ACTS 25:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Cesar.”
'If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have done anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!' - Paul's logic is airtight: guilty men may be punished; innocent men must not be surrendered to enemies. By appealing to Caesar (epikaleō, epikaleō-'I call upon'), Paul invokes his Roman citizen right to appeal the magistrate's decision to a higher authority. Luke's narrative arc reaches its turning point: Paul will go to Rome, as Jesus promised (23:11).
Church Fathers on Acts 25:11
But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Cæsarea, and that he himself would depart shortly there. Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able, go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him. And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Cæsarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought. Acts 25:4-6 But after they came down, they immediately made their accusations…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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