THE LIVING CHURCH
Meditations in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 25:13-27

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FESTUS seems to be continuing in his dilemma. He has been brought up under Roman justice, but he wants to please the Jews. He can find no wrong in Paul. Also he is bothered by the fact that if he sends Paul to Caesar he has no charges to send up with him (v.26). He seems to be torn between these conflicting pressures, so he jumps at the opportunity to get King Agrippa involved, no doubt hoping that this would get him out of his dilemma. Whenever we do not do what is right we shall always be faced with conflicting loyalties and unsolvable difficulties.

The Jews pursuit of Paul is instructive. They feared for their way of life if the Gospel took hold. They wanted to oppose the Gospel, so they resorted to human and worldly means. They used violence, lies, and legal procedures to oppose Paul and the Gospel. We see this sort of worldly procedure for getting ones way all around us in society and in national politics. It is not edifying or nice. It always presents more problems than it solves. The trouble is that the church and Christians often resort to similar worldly means to defend the Gospel.

In our fear at the forces against the church, we turn to similar ways of combating these problems as the Jews did. So false doctrine, immoral practice and movements that seem dangerous to us are opposed by worldly means. This is not the way of Christ. It is a sure way for the devil to infiltrate and destroy and sow trouble.

The way of the Gospel is by goodness of life, by prayer and preaching in the Holy Spirit. This was the way Paul used. He never resorted to lies or dubious methods. He never took people to law. He trusted in his God and took every matter to him in prayer. He countered false doctrine by teaching and preaching the truth as it is in Jesus. He exemplified the Gospel by his life, so that all could see he lived the Gospel he preached.

When we are faced with error in the church or immoral practice, the way forward is to combat it by prayer and by preaching of the truth. Our weapon is always the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Although there is room for discipline in the church to correct immoral practice, the best way forward is to expose immoral living by holy living and by the Word of Truth which purifies the soul.

There are two other interesting features brought out in this passage and historical record which are instructive. Although Festus wanted to please the Jews, he was also bound by the Roman justice he had been brought up in. Because of this he would only go so far in acceding to the Jews demands. Here we have an example of what is called God's common grace. God's common grace is his unmerited love upon all society. God's grace to all society is the laws and structures of society that he has written into the fabric of life. This controls evil in human beings so that they can not be as evil as they would, and protects the weak in some measure from total exploitation. Paul tells us in his letters that governments are given by God and so must be obeyed.

The other feature that comes out in this passage is the fact that God achieves his plans in spite of the will and actions on human beings. God's purpose was for Paul to reach Rome and witness to Christ there. God moves in a mysterious way. Paul had been told by God that he was to be a witness in Rome (chapter 23:11), so Paul would have been strengthened in these trials by this fact, and encouraged as he saw God's purpose for him unfold. Even though Paul may have suspected that the end of his life was approaching and would probably end in Rome, he was still uplifted knowing himself in God's will. All things do work together for good for those who belong to God. Further, Paul had the assurance of faith which he expresses in one of his letters - To depart and be with Christ is far better than remaining on this earth.