In Acts 24:14-16 Paul answers the charge of being a RELIGIOUS RADICAL before Ananias the high priest and Felix Roman Governor. They claimed Paul was a part of an illegal religion which was not sanctioned by Rome. But first Paul says, “I plead guilty to being a religious radical but not to being an illegal sect!” Then he offers a fourfold defense which affirms his faith in Jesus.
• Vs. 14a “According to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers.” First Paul says that what is at issue is not Who he worships but How he worships. Paul argues that “The Way” can not be an illegal religion because it has not changed Who he worshiped but How he worshiped so Christianity was legal if Judaism was legal. Paul still worshiped the God of his fathers that had not changed but he now did so according to “The way”. And who is The Way? Well Jesus! In other words Paul was now worshiping the God of his fathers through the Fathers only Son!
• Vs. 14b “Believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.” Next Paul explains why he has changed the way in which he worships the God of his fathers; it’s because he has believed ALL things in the Bible. Paul says, “Hey, I’m worshiping God through His Son Jesus because I believe what the Bible says about Him!” “I’m a religious radical because I’m just on a journey with Jesus!” How about you? Are you a religious radical because you are simply applying the truths found in the Bible?
• Vs. 15 “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” Paul says that he had the same hope that they did in an afterlife and that was because of the resurrection of the just and the unjust. It was this hope in Jesus that caused him to worship the God of his fathers differently.
• Vs. 16 “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” Paul finishes with this by saying that believing in the resurrection was more than doctrinal; it caused him to live his life differently before God and man. Paul was living a life that rested in the resurrection and this was a positive thing not a negative thing.
Let me ask you folks, if you were on trial for your life because of your faith in Jesus would you be able to plead guilty as charged like Paul did?