him, are even now called seditious and disturbers by sectarians and rivals. Truly St. Ambrose, in his oration On Handing Over the Basilica: "Always," he says, "the praises of Christ are blows to the perfidious, and now when Christ is praised, the heretics say sedition is being stirred up. The heretics say death is being prepared for them; and truly they have death in the praises of Christ." Thus when our enemies were leading our Campion bound to London, they affixed to his hat in capital letters the title: Edmund Campion, the seditious Jesuit, but he went in the thronging crowd unconquered in soul, alert in countenance, with majesty even augmented in adversity itself, which inspired admiration and reverence even in his enemies, as his martyrdom relates.
Of the Nazarenes. — Thus from Christ the Nazarene the Christians were originally called, as I said at chap. II, 22. Later, those heretics who wished to join Judaism with Christianity were called Nazaraeans, whose father was Cerinthus. "But while they wish to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither Jews nor Christians," says Epiphanius, in heresy 29. Furthermore, in contempt they call Paul "Nazarene," just as formerly they had called Christ "Nazarene," as if originating from the lowly little town of Nazareth. But this is the highest praise of Christ and Paul, that each is a Nazaraean, that is, separated, holy, consecrated, crowned, indeed that He is author and teacher of the Nazaraeans, that is, of those who from eternity have been enrolled by God as fellow citizens of the Saints, who pursue holiness intensely, so that they may be transferred into the heavenly company of the Saints and Blessed.
Verse 6: Who Also Hath Gone About to Profane the Temple
6. Who also attempted to violate the temple (in Greek, βεβηλῶσαι, that is, to profane) — by introducing into it the Gentile Trophimus, of whom chap. XXI, 29. Again the pettifogger is mistaken and lies, since rather the Jews had violated the temple when in it they laid violent and sacrilegious hands upon Paul, and beat him and all but killed him.
According to our law, — namely the Jewish: for although Tertullus seems to have been a Gentile, yet he arrogates to himself the name and law of the Jews, because as their patron he was pleading the case.
To judge, — to condemn judicially and to deliver him condemned to be killed to the Roman governor. He lies again: for the Jews wished to kill Paul tumultuously, not to judge according to the law. This verse is missing in many Greek manuscripts.
Verse 7: But Lysias the Tribune Took Him Away
7. Took him away. — The Syriac adds, "and sent him to thee." Some Greek codices have the same.
Verse 8: Of Whom Thou Mayest Have Knowledge
8. From whom, — from the tribune. So Dionysius and Hugo; or rather, from Paul, as if to say: Paul himself will not be able to deny the crime, if ἀνακρίνας, that is, examining, interrogating and judging him, you elicit the truth from him, and extort it by fear and threats. For, as Chrysostom says: "Lest he seem to lie, he employs Paul as accuser of himself." So shameless and bold is impudence, that it strikes the defendant and forces him to confession of a crime, albeit false. Again, impiety is shameless and impudent, when it transfers its own crimes onto the pious. For the Jews here were guilty of all the crimes of which they were accusing Paul: they themselves had stirred up sedition against him, they themselves had violated the temple by laying violent hands on him; they themselves were the authors of schisms and sects, they themselves were pestilent. Thus commonly men who, driven by spite, envy, or similar passion, accuse others or judge them concerning certain vices or defects, are themselves more liable to those very faults than he whom they accuse or judge, as Cassian has carefully noted, in book V of De Inst. renunt., chap. XXX. Note here again the modesty of Paul, who could truly have turned back these calumnies upon his accusers, and brought into judgment the injurious words and blows which he had endured from them; but he was unwilling, and pressed all things in deep silence.
Verse 9: And the Jews Also Added
9. And the Jews also added, saying that these things were so. — Chrysostom notes that the order of judgment is perverted, since the Jews who were Paul's accusers make themselves witnesses of the crime, and strive by their authority and multitude to oppress him.
Morally, see here in how perilous a state are governors and judges, who are driven by impious powerful men and Prelates as if by armed force to iniquitous sentences, unless they have a leonine spirit by which they may most strongly resist them: for they are battered by as many rams as there are powerful men and tyrants. Wisely Ecclesiasticus, VII, 6: "Seek not," he says, "to be made a judge, unless you can by virtue break through iniquities: lest perhaps you fear the face of the powerful, and place a stumbling block in your equity."
