Acts 24:25, commentary and pictures

Paul reasoned in a private interview with the cruel and licentious governor Felix and his wife Drusilla about belief in Christ after they wanted to hear the reasons for his faith. He set before them exactly what they needed, righteousness as God's justice and the claims of His law upon thoughts and motives, temperance as sober self-control preserving body and mind, and the coming judgment when all will be revealed and rewarded according to deeds. Under the Spirit's power his guilty hearers trembled as their sins and coming judgment were laid open before them, yet Felix cut the interview short and sent Paul away until a supposedly more convenient time. That answer was a heaven-sent last opportunity slighted and lost, telling the Holy Spirit to depart for the present instead of repenting, confessing sin and becoming a child of God. Such delay hardens the heart against further light, leaves less conviction and power to break from sin at each later call, and ends in being almost but not fully persuaded, which is to be lost. Therefore the convenient season never comes, and the lesson is to yield wholly to God today, for now is the accepted time and day of salvation while mercy still invites.

Historical Setting at Caesarea

Acts 24:25 belongs to Paul's trial before Felix, after Paul had answered accusations that he had stirred up sedition and profaned the temple. Felix heard the case but was swayed by self-interest and by fear of offending the Jews.

Paul spoke in a private interview with Felix, a cruel and licentious Roman governor, and his wife Drusilla, a profligate Jewish princess. She desired to hear the reasons for his belief in Christ after hearing an account of him from her husband. At that time Felix was living in unbridled licentiousness as a cruel and elderly profligate in an adulterous connection with Drusilla. She was a young and beautiful Jewish princess devotedly attached to her husband, yet through the deceptive arts of Simon Magus, a Cyprian sorcerer, Felix had induced her to leave her husband to become his own wife. Her husband had made a great sacrifice to obtain her hand, and by leaving him she forwent her strongest prejudices and brought upon herself the abhorrence of her nation.

As the Lord's prisoner Paul thus reached souls he could not otherwise have approached. He treated the meeting as a God-given opportunity and improved it faithfully, without praise or flattery, even though the man and woman before him had power to put him to death or to preserve his life. Forgetting all selfish considerations, he sought to arouse them to the peril of their souls, knowing his words would be to them a savor of life or of death. They were listening to truths they had never heard before and might never hear again, which if rejected would prove a swift witness against them in the day of God.

Paul reasoned clearly, explained the change in his religious views that had stirred the Jews' malice, and exalted Jesus Christ as the world's Redeemer. His courtesy helped him reach powerful people, while his boldness in presenting the truth remained firm. The reasoning that made Felix tremble fulfills Christ's promise to His disciples that when delivered up to councils they need not be anxious how to vindicate the truth, for He would give them a mouth and wisdom that all their adversaries could not gainsay nor resist.

Truths Paul Reasoned About

Paul reasoned with Felix and Drusilla about righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come with words given by God because they were exactly what Felix needed. Righteousness reflects God's justice and equity and the claims of His law, and that law reaches beyond outward words and actions to search thoughts, motives, purposes, and hidden passions, condemning evil even when it is never acted upon. Temperance means living soberly, controlling the passions by reason, and preserving physical and mental powers in health. The judgment to come will reveal all and reward people according to their deeds, and wealth, rank, or titles cannot win God's favor or shield anyone from sin's consequences.

The final judgment carries the solemnity of eternity. It is to be held in the presence of the world, when the law of God's government is vindicated, His name glorified, and His wisdom acknowledged and testified of as just to believers and unbelievers. It is not the judgment of one person nor of a nation but of a whole world of intelligent beings, of all orders and all characters, taking place first upon the dead, then upon the living, then with the whole universe assembled to hear the sentence, and the warning message is borne as in the presence of the whole universe of heaven, for time and for eternity. This life is the time to prepare for the future, and neglecting present opportunities brings eternal loss, with no later probation.

Paul reasoned about the judgment to come to turn Felix from his evil ways to repentance and conversion, wanting to arouse his slumbering senses to the danger of losing the life to come so that he would lay hold on the hope set before him. The truth, pressed home by the Spirit of God, awakened Felix's conscience, his guilty past came vividly to mind, and he trembled at the thought that God knew his crimes, that his life's secrets were open before God, and that he would be judged by his deeds. Reasoning about righteousness and self-control, and especially the coming judgment, can make a transgressor tremble when these truths are pressed on heart and conscience with the Spirit's power, while a religion that avoids confronting sin and judgment does not produce this response. Righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come are truths to arouse the consciences of men and women, presenting them calls for earnest effort now, and the angels of God are waiting to give wonderful aid to all who labor in that work.

Paul's words about righteousness, self-control, and coming judgment made the haughty rulers tremble, as if they already saw the terrors of the day of God. He preached before Felix with confidence that came from faith in Christ, with such power through the Holy Spirit that Felix trembled. That same power upheld Paul against the tide of persecution, so that even when called to seal his testimony with his blood he glorified God, singing hymns of thanksgiving and rejoicing that even in dying he was a conqueror, proving the power of Christ sufficient for every necessity.

