Tertullus - Acts 24:1-23

For five days, Paul is shut up in Governor Felix’s judgment hall waiting for his accusers to show up so that they can start his trial. Finally, Ananias, the chief priest shows up with “the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus.” This man Tertullus is described in more detail in his Wikipedia page as “a lawyer who was employed by the Jews to state their case again Paul in the presence of Felix.” The article suggests that he is a Hellenistic Jew or a gentile, so he obviously wasn’t one of the men that sat on the Sanhedrin, which is kind of weird because if they wanted to prove the point that Paul was causing all sorts of problems for them, they themselves would have testified and dragged all the other prominent members on the community with them.

Hellenistic Jews were so named because they mingled Greek philosophy with Judaism, and we all know how the Jewish leadership felt about that type of bastardization of their religion, as is demonstrated by their hatred for the Samarians. So the Jewish leadership is so desperate for any amount of legitimacy, they are willing to give their money and reputations to a man who they consider to be an apostate Jew or a gentile, both of which would require ritual purification to be rid of their association. They are definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel in their minds, in order to further prosecute Paul.
The article explains what Tertullus’ arguments against Paul were, because I can’t really follow what he’s saying in the scriptures. He says that Paul’s first offence is against the Roman government in that “he created disturbances among the Romans throughout the empire.” The second accusation is he “was a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” and prevented the Jews from being about to practice their religion, which right was guaranteed by the Roman government to its subjects. Along with this accusation was that Paul had introduced a new God, “a thing prohibited by the Romans.” The third and final accusation was that Paul “attempted to profane the temple, a crime which the Jews were permitted to punish.”
They are trying to paint Paul as a man who would cause a disturbance in the peace of the people and therefore cause a problem for the Roman government. Also interesting is that Tertullus tries to make the chief captain Lysias out to be the bad guy, saying, “we took, and would have judged according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands.” He’s painting a picture of Paul as this monster of a guy whom the Jews were trying to try legally but where abused and thwarted in their efforts by the barbaric Roman soldiers. It’s really kind of interesting because they are trying to convince Felix that their rights had been violated, when in actuality, it was they who were attempting to violate Paul’s rights.
At first I thought that during the five days that Paul had spent in the judgment hall that perhaps he had gotten to know Felix pretty well, but probably not I’m guessing. Paul stands up and begins to defend himself and points out “hey it’s been 12 days since they accused me, and this is the best they could come up with?” The IM comments, “Paul skillfully deflected the charges against him, stating that even though 12 days had passed since he was accused, no credible witnesses had been found to testify against him. He also affirmed his loyalty to God and mentioned that he had come to Jerusalem to deliver alms, showing that his purpose was to relieve suffering and not to incite rebellion.”
When Paul was in the temple and confronted by the Jewish leadership, he brought up the topic of the resurrection, which turned the Pharisees and the Sadducees against each other. Because this was the topic that got out of control, and Lysias stepped in and carried Paul away. He might be saying that the Jews are angry with him because he believes in the resurrection, I’m not exactly sure what is going on here, to be honest.
Paul also points out that the Jews who were angry with him were the “Jews from Asia… who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought against me.” Basically he’s saying, “the people who were angry with me didn’t even care enough to come out here for the trial, and they were really only mad at me because of religious differences.” Hearing that the accusing group wasn’t even there to testify, Felix decided to wait until the chief captain Claudius Lysias could come and give more information before rendering a verdict.
Felix “commanded a centurion to keep Paul,” meaning that he wasn’t set free, but he did “let him have liberty” which probably means some freedom of movement, and that his friends and acquaintances could “minister of come unto him.” So he couldn’t leave, but he was comfortable and fed and well cared for physically while they waited. I would imagine that if there was any reason at all to not trust Paul, then he would be locked in the prison so fast. And now we wait for Lysias to show up.