Acts 23:29

Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Accused of questions of their law.—The points which probably presented themselves to the chiliarch’s mind as the result of his inquiries were—(1) that the prisoner was accused of transgressing the rules of the Temple; (2) that the question at issue seemed to be whether he had seen a teacher named Jesus risen from the dead; (3) whether that teacher was entitled to the name of Christ.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:25-35 God has instruments for every work. The natural abilities and moral virtues of the heathens often have been employed to protect his persecuted servants. Even the men of the world can discern between the conscientious conduct of upright believers, and the zeal of false professors, though they disregard or understand not their doctrinal principles. All hearts are in God's hand, and those are blessed who put their trust in him, and commit their ways unto him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Questions of their law - So he understood the whole controversy to be.

Worthy of death - By the Roman law. He had been guilty of no crime against the Roman people.

Or of bonds - Of chains, or of confinement.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. perceived to be accused of questions of their law, &c.—Amidst all his difficulty in getting at the charges laid against Paul, enough, no doubt, come out to satisfy him that the whole was a question of religion, and that there was no case for a civil tribunal.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

According to the Roman laws, or imperial constitutions. That he undervalued the great things in question concerning our blessed Saviour’s death and resurrection, and the whole gospel, it is not to be wondered at; he spake and wrote as a pagan; and God overruled his very slighting of these controversies for Paul’s advantage, he being by that means preserved from the rage of his enemies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law,.... As about the resurrection of the dead, and a future state, which some in the council denied, and some asserted, which with this heathen man were idle and foolish questions; or about the defiling of the temple, and speaking contemptibly of the law of Moses, the people of the Jews, and the holy place, which was the cry of the populace against him, and were things the captain knew little of:

but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death, or of bonds: by the laws of the Romans; and yet he himself had bound him with two chains at the first taking of him, and afterwards ordered him to be bound with thongs, and scourged, of which he says nothing, being convinced of his error, and willing to hide it; however, he bears a full testimony to the innocence of the apostle.

Geneva Study Bible

Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 23:29. ζητημάτων, cf. Acts 18:14-15, “a contemptuous plural” (Page).—ἔγκλημα ἔχοντα: phrase only here in N.T., criminis reum esse, accusari, as in classical Greek, cf. Thuc., i., 26; the noun occurs again in Acts 25:16, but not elsewhere in N.T., not found in LXX.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. whom I perceived [R. V. found] to be accused, &c.] At first he would have discovered that the outcry against St Paul had something to do with the regulations of the temple, then that there was a dispute about the resurrection of those who were dead, and that on this point some of the Jewish leaders sided with Paul. Such questions about their law would seem to the Roman officer quite as unworthy of consideration as they did to Gallio at Corinth (Acts 18:15).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - Found for perceived, A.V.; about for of, A.V. Questions; ζητήματα, only in the Acts, where it occurs five times (Acts 15:2; Acts 18:15; Acts 23:29; Acts 25:19; Acts 26:3). St. Luke also uses ζήτησις (Acts 25:20), as does St. Paul four times in the pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy 1:4, T.R.; 1 Timothy 6:4; 2 Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:9). Acts 23:29

Vincent's Word Studies

Questions

See on Acts 15:2.

Nothing - worthy of death or of bonds

Every Roman magistrate before whom the apostle is brought declares him innocent.