Verse 10: Then Paul Answered
10. But Paul answered. — It is customary to give an advocate to defendants, since they are fearful, anxious, troubled, dismayed, so much so that by civil law, if a defendant has no one, the praetor must give him one. But Paul, trusting in God and in his cause, was his own advocate; for truth and innocence fear neither power nor eloquence. For the just man trusts like a lion; and the lion, no less than the wolf, does not fear the multitude of sheep, but seeks and pursues them. For the just man bears the scepter of God on his head. For He Himself said: "He who touches you, touches the apple of My eye." Truly Nazianzen also in his Sentences: "When God gives," he says, "envy can do nothing; when He refuses, labor can do nothing."
And that thou hast been a judge for many years. — The Greek codices and Chrysostom add δίκαιον, that is, just; which is the proper epithet of a judge, signifying that Felix is not such, but ought to be such, if he wishes to be a legitimate judge, as if to say: I admonish thee, O Felix the judge, tacitly by this epithet of thy office, namely, since thou art a judge, that thou hold to the rule of justice, not of favor, not of the crowd of pontiffs, who unjustly conspire against me. Note: Felix had for many years been governor by the Emperor Claudius of Trachonitis, Batanaea, and Gaulanitis, which are near Judea, but had been given as governor of Judea itself only two years before by the same Claudius shortly before his death. So Josephus, in book II of the War, chap. XI. Paul alleges this in support of his innocence, as if to say: Since you have governed this nation for so many years, and have never heard any complaint from the Jews about me, you may easily conclude that I have never harmed anyone.
With good cheer. — The interpreter reads with some Greek copies, εὐθύμως: now many read it with the comparative, εὐθυμότερον, that is, with a more even, more tranquil, more secure, more cheerful spirit, as if to say: I will respond for myself fearlessly, intrepidly, freely, securely, and eagerly: for εὐθυμία is gladness, pleasantness, right constitution of mind, security, delight, alacrity, cheerfulness, and, as Cicero in book V of De Finibus translates, tranquillity of mind, in which he asserts that Democritus placed the highest good; for he called that εὐθυμίαν, that is, a mind free from terror.
I will give an account for myself, — τὰ περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ ἀπολογοῦμαι, that is, concerning those things which pertain to me, I respond; I make an apology for myself, being accused I defend myself, I plead my cause.
Verse 11: There Are Yet but Twelve Days
11. Because there are not more than twelve days for me. — I have separately recounted these days and the acts concerning Paul at chap. XXI, 27. The sense is, as if to say: In so few days I, a stranger and unknown, could not have stirred up so many seditions and tumults, so many crimes, as the Jews charge against me.
Since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. — Adoration is a general term, and embraces various acts and species, among which one is sacrifice: for this is adoration not so much verbal as real. For it is a profession of the Divinity and the Supreme Godhead, who has power over the life and death of all; to whom therefore we immolate, slay, burn, and sacrifice victims. For Paul was going up to the temple to sacrifice.
Verse 12: Neither in the Temple Did They Find Me Disputing
12. Or making a gathering of the crowd. — Not gathering crowds, namely for sedition, as Pagninus translates.
Verse 13: Neither Can They Prove
Neither can they prove, — παραστῆσαι, that is, to exhibit, show, convince. Whence some Greek codices add μέ, as if to say: They cannot present me to you, represent me, and demonstrate me to be such as they paint and feign, namely seditious, factious, sacrilegious.
Verse 14: According to the Way Which They Call a Heresy
14. According to the sect, — ὁδόν, that is, way, that is, the institute and norm of living, namely according to Christianity, which they call heresy, that is, sect and faction, but unjustly and wrongly.
15. Thus I serve (λατρεύω, that is, with latria I worship and adore) the Father and God. — "The Father," as a son; "God," as a creature and servant, I serve with latria. In Greek τῷ πατρῴῳ Θεῷ, that is, the ancestral God, whom namely our fathers, that is, mine and the Jews', worshiped. So Syriac, Oecumenius, Tigurine, and others; by which Paul shows that he is not an enemy of the law, nor an apostate from the Synagogue, as the Jews objected: but that he holds fast to the faith and religion of the fathers and ancestors. Again, the ancestral God was the guardian of the fatherland, proper and peculiar to the Jews, such as among the Gentiles were called penates, indigetes, and lares.
Verse 15: Having Hope in God
Having hope in God (supply with the Tigurine, that there shall be), which these themselves also expect, a resurrection of the dead. — For if you add the word "shall be," the sentence is plain; which is intricate if you take "hope" metonymically for the thing hoped for, namely the resurrection: for we do not have this with God, but hope for it and expect it as something to be done by God.
Verse 16: A Conscience Without Offense
16. In this. — Hugo: believing in this; Syriac: because of this; more plainly the Tigurine: nay, and in this, as if to say: So far am I from departing from the ancestral God, law, religion, faith, and hope, especially of the resurrection, that even in this worship of the ancestral God, in this religion and institute, I strive to have a pure conscience toward God and toward men.
