Acts 25:13-27 | Paul on Trialනියැදිය

Innocence

Wherever Paul goes, he seems to get into hot water. And wherever he goes, trouble is not far to follow.

How do you think about someone like that? More importantly, how do you think about the gospel he brings which seems to be at the heart of all this controversy?

Our first introduction to Paul in Acts 7 is when he’s part of an angry mob killing a Christian. Trouble.

We see him later stirring the pot beyond Jerusalem’s borders as he heads to Damascus to stir up problems for people there, too.

Trouble.

After meeting Jesus and reorienting his life towards him, Paul has been going town to town and synagogue to synagogue preaching the gospel of Jesus. We see incredible blessing as God works miracles and as people everywhere are saved – Jew and Gentile alike. And yet we see other people turning on him, and violently. We see synagogues in turmoil, angry words, violent attacks, mobs that form, intervention by authorities, with Paul often having to flee.

Trouble.

We see Paul get in trouble with the Jews who see him as a threat to the Jewish way of life, and therefore, their people’s relationship with God. We see him get into trouble with the Gentiles who suspect that his motives might be seditious to their city or unfavorable to their gods. We see him brought before Romans under accusations that he’s a trouble-maker who challenges the Roman Empire.

Trouble.

And yet, one gets the sense as they read Acts that Luke is trying to show Paul’s innocence. The Jewish leaders never have a leg to stand on, and have to resort to violence and smear campaigns. Pagan governors constantly acquit him. We even hear from the lips of Roman governors themselves about Paul’s innocence.

In Acts 25:10, Paul says “I have done nothing wrong.” The Roman governor, Festus, tells the Jewish king, Agrippa, that the religious leaders did not charge Paul with any crime he first suspected, but instead brought some disputes about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive (10:18-20). And later, “I have found he has done nothing deserving death” (10:25 - NIV).

It’s as if Luke is telling us that Paul – and the way of Christ which always seems to be a point of controversy – is innocent. It may even be that Luke writes Acts in part as a defense of Christianity (maybe even Paul) before the Romans and in the court of public opinion.

Jesus says two seemingly paradoxical things:

• “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Luke 12:49,51 – NIV). And…
• “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27 – NIV).

Anyone who’s lived as a Christian can tell you that both are absolutely true.

People who bear the name of Christ are not always innocent. But the way of Christ? That’s something different. Read the second half of Acts 25 again and notice his innocence before both Jews and Romans.

What controversies do you see around Christianity? How can you be a bearer of Christ’s peace in the conflict? How might it cost you?