Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 23-25.

In each of the three hearings Paul was in in today’s passage (before the Sanhedrin, before the Roman governor Felix, and before the Roman governor Festus) he revealed an understanding of the court before which he stood.  When he was before the Sanhedrin he pointed out that the high priest had violated Jewish law by ordering him struck before the trial began, and then used their division over the issue of resurrection of the dead to force the Roman commander to remove him.  When Paul was tried before Felix, he demonstrated a clear understanding of Roman rules of evidence and provided a better argument for his innocence than the Sanhedrin’s lawyer did for his guilt.  When Festus tried to force Paul to accept trial before the Sanhedrin, Paul appealed to Caesar in order to take that off of the table. In doing this, Paul gave us an example of following Jesus’ teaching from Matthew “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”   In a similar fashion, we should be prepared to hold those who oppose the Gospel to the rules by which they claim to live.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.