I strive, — ἀσκῶ, that is, I exercise myself, I labor, I am engaged, as if to say: I am wholly in this matter. Thus formerly Religious were called Ascetics, who wholly devoted themselves to themselves and to God, who were wholly engaged in subduing the burdens of the soul, wholly in the exercise of the virtues, as if to say: I am wholly in this, that I may serve God blamelessly, that nothing in me may be reprehended in divine and human judgment; or, that I may offend neither men nor God in any matter. This indeed is true wisdom, true prudence, the true office of the Apostle and of every faithful person. "Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole man," says the Wise One, Eccles. XII, 13. Excellently St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Sentences: "Strive," he says, "to be the best. Beware lest you ever stop in the way of virtue. For I think it is the same for you who have departed from a vicious life to stand still, as if you slipped into the lowest abyss of vice. Come, deserting this whole world and shaking off the burdens of the world, spread your sails toward the heavenly life: especially let the Trinity be your care." The same, in epistle 57 or 63, exhorting Eudoxius, that having renounced rhetoric, he might give himself to the study of wisdom, virtue, and Christian perfection: "Do not endure," he says, "to be excellent among jackdaws, when you can be an eagle. Let us migrate hence, become men, cast off dreams. Let envy, and time, and fortune hold others busy, toss them, mock them. Farewell to thrones, riches, splendors, this vile and despicable little glory, and finally to the great trifles and theatrical nonsense of this scene. Let us most closely embrace the Word, and choose to have God in place of all things, alone, I say, that perennial good of His own and ours: for the reward of virtue is to become God. To these things strive, fly. Nowhere stop your hopes, until you arrive at that highly desirable and blessed good."
Without offense, — that is, unoffending; Syriac, pure.
Morally: learn here from Paul how great should be each one's care for an upright and pure conscience, concerning which see what was said at I Tim. I, 5, and II Tim. I, 3. Indeed this was also the common voice of the Philosophers. For Bias, when asked, "What thing in life is free from fear?" answered: "A good conscience." So Maximus, sermon 24. Socrates, when asked, "Who lives tranquilly? — Those," he said, "who are conscious of no absurdity in themselves." So Antonius in Melissa, part II, sermon 77. Periander, when asked, "What is greatest in the smallest? — A good mind," he said, "in a human body."
Agis, the last king of the Lacedaemonians, condemned by the ephors, being led to execution, seeing someone bewailing his lot, said: "Do not weep for me, because contrary to right and equity I am being led to this dire punishment, and I am better than those who have condemned me to death." So Plutarch in the Laconics.
Chilon, in great old age, asserted that he was conscious to himself of no deed of which he repented, with one exception: that when he had been chosen as arbiter to settle a dispute between two friends, and was unwilling to do anything against the laws, he persuaded the other friend to refer the arbitration to others; and by this deed he kept both the law and his friend. For he said that he ought to have made himself the defender of the law, and thereby to have offended his friend. So Laertius in his Life.
The house of Julius Drusus lay open to the views of neighbors. A builder suggested that he would remove this for five talents. To whom Drusus: I will give ten if you make my house such that it lies open from every side to the eyes of all, that all may see how life is lived in my house. Stobaeus gathers more, sermon 22. Hear a few from many. Periander, asked, "What is liberty?" said: "A right conscience." Isocrates said: "You must not at all hope that, if you have done anything shameful, you will lie hidden. For although you lie hidden from others, yet you yourself will be ill conscious to yourself."
Pythagoras "used to say no one was so bold whom an evil conscience would not make most timid": for it grows alarmed at every wind, as the Wise One beautifully describes in the Egyptians, chap. XVII, 4 and following. The same was wont to say: "An impious man suffers more evil afflicted by conscience, than he who is chastised in body." For diseases of a sick mind are far heavier than those of the body, according to that of the Poet:
Do you think they have escaped, whom a mind conscious of dread deeds
Holds astounded, and lashes with a dire scourge,
The soul shaking the hidden whip as torturer?
Wherefore Chilon asserted, "loss is always to be preferred to base gain. For the former pains once, the latter always." So Laertius, book I, chap. IV. "For consciousness of an upright will is the greatest consolation in adversities," says Cicero to Torquatus.
