Acts 15:1-12

Unrighteous and wickedness are not the same.  Anyone who has not been reconciled into a right relationship with God is unrighteous.  Being unrighteous with God makes it very hard, perhaps impossible, to be right in our other relationships.  However, many unrighteous people make great efforts to have good and loving relationships with their family, and they try to treat others fairly. They strive to live moral lives.  Most unrighteous people are not wicked people.

A wicked person, by choice and deliberation, does harm to self and others.  A wicked person does things that even the unrighteous consider evil.  Felix was both unrighteous and wicked.  He was cruel and corrupt, and Rome replaced him because of his failure as the governor.

Festus was the Felix’s replacement.  Festus was not a righteous man, but historians record that he was a fair and just ruler to his people.  Felix should have released Paul, but he did not.  Immediately after Festus took office the Jews met with him and pressed charges against Paul.  Festus had no way of knowing if these charges had any basis in fact.  However, he did know that he needed the Jews to work with him in order to maintain order in the area under his control, so he gave Paul a fair hearing.

Festus, after hearing both the accusers and Paul’s defense, found no cause to convict Paul.  He wanted to gain favor with the Jews, so he asked Paul if he was willing to go to Jerusalem to appear in a Jewish Court.  He did not do this out of wickedness; he did this because he did not think himself qualified to judge disputes of religion. When Paul appealed to Caesar, Festus agreed to send him to Rome.

When nonbelievers do things we do not agree with, it is easy to judge them wicked; that is not our responsibility.  It is the government’s role to judge and punish wickedness.  Our mission is to love, forgive and share the gospel’s hope of righteousness in Christ.