With customary efficiency Festus convened the court—literally, "sat down on the judgment seat" (bema). "This formality was necessary for his verdict to have legal validity" (Bruce 1988:451). Like predators after their quarry the Jews . . . stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him. But they are unprovable charges (compare 24:13, 19).

Before the bar of blind justice persecution will never prove a case built on lies. Here again the opponents of the gospel will be frustrated (6:10; 19:9-10). But Christians must always be sure they suffer for the right reason—because they are Christians—and that there is no case against them (1 Pet 4:14-16).

Though Festus's subsequent comments reveal that Paul is charged with much more (Acts 25:19), Luke presents Paul's defense as a brief affirmation: I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar. The Jews have indeed consistently charged Paul with teaching and acting against the law (21:28; compare 24:5), the temple (21:28; 24:6) and Caesar (24:5). Paul has stoutly defended himself in each of these areas (law—22:3; 24:14-16; temple—22:17; 24:17-18; Caesar—24:11-13).

In this affirmation Luke capsulizes his conviction about first-century Christianity's two defining relationships. As to Judaism, it has not betrayed its religious roots. It stands in direct continuity with the Old Testament faith in its ethics and worship. The Jews can find no apostasy here. As to the state, Christianity is no revolutionary disrupter of the civil order, though in its own way it will produce a radical transformation of society, one heart at a time.