To God and to men. — That neither men nor God the heart-knower may be able to blame it: for God inspects and perceives the innermost things of mind and conscience with the most keen and luminous eyes of His divinity. For, as Clement of Alexandria says, in book VII of the Stromata, after the beginning: "As the sun not only illumines the heaven and the whole orb, lighting up earth and sea, but through windows also and a tiny opening sends its splendor into the most hidden recesses of buildings; so the Word, diffused in every direction, regards even the smallest actions of life." Wherefore St. Leo, in sermon 5 On Lent, admonishes his own, "that they not flatter themselves: Because to us," he says, "the consciences of individuals cannot be open; since the enclosures of nothing hidden, nor of walls, can shut out the eyes of God who beholds all things at once: nor are only deeds done and thoughts thought known to Him, but also things to be done and to be thought. This therefore is the knowledge of the highest judge, this is the dreadful gaze; to which every solid thing is pervious and every secret open; to which obscure things are clear, mute things answer, silence confesses, and the mind speaks without voice." And St. Bernard, On the Manner of Living Well, to his sister: "Sin there, where God is not present," does not see. But if you believe that God sees you and yours everywhere, how do you dare to sin in the eyes of such great majesty and judge and avenger? Truly if we seriously thought of God's presence and gaze, it would be impossible to sin before Him, to provoke Him to anger, to challenge Him to vengeance. Let us strive with Paul to have always an unoffending conscience toward God and toward men. Let us say with St. Francis Xavier: "Wherever I shall be, let me remember that I am moving on the stage of the world, in the eyes of the heavenly King and the celestial beings."
Always. — Syriac: perseveringly.
Verse 17: After Many Years I Came to Bring Alms
17. Now after many years, — namely 24 from the conversion of Paul: for he himself was converted in the year of Christ 36, but he did and said this in the year of Christ 58. See the Chronotaxis which I have prefixed to the Acts.
About to give alms, — namely those which I had collected in Asia from the faithful for the poor Christians who were at Jerusalem, intending to bring them to them. See II Cor. VIII and IX. He removes the suspicion of sedition, as if to say: So far am I from being seditious, that for the sake of beneficence and almsgiving, to be done for my nation, I undertook so great a journey to Jerusalem.
Offerings and vows. — Hence it seems that Paul had previously vowed certain vows and offerings to be offered at Jerusalem in the temple, before he was admonished by James, chap. XXI, 20, but being admonished by James, he hastened them. He did this to avoid the envy of the Jews and to win their favor, showing himself a worshiper of the temple and of the law, not an enemy.
Verse 18: They Found Me Purified in the Temple
18. They found me purified in the temple. — As if to say: Therefore I did not violate the temple, as they object, but honored it: because I was purified in it. The individual words of Paul have sinew and weight, by which he breaks the objected charges.
Verse 19: But Certain Jews from Asia
19. But certain Jews from Asia. — Syriac and Vatablus: But certain Jews from Asia stirred up that tumult, not I, who ought to have been brought here with me before you, as if to say: My accusers stirred up the tumult, not I: they therefore ought to be brought here, judged, and punished, not I, who suffered sedition and injury, and from them received nearly lethal blows.
Verse 20: When I Stood in the Council
20. When I stand in the council, — as a defendant accused by the Jews: wherefore it is for them to say what iniquity they have found in me, and to prove it and convict me. The Syriac translates "when I was standing," namely in the Jerusalem council as a defendant before them, chap. XXIII, 1, and so reads Dionysius, Cajetan, and some others. The Greek στάντος, since it is in the aorist, can be translated both ways. To the latter reading there corresponds very fittingly that which Paul subjoins, that he had cried out in the council: "That concerning the resurrection I am being judged."
Verse 21: Except Concerning This One Voice
21. Except concerning this one voice. — It is a tacit irony and sarcasm, as if to say: I stirred up no sedition, unless they wish so to judge and call my voice, by which I cried out standing among them: "That concerning the resurrection of the dead I am judged this day by you." For on account of that voice the Pharisees made a schism from the Sadducees, and against them defended Paul. But you yourselves were the cause of this schism, not I, who pleaded my cause and spoke the truth, and openly professed my faith in the resurrection of Christ and of Christians. What did I sin in this apology of mine? What crime did I commit in this profession of my faith? For I did a thing necessary, laudable, true, religious, and pious. Whence some, translating the Greek ἤ, that is, except, than, as "or," thus transfer it: Or let these themselves say if what iniquity they have found in me; or concerning this one voice, by which I cried out standing among them, as if to say: If they have nothing else, let them at least bring forward this charge, that I cried out that I am being judged on account of faith and profession of the resurrection. But this is not a crime, but my virtue and praise. The Gloss adds that Paul wished again to turn the Jews against each other and away from himself; for by reviving the name of the resurrection, he tacitly renewed the dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, which he had stirred up a little before in Jerusalem. For the Pharisees eagerly received the name and faith of the resurrection, and openly defended it against the Sadducees. Finally, he mentions the resurrection so that the Gentile governor may know that Paul is accused by the Jews not of sedition, but of a new religion, namely the resurrection, which the Gentiles, if they did not believe, certainly did not condemn, indeed reverenced, feared and suspected. For this faith is a sign, cause, and spur of piety and of a God-fearing, innocent, and holy life. Whence Luke subjoins:
Verse 22: Felix Put Them Off, Knowing the Way
22. But Felix put them off, knowing most certainly concerning this Way. — ἀκριβέστερον, that is, knowing more certainly; but the comparative is elegantly used among the Greeks and Latins for the superlative. Hence that of the Poet:
Thou fire that shinest in the evening sky more pleasant.
