Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 25:19

"but had certain questions against him of their own religion, and of one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." — Acts 25:19 (ASV)

But had certain questions. Certain inquiries, or litigated and disputed subjects; certain points of dispute in which they differed. zhthmata tina.

Of their own superstition. deisidaimonias.

This word properly denotes the worship or fear of demons; but was applied by the Greeks and Romans to the worship of their gods. It is the same word that is used in Acts 17:22, where it is used in a good sense. See the comments on Acts 17:22.

There are two reasons for thinking that Festus used the word here in a good sense, and not in the sense in which we use the word superstition:

1. It was the word by which the worship of the Greeks and Romans, and therefore of Festus himself, was denoted, and he would naturally use it in a similar sense in applying it to the Jews. He would wish simply to describe their worship in such language as he was accustomed to use when speaking of religion.
2. He knew that Agrippa was a Jew. Festus would not probably speak of the religion of his royal guest as superstition, but would speak of it with respect. He meant, therefore, to say simply that they had certain inquiries about their own religion, but accused him of no crime against the Roman laws.

And of one Jesus, which was dead. Greek: “Of one dead Jesus.” It is evident that Festus had no belief that Jesus had been raised up, and in this he would expect that Agrippa would concur with him. Paul had admitted that Jesus had been put to death, but he maintained that he had been raised from the dead.

As Festus did not believe this, he spoke of it with the utmost contempt: They had a dispute about one dead Jesus, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. In this manner a Roman magistrate could speak of the glorious truth of the Christian religion; and this shows the spirit with which the great mass of philosophers and statesmen regarded its doctrines.