NOTES for Act 25:1-12

Festus, an authorized representative of earthly power, and moreover a foreign one, recognizes as lawful Paul’s desire to appear before the imperial court in Rome. Paul appeals to earthly justice as expressed in the laws of the state, and this does not contradict the portrait of him that emerges from his epistles and the book of Acts.

But after Paul, and even in our own time, not all Christians are convinced that spiritual people, whose aspirations are directed toward the world above, may act in this way. While acknowledging that Paul was right, such people consider it a lack of humility to imitate him in defending their own rights. Yet if we agree to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, provided that he does not claim anything more, then this entails observing the laws established by Caesar.

Defending one’s rights seems to many to be a manifestation of pride. Pride can, of course, become mixed with this, as it can with much else that people do, but exercising one’s rights is a natural norm, and we can maintain that Paul gave it his sanction. And if a reasonable law is directed toward the good of Caesar’s subjects, would refusing to make use of such a law not itself be arrogant self-exaltation?