Acts 25:11
‘(Paul said:) ‘If I be an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die!… When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation…, but had certain questions against him of their own…and of one Jesus Who was dead Whom Paul affirmed to be alive.’ Acts 25:11-19.
Calvin comments: “(Paul,) after acknowledging that he should not escape if any blame were to be found in him…, freely made use of human aids…. If ever a similar need overtakes us, we ought not to have any scruples about seeking help from the laws and the political order…. Not for nothing, is it written that the magistrates are appointed by God to give approval to those who are good
(Romans 13:3).
“Certainly Paul had no fear of litigating under an unbelieving judge. For an appellant is raising a new action. Let us therefore realize that God Who has instituted courts of law, also allows His Own the legitimate use of them!…
“‘(When the accusers stood up,) they brought no charge!’… The false accusations were so empty, that they ought not to have come into a court of law — being more like the insults shouted by some hothead….
“(Festus the judge) said that the essence of the case depended on questions of the Law (of the Hebrew religion)…. He distinguished between crimes which usually were punished by the laws of men, and the controversy which was raised between Paul and the Jews. He did so, not because religion ought to be violated with impunity or the impudence of those who corrupt the worship of
God with their own fabrications…be tolerated, but because the Law of Moses meant nothing to a Roman (like him)….
“He says that they contended about ‘their own superstition’ — although the word…is used in a good sense as well as a bad…. He means that it is of no importance to him what the religion of the Jews was like…. It was…deplorable…that a man who was an unbeliever…was sitting as judge and mediator among Jews…. But the entire blame stuck fast to Paul’s adversaries, who cared nothing for the majesty of God so long as they gratified their own madness…. All that remained for Paul to do, was to put an end to the reproaches that were made against him unjustly….
“There is no doubt that Paul spoke seriously…about the resurrection of Christ…. Festus…did not mock openly at Paul… He had said nothing about Christ, and yet this later narrative shows that Paul had serious discussion with the Jews about His death and resurrection…. Paul spoke in such a way that when he had refuted the false accusations of the Jews…, he then began to talk more freely about Christ.”
Paul did not refuse to die, if he so deserved. He did not deserve to die for anything he was accused of during that trial — and was later acquitted!
