The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 242

Vers. 24, 25.-The substance of the faith in Ohrist. From Farrar's • Life of St. Pou!,' note to p. 340, voL ii., see the relations of Felix to this Drusilla. She was a J eweee by birth, and would be interested in a man who was the object of such virulent persecution. She had, no doubt, heard of the Prophet of Nazareth, aud was likely to show some curiosity when one of his leading disciples was a prisoner at the court. Private audiences were given to Paul, and he was invited to speak freely concerning" the faith in Christ." It is a side light thrown upon the greatness of St. Paul's nature, that he used his opportunities at once so skilfully and so nobly. "With perfect urbanity, and respect for the powers that be, he spoke of the faith in Christ which he was bidden to explain, in a way that enabled him to touch on those virtues which were moat needed by the guilty pair who listened to his words. The licentious princess must have blushed as he discoursed of continence; the rapacious and unjust governor as he spoke of righteousness; both of them as he reasoned of the judgment to come. Whatever may have been the thoughts of Drusilla, she locked them up in her own bosom; but Felii, unaccustomed to such truths, was deeply agitated by them" (Farrar). The word " faith" is employed in Scripture with several distinct meanings; here it is used of the Christian doctrine, but St. Paul deals with the practical rather than the theore- tical aspects of it. His remarks bore upon that :first necessity of Christianity, the con- viction of sin. Bnngener puts the point of his preaching both succinctly and forcibly when he says, "Paul, as usual, wished to press certain consequences; and it is always against these that people resist, even when they are far better than Felix and Drusilla. 'He heard him concerning the faith in Christ; and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and jud!!;ment to come '-of righteousness, to a cruel and unjust despot; of temperance, to a debauchee whose very marriage had been but one scandal the more; and of judgment to come, to a man who bad doubtless sought in Epicurean negations a refuge from the gods-' theu Felix trembled.' " St. Paul's theme finds expression in three words : righteo'U,Snea, full and honourable discharge of all the duties which man owes to God, and man owes to man; temperance, or the due control of all the appetites and passions of the body; judyment to come, or the certainty that all life-conduct must, sooner or later, be perfectly appraised, and due punishment be inflicted. "St. Paul does not confine himself, as a merely ethical teacher might have done, to abstract argu- ments on the beauty or the utility of 'justice' and ' temperance.' Here, also, hie own experience was his guide, and he sought to make the guilty pair before whom he stood feel that the warnings of conscience were but the presage of a Divine judgment which should render to every man according to his deeds. It will be noted that there is here no mention of the forgiveness of sins, nor of the life of fellowship with Uhriet. Those truths would have come, in due course, afterwards. As yet they would have been altogether premature. The method of St. Paul's preaching was like that of the Baptist and of all true teacher:-" (Plumptre). 'I'he three topics may be treated in a more general way if presented thus: 1. Righteousness, or the Divine ideal of a human life. 2. Temperance, or a man's personal responsibility in the use of his body, and the shapings of his human relationships. 8. Judgment to come, or the appalling fact for all who follow their own wilful ways, that results must be divinely recognized. Com- p&re the eonvincing of the Spirit, which la of ,in, righteousness, and judgment; and OH, X1IV. 1-27.) THE ACTS OF THE AP0STLES.