that is, the most pleasant star. For the Platonists held that the stars are fiery, and so are heavenly fires and torches. And that of the Apostle: "But the greater of these is charity." Greater, that is, the greatest among faith and hope, I Cor. XIII, 13.
Furthermore, by "the Way" some understand Judaism and Jewish law, as if to say: Felix, since he had long lived among the Jews, knew what the Jewish religion was, and how far it differed from the Christian religion which Paul preached. Others better take "the Way" to mean the institute and religion of Christ and of Paul, as if to say: Felix, both from the letter of Lysias and from having heard Paul's so wise, modest, and innocent apology, certainly recognized that his doctrine, religion, and life were not seditious, as the Jews accused; but that they out of hatred had iniquitously conspired against him, just as Pilate recognized the innocence of Christ, and that the Scribes and Pontiffs had unjustly conspired against it. So St. Chrysostom, Lyranus, Hugo, Dionysius, and others. Note here a notable testimony to the innocence and virtue of Paul. Wherefore Felix ought to have absolved and immediately dismissed him; but like Pilate, lest he offend the pontiffs, and that he might extort money from Paul, he iniquitously detained him in custody. So Chrysostom.
Verse 23: And to Let Him Have Rest
23. And to have rest, — ἄνεσιν, that is, relaxation, to be more loosely kept, to be more mildly treated, to be given more liberty and recreation.
Verse 24: With Drusilla His Wife
24. With Drusilla his wife. — Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa the Elder, who killed St. James and imprisoned St. Peter, chap. XII, 1; and consequently she was the sister of the younger Agrippa, of whom in the next chapter. Cornelius Tacitus, in book V of the Histories, writes that Drusilla was a granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra, "so that Felix was a grandson-in-law of the same Antony, and Claudius a grandson." Whence it seems that Cypris, wife of Agrippa and mother of Drusilla, was a daughter of M. Antony and Cleopatra, says Mariana on chap. XII of the Acts. Hence she also seems to have been called Drusilla, from Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus, and her son Drusus, brother of the Emperor Tiberius. For Drusus, from Antonia, sister of M. Antony, begot Claudius, who succeeded Caius Caligula in the empire. For Agrippa the king, father of Drusilla, was raised to the kingship by Caius Caligula and the Emperor Claudius. Whence in favor of Claudius, he named his daughter Drusilla: for Drusus was a cognomen of the Claudian family. Whence Livia also, wife of Augustus Caesar, mother of Drusus and grandmother of Claudius, was surnamed Drusilla, whom Caius Caesar consecrated as a goddess in the dress of Venus: just as she had been consecrated as a goddess under the name of Juno in the dress of Juno. Whence she was called Heavenly Venus, surnamed Panthea. So Dio, in book LIX, and from him Lipsius in book V of the Annals of Tacitus, near the beginning. Furthermore this Drusilla, according to Josephus, in book XX of the Antiquities, chap. V, had three husbands. For first she was betrothed to Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus: but he refused her, because he was unwilling to undergo circumcision, which was the condition demanded in the marriage to her, since she was a Jewess. The second was Azizus, king of Emesa, who underwent the condition of circumcision, and so contracted marriage with her. The third was Felix, who lured her from her husband Azizus to himself. Hence Drusilla was called "wife of three kings, and thrice queen," and therefore perhaps by Suetonius in Claudius, chap. XXVIII, Felix is called "husband of three queens." Finally Drusilla, a woman of ruined modesty and fidelity, passed from her royal husband to an adulterous governor, not only renouncing conjugal fidelity, but also despising the religion of her country, and with the Gentile Felix she became a Gentile.
