Acts 24:22

Paul Held Awaiting Trial

22 But Felix, [because he] understood the [facts] concerning the Way more accurately, put them off, saying, "When Lysias the military tribune comes down, I will decide {your case}."

Acts 24:22 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 24:22

And when Felix heard these things
Which were said on both sides, both by plaintiff and defendant, the charges brought against Paul, and his answer to them, as a judge ought to do:

having more perfect knowledge of that way;
the Christian religion, which the Jews called heresy, and Paul had embraced; the sense is, either that he had a more perfect knowledge of it than he had before; and by what Paul had said, he saw that it was not contrary to the law, nor had any tendency to promote sedition and tumult; or rather, when he should have more perfect knowledge of this new way, called the sect of the Nazarenes, he would determine this cause, and not before: wherefore

he deferred
them; put them off to longer time, and would make no decision in favour of one side or the other:

and said, when Lysias the chief captain shall come
from Jerusalem to Caesarea,

I will know the uttermost of your matters:
as for the way, or religion of the Christians, he proposed doubtless to consult other persons; and as for the profanation of the temple, and especially about stirring up of sedition, he would inquire of Lysias about that; and when he had got full information of these particulars, then he promised them to bring things to an issue, and finish the cause.

Acts 24:22 In-Context

20 or these [men] themselves should say what crime they found [when] I stood before the Sanhedrin,

21 other than concerning this one declaration that I shouted [while] standing there before them: 'I am being judged before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead!'"

22 But Felix, [because he] understood the [facts] concerning the Way more accurately, put them off, saying, "When Lysias the military tribune comes down, I will decide {your case}."

23 [He] ordered the centurion [for] him to be guarded and to have some freedom, and in no way to prevent any of his own [people] [from] serving him.

24 And after some days, [when] Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him concerning faith in Christ Jesus.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[because]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("understood") which is understood as causal
• [b] Literally "the [case] with respect to you"