Acts 25:19

Certain questions. That is, points of dispute, not inquiries to be raised and answered. See on vs. 7, 8.

Their own. This expression may also be translated “his own,” in which case it would refer to Paul.

Superstition. Gr. deisidaimonia, “reverence for the gods,” “religion,” and sometimes, though probably not here, “superstition,” unless reference is made to Paul’s religion. Festus could hardly have described Judaism as a “superstition,” without giving offense to Agrippa, himself nominally a Jew.

Jesus. This is the first recorded direct reference to Jesus in interviews with either Felix or Festus, but it would be incredible to think that His name had not been earlier mentioned. Paul had talked of the resurrection, of which Christ’s experience was the one great triumphant illustration, and had “reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come” (ch. 24:25). Paul could not thus have spoken without telling of the Christ. In naming Jesus, Festus reflects Paul’s witness to the Saviour.