Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 25:11

"If then I am a wrong-doer, and have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die; but if none of those things is [true] whereof these accuse me, no man can give me up unto them. I appeal unto Caesar." — Acts 25:11 (ASV)

No man may deliver me unto them.—Literally, no man may give me up to them as a favour. The words show that he saw through the simulated fairness of the procurator, and did not shrink from showing that he did so.

I appeal unto Caesar.—The history of this right of appeal offers a singular illustration of how the republic had been transformed into a despotic monarchy. Theoretically, the emperor was merely the imperator, or commander-in-chief of the armies of the state, appointed by the senate, and acting under its direction.

Consuls were still elected every year, and went through the shadowy functions of their office. Many of the provinces (see Notes on Acts 13:7; Acts 18:12), were directly under the control of the senate, and were accordingly governed by proconsuls.

But Augustus had contrived to concentrate in himself all the powers that in the days of the republic had checked and balanced the exercise of individual authority. He was supreme pontiff, and as such regulated the religion of the state; permanent censor, and as such could give or recall the privileges of citizenship at his pleasure. The Tribunicia potestas, which had originally been conferred on the tribunes of the plebs so that they might protect members of their order who appealed to them against the injustice of patrician magistrates, was attached to his office. As such he became the final Court of Appeal from all subordinate tribunals, and so, by a subtle artifice, what had been intended as a safeguard to freedom became the instrument of a centralised tyranny. With this aspect of the matter St. Paul had, of course, nothing to do. It was enough for him that by this appeal he delivered himself from the injustice of a weak and temporising judge, and made his long-delayed journey to Rome a matter of moral certainty.