He heard. — Perhaps Drusilla his wife was urging him on, who, since she was a Jewess, out of curiosity wished to hear what was the new sect which was being preached by the Jew Paul, and what difference there was between Christianity and Judaism. Whence these curious hearers reaped no fruit from Paul's ardent sermon, except greater condemnation, on account of the greater guilt and obstinacy in error and vice after the truth had been recognized.
The faith which is in Christ Jesus, — which is concerning Christ Jesus, namely the faith of Christ, or the Christian faith.
Verse 25: Of Justice, Chastity, and the Judgment to Come
25. And as he discoursed concerning justice and chastity. — Syriac: concerning justice and sanctity; for chastity is sanctity, that is, purity of soul and body, as I have shown on I Corinth. VII, 34. Paul deliberately chose this theme of speech as suitable for Felix: for he knew him to be an adulterer and unjust, so that he might recall him to chastity and justice. An adulterer, because he had enticed Drusilla to himself on account of her exceptional beauty, by means of a certain magician named Simon, so that having abandoned her former marriage with Azizus, king of the Emesenes, she passed over into marriage with him: from her he received a son, whom from Drusilla's father he named Agrippa. Tacitus adds that he raged through every kind of lust, whose words I shall presently quote. And no wonder: for if he dared to invade a royal bed-chamber, and to lead away the queen from the king to himself, what would he not have attempted against commoners and subjects? Rightly, therefore, in the presence of the adulterers Felix and Drusilla, Paul disputed concerning chastity — Paul, I say, the champion of virginity, who, as St. Augustine says, strove to make men into angels, indeed into gods.
Morally: here Paul teaches that judges and governors ought to be continent, both from lust and from avarice, lest for the sake of gain they overturn justice, and for the sake of desire they overturn chastity and marriages. Whence the ancient Romans wonderfully restrained themselves from both; and by that means they extended their empire, and obtained one as ample and as great as we read in the histories, as Valerius Maximus teaches by many examples in book IV, chapter 3.
Unjust, because, as Tacitus says in book XII of the Annals, having been made governor of Judea, "he grew insolent, reckoning all his crimes to be unpunished, supported by such power." And soon after: "Felix inflamed offenses by untimely remedies." The same, in book V of the Histories: "Felix," he says, "with every cruelty and lust exercised the royal power with a servile spirit." For he had himself been a slave, just as his brother Pallas, who, having been given liberty and elevated by the Emperor Claudius, Felix likewise had obtained the governorship of Judea. Here that of Proverbs 30:21 is true: "By three things the earth is moved, and the fourth it cannot bear: by a slave, when he reigns; by a fool, when he is filled with food; by an odious woman, when she is taken in marriage; and by a handmaid, when she is heir to her mistress." Wherefore Jonathas, the high priest, often admonished Felix that he should better administer Jewish affairs; who therefore, not bearing the warnings nor the warner, caused him to be killed by assassins, who afterward, with his connivance, attacked many others and perpetrated many murders, indeed robberies, as Josephus testifies in book XX of the Antiquities, chapter VI: "Invited," he says, "by this license, the assassins, frequenting every festival and hiding their weapons, mingled in like manner with the crowds, stabbed some on account of private enmities, others hired by money; and this not only in the other parts of the city, but even in the temple itself. Whence it is right to believe that God, offended by such great impiety, became hostile to Jerusalem, and led the Romans into the temple as no longer a pure dwelling, to purify it with lustral flames." Josephus then adds that a tumult arose at Caesarea between the Jews and the Syrians, in which Felix killed many of the Jews by sending in soldiers. And these were the seeds of the rebellion, which a little later broke out into open war, by which Jerusalem was devastated and overthrown by Titus. Josephus continues in chapter VII: "Furthermore," he says, "after Portius Festus, the successor to Felix, was sent by Nero, the leaders of the Jews dwelling at Caesarea set out for Rome to accuse Felix; and he would have certainly paid the penalty for the injuries with which he had afflicted the Jews, had not Nero pardoned him at the entreaties of his brother Pallas, who at that time was in favor with the prince." See the same, book II of the War, chapter XII, where he graphically describes how great was then the multitude, audacity and terror of the assassins and robbers.
Rightly therefore did Paul discourse on justice in the presence of the unjust governor. Here again note the freedom and magnanimity of Paul. For he freely accused Felix the tyrant of tyranny; knowing that for that very cause Jonathas the pontiff had been recently killed by him, and accordingly offering himself to a similar death for God and justice. He accused the same Felix together with Drusilla of adultery, remembering and conscious that John the Baptist, when accusing the adultery of Herod (who was the great-uncle of Drusilla: for he was the uncle of Herod Agrippa, father of Drusilla) with Herodias, had received as the reward of his accusation death and martyrdom: doubtless this is what Paul sought, this is what he aimed at.
