| Acts 25 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Acts 15:22–24 in Latin (left column) and Greek (right column) inCodex Laudianus, written about AD 550. | |
| Book | Acts of the Apostles |
| Category | Church history |
| Christian Bible part | New Testament |
| Order in the Christian part | 5 |
Acts 25 is the twenty-fifth chapter of theActs of the Apostles in theNew Testament of theChristianBible. It records the period ofPaul's imprisonment inCaesarea. The book containing this chapter isanonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed thatLuke composed this book as well as theGospel of Luke.[1]
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The original text was written inKoine Greek.This chapter is divided into 27 verses.
Some earlymanuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
The events in this chapter took place inCaesarea andJerusalem.
Porcius Festus was the procurator of the province of Judea afterAntonius Felix, as confirmed by first-century historianJosephus (Jewish War 2.271;Antiquities 20.182-8). His exact time in office is not known, with the earliest proposed date for the start of his term c. AD 55–6, while the latest is AD 61,[2] but most scholars opt for a date between 58 and 60, based on a change in the provincial coinage of Judaea attested forNero's fifth year points to AD 59.[3]
Festus was eager to clean up problems left by his predecessor as well as to avoid any actions that compelled the Jewish community in Caesarea to send a delegation to Rome complaining about Felix's 'misdeeds against the Jews' (Josephus,Antiquities 20.182).[4] Therefore, in keeping a good relation with the Jewish authorities (verses 2, 9) and in acting with all propriety related to Rome, Festus' decision to refer the case to Rome (to Caesar as the final court of appeal for provincials) is understandable.[4]
Paul was almost set for the last journey to Rome as Festus has agreed to transfer his case to Rome (verse 12), but Paul had one more chance to make a defence of his case before the Jewish kingHerod Agrippa II and his sisterBernice (verse 13), on the occasion of Agrippa's visit to Festus, and Festus's need of the king's expertise in drafting his report on the case (verse 27).[5]Josephus records that Agrippa II (the son ofHerod Agrippa I inActs 12; Josephus,Jewish War, 2.247, 252) was a 'significant power-broker, both with Rome and with the Jewish community worldwide' (Jewish War, 2.245, Antiquities 20.135), acting as spokesperson for a Jewish delegation in Rome a few years earlier, and has a good relationship with Tiberius Julius Alexander, the prefecture of Egypt (Josephus,Jewish War, 2.309), who was a previous procurator of Judea and Bernice's brother-in-law. Bernice was the sister of Agrippa (and also ofDrusilla, Felix's wife), currently a widow living at her brother's court (Josephus,Antiquities 20.145) and taking an active part in Jewish affairs (Josephus,Jewish War, 2.344).[5] The Roman failure to find a case against Paul (verses 14—27) and Paul's own self-defence (26:1—29) before Agrippa II are set to 'demonstrate the fulfilment of the prophecy that Paul would have to testify "before kings" (Acts 9:15)'.[5]