Appeal to Caesar
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 7 April 2024
Verses 1 to 12 record for us Paul’s trial before Festus. This is a historical narrative, where most of the doctrine and the spiritual principles are under the surface. They are implied or illustrated. There are at least ten principles that just come out of this page. We see in this passage the hatred of religious people toward Christ and Christians. Then we also see the sovereign providence of God.
And we find also, the way in which the world persecutes. We see also the blamelessness of the life of Paul, and the effect that such a blameless life had. We see the exoneration of Christianity in terms of being a criminal activity. We see how the Christian is to behave toward his government, and we see also the Christian’s attitude toward persecution. And we see the impact of a dedicated life to God.
I want to divide the 12 verses into 4 parts, and we’ll just see these 8 principles. The first part was the assassination plot in verses 1 to 5. Paul has been accused by the Jews of three things: sedition, which are crimes against Rome; sectarianism - that is, being a heretic; and sacrilege - blaspheming God through the desecration of the temple. All these accusations are false.
They are without evidence. As a result of this, Paul finally found himself before Felix, the governor, to be tried. Felix knew he was innocent, but he didn’t want to upset the Jews, so Felix kept him in prison for two years. At the end of two years, Felix was taken from his assignment in disgrace, and a new man was put in his place by the name of Festus. In Acts 25 Festus arrives in Caesarea.
Verses 1-5, “Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 The chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they were 3 asking for a favor against Paul, that Festus summon him to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, preparing an ambush along the road to kill him. 4 Festus, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea.
And that he himself was about to go there shortly. 5 “Therefore,” he said, “let those of you who have authority go down with me and accuse him, if he has done anything wrong.” He knew that it was important for him to establish relationships with the people over whom he would rule. It was important for Festus to bind together some sort of working relationship.
Now there are some spiritual principles that are implied in this particular illustration. The first thing we see here is the hatred of religious people toward Jesus Christ. The Jews who were really antagonistic toward Paul were religious people. The persecution that comes against true religion comes from a false religion. These Jews were the false religious leaders of their land.
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and propagates all false religion. Now, all throughout the book of Acts, it is the Jews, the religious leaders, who persecute Christ and those who teach what He taught and believe in Him as their Messiah. The only times Roman persecution ever broke out was when it was a religious issue. Satan brings all the unbelievers into opposition to the truth.
True Christianity is a rebuke to all other religions in the world. We cannot accommodate them. Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me.” And anything other than Christianity is in opposition to Christ. And it has been the religionists who have persecuted the truth. 2 Peter 2:1 says, “There are false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.”
The second principle is the binding power of sin. It’s been two years since they’ve had to deal with Paul; two years, he’s been in jail. But when Festus, the new governor, arrives, the first thing they say in verse 2, “Let’s go to Festus and we’ll ambush him.” Sin really drives itself deep, and it stays there. In John 8:30 Jesus says I’m glad you believe, but the proof of the true faith is if you continue.
And the truth shall make you free. Now, Jesus implied that they weren’t free. They were slaves. Well, they didn’t like that. They said, “We are Abraham’s seed.” And they thought just because they were Jews, that meant they were free. They said, “We have never been in bondage to any man.” Jesus answered them, “Verily, I say to you, whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin.”
If you believe in death and resurrection of Jesus, you are still a bond slave, but you are a bond slave to Jesus Christ. And being a bond slave to Christ is better than being a slave to sin. How sad it is that these Jews would allow two years to go by, and still have this hatred for Paul. And Paul, who loved them, was an innocent man. He loved them so much he was willing to change places.
A third principle that we see there was the providence of God. We saw that in spite of what seemed to be the normal course of events, God was ordering things. When they said to Festus, “Hey Festus, why don’t you take Paul up to Jerusalem? He said, “No.” The normal thing would have been to say yes. He was trying to influence them for his side. Here we see the fact that God is in control.
Lamentations 3:37-38 says, “Who is there who speaks, and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” Listen to the next verse. “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and evil go forth?” Nothing happens for good or evil unless it is in the framework of God’s allowance. And Festus didn’t know it, but he was just moving along on the divine timetable.
Verse 6-7, “When Festus had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought in. 7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove.” This is the fourth principle, the typical pattern of the world’s persecution.
The world persecutes on two premises: they persecute falsely, and for Christ’s sake. Matthew 5 says, “Blessed are you, when men shall persecute you, and revile you, and accuse you falsely, for my sake.” In other words, it isn’t you they hate, it’s Christ. It isn’t you they resent, it’s Christianity. Now, some Christians live such messed-up lives that it may be these Christians they resent.
Principle number five is the blamelessness of Paul. The effect of an innocent, blameless life on the world is powerful. 1 Peter 3:14 says, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated.” If you’re suffering for righteousness’ sake, if you’re living a godly life and, all of a sudden, you’re getting persecution, you are blessed.