Felix Trembled Yet Postponed

As he heard the truth about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix trembled, yet he cut the interview short, dismissed Paul, sent the messenger away, and put off responding until a supposedly more convenient time instead of letting conviction lead him to repentance. His putting off shows how a person may be stirred by important truth yet set it aside rather than face it, feeling its force but turning from its appeal, resisting the message even when deeply affected by it. The same response is seen when people postpone study of the Bible's truths because they seem disruptive to daily pursuits, and when light is rejected through delay, pride, or worldly interests.

That appeal was a heaven-sent opportunity for Felix to recognize and forsake his sins, a warning that brought fear when he heard it. By telling Paul to leave and promising to call for him at a more convenient time, he rejected this offer of mercy and postponed the Spirit's call. In so slighting his last offer of mercy he lost his last and final opportunity to answer God's call to turn from sin, and he was never to receive another call from God.

He trembled under conviction but did not repent, and bade Paul as a divine messenger depart. He refused the Spirit entrance to his heart and home, banished conviction, and cast his lot with the workers of iniquity instead of confessing sin, finding pardon, and becoming a child of God and an heir of heaven. Unlike the Philippian jailer who with trembling inquired the way of salvation, welcomed the Spirit to his heart and house, and walked in it with all his house unto pardon, Felix trembled without repentance and rejected the Spirit rather than becoming a child of God and an heir of heaven.

Hearing truth about righteousness and coming judgment can bring fear, yet fear alone does not lead to repentance. The same pattern is seen in Nero, whose guilt was exposed so that he trembled at facing God's tribunal and for a moment welcomed the possibility of pardon, finding the peace of heaven and the offer of mercy briefly desirable. He then rejected mercy and sent Paul away, the opportunity to repent passed, and his rejection was followed by God's retributive judgments and divine retributive justice. Felix likewise illustrates how a person may feel conviction but reject a final appeal through delay, and Charles V likewise refused what was his last call from God, yielding to pride and worldly policy.

What Delaying the Spirit Means

To say go away for now until a more convenient time is for the sinner under conviction to tell the Holy Spirit to leave for the present, delaying decision instead of coming out fully and decidedly at the time of conviction. It is to refuse decided obedience to God's present call of mercy while resting content with the thought that obedience can be given at any future time one chooses. It is to put off obedience and harden the heart rather than answer God's present call to service.

To answer in this way is to close and bolt the door against the Spirit's entrance and to stop short of entire surrender and consecration to God. It leaves sins unconfessed and strengthens and builds up the soul in wrongdoing. It bars the heavenly current that would sweep away evil and purify the heart from all error.

Such postponement is the natural reasoning heart of unbelief striving against grace when convicted of danger, refusing to see light and to bow before God in humility instead of gaining a true sense of danger and breaking Satan's snare in Christ's strength. The heart not under the constant control of the Spirit sees things in a perverted light and follows its own judgment for liberty and independence rather than walking in the way God points out. The reply expresses refusal to let the message interrupt worldly pursuits, with temporal interests and prospects treated as more valuable than eternal things. It treats the invitation with contempt, and even blessings from God can thus become barriers separating people from their Creator and Redeemer.

Seeking worldly prosperity while putting off the invitations of the Word and messages of truth to a convenient season is selfish disobedience and unfaithfulness to known duty, registered in heaven. It brings the rod of God over the son of disobedience, with no hope except through thorough conversion, death to self, and transformation of character. Waiting for a more convenient season after duty has been made plain is listening to Satan, for conviction of conscience brings present binding obligation to obey God, and deferring decision is neglect and disobedience. That plea is the enemy's device to keep souls from obeying God's law, especially the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, by presenting advantages in disobedience, inventing excuses, and falsifying the character of God.

Such delay, even while favored with every spiritual advantage of clear truth, messages of mercy and love, the open fountain of truth, and the gift of eternal life, exhausts the patience and mercy of a compassionate God who delights in mercy. It protracts rebellion against God while still professing the truth and heeding the voice of the arch-deceiver, with sin lying at the door like Cain. That delay leaves a person helpless in the enemy's hands, living for self and staying on Satan's side instead of answering God's call to service.

Every rejected ray of light hardens the heart against increased light. Disobeyed calls of the Spirit leave less and less impression, soon forgotten, with less power at the next opportunity, less and less conviction of sin, less and less inclination to break away from worldly interests and to resist temptation, less and less power to break the spell upon them, and no sense of the importance of changing at once. Many, moved and trembling at God's appeals, make it habit to hear and feel without changing their course, so each later appeal has less effect. God spares them and bears long with their perversity, while Satan's kingdom trembles at the Word for fear those warned will hear the message from heaven and yield to the entreating, compelling message of the Spirit, and Satan trembles for his ascendancy.

