Paul is accused of sedition. He answers in defense of his life and doctrine. He teaches Felix of righteousness, temperance, and the judgment to come.
(See Acts 24:1–27.)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“Justice as we know it was little regarded in Paul’s day. Without a formal trial, to appease the Jews, and in hope of receiving money for his release, the Roman governor of Judea, Antonius Felix, kept Paul a prisoner for two wearisome years. True the Apostle was thereby protected from the murderous hatred of the Jews and the persecuting zeal of the Sanhedrin; true he was granted sufficient liberty to write and do some teaching; but nonetheless as a prisoner in the Cause of Christ, he was denied the full missionary privileges of the past quarter century.
“We must assume that the Church did not grow as rapidly and that its members were not perfected as speedily as would have been the case had the great persuasive powers and energies of this mighty proselyter been used to the full during this period. No doubt this experience taught Paul that even he was not indispensable, and perchance his soul was further sanctified by suffering, but with it all the Lord’s Apostle was in fact a prisoner, held wickedly and unjustly by the forces of evil, all to the detriment of the work.
“. . . Felix [was] procurator of Judea from about 52 to 58 A.D. Noted for his folly, cruelty, and lust, he was then living in an adulterous relationship with Drusilla, whom he had persuaded to desert her husband to be his ‘wife.’
“. . . Interestingly, [Paul’s language in Acts 24:16] is almost the verbatim language used by Joseph Smith when he was being taken to Carthage two or three days previous to his assassination [see D&C 135:4].”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:196.)