By Paul’s innocent life, he made those people face the fact that their hearts were not right. They hated Jesus Christ; they resented God’s Messiah. He forced them to recognize that, because there was nothing for which they could blame Him. And then be bold, and stand up, confronting the world with an innocent life. The power and impact of that kind of life can make the world ashamed.
Here is principle six, the exoneration of Christianity of any crimes. The Jews accused the Christians of being criminals against the Roman government. The Jews tried to make the Romans believe that Christianity was revolutionary and it was insurrection. That if the Romans tolerated the Christians, they would overthrow the government. But the Jews were actually doing that.
They had a group called the Zealots, and they were going around starting riots, starting insurrections, secretly assassinating people that they wanted to get rid of. Any Jew who paid tribute to Rome was killed. And they’re trying to accuse the Christians of doing that, and of course, they never did. Christianity is not a revolution. Christianity is a personal relationship with a living God.
And God established that in the Word of God. And the Romans were scared to death about the possibility of fragmenting that empire. They worked hard to try and come up with a unifying factor that could pull it together. And what they came up with was Caesar worship. And so, they established Caesar as a god, and demanded that everybody should practice emperor worship.
Once a year, every inhabitant of the Roman Empire had to take a pinch of incense, burn it to Caesar, and then publicly declare, “Caesar is lord.” After he did that, he could go out and worship any god he wanted to. Now, no Christian would do that. Salvation is confessing Jesus as Lord. That’s the testimony of a believer. That’s when the religious persecution began everywhere.
It’s always false religions that lead persecution against the truth, and it was then that martyrdom began. The first person that started this was a Caesar named Nero at this very time that Paul was in Caesarea. He began to murder Christians, and the succeeding Caesars after him continued it, and they murdered them because they were supposedly religiously disloyal.
Verse 8 says, “Then Paul made his defense: “Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.” Well, there is no evidence. That’s no case. What should Festus have done? He should’ve dismissed the thing right on the spot. But you know what? If Felix was the procrastinator, Festus was the guy who did what was expedient.
He knew that if he just freed Paul, he’d be in trouble, because the Jews from the beginning would be against him, because they wanted Paul dead. And he was scared though he knew Paul was innocent. So he comes up with a compromise. Verse 9, “But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me there on these charges?”
Verse 10, “Paul replied, “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well.” Now, Festus did know that Paul had not done anything. Verse 18 says, when Festus later on talked to Agrippa, he said to Agrippa, “The accusers stood up but brought no charge against him of the evils I was expecting.”
Paul stands there, and he’s victimized by these two groups with their little interplay. So, he stands up for his rights as a Roman citizen. Verse 11, “If then I did anything wrong and am deserving of death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” Paul didn’t care about dying one bit. For him, to die was gain.
When he said that, that was not just an offhand comment; that was an official appeal. A lower court judgment could be appealed to Caesar. In fact, the appeal could be given before or after the verdict of the lower court. This was one of the rights of a Roman citizen, and that’s what Paul does. Now, he knew he was getting nowhere in Caesarea. He was mired down in this little political battle.
Paul got kind of excited on the inside when he said that, because he knew that in Acts 23:11, when he was sleeping in the cell, the Lord came to him and said, “Hey, don’t be too discouraged. You’ve been faithful preaching the Word here. The next stop is Rome.” But you know, going to be judged by Nero wasn’t exactly the epitome of the anticipation of absolute justice.
Nero was the most immoral man that a man could ever be. He killed Brittanicus, the son and heir of the emperor Claudius, and moved in on his territory. He killed his mother, Agrippina, to please his lover, Poppaea, who was the wife of somebody else. Then he burned Rome, and got mad at Poppaea, and killed her by kicking her in the stomach when she was pregnant.
He wanted to marry his adopted sister, Antonius. She wasn’t real excited about the deal, so he killed her. He married Messalina, after he assassinated her husband, and he spent his career busily assassinating all the best citizens of Rome, because he couldn’t stand good people. Finally, he killed himself, which delivered everybody. Here is principle number seven, the courage of a committed Christian.
The eight principle, also teaches us the believer’s attitude toward martyrdom. The only person who is a martyr is the one who has fought for every possible escape, and found no way out. Paul never used a single resource to avoid death. He never even appealed to Caesar, because he knew what that might involve, until the last possible hope was gone of any other solution.
Courage is not an intangible; courage is born of faith. Courage is an absolute that is born out of confidence in God. There’s something about courage that is just irreplaceable. There’s something about the Christian who is willing to stand up and say what’s true. Verse 12, Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”
Only eternity will be able to measure the impact of Paul. I would pray to God that I would maximize whatever impact I could have on this world. That I would order my priorities that I would maximize my time. But all I know is as Christians, we ought to realize that one man can affect a whole world, if that man is right before God, and that ought to be a challenge to every one of us. Let us pray.