Paul Testifies Before King Agrippa

November 4, 2012 Background Scripture: Acts 25, 26 Lesson Passage: Acts 26:19 – 32 King Agrippa was a member of the Herod family. His great-grandfather, Herod the Great, ruled the entire region of Palestine at the time of Jesus’ birth. The Herod family was well connected politically in the Roman Empire. After the death of Herod the Great, the region was divided into four areas referred to as tetrarchs. Herod’s three sons each ruled an area. The ruling members of the Herod family appear to have been politically astute and managed to resolve matters of political unrest locally rather than allow them to become a problem for the capital city of Rome. It is no surprise then that great effort was made to try to resolve the matter between the Jews and Paul. The contention between the two was threatening to cause civil unrest because of their religious differences. After the political shenanigans of Felix—who was trying to make money as a result of this ordeal—Paul was kept imprisoned for two years. Paul’s case was remanded to Festus who replaced Felix. Festus had hoped to keep the peace by granting the Jews’ request to allow them to try Paul in their religious court before the Sanhedrin Council. To this, Paul objected and demanded that his case be referred to Rome seeing that he was a Roman citizen. This presented a serious problem for Festus since there were no Roman laws which had been violated and therefore no justification for this citizen of the Roman Empire to be imprisoned for two years. Adding to the confusion for Festus was what seems to be a lack of religious knowledge concerning Judaism and Christianity. Festus had a legal dilemma. He did not understand the religious arguments against Paul and yet there were no Roman laws violated by Paul. Festus had no way of writing a legal statement to be sent along with Paul to Rome where his appeal would be heard. Legally, Festus could not deny Paul’s request to be tried in Rome but Festus did receive another opportunity to at least obtain a legal summary to be put in the form of a letter to Rome. That opportunity came some days later when King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to visit Festus. After Festus reviewed the background of the case with King Agrippa, King Agrippa agreed to interview Paul. At last, Festus had hoped to receive some legal charges to justify Paul’s imprisonment and referral to Rome. Today’s lesson centers on the closing of Paul’s argument before King Agrippa and his royal court and their response to Paul’s argument. Paul continued to demonstrate his worthiness to speak in his own defense both against the religious accusations of the Jewish leaders as well as touching the law of the Roman Empire. Festus, seemingly confused by Paul’s religious testimony, interrupted Paul and accused him of being so intelligent that he had literally loss his mind. The things that Paul spoke of seemed to be impossible but yet Paul was known to be an intelligent person. Maybe this embarrassed Festus before his royal guests and therefore he sought to put an end to it. Paul responded to Festus’ unbelief but continued to press his case to King Agrippa whom Paul knew to be a religiously astute person who no doubt was aware of the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Those events had not happened in secret but were all public knowledge. Surely the ruling family was aware of it. King Agrippa did not find fault with Paul’s defense yet he did not hazard himself by standing in the way of the legal process. Robert C. Hudson October 26, 2012

Simon Wants to Buy Power

October 21, 2012 Background Scripture: Acts 8:2 – 25 Lesson Passage: Acts 8:9 – 25 It appears to me that many people today have an insatiable appetite for power. In other words, they want to be the one person who has the final say in a multitude of situations. On the other hand, a brief conversation with some of them will quickly reveal that they have no knowledge of the very power they are hoping to obtain. How dangerous the thought that someone would be allowed the privilege of controlling something but have no desire to be held accountable for the consequences of the decisions they make. This should sound, at least, vaguely familiar to anyone who has ever had the privilege(?) of raising teenagers. Privilege without responsibility is reckless power that is bound to hurt some innocent person sooner or later. This inordinate desire for power is not restricted to the secular world. Too often it finds its way into the religious community. There it can fester and transform into cults and various other sects that spin off from the mainstream faith. When we hear or read about these situations after they go bad, we often ask, How could people be so gullible to follow such nonsense? The answer can be complex but no doubt some of the individuals had the same thirst for power as the leader of those groups. It behooves us to take a very close look at the lesson for today. After Stephen was martyred and laid to rest, the second of the seven men that were set aside by the Jerusalem congregation and ordained by the apostles to serve the church began his ministry of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and working miracles. This man was Philip and his ministry took place in the city of Samaria. Meanwhile, there was a man in Samaria who had deceived the people there into believing that he was a man of God. This man’s name was Simon. Simon had used sorcery—or magic—to convince the people that he was endowed by God with special powers. Apparently his deception worked since the bible says that the people of Samaria both small and great believed that Simon was indeed a man sent from God and endowed with power. The bible goes on to say that Simon had tricked the people for a very long time. When Philip showed up preaching the gospel and working miracles by the power of the Holy Ghost, the people believed the preaching and were baptized in the name of Jesus—as was Simon. Whether the people understood the difference between the sorcery of Simon and the miracles of God by Philip we do not know. The fact that Simon was baptized is at least an indication that he knew the difference. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard what was going on in Samaria, they went there and prayed for the people and laid their hands on them and they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This got Simon’s attention. Simon greatly desired the ability to lay hands on people and they subsequently be baptized in the Holy Ghost. He offered the apostles money to give him this power. Peter soundly rebuked him and explained that the gift of God is not for sale. Also implied in Peter’s response is that the working of the gift requires a heart that is right in God’s sight. This is a heart of faith and prayer. This is a heart that looks to God for directions as to when and how to use the gift. No amount of money could take the place of a righteous heart. God was not seeking individuals to receive the gift and use it at their own discretion but those who would yield to Him. This type of heart places responsibility ahead of power. Robert C. Hudson October 10, 2012