Acts 25:21

21 But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor."

Acts 25:21 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 25:21

But when Paul had appealed to be reserved
In custody at Caesarea:

unto the hearing of Augustus;
to have his cause heard, tried, and judged of, by the Roman Emperor Nero, here called Augustus; for as it was usual for a Roman emperor to be called Caesar, from Julius Caesar, the first of them, so to be called Augustus, from Octavius Augustus, the second emperor: his original surname was Thurinus, but this being objected to him as a reproachful one, he afterwards took the name of Caesar, and then of Augustus; the one by the will of his great uncle, the other by the advice of Munatius Plancus; when some thought he ought to be called Romulus, as if he was the founder of the city, it prevailed that he should rather be called Augustus; not only this surname being new, but more grand, seeing religious places, and in which anything was consecrated by soothsaying, were called "Augusta, ab auctu, vel ab avium gestu, gustuve", according to Ennius F20: in the Greek text the name is Sebastos, which signifies venerable and worshipful.

I commanded him to be kept;
in Caesarea, by a centurion, and not sent to Jerusalem:

till I might send him to Caesar:
till he could have an opportunity of sending him to Rome, to take his trial before the emperor.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Suetonius in Vit. Octav. c. 7.

Acts 25:21 In-Context

19 Instead they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.
20 Since I was at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.
21 But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor."
22 Agrippa said to Festus, "I would like to hear the man myself." "Tomorrow," he said, "you will hear him."
23 So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then Festus gave the order and Paul was brought in.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.