Acts 23:26

23:26-30 The letter of Claudius Lysias to Governor Felix is a typical Hellenistic letter, naming the writer and the person addressed, offering a greeting, and stating the business at hand (though there is no parting word of farewell; see study note on 15:29). It summarizes the events that preceded it and explains the action taken; it also suggests that the commander has followed proper Roman judicial procedure. • The title his Excellency was often applied to persons of high social, political, or economic status (Luke 1:3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 23:26 . κρατίστῳ , see note on Act 1:1 . χαίρειν ( λεγει or κελεύει ), cf. Act 15:23 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lysias is suddenly made by the Lord Paul’s patron.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Claudius--the Roman name he would take on purchasing his citizenship.

Lysias--his Greek family name.

the most excellent governor--an honorary title of office.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(26) Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix.—The letter may have been sent unsealed, or a copy of it may have been given to St. Paul or St. Luke after his arrival. What we have obviously purports to be a verbal reproduction of it. We note (1) that the epithet “most excellent” is that which St. Luke uses of Theophilus, to whom he dedicates both the Gospel and the Acts (Luk_1:3; Act_1:1), and (2) that the formal salutation, “greeting,” is the same as that used in the letter of the Council of Jerusalem (Act_15:23) and in the Epistle of St. James (Jas_1:1).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26–30. Letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix

26. the most excellent governor] The title “most excellent” is that which is given by St Luke at the beginning of his Gospel to the Theophilus for whom he wrote it. Hence it is probable that Theophilus held some official position, it may be under the Romans in Macedonia, where St Luke remained for some time and where he may probably have written his gospel.

sendeth greeting] The Rev. Ver. omits the first word. The original has only the infinitive “to rejoice” which is of course governed by some word indicating a wish, i.e. = “biddeth to rejoice,” “wisheth joy.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when I would have known the cause,.... Or crime, he was guilty of:

wherefore they accused him: which they charged him with, and for which they beat him almost to death:

I brought him forth into their council; their court of judicature, the great sanhedrim.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

26 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting.

Ver. 26. Unto the most excellent] Felix was (as likewise Haman) of base birth, but highly advanced in court by means of his brother Pallas, a great favourite of Nero’s, insomuch as he became husband to three queens successively, as Suetonius writeth. He cruelly killed Jonathan the Jewish priest, and committed many other outrages in this province; so that being complained about at Rome, he had been put to death, but for the greatness of his brother, who begged his pardon. (Josephus.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unto the most excellent governor Felix - The most honored, etc. This was a mere title of office.

Greeting - A term of salutation in an epistle wishing health, joy, and prosperity.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Most excellent; a title given to persons of great eminency, as, Luk 1:3, it is given to Theophilus, unto whom also this book of the Acts is inscribed, Act 1:1.

This Felix was brother to one Pallas, who together with Narcissus (the other of the emperor Claudius’s favourites) managed all public affairs, and are by the historians branded for all the mischiefs of that calamitous time. This Felix and his brother Pallas were born slaves, and manumitted by Claudius, and were such as are exalted; as often Providence will show the power it hath in pulling down and setting up whom it pleaseth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. Claudius Lysias—The name Lysias, which is here first given, intimates that he was a Greek; the name Claudius is Latin, assumed, perhaps, after he had bought his Roman citizenship “for a great price.” So that we have here a note from a Greek-Roman chiliarch to a Greek-Roman procurator.

Most excellent—An official title.

Greeting—The usual epistolary civility.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Greeting for sendeth greeting, A.V. Governor; hJgemwn, as ver. 24; propraetor of an imperial province, as distinguished from the ajnqupatov, or proconsul, who governed the provinces which were in the patronage of the senate. Sergius Paulus (Act_13:7, Act_13:8) was a proconsul, and so was Gallio; (Act_18:10) Pontius Pilate (Mat_27:2) and Felix were procurators, hJgemonev, only in a looser sense, as the more exact name of their office was ejpitropov procurator. Only, as they were appointed by the emperor, and often exercised the full functions of a legatus Caesaris, they were called hJgemonev as well as proprietors. Felix, called by Tacitus, Antonius Felix ("Hist.," 5:9), was the brother of Pallas, the freedman and favorite of Claudius. He as well as his brother Felix had originally been the slave of Antonia the mother of the Emperor Claudius; and hence the name Antonins Felix, or, as he was sometimes otherwise celled, Claudius Felix. Tacitus, after mentioning that Claudius appointed as governors of Judaea sometimes knights and sometimes freedmen, adds that among the last Autenius Felix ruled this province with boundless cruelty and in the most arbitrary manner, showing by his abuse of power his servile origin. He adds that he married Drusilla, the granddaughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, so that he was Mark Antony"s grandson-in-law, while Claudius was Antony"s grandson. But see Act_24:24, note. In the "Annals" (12. 5) Tacitus further speaks of the incompetence of Felix to govern, stirring up rebellions by the means he took to repress them, and of the utter lawlessness and confusion to which the province was reduced by the maladministration of Felix and his colleague, Ventidius Cumanus ("cut pars provinciae habebatur"). He adds that civil war would have broken out if Quadratus, the Governor of Syria, had not interposed, and secured the punishment of Cumanus, while Felix, his equal in guilt, was continued in his government. This was owing, no doubt, to the influence of Pallas. The same influence secured the continued government to Felix upon Nero"s accession, Pallas being all-powerful with Agrippina. Such was "the most excellent governor Felix." For further accounts of him, see Josephus, ("Bell. Jud:," 2:12:8 13) who ignores his share in the government as the partner of Cumauus, and dates his appointment subsequently to the con-detonation of Cumanus at Rome, and is also there silent as to his misdeeds. (For further accounts of Felix, see "Ant. Jud:," 20:7:1, 2 8:5-7, which relate his adulterous marriage with Drusilla, and some of his murders and cruelties.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 23

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26–30. LETTER OF CLAUDIUS LYSIAS TO FELIX.

26. τῷ κρατίστῳ ἡγεμόνι Φήλικι χαίρειν, to the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting. The infinitive χαίρειν is governed by λέγει or some similar verb understood. See above, Act 15:23.

The title κράτιστος ‘most excellent’ is that which is given by St Luke at the beginning of his Gospel to the Theophilus for whom he wrote it. Hence it is probable that Theophilus held some official position, it may be under the Romans in Macedonia, where St Luke remained for some time and where he may probably have written his gospel.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. κρατίστῳ] See ref. Luke.

This letter seems to be given (translated from the Latin) as written, not merely according to its general import (see the false statement in ver. 27): from what source, is impossible to say, but it may be imagined that the contents transpired through some officers at Jerusalem or at Cæsarea friendly to Paul.

Such letters were called elogia: so Modestin. Dig. lib. 49, tit. 16, leg. 3 (Facciolati): ‘Desertorem auditum ad suum ducem cum elogio præses mittet,’ ‘with an abstract of the articles brought against him.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To the most excellent [τω κρατιστω] . "His excellency" : an official title. Compare ch. Act 24:3; Act 26:25.

Greeting [χαιρειν] . See on ch. Act 14:23.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.