Steven Carr

Acts 23

He wrote a letter as follows: Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.

From Lysias' point of view, Paul was a follower of somebody killed for sedition. He is now claiming that this person is still alive, is the real king and lord, and is still at large. (like we believe Paul's story of the ascension...)

We are not quite sure how this Jesus figure escaped death, and is still at large. But we can kill his followers for their treason and then look for the ringleader later.

Instead, Claudius Lysias finds nothing like that, and the only charge that has been brought against Paul is to do with matters of the law (perhaps the dispute over circumcision that Paul mentions in Galatians 6:12)

If there really had been stories of Jesus somehow escaping death and still being alive, Paul would have been a dead man.