See how [Tertullus] approaches the judge with praises from the start and wants to hand Paul over as a revolutionary and a rebel. Then, notice how he hastens as if he has many things to say.

At that time Christians were called Nazarenes as an insult. Afterwards, however, a heretical sect arose among the Jews, which was called the Nazarenes. They believed in Christ as the son of God, born of the virgin Mary, and they said that it was he who suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose from the grave. In him we also believe. But while they wanted to be both Jews and Christians, they were neither Jews nor Christians.^[1]

Then comes the accusation against Lysias. It was not right for him, he says, to drag him away with great violence.. . . He tried, he says, to profane the temple, but [Tertullus] does not say how. He also magnified what concerned Paul, but see how he diminished what concerned him. We seized him, he says, and would have judged him according to our law. He claims that it was unpleasant to them to come to foreign courts and that they would have not given trouble to [Felix], if he had not forced them, and that it was not right for Lysias to take Paul away. These, he says, were in fact offenses against us, because the trial ought to have taken place among us. See now the rest as a confirmation that things were so, with great violence, he says. That, indeed, was violence. From him, he says, you will be able to learn.. . . He puts Paul in the position to become his own accuser. From him, he says, you will be able to know by judging. And the very witnesses of the things that were said, they are the accusers—they are the witnesses and the accusers.

He did not say that they believed everything written in the prophets. For [Paul] was the one who believed everything, not they. To show how he believed in everything would take a long speech, and nowhere does he mention Christ. Here by the word believing [Paul] introduces the things relating to Christ. But for the present he dwells on the subject of resurrection, a doctrine shared by them, and so removes their suspicion of the whole sect.

[Paul] calls the faith or tradition the Way. It must be noticed that the Nazarenes believe in their ancestral God, the precepts of the law, the prophets and the resurrection of the dead. Paul shows this from what he says: I worship the God of our ancestors, that is, he believes in Christ and does not worship another God but him who is one with the Father, who was preached in the law and by the prophets. He shows also that all those believing in Christ, just as himself, accept the law of Moses and the prophets.

To have a clear conscience, he says, toward God and toward people. This is the perfection of virtue, when we give no cause for grudge to people and strive to give no offense to God.

Could he not have distributed the gifts he had received from others in some other part of the world and in the infant churches he was training in his own faith? But [Paul] longed to give to the poor of the holy places, who abandoned their own meager possessions for the sake of Christ and turned with all their heart to the service of the Lord.

Did you notice his gentleness in the midst of dangers? Did you notice how he kept his tongue from speaking evil? How he sought one thing only, to do away with charges against himself, and not to place charges against them, except in so far as he was forced to defend himself?

This is ample justification that [Paul] did not flee from his accusers but was ready to give account to all. With respect to the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you this day. And not a word did he say of what he could have said, that they conspired against him, detained him and imprisoned him. For these things can justly be said of the tribune, and yet they were not said by Paul, even though he was in danger. Instead, he is silent and only defends himself, when there was much he could have said.

It must be noticed that Felix thoroughly knew the faith, as he had been taught the things concerning Christ from the Old Testament. Even so he did not dismiss Paul so that he might please men, as did his successor, as the following words indicate, Wanting to please the Jews, and with the hope to get money from him. And still [Felix] knew the faith, thanks to having a Jewish spouse, from whom he often heard these things.

She, being a Jew, was wed, contrary to the law, to a pagan. Although she was a Jew, perhaps on marrying she became a Gentile, and for this reason also revealed to him her faith. Or because she was Jewish, she also spoke in order to convert her husband. Or because she had transgressed the law, she transgressed it to this point.

The wife also listens, along with the governor. This seems to me to show great honor. He would not have brought his wife to the hearing, unless he thought great things of Paul. It seems to me that she too longed for this.

He sent for him frequently, not because he admired him, or because he praised his words or even because he wished to believe. Then why? He hoped, it says, that money would be given him. Look how [Luke] does not hide the mindset of the judge here. And yet if he had condemned him, he would not have done this or wished to listen to a condemned wretch. And look at Paul, although he is talking with a ruler, he says none of those things that are likely to amuse, but rather he speaks about justice, it says, and future judgment and about the resurrection. And such was the force of his words that they even alarmed the governor.

See his stupidity: after hearing these things, [Felix] expected that money would have been obtained from [Paul]; and not only this, but as he was at the end of his tenure, he left him in chains, in order to please the Jews, so that he did not only desire money but fame too. How can you, scoundrel, look for money from a man who preaches the opposite? It is clear that he left him in chains because of what he did not gain, whereas he would have freed him, if he gained it.