A man named Felix had an opportunity to meet and study with the apostle Paul. Felix’s wife was a Jew and he had more knowledge about the way which Paul was speaking about (Acts 24:22-24). He was not swayed by the enemies charging Paul but instead desired to hear what Paul said. The book of Acts closes with Paul under house arrest and yet being able to meet with Jewish leaders there in Rome. They came to know more about the “way”. They saw it as a sect which was everywhere spoken against (Acts 27:22). I bring this case up to show that the things which Paul and others taught was both disturbing and wonderful.
Felix and his wife both came to hear Paul. Luke tells us they wanted to know about the “faith in Christ”. The use of the word “the” does not speak about trusting in God rather it is the idea of a specific kind of faith. It is a system of faith. It is called the gospel (I Cor. 15:1), the word of truth (Eph. 1:13) and the engrafted word (James 1:21). When Paul came to Corinth he was determined to not preach anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (I Cor. 2:2). A little over two years from this point, Paul would say before Agrippa, that Agrippa knew about the events concerning Jesus for it was not “done in a corner” (Acts 26:26).
Paul spoke to Felix about righteousness, temperance and the judgment to come (Acts 24:25). Felix knew something about the faith. His wife was a Jew. The events of Jesus being crucified and then reported to be alive after three days was a hot topic even then. My question is, why did Felix tremble (verse 25)? Trembling implies that Felix knew he had to do something he was unwilling to do. He and Paul spent the next two years in conversation about Jesus. Felix never obeyed the truth (I Peter 1:22). If he had, he would have been no different than the audience in Acts 2 who were told to “save themselves” (Acts 2:40).