Scripture’s climax tells of how God laid aside his rights for our salvation. The sovereign Lord looked beyond his own interests and humbled himself in the most demeaning way possible to secure new life for lost sinners (Phil. 2:4–8). With justice fully on their side, Jesus and countless other saints have exemplified the righteous act of laying down rights for the cause of God’s kingdom.
So it may surprise us to read in Acts 25:1–27 about Paul using his right to appeal to Caesar. Paul’s appeal actually dominates the chapter; the first half builds up to the appeal and, in the last half, local leaders scramble to properly accommodate the appeal. And Paul’s use of rights can help us better understand how to use ours.
Paul’s Appeal to Caesar
Sometime in the late 50s, Emperor Nero appointed Porcius Festus to replace Felix as governor of Judea. When Festus arrived in Palestine, he headed directly to Jerusalem in the hope of gaining the goodwill of the sometimes-hard-to-govern Jewish people. The Jews tried to capitalize on Festus’ interest for their support by asking him to release Paul into their custody—with the intention of killing him. Festus chose instead to personally hear Paul’s case.
When Paul’s two-year-old trial resumed, the accusations and defense remained unchanged. The Jews claimed Paul violated their laws, defiled the temple, and offended Caesar by creating unrest. Paul’s counter argument was that none of the baseless charges could be proven. But Paul could tell that the new governor was no more interested in justice than the last one. So he appealed to Caesar. Festus recognized Paul’s right as a Roman citizen to request legal review by the highest authority in the realm.
But Festus found himself in an awkward position. He knew that Paul had done nothing deserving of death (Acts 25:10, 25). In fact, Festus had nothing definite about which to write to Caesar (Acts 25:26). So Festus laid Paul’s case before King Agrippa II (son of Herod Agrippa I who executed James; see Acts 12). Festus told Agrippa that the trial had been about the Jewish religion “and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive” (Acts 25:19). He’s exactly right! For mere faith in Jesus, Paul’s opponents thought “that he ought not to live any longer” (Acts 25:24). The death and resurrection of Jesus will always be the fault line that divides the seed of the woman and the offspring of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). What do you do with this “certain Jesus” and the report of his death and resurrection? Festus failed to answer this question reasonably. Paul’s appeal would now send the apostle to Rome, out of Festus’s jurisdiction.
How does this momentous event in Acts help us learn to properly exercise our rights today?
A Primer on Personal Rights
A right is a justified entitlement which can be asserted, but need not be. Christians have the right to eat meat, accept a reasonable salary as a gospel minister (see 1 Cor. 8–9), collect a financial debt, seek satisfaction for wrongs, divorce an unfaithful spouse, or quit a job, among others. Refusing your rights can be a powerful witness to our Savior’s ministry (1 Pet. 2:20–25). But under certain conditions, asserting your rights can also glorify God.
Use Your Rights Rationally, Not Emotionally
When our rights are challenged, the influence of strong emotions may stir us to fight. But we rarely make good decisions when emotionally charged. Paul’s appeal wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction of fear or anger. He wasn’t afraid to suffer with Christ (Acts 25:11). His decision was a calm and reasoned response to years of judicial failure.
Use Your Rights to Expose Injustice
Paul understood that Festus was an unjust judge who prioritized his own agenda over the facts. And justice was important for both Paul’s reputation and the interests of the faith; the Jews brought “many and serious charges against him” (Acts 25:7). The ninth commandment requires us to preserve and promote truth and our own good name.
Use Your Rights to Obey God’s Will
Paul knew that he must see Rome (Acts 19:21; 23:11). So his appeal was “moved more than anything else by the incomparable opportunity which the hearing of his appeal would provide of preaching the gospel at the seat of imperial power.” His appeal doesn’t justify a crass use of means to achieve any end, but a proper use of means toward the chief end of glorifying and enjoying God.
Use Your Rights while Trusting in God
Paul believed that the emperor’s rule was “instituted by God.” Because Paul had done what was right, he had nothing to fear from this “servant of God” (see Rom. 13:1–4). The ungodly exert their rights as a show of autonomy. Christians use their rights fully relying on the God in whom those rights are rooted.
Paul provides a sound pattern of the use of rights because his priorities were well ordered. He counted his life as nothing and God’s reputation as everything (Acts 20:24; Phil. 3:8). Only with that attitude will we be thankful for our God-given rights and, with a clear conscience, use them to advance not our cause but his.
Footnotes
Westminster Larger Catechism Q/A 144.
F.F. Bruce, Acts, 454.