Truly St. Chrysostom, homily 2 On the Praises of St. Paul: "Paul," he says, "considered tyrants and peoples breathing forth fury to be as nothing more than gnats. But death, and tortures, and a thousand torments, he considered as the play of children, provided he might endure something for Christ. For confined in prison, he was inhabiting heaven, and more willingly received blows and wounds than others snatch up prizes." And further on: "Indeed Paul, walking on earth, conducted himself in all things as if he enjoyed the company of angels. For while still bound to a passible body, he rejoiced in their perfection, and being subject to such great frailties, he strove to appear in no way inferior in heavenly virtues." Again: "It is the mark of a magnanimous man to be open in love and hatred," says Elias of Crete in oration 10 of Gregory Nazianzen. We see this here in Paul.
AND OF THE JUDGMENT TO COME. — This goad, which is the sharpest, Paul applies to the impure and unjust governor, that he may drive him to repentance, and lead him over to justice, chastity, faith and the Christian life: or at least to put a curb on his lust, that he might not commit such grave things as he was accustomed, nor for the favor of the Jews condemn him, an innocent man, against justice, mindful that his judge would be God and Christ, who shall judge the just, Psalm LXXIV, 3.
Let preachers and confessors learn to prick and break the hard hearts of the impious with this goad of divine judgment. Thus with the same goad Moses pricks and strikes them in Deuteronomy I, 17; David in Psalm LXXIV, 3; Solomon in Eccles. V, 7; Ecclesiasticus, chap. VII, 40; the Maccabees, book II, chap. VII; St. Paul frequently, as in I Corinth. III, 13: "Each one's work shall be manifest. For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire." And chap. IV, 1: "But He who judges me is the Lord." And in epistle II, chap. V, 10: "We must all be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, that everyone may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil. Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." Following Paul, St. Cyprian, book IV, epistle 9 to Florentius: "These things," he says, "I have written back, in the pure conscience of my soul, and with confidence in my Lord and God. You have my letters, and I have yours: on the day of judgment, both shall be read out before the tribunal of Christ." So also our own Edmund Campion, the athlete and martyr of England, in his book Ten Reasons, reason 20: "That day shall come," he says, "O Elizabeth, that day, which shall plainly show you which loved you — the Society of Jesus or the progeny of Luther." I heard in Belgium a distinguished preacher, who in every sermon stirred up vehement pathos by threatening and exaggerating the divine judgment, with great emotion and fruit among the hearers.
FELIX TREMBLED. — For the voice of Paul struck him, as adulterer and tyrant, like a thunderclap. For such is the voice of the virgins, Apocalypse XIV, 2. Now Paul was a virgin, as is plain from I Corinth. VII, 7. Hence such was also the voice of St. James and St. John thundering: "In the beginning was the Word": for each was a virgin. Whence too they were surnamed by Christ "Boanerges," that is, sons of thunder, Mark III, 17. Truly St. Jerome, epistle 61 to Pammachius: "Where," he says, "is the vessel of election, the trumpet of the Gospel, the roar of our lion, the thunder of the Gentiles." And St. Augustine, sermon 31 On the Words of the Apostle: "We have heard," he says, "the thunders from a great cloud: for these clouds sounded forth the words of God and made us tremble." If Paul struck the impious governor, while he stood before him a subject, accused and bound, how shall he strike the same, when with Christ and the Apostles he shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging Felix, and indeed all the tribes of Israel and of the whole world, according to that of Wisdom V, 1: "Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those who afflicted them and who took away their labors. Seeing them, they shall be troubled with horrible fear," etc.? Wherefore in Paul that enigma and antistrophic eulogy is true:
Behold, the unwarlike wages war, the innocent does harm;
The unarmed overcomes arms, the unmoved moves;
Quarrelsome in peace, tenacious of peace in battle;
Groaning in wrath, terrible in clemency;
Rigidly severe, and severe with kindness;
Being judged, he judges, and strikes the judge;
Bound, he conquers, by binding the binder;
The accused becomes judge, and makes the judge accused;
A suppliant, he commands; commanding, he supplicates;
Terror fears, fear terrifies.
O marvelous power of virtue! O man! O angel!
O new God of the new Pharaoh!
AS FOR NOW. — Dionysius wrongly reads, "what does it concern now," namely to speak of these things and thus to thunder forth? For in Greek it is τὸ νῦν ἔχον, which Pagninus and the Tigurine version translate as for the present — go, that is, to free custody, says the Gloss; so that he would give him liberty to walk through the city, says Lyranus. For there follows by antithesis: "But at an opportune time I will summon you," that I may more fully hear, examine and judge your cause.
