For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
The man
- Antonius Felix reigned 52-60 AD
- He was a freedman of the emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) or his mother.
- His brother was friend of Claudius.
Three wives
- Drusilla of Mauretania (half-Greek, no issue)
- Felix divorced her to marry a teenage Judean princess of the same name (53 AD)
- She died in 79 AD -- more about that in the next podcast. He then remarried again.
The politician
- Weakness for bribes.
- Cruelty: murder of a high priest, sent many to Rome for trial, crucified thousands.
- A compromiser with apparently little conscience or conviction. In several ways he resembled both Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate: the adulation of the crowd and the importance of political connection meant more to him than the truth.
- Roman historian Tacitus notes not only that Felix was an anti-semite, but also that he "practices every kind of cruelty and lust, wielding the power of a king with all the instincts of a slave" (Annals,12.54).
References in the New Testament
- Acts 23:23-35 -- Paul is sent to Felix
- Acts 24:1-27 -- Paul speaks (repeatedly) before Felix.
- Also referred to in Acts 25:14.
- Be sure also to listen to the NT Character Podcast on Drusilla.
Lessons for us
Â
- Positive lesson (?): We can learn from Felix's shrewdness (see Matthew 10:16). Yet this is hardly to his credit.
- 1. Power corrupts (cruelty, bribery, willingness to compromise the truth).
- 2. Leaders mustn't be self-serving -- which is the exact opposite of Christ (always looking for how he could benefit, not caring about others).
- 3. Don't marry for beauty, but for character. Heart is what counts, not looks.
- 4. It's never convenient to give our lives to God, so busy schedules are no excuse for not putting God first. For all, both great and small alike, will one day stand before the Judge and give an account of his life.
