⁶“And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; ⁷the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews. ⁸Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?”

The Jews had accused Paul to Felix (the previous governor) of stirring up dissension among the Jews against Roman authority and trying to desecrate the Jewish temple. They hadn’t originally wanted to take this accusation before the Roman governor, but the commander Lysias had intervened to stop the mob from assassinating him. This disturbance had turned an internal Jewish conflict into a Roman issue (Acts 24). After the case had languished for over two years, during which Paul was incarcerated, the Jews came to the new governor, Festus, to renew their case. When it was all said and done, Festus understood their accusations to be about “some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive” (Acts 25:19).

Paul redefines the narrative that describes his situation, clearly putting the issue into a theological context where it belonged. The irony is that this Jewish man, Paul, who is also a Roman citizen, lays out a theological debate with his contemporaries before a pagan king and his entourage. But the king has some understanding of Jewish beliefs, so Paul appeals to that understanding with his explanation.

The key issue, according to Paul, has to do with “the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.” While the term “fathers” refers in general to all those previous generations who faithfully served God, Paul specifically identifies his own faithfulness to God with that of the twelve tribes of Israel. Those were the direct descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob, grandson of Abraham; the tribes are the ones who inherited the Law of Moses. Paul is referring specifically to the heritage going back to the Exodus, when God led the tribes of Israel out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership. During this period, Moses received the Law of God, to which all Jews have held since. Paul ties this hope of which he speaks to traditional Jewish belief, all the way back to Moses.

The issue for which Paul is on trial is nothing less than a fundamental disagreement over the meaning of the Law of Moses, namely, that it gives the Jews hope! This hope is inextricably connected with raising the dead. That God can raise the dead should be a no-brainer for Jews. But Paul essentially infers that Judaism had evolved away from the original intent of the Law.

Lord, help me to understand clearly the purpose of Your Law.