The commander calls two of his centurions and orders them to prepare for Paul's transfer to Caesarea. A detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen indicates the Roman assessment of the seriousness of the threat and the importance of the prisoner. The mounts provided for Paul will be for relays, baggage, the soldiers to whom he is chained or his friends (Williams 1985:390). They are to leave under the cover of darkness—at 9:30 p.m.—for Caesarea on the coast, the provincial capital for Judea. The might of Rome's legions willingly deployed to protect one witness to the Lord Jesus is silent but powerful testimony to who is really Lord in that world and in ours.

Since the tribune lacks the necessary authority to deal judicially with prisoners of provincial status once he has restored public order, he may have already decided to transfer Paul to the governor's direct jurisdiction before he heard of the plot (Sherwin-White 1963:54; Marshall 1980:369). That news only accelerated the process.

The governor in question is Felix. He had served under Cumanus administering Samaria (A.D. 48-52) and succeeded him as governor until his recall in A.D. 59. Originally a slave, he was emancipated either by Antonia Minor, daughter of Mark Antony and mother of Emperor Claudius, or by Claudius himself, depending on whether Antonius (Tacitus Histories 5.9) or Claudius (Josephus Jewish Antiquities 20.137) is his correct nomen. Felix's tenure was marked by ongoing disturbances among the people, whether from the old-style terrorist-hoodlums (lestes), messianic impostors and false prophets, or the new threat, sicarii, assassins with their "short dagger" terror (Josephus Jewish Antiquities 20.160-61; Jewish Wars 2.252-53). The brutal measures he took to deal with these only turned the Jews more against him and stirred up more unrest. Tacitus said that he "practiced every kind of cruelty and lust, wielding the power of king with all the instincts of a slave" (Histories 5.9).

In standard epistolary form the tribune's letter identifies the sender, Claudius Lycias (see comment at 22:28), and the receiver, Governor Felix, who is addressed with the honorific title "His Excellency" (this was appropriate to his office though he was not a member of the equestrian class). The body of the letter rehearses the tribune's conduct with reference to the prisoner and his assessment of the charges against Paul. His recounting of Paul's rescue deals loosely with the truth in order to place himself in the best professional light. In fact, he learned Paul was a Roman citizen only after the rescue-arrest and at the point of scourging as a part of interrogation (22:25-29). His assessment, however, is accurate. The tribune concurs with Gallio before him that charges brought against Christians by Jews are theological, stemming from an intramural religious debate (18:15; compare 25:19). Paul is innocent of all crimes before Roman law.

By example and testimony the commander reminds us of three things about the interrelationship of the Christian and the state: (1) The state's proper role is to protect the rights of its citizens (Rom 13:4; 1 Tim 2:2-4). This the Christian may insist on. (2) The state is incompetent to make judgments on theological/religious matters. Whenever it does so it transgresses the boundary articulated by Jesus (Lk 20:25). (3) Christians must follow their Lord's example in guarding their innocence before the laws of the state (23:14-15, 22, 41, 47; compare Acts 25:8, 10-11, 18-19; 26:31-32).