Verse 26: Hoping That Money Would Be Given Him
26. Hoping that money would be given him by Paul. — The Greek adds ὅπως λύσῃ αὐτόν, that is, that he might release him, as if Paul were going to redeem himself by ransom, and buy his release and liberty with money. For Felix had heard from Paul that he himself had brought money to Jerusalem to give as alms, verse 17, and he knew that the faithful and disciples would spend everything they had to redeem him. See here Felix's sordid avarice. An upright governor fulfills that of Tacitus, Annals book XIII: "Nothing in his household was for sale, or accessible to ambition." Beautifully St. Nazianzen in his Sentences: "A miser," he said, "once said: I prefer a drop of fortune to a cask of mind (wisdom). To him a wise man replied: I value a drop of mind more than a cask of fortune."
But Paul, generous of soul, trusting in God, and eager to suffer for Him, abhorred this sordid bargain, and preferred to remain in prison and be sent to Nero. What wonder? Socrates in Plato's Crito teaches that it does not befit a man bound by unjust chains to free himself by giving a price; rather it befits him to undergo punishment and death innocently and bravely. Too rigidly Tertullian, in his book On Flight, chap. XII, attempts by this example of Paul to conclude that all flight and redemption in persecution are unlawful. For Catholics act piously who redeem with money their priests captured by heretics or infidels, just as do those who allow themselves to be redeemed. More holily and nobly, however, do those act who, imitating Paul, refuse to be redeemed, both that they may suffer more for Christ, and that they may not burden Catholics with the cost, and that they may not give the infidels occasion for plundering Catholics and capturing priests, by closing off to them every hope of gain. I know that some of my acquaintances of our Society, captured in Holland, did this with great fame and glory of priestly constancy.
Verse 27: When Two Years Were Ended
27. And when two years were completed. — Namely from the captivity and imprisonment of Paul, which Luke has so far narrated, say Oecumenius, Bede, Lyranus, the Gloss, Sanchez, Cajetan and Dionysius here, and Onuphrius in his Chronicle: for they hold that Paul was kept in chains by Felix at Caesarea for two years. But this is hard to believe. For thus Paul would have spent four whole years in prison, namely two years at Caesarea, and two years at Rome. Wherefore others commonly hold that Paul, in the second year of Nero, in which he was also captured, was sent bound from Judea to Rome to Nero. Therefore Baronius, Lorinus and Scaliger begin this two-year period from the reign of Nero. For formerly from Cumanus's times, Felix had been sent by the Emperor Claudius as governor into that province. But this seems too general, and not sufficient to the purpose. Wherefore more pertinently and aptly we shall say that this two-year period must be reckoned from the prefecture of Felix in Judea: for before that he had governed Trachonitis, Batanaea and Gaulanitis: for Claudius, near the end of his rule and life, set Felix over Judea, as I said at verse 10. Furthermore Onuphrius in his Chronicle holds that Felix was sent by Claudius as governor into Judea in the year of Christ 52, and that Paul was captured at Jerusalem in the year of Christ 55, which was the 14th and last of Claudius, and that he remained captive with Felix for two years, so that in the year of Christ 58 he was sent to Rome by Festus, who succeeded Felix. This opinion is not incongruous, nor improbable. From which you may gather that Paul was in prison for a full four years: for after this two-year period, having been sent to Rome, he there spent another two years in prison, chap. XXVIII, 30. It seems indeed wonderful that God permitted Paul to be confined for so long a time and impeded from the apostolate. But God is honored more by passions than by actions, especially because Paul in prison preached Christ more and more ardently than when free, both by letters and by words and exhortations, as will be plain at the end of chap. XXVIII. But this reckoning differs from the chronology and ordering of Paul's years which Baronius and others record, and which I have followed in the Chronotaxis. Wherefore the former opinion which I gave is truer.
BUT WISHING TO BESTOW A FAVOR. — χάριτας καταθέσθαι, that is, to do a favor, or to gain favor. So Vatablus, namely lest he be accused before Nero by the Jews, whom he had vexed. But the impious man did not obtain the favor of men which he sought; for accused by the Jews, he was sent bound to Nero by his successor Festus, as I said at verse 25. Furthermore in Paul that golden gnome of Nazianzen in his Sentences is here true: "Day passes you on to day and most lightly rolls onward: but the resolve of a constant man holds an everlasting day." And again in the same place: "As the great anvil does not fear blows, so the wise mind thrusts out every loss."