The trembling sinner knows the denunciation of sin means him and that he is in peril, but having procrastinated so long he ventures into further resistance and clings to unsanctified propensities. He finds it hard to break old habits and refuses God's admonitions on the very points that are essential, until the impression wears away and the impulse is gone for lack of the oil of grace. The mind becomes habituated to indifference about personal danger, old habits remain undisturbed as second nature, and having sown to the flesh he reaps corruption.

A man called by God may see the Saviour's sacrifice in a beautiful light and be almost decided, yet some matter of minor importance comes in and captivates the heart. The first powerful impression is allowed to wear away, and when the Spirit speaks again the call is not respected. Every gracious heavenly influence is dismissed while the sinner flatters himself that he is not wholly hard-hearted because he thought about holy things, and he turns away from Christ to the world to serve Satan, leaving him unready for the great day of the Lord when everyone must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

To be almost and not fully persuaded is to be lost, for mere conviction does not save, resolutions put off to the future are never realized, and refusal of the spotless wedding garment of Christ's righteousness means perishing. Yet God through Christ holds out His hand all day long to the needy, willing to be a God of love and peace, receiving all, rejecting none, pardoning the chief of sinners, taking the prey from the mighty, delivering the captive, plucking the brand from the burning, lowering the golden chain of mercy to the depths of wretchedness and guilt, and clothing the sinner in Christ's righteousness. But the human agent must come and cooperate by using the opportunities God gives because God forces no one.

Call to Decide Without Delay

To say for a more convenient season is to refuse to yield while mercy still invites, telling the Holy Spirit to go away for now until obedience feels easier. The lesson is to stop consulting personal inclination and give oneself to the Lord today, for now is the accepted time and day of salvation. The soul must no longer live for self but put all its influence on the Lord's side and give itself wholly to God now, because life is uncertain, time is short, and the Lord's coming is approaching. To remain without God and His grace by following one's own inclinations is to stay on Satan's side and stand in peril of losing eternal life.

Felix's request to hear Paul another time warns that a more convenient opportunity to leave sin or accept truth may never come. The present moment is the time to respond, before Satan's snares capture the unguarded and they lose the glory to be revealed when Jesus appears. Like Felix, people may quiet conscience by putting off decision, but that opportunity may never return. When people neglect and refuse the light, it goes out for them, and worldly concerns and pleasures can then absorb their minds while they reject and forget Christ.

The judgment to come is a warning in the Word that people know yet disregard, because Satan keeps God out of their thoughts by absorbing their minds in pleasure, money-making, worldly interests, and the things of time so that the things of eternity find no place. They show surprising indifference to the laws of His kingdom while selfishness, covetousness, and fraud bear sway, and thousands and millions know nothing of their true relations to God, the laws He has made, or the consequence of disobedience. Even those not ignorant of the facts do not apply them to their own case, knowing they must die without asking what shall be the future of the soul, and knowing there is a judgment to come yet remaining utterly unconcerned about what it will bring. Having no realization of the sinfulness of sin, they follow a course that must end in eternal death. The great day of the Lord is right upon us, and the coming judgment must be kept before the people because all will meet the Judge of the living and the dead at His appearing in His kingdom and each will receive according to works.

Time and again the Spirit moves on the soul, sinners are touched by the story of the cross and see Christ's matchless love and sacrifice in a beautiful light and are awakened and almost decided, yet they send the Spirit away for now. Some matter of minor importance comes in and captivates the heart, the first powerful impression is allowed to wear away, the call when it comes again is not respected, and every gracious heavenly influence is dismissed while the sinner flatters himself that he is not wholly hard-hearted because he thought about holy things. Therefore Christ's ambassadors must watch with unceasing vigilance and diligence, follow up every advantage, show the Word of God as certain in Christ, and bring the mind to decision before the impression fades. Felix's delay warns against turning from the gospel message and wasting even an hour instead of placing oneself in the channel of light and preparing now for the grand review soon to take place when all must be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary to see if they are complete in Jesus Christ. To be almost and not fully persuaded is to be lost.

The verse shows how people may be stirred by important truth yet set it aside rather than face it, and the same response is seen when people postpone study of the Bible's truths because they seem disruptive to daily pursuits. A very large class do the same thing when their minds are called to the deep subjects of truth, problems high as heaven and broad as the world. They resist the Spirit because truth deals with conscience, plead that they cannot bring Bible problems into their lessons without unfitting themselves for the daily routine of study, put off obedience to a future time, and lay aside God's great Lessonbook instead of holding it as the one thing needful. Teachers who resist the Holy Spirit's offered influence repeat Felix's refusal, saying in effect that they will receive it later or only on their own terms. His words, Go thy way for this time and when I have a convenient season, express delay rather than acceptance and warn against refusing the Spirit's offered help while waiting for a more convenient time, for the Spirit's offered influence may be turned away by a determined will.

Delaying repentance and faith for a supposedly more convenient time commits great sin when people who hear warnings and appeals about Jesus refuse Him and defer repentance toward God and faith in Christ. Hearing truth about judgment can awaken fear and make the offer of mercy seem desirable, but that response may last only a moment. Putting off repentance risks losing the opportunity